Quinn’s Writing Blog! @zinabug-writes - Tumblr Blog

Hello! I’m Quinn and here is my writing sideblog! A little bit about me:

I'm a student working on a Public Health and History of Medicine degree! I'm arospec and trans. I have two cats, Bean and Bones. I also draw a lot and sometimes make my own clothes or cosplay!

My projects are a little bit of everything! My main WIPs are steampunk fantasy and sci-fi, but I have quite a lot of back burner WIPs. I'm a big steampunk, horror, and SFF fan. I feature a lot of queer, disabled, and non-romantic but codependent and close character dynamics in my writing.

I am an adult, but minors are welcome to follow! Any CWs will be listed at the top of a post above a readmore or tagged as one word (e.g., #blood)

I'm not always the most regular poster because of school, plus chronic health/disability, but I am around!

Ask game and tag game friendly! I will tag you back if you tag me and I love getting to know good people. My DMs are also open for writing talk! I'm also good at answering questions about historical fashion and historical or modern emergency med, it's enriching for me :)

My WIPs:

Clockwork Heart (134k, complete)

The first book in a steampunk fantasy duloagy about a pair of soldiers from opposite sides of a war. After one of them is sent to assassinate the other, the two of them accidentally end up debatably joining, debatably kidnapped by a pirate crew, where they realise they not only have more in common with each other, but they have an old friend in common too—and he needs saving.

Spellwork Soul (Draft 12, 44k words)

The second book in the steampunk fantasy duloagy! I’m working on this one. See the Clockwork intro.

Project Steel Sea (Draft 5, 35k words)

A sci-fi novel about the remains of a crew of a failed scientific research station and a shipwrecked pair of coast guard medics. After an emergency revival wakes up a member of the second crew, thought dead, they try to come together as one group. It turns out they all have the skills they need to escape—if they can stand each other long enough to survive, and survive long enough to escape.

It also has a prequel project! intro here.

An Idiot's Guide to Monster Hunting (78k words, book one complete)

A YA urban fantasy/paranormal comedy about a trans teenager with amnesia who gets taken in by an experienced monster hunter, who makes him confront his unknown past.

Going to either be a two or three book series

An Idiot's Guide to Monster Tracking (working title, sequel)

Also, if you like my art, you can commission me! My icon is by me, and it's younger Alliard and Rosie from clockwork.

My Ao3 (It's just this year's febuwhump right now, though)

Most of my creative tags are in the tags of this post, for ease of navigation! Including febuwhump because it's where most of my writing is right now :}

#writers on tumblr #writeblr #writeblr intro #WIP: clockwork heart #WIP: spellwork soul #WIP: steel sea #wip: guide to monster hunting #wip: steel sea prequel project #my art #bits #<- my writing tag #febuwhump

caterjunes

does anybody want to hear one angry boat nerd’s rant about the horrible naval tactics in potc

caterjunes

OKAY i’m taking that as a yes

i’m only gonna talk a little bit about sailing inaccuracies - they’re all p much Plot Lampshade things that sum up to “it is impossible to sail a ship of any size with a crew of two”

this is most painfully obvious in the whole sequence with jack & will commandeer the dauntless & then the interceptor. there are literally just two of them. that’s nowhere CLOSE to enough people to weigh anchor on the dauntless (heavy bower anchors weigh AT LEAST 1500 lbs, probably more on a first-rate ship, and you don’t get THAT much mechanical advantage on a capstan or windlass). typically weighing anchor is a whole crew activity because in addition to anchors being so fucking heavy, there’s also a whole bunch of side jobs besides manning the windlass/capstan that are all crucial to the anchor coming up successfully. i suppose they could’ve cut loose the anchor since the dauntless was only a steppingstone to their true goal, the interceptor, but even so, even shaking out the sails (going aloft and untying them) would be impossible with just jack and will (the greenest hand it is possible to be)

once they get onto the interceptor, jack of course says “now me? i can let you die! but i can’t take this ship in to tortuga all by me onesies.” he’s right about that, but having will there wouldn’t help. remember will has literally no sailing experience. he doesn’t know a halyard from a sheet. all he can do is stand there and look pretty. even if he were a seasoned tar, a ship the size of the interceptor cannot be crewed by less than eight people. i know this because i’ve actually sailed on that ship. when you rebrace the sails (change their angle), you need to brace all the yards on one mast simultaneously (their rigging is intertwined in such a way that you can’t do them one at a time). that means: two people hauling and one person slacking on the course (lowest sail), one person hauling and one person slacking on the top (second sail up), one person hauling and one person slacking on the t’gallant (third sail up), and one person at the helm. this is the BARE MINIMUM you need to turn the ship at all, even if only one of those sails is set. so they’re fucked.

