#Annyinacastle WIPs

[kiraofthewind]

Heads Up Seven Up!

The premise: post the the last 7 lines from your current wip, then tag 7 people!

I am tagging @annyinacastle @rtisticwriter @amanda-n-newman-author @kittensartswriting @akiwitch @evelienclarkewriter @rychillacases (sorta picked at random, if you don't like tag games, just let me know!)

The last seven lines I wrote in Good Thyme With Bad Company, which includes some rather LONG lines because that's how Aubergine likes to talk, lmao:

"Madam, shall we simply end the conversation by saying I was abused, I learned through subversive means that there was a better life for me on the outside, I fled, and now I am here. I want to stay here. Last night, I thought hard about what my sister’s death meant. I thought about going back there to confront my parent, or just killing myself and being done with it, but… your words to me played in my head, over and over, like a clockwork music player. I must remain here, become stronger, and kill them. I must kill my parents, the other scientists at the Facility… and any of the kids who resist.” Shallot’s brain ran through ever potential outcome.

Head’s Up, Seven Up

a delighted thank you o @writeintrees for the tag!

The premise: post the the last 7 lines from your current wip, then tag 7 people!

Absolutely no pressure to participate if you don’t want to ^.^ But anyone can feel free to hop in on this little game if they like! I’m tagging in @chaifootsteps @knmcdougal @the—king @siderealcuria @cmrosens @kayyythewriterinthestars @adhdandquills

I’m pulling from War Witch, since I’ve been putting a bit more work into the worldbuilding of that wip than anything else lately~ (I may have gone slightly over the 7 line limit, couldn’t help myself ;P)

Keep reading

[annyinacastle]

A snippet from my NaNo 2022 project

Qaibin’an watched the girl listen closely in the wind and a breath escaped him, taken away by spirits passing. He put his hand on his sash, holding it there. Amarasha still made no show of moving on from whatever noise she had heard. He removed something from his pouch, moving his horse closer to her. While he could not hide his words from any gods, surely any wicked spirits would not hear him if he spoke quieter?

Amarasha turned to look at him in time to see him hand her two stones, no bigger than the size of her thumb nail. One was the colour of sunset and the other was like water reflecting the sky. She studied them. They were both polished until smooth, with a single rune carved into each of them. She knew these kinds of stones well — they were protective talismans given to hunters by the shamans, blessed by the Earth Mother and celestials.

She picked them out of his outstretched hand.

[keijumonarkki]

This is what I thought of based on Kitty's canon-divergent concept.

Maybe I'll finish it, I have IDEAS for it.

[annyinacastle]

I'mma be a bit crazy and just write about all of them or until I'm too tired to continue. So for your benefit, I'm adding a squiggly line (ie, a read more, lol) because I have A LOT. But where do I start? From where I began or in-world chronological order, or…? Well, I'll start at the very beginning of what evolved to all my current WIPs.

I'm jokingly said to have brutal death in every story. Although death isn't necessarily in there (but may be a threat), my writing isn't necessarily fluffy. It often deals with some darker topic, although it might not always seems like it on the surface. Also, religious themes are common, but not necessarily in a negative or positive way, but more in a "deities exist in this world, please deal with it" way.

The Demon Realm

This is a story set in the titular realm, pretty obviously. It's about a human girl who accidentally ends up there but has lost most of her memories as a "price". She meets the Count, who decides to try to get her back home, but it's not easy and what's more, there are other demons targeting her because of who she is.

I came up with this story when I was 15, and that in turn made me want to expand on the world itself.

The Angel Realm

The setup is kind of similar to the first novella. It's set a few years later, but the MC actually tries to leave the human realm on purpose. She ends up among angels and loses her ability to speak. She wants to get back home and the rebellious Angel is determined to help her before it's too late to save her.

The Human Realm

This is the last of my novella trilogy. It's also the only one where the name of the MC is revealed right away and where the MC isn't human. A few more years have passed since TDR and in this Merritt is looking for "the King and the Queen". But his search isn't easy in a world he's only half-familiar with.

These three together make The Three Realms and perhaps you can see a bit of a theme going on. In terms of where I'm in the process of these, I'm finishing up the revisions on TDR, I've half-drafted TAR and I have a couple of scenes of THR. They are stand-alone, but they have connections with one another.

After creating T3R in my mind, though, this expanded further.

Gatekeeper

This one has the (in)famous alternate title "Racist Faeries". Just so you get a bit of a heads-up, I suppose? It was written to be a stand-alone prequel to TDR.