nb: even with the bare minimum they could do some REALLY impressive stuff!! the original lady washington (the ship on which the modern lady washington, which played the interceptor, was based) became the first american ship to round cape horn in south america, and it did it with only 8 crew members!

anyways skip ahead to the chase scene. this is Full Of Yikes. i’m just gonna ignore the Magical Shredded Ghost Sails bc ~magic~ (but remember that in particularly heated chases, crews would pump water aloft and wet the sails so they would catch every single hint of wind, so having big holes is a serious issue). also i’m gonna ignore that elizabeth swann (who is admittedly a pirate groupie but has never sailed a day in her life) is the only one who comes up with ideas on how to outrun the pearl, because it is true that book learning can teach you a lot!

first off, i’m going to talk about the major problems with their overall strategies to accomplish their end goals.

barbossa’s end goal is to

reclaim the medallion

and capture will turner

they KNOW that both of those are on the interceptor. they also know that if will turner dies, they lose all hope of breaking their curse forever (presumably, judging by their reactions later). so, under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should they allow him to come to any harm. that means no cannon fire, no small-arms fire, nothing (since they don’t know which one is will). they can outrun the interceptor, so all they have to do is catch up, pull alongside, snag her with grappling hooks, and board her. the pirates cannot be killed. they have no reason not to just stroll aboard the interceptor, ignore everyone shooting at them, and grab will & the medallion. what they ACTUALLY do in the movie is: kill people willy-nilly & blow everything up. the only reason they don’t lose both will and the medallion is sheer dumb luck (and the skill of jack-the-monkey).

if the pirates had been thinking even a little bit they would have tried to capture the interceptor!! “the makings of your very own fleet,” as jack says to barbossa later. imagine: the two fastest ships in the caribbean, united under one pirate banner. barbossa wants to take the dauntless? poorly thought out. the dauntless is a first-rate ship of the line. it’s HUGE, it’s ungainly, it’s extremely slow. it throws an impressive broadside weight of metal, but literally every other ship in the caribbean could sail circles around it. much better to snag a small, fast, maneuverable ship like the interceptor

our heroes’ end goal is to

escape the black pearl

that’s it

they have no other goal

they do not need to confront the pearl!!

they SHOULD NOT confront the pearl

THE PEARL IS FULL OF ANGRY IMMORTAL PIRATES WHO WANT TO KILL YOU WILLIAM

avoid it at all costs

so!! we’re avoiding the pearl. how do we do that?

we chuck everything overboard. this is a very real and commonly used tactic from the age of sail! if you’re being chased by an enemy who massively outguns you and outmans you, you abandon all hope of actually fighting them and run like hell. losing weight overboard makes you ride higher in the water, which reduces hull drag bc less hull is in the water.

first thing you throw is the cannons and shot - not gonna need them if you’re not fighting! cannons are INCREDIBLY heavy - i want to say a good nine-pounder (which i think would be typical for a smaller ship like the interceptor) would be around 1200 lbs (or twelve hundredweight, as they like to say). and that’s weight that’s FAR above the waterline, bogging your ship down and making it heel more into the wind. if you get rid of cannons, your ship’s gonna be like 5 tons lighter and will ride much stiffer and straighter too (which is a good thing, because of hydrodynamic reasons i don’t fully understand)

then you throw your water and supplies - yes they’re important, but once you escape you can stop at any nearby island and resupply. food and water don’t do you any good if you’re dead.

then you THROW THE GODDAMN MEDALLION OVERBOARD, WHY DO YOU STILL EVEN HAVE THAT. barbossa’s gonna stop and fish it out because of course he is jesus christ, which gives you so much time to get away!! fuck!!! maybe bottle up a vial of will’s blood and lash it to the medallion so barbossa finds both of them and leaves you alone from now on.

yes, you make for the shoals, like elizabeth suggests. no, you do not clubhaul - that loses you valuable time which you could be using to get the fuck out of there

i said we were gonna throw all the cannons overboard. i lied. sorry. we’re going to keep two stern chasers - smaller cannons that point straight backwards. we’re going to aim them high and try to damage something important in the black pearl’s rigging. if she loses even her jib (one of the small triangular sails wayy out in front), she’s going to slow down a lot.

then we’re going to find the interceptor’s best point of sail (which is PROBABLY a very broad reach - going nearly straight downwind but a couple of points off, to make sure the mainsails aren’t taking the wind out of the foresails) and go on that until nightfall. once it’s night, we try to sneak away - douse all lanterns, change course, maybe try mooncussing (putting out a raft with lanterns on it and letting it drift in another direction in the hopes the enemy will think it’s us) and make for someplace safe

mage-pie

oh hello Captain Aubrey, I didn’t know you were on tumblr, this is quite a Surprise

#reference #potc

Having some absolutely off the rails plot ideas right now. Perhaps I am a tragedy guy.

what-even-is-thiss

Sometimes as a writer you put stuff in your work that you didn’t fully understand the implications of and your readers will find the meaning in that and their reading is just as valid as yours so you’ve just gotta live with that.

zinabug

I’ve updated my commission info!

Hey! I’m trying to move out, and am taking two summer classes! I am NOT in urgent need of money, but money is rather tight at the moment, so I’ve put together a new commission sheet. Prices are negotiable to a point, and I am happy to figure out something for just about any price point. Because I also just wanna do some cool art for people, I’m happy to discuss trades as well!

Will’s/won’ts and a text version of the info is under the cut.

#my art #hello do you want me to draw your ocs? well:

absurdlyinaccurate

me, the motherfucker with over 50 abandoned works in progress: i have an idea

cwritesfiction

First drafting a novel is really just whispering "would he fucking say that?" over and over again for several thousand words

kjscottwrites

malwarechips

"i think", i say, about my own ocs, who i made,

midnightskywrites

writers really will spend twenty minutes pacing around the kitchen thinking “this scene is genius” and then sit down to type and suddenly remember approximately three words and one emotional vibe

dragon-swords-prophecies

27, 38, 50 and 6 for whoever you’d like!

- @zinabug-writes

Hi Quinn!! Thank you for the ask!! I shall do Ronald for these

6. How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they like who they are? What would they want to change about themself?

Ronald is deeply uncomfortable in his skin. He makes a very conscious effort not to think about who he is because it freaks him out, but if he ever did he wouldn't like it very much. I don't think being trans would fix him, necessarily, but I do think it'd bring about a whole different group of problems and it'd be fun. He's spent most of his life as a miserable old man he can be a miserable old woman instead it'd be fun. Shooting the transgenderification ray at the characters

27. What is the most recurring theme in your OC's nightmares?

Ronald's nightmares are mostly about Donovan's dying, or Amelia & Alex dying. Before Donovan died they were mostly about his dad or about Amelia/Alex dying and him having to watch.

38. What are some assumptions others make about your OC? Are any of them true?

People assume Ronald is rude (true, mostly), doesn't care (completely wrong), and that he's very, very lonely (extremely true).

50. How does your OC die, eventually?

Ronald dies of lung cancer/smth similar, caused by 20+ years of daily smoking. Either the cancer kills him directly or it weakens his immune system enough that the latent TB he's had since his mother died becomes active and kills him. I think, even if he knew he had cancer and this had happened a few decades later when he could reasonably get treatment for it, Ronald would've probably refused. He's got problems.

It happens during the worst snowstorm the city's had in years, and everyone got trapped at home for 3 days and no one could call to check on him (Alex spent the entire time very, very worried. She tried to hide this, it did not work, that her fears were proven true doesn't help at all). He's the first death in the 18 month chain that goes him, Mary, and then finally Alex, all in 1956-57. I wrote his obituary a little while ago :)

RONALD FREDERICK WILKES by Alexandrina McLelland RONALD WILKES died on October 16, 1956, aged 65 years. He will be missed. A member of the Herald’s staff for 46 years, Ronald was born on March 4, 1891 in Baltimore, Maryland. Though not initially present, Ronald’s love for sports blossomed after taking the job of junior sportswriter at the Herald in 1910. Ronald never married, but was godfather to the children of his best friend, Donovan Gates. He covered such events as the 1924 World Series, 8 Triple Crown winning seasons, and the highest scoring game in baseball history. After the death of his best friend in 1929, Ronald continued to work at the Herald. Ronald is proceeded in death by his parents, Frederick & Helena Jane Wilkes. Also preceding him is Donovan Gates. He is survived by his goddaughters, Amelia & Alexandrina Gates, and their mother, Mary Gates. His memorial will be private.