Arrianus Gate is a half-fairy, half-human teen. Young as he is, he works for the Royal Ministry, at the front desk. He's mocked for this, but he too knows that it's because of his human half. His childhood friend and only family, an extremely talented fairy, has declined all requests to move higher up because Arrian is stuck where he is.

One day he's asked to step outside. He and Ula both expect nothing good to come out of it, but he has suddenly received a promotion, and not long after a fairy comes to take him away to his new job at one of the Gates between the realms.

Arrian's experience dealing with paperwork is suddenly of use, but he can also finally make use of his own talents as the top-scorer on the Royal Ministry's magic aptitude test. But he can't escape the judgements some fairies have against humans.

Aside from Ula, the talented fairy mentioned earlier, another strong girl appears, and that's Elizabeth Smith. Either way, later I wanted to expand on the events in Gatekeeper, but Arrian's story was over, so I turned to… Ula.

Scientist

Not to spoil much, because the events in this one overlaps with later into Gatekeeper, but Ula was chosen to work for a more scientific research-like department as a fairy with plant-related magic abilities. This, combined with the events Arrian go through in Gatekeeper, leads to the events in Scientist.

This duology is named The Blacksmith's Daughter, which may sound strange because it seems to have nothing to do with these two, but that's… why I mentioned Elizabeth Smith. I can't share much else. But I can say that these two stories are, though connected, still stand-alone.

The Boy Who Couldn't Cry

This relates to TBSD. It's a short story about a fairy with horn, Capra. He's bullied by others for being different. One day two mysterious people appear at the settlement. Because of these two, he learns his oddities might not be so bad.

It's been ages since I wrote or even read this short story, so I don't actually remember much about it. Both this and Gatekeeper are fully drafted, while Scientist needs to be fully drafted..

But this is not the end of the expansion.

Legacy of the River God

I actually began this before Gatekeeper, but it wasn't all that planned out in my mind. It's my first story about a literal journey. I reused the travelling part in a later idea.

Either way, in LoTRG, we follow Lei. He's a young teen who essentially ran away from home. He couldn't remain after his mother was sacrificed to the titular River God. That starts his journey as he explores a world outside of the forest his nomadic people reside in and he learns many things about the world… and himself.

This story is actually written both in chronological and backwards chronological order. The main chapters move forwards in time, but the sections between move backwards in time from the starting point of the story.

There's also a short story called The Encounter which is like a prequel. It's completed, while LoTRG isn't.

Rise of the Mage

Alright, so I've mentioned literally all of the Neopower Tetralogy, except the last one, chronologically speaking. In terms of when I began writing it, I'm not actually certain. Lilja and El came to exist as I began writing a short story, and the story came into creation from that. It overlaps in timeline with the end of LoTRG, but they're completely unrelated. Lei never meets Lilja or El.

Anyway, Lilja was picked up by one of the Workers, a type of angel in the society of angels. picking up a random human while Outside is not only strange, but rather outrageous and had it been anyone else, they might not have let the Worker keep her. But this worker has a "birth defect" meaning his skin and hair colour doesn't match up with his age, and the other angels consider the possibility this Worker might just not function properly.

Because remembering the number identification was hard, Lilja began calling the angel El after she was brought along to be nursed to health.

And that was the backstory, lmao. This is a magic tech society where angels rule above humans, and humans tend to live Outside, while angels serve their Lord Master.

And that all of the Neopower Tetralogy, the four entries of it being (in chronological order) The Blacksmith's Daughter, The Three realms, Legacy of the River God and Rise of the Mage. None of them fully completely, but at least a part is about to enter the world, if I just finish editing.

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I have a similarly called series, the Neogod series. If Neopower doesn't tell you much, Neogod should. 'Gods' is a specific species in The Universe. It doesn't mean deities and gods aren't used interchangeably at times. The Neogod Series is precisely about the god species coming to exist.

King of Eternity

The return of my beloved Demon King! Or more like… This story takes place before that.

King Kir Kirek Arhet has just been made the Demon King and he has to familiarise himself with the realm properly. The thing is, this demon is one of the weakest out there, so choosing him would have made no sense.

While navigating his duties as Demon King, he begins learning about events of the past and what they mean.

Child of God

This one is truly in the backburner process, meaning I'm seldom actively working on it, letting my mind straighten out the plot subconsciously. That said…

A-boy-whose-name-I-forgot needs protect this girl who is said to be blessed, after their village is destroyed. But "blessed" might not be quite right, or is it perhaps he who suffer from greater misfortune than the little girl can bring good fortune.

Daughter of Rán

Another backburner one. This one is also part of a merfolk creation plotline that exists in this world. The MC isn't a human though. Probably. I honestly don't remember what my notes say.

There are naturally more parts, but these are the only one I have shared anything about before, and also the only ones with name. But this makes the Neogod Series anyway, where the stories are closely connected sharing the creation of the god species.

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Now comes the stand-alones that aren't parts of anything else.

Amarasha

This is a story about the creation of a specific school of magic. Amarasha is the MC and creator of said school. It's a bit like an adventure/cultivation novel, I think. It's set in ancient times. This is also my NaNoWriMo 2022 project.

Blood of Destinies Rewritten

(Part 1)

Çuiren is a slave whose name has been tarnished by an alleged crime. She has done nothing wrong, yet the Crown Prince says to have her executed. Fortunately for her, Prince U'il stops him and takes her under his wing.

Thanks to the Prince, Çuiren can rise in society and gains power in various ways. And eventually, the Prince brings her not just the Imperial Court — with his help, she becomes Empress and monarch of the entire Zualu Diar.

(Part 2)

SPOILERS!!

Lol. I don't talk about part 2, but I share happily about Çuiren's rise in power. But she's the monarch in part 2, at least.

Prince U'il is also the deuteragonist, so there's more than just him helping her to political power. Part 1 does give him a lot of focus in the beginning, because he'll be Çuiren's stepping stone. Or more like her staircase, I guess.

What I can say is that the LI for Çuiren only appears in part 2. The LI (?) for the Prince appears right off the bat, but it's questionable if we should call him a love interest.

Nonetheless, worth saying that this story has a literal bi queen, and I live for it. I actually began writing this story because I wanted to write a girl falling for a pretty girl. ROFLMAO

"Sci-fi WIP"

This doesn't even have a working title, lmao. I haven't revealed the names in public yet, but the MC's initial is A. It's a futuristic mystery/detective series of novels.

After an accident, the Special Investigation Bureau's Inspector [A] is on sick leave when a murder happens in one of the apartments in the same building where he lives. He is one of the suspects, and he has to solve the murder while the police does as well. Who killed the teenage girl, and why?

There's a plot that goes through the entire story as well, but I won't say what that is. But it's a lot of crime-solving in a futuristic setting anyway.

"Cat Curse WIP"

Felinophobic alchemist apprentice Liam has been cursed. It's not just any curse. It's a curse that turns the person he loves into a cat. The goddess who cursed him says she can do nothing, and now Liam has to find a way to break the curse, while Felicia — the goddess — watches him. Even worse, she can turn into a cat too!

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In addition to these I have a series which happens in the same alternate history world, but I tend to separate it from the others.

Beyond the Horizon

To truly sum this up, the story is ONLY about gaining self-esteem and finding security in oneself. It has a LGBTQ+ theme, but it's not about that. It's about growing up, making mistakes, learning from them, and navigating into adulthood. This is a coming-of-age series starting at age 16 and ending at 23.

Just saying.

Anyway, Momoi Tomoki has just started his first year in B High School. A month into the first term, though, he has no friends and his teacher keeps pressuring him until he finally can't take it and cuts his hair so the teacher can't complain about his long hair anymore.

This hurts though. It hurts him a lot. See, he isn't like anyone else. He knows this. But he also know society expects him to be a perfect boy and son, great in school and all that. So he does his damnedest to be exactly that.

What Tomo doesn't know at the time, is that this would be a turning point in his life — when you hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up, after all.

Tea and Coffee

This is a BtH side story, set before Tomo's breaking point and is about two side characters and their love story.

Soon to be 19 year old Makoto falls in love easily. The problem is that all of his ex-boyfriends seem to think he's too much. Afraid of being seen as a stalker, Makoto folds under the pressure, letting them shape him into what they want. That is, until he finds his current boyfriend is cheating on him. Tired of the thing called love that is waaay too overrated, he decides that's it. He's done with it.

"Eternally 18" café employee Arata is a bit of a workaholic and he also doesn't fall in love. That doesn't mean he doesn't want to have a boyfriend — in fact, he yearns for companionship. But none of his relationships ever last. He figures he should devote himself to his job as a waitress at the safe place café his friend owns instead