#RONALD YOU MAKE ME SOOOO NORMAL #His nightmares…..#people assuming he doesn’t cate when he does…#him being the first to die in that chain of people he had nightmares about dying!!#I was thinking about asking for Ronald specifically but I wanted to leave it open #however I’m so glad you picked him!

what-even-is-thiss

I like it when we can do fantasy that’s not just pseudo medieval Europe. There’s more interesting time periods even within Europe. Somebody set a fantasy series during Neanderthal times. Set a fantasy series in a place like medieval Muslim Spain. Set a fantasy series during the Bronze Age collapse. Set wizards loose on Leninist communist countries.

memento-morri-writes

11, 17 and 18 for Rook and Carrion!

- @zinabug-writes

Thank you for the ask, Quinn!! 💖

Rook

11. What does your OC carry around in their pockets? What about their bag?

In his pockets, Rook mostly just has his coin pouch and his thieves' tools. In his bag he usually has a healing potion or two, a couple of daggers, and various bits of adventuring gear (rope, his bedroll, a tinderbox, some water, a bit of food he never remembers to eat, etc.). There's also some more unique things he's picked up during his adventures. (Notable items from his character sheet include "Circus ruby", "Creepy temple booze" (he did end up drinking that one and it caused a lot of problems, and a knock-off MtG deck (given to him by a child). He also has a small wooden ship and miniature figure of himself wearing a captain's hat that was carved for him by the bard at the request of Cherry after he passed out in Torsek. And, it's not in his bag right now (it's currently locked in a hidden drawer in his desk on the Tide Breaker) but he also has a book he found at Sigmar's house with the margins absolutely full of notes Sigmar made of how to be a better mentor for Rook.

[putting the rest under the cut] (tw for mentions of self-harm (both intentional and accidental) under the cut)

#all they know is bad habits punch things and pocket junk #I love them dearly

for Mallory: 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, and 49, please!!

~ @memento-morri-writes (this is my main, please ignore that it exists.)

Ooh thank you for the ask! These are fun!

13: Mallory… I don’t know if I’d quite call it armchair diagnosing or quite call it sizing people up, but he looks at most people like they’re his patients. He knows he does it, tries not to, and it’s because he’d dislike it being done to him.

14: Mallory holds grudges long, deep and bitter. He’s still angry with people who’ve died years and years ago, more than a century if you include dilated stasis time. He’s not really someone who forgives and forgets.

15: pride and wrath, one of those two if following the traditional seven sins format. He has a quick temper, which he’s worked on, and although he’s very good at what he does he knows it and is overconfident. He has not worked on that.

16: He intentionally cut off his extended family by moving 11 light years away, like a normal person. He only waited for his grandmother to pass away or he would have done it sooner, and she’s one of the people he’s holding a long grudge about.

17: Mallory needs to just… do something. Anything. Work is his go-to, but it’s far from his stress reliever of choice, because his job is stressful. He likes music and sudoku at the same time. He likes to bike, and jog. Any combination of physical movement and mental stimuli, honestly. He’s very ADHD.

18: He used to smoke and occasionally still does, although he goes for nicotine patches more now that he’s an adult and also a doctor. He also writes all of his notes by hand and would chart by hand if he could which pisses everyone off. He’s aware of that. He’s a loud and physical fidgeter too which can annoy people.

48: Cling to Hai like… I mean, like it was his last day alive. I can’t see him doing much of anything else.

#wip: steel sea #asks #thank you!! you picked good ones #ask game

48, 19, and 2 for whichever OC whose POV you wrote most recently? - @magic-is-something-we-create

Ooh fun way to pick! I wrote Kit’s POV most recently.

Probably mostly panic. Kit doesn’t make decisions well under pressure. They would try to make some lists and fail, manage to get ahold of some good food, maybe dye their hair something new, and spend time with their sister. This is pretty much what her last day before going into stasis looked like, honestly.

Kit’s an anxious nail biter, a pessimist, bottles up their emotions, and always leaves a mess in the kitchen AND bathroom.

Kit’s memories include a fairly accurate reflection of their childhood, and she doesn’t remember most of it too fondly. She remembers her parents fighting, a lot of instability, and taking care of her little sister while they were both taken care of by their grandmother, who was a “strictly visits the shrine Regularly on These Days And Times” and a “plastic cover on the couch” and overall quite severe, although well meaning.

#wip: steel sea #ask game #asks #thank you!!#I will send you an ask back shortly o7 #assuming you reblogged the game

3, 4, 14, and 26 ! for whoever you want :D

- @dragon-swords-prophecies

Thank you!! I picked who with my usual random selection:}

I got Ixora! This answer changes depending on where in the story she is. Either way, her childhood was miserable. She was the adopted ward of the Empire’s Head Spellworker, a powerful, busy and abusive woman. She used to wish that the retired soldier who was her de facto guardian was her actual guardian, and the two of them could leave. Sgt. Darrow wasn’t a very good father figure, but the bar was in hell, and he was everything she knew. She never wants to revisit her childhood unless it could be completely different. Later in the story… it gets complicated.

Mari has a whole collection of photos from the first crew, but these ones are special to her. It’s less common that photos are printed at this point in time, so any picture on paper is special, but here are her three:

She and Saeed in college. It was one of very few times Saeed managed to drag her into the ocean, and she’s standing ankle deep and clinging to him with a little smile while he grins.

A picture of Saeed with the first class of grad students he mentored, which includes Hudson, at their graduation.

A third picture of Saeed, sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean. She is standing next to him. Both are watching the water, lost in thought.

An honorary mention goes to Rahim’s baby pictures, but she clings to any physical memory of her dead best friend as tightly as she can. These ones are just special.

Hai believes in second chances. He’s also good at letting things go. However, when he wants to, with the key word being want, he’s capable of holding one hell of a grudge. He just doesn’t usually bother. It’s too much work. He does hold a quiet long-term grudge against Mari, mostly for Rahim related reasons, but he knows when not to mention that kind of thing.

Felix is very hard to break. He bends easily and he bends far. He deflects with humor, ignores it, and finally grits his teeth and bears it. He doesn’t feel safe being vulnerable or being angry, even more so once he has supernatural powers. When he breaks, he finally feels all of those horrible sixteen year old emotions and whatever causes it he cries, usually psychically blasts something, and tries to gain a single ounce of control in his life.

#wip: steel sea #wip: clockwork heart #wip: guide to monster hunting #ask games #asks #thank you!! I will return the ask favor soon o7 #assuming you rbed the game

ruvviks

OC ASK GAME

Where was your OC born, and where did they grow up?

How does your OC remember their childhood? Is this an accurate reflection of what their childhood was actually like?

If your OC could revisit their childhood, what would they want to change about it, if anything at all?

Describe three of the most important photographs your OC owns.

What is your OC's gender identity and sexual orientation? Is this also what they identify as in canon, or are they not (fully) aware?

How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they like who they are? What would they want to change about themself?

What is your OC's occupation?

What does your OC's family look like?

Describe a mundane day in your OC's life.

Does your OC have any physical scars? What is the story behind them?

What does your OC carry around in their pockets? What about their bag?

What is the worst thing that has happened to your OC? How has it affected their behavior, their health, and their life in general?

What is something your OC does (to others) that they would not like if others did to them? Are they aware that they do this?

Does your OC hold grudges? How good are they at letting things go? Do they believe in second chances?

What is your OC's fatal flaw?

Is there anyone your OC has lost contact with? What happened?

What are some of your OC's coping mechanisms during stressful or overwhelming periods in their life?

What are your OC's bad habits?

How does your OC handle preparing for and initiating a difficult conversation? How does the conversation itself go?

How quick is your OC to shift blame? Do they own up to their mistakes, or are they prone to start pointing fingers at others?

How does your OC handle criticism?

How good is your OC at apologizing, if they do this at all?

What is your OC like when they're angry?

What is your OC like when they're upset?

What is your OC's deepest desire? Would they ever ask for this?

How quickly does your OC reach their breaking point? What are they like when this point has been reached?

What are some assumptions others make about your OC? Are any of them true?

What does your OC think others are saying about them behind their back? Is any of this true?

What are three traits your OC has that can both have positive as well as negative qualities?

How paranoid is your OC? How does this affect their daily life?

Are there any places or people your OC is avoiding?

How does your OC handle rejection?

How does your OC handle jealousy?

What would be some of the signs your OC is starting to push people away?

If your OC had to kill someone, how would they do it? If killing is a near-daily occurrence to them, what is their preferred method?

Does your OC believe they deserve it when bad things happen to them?

What is the most common feeling or emotion in your OC's life?

What is the most recurring theme in your OC's nightmares?

What is your OC's pain tolerance like? What is the worst pain they have ever felt?

What is your OC afraid of?

Has your OC ever hurt someone, either physically or verbally?

How easily influenced by others is your OC?

What are common things your OC worries about?

Do others consider your OC to be scary or intimidating?

Does your OC keep their promises? Have they ever broken one before?

Does your OC carry any guilt with them?

If your OC had to pick a new identity and skip town, what would they come up with? Where would they go?

What would your OC do if they knew that this was their last day alive?

Does your OC fear death?

How does your OC die, eventually?

#ask game #oooh these are fun!!

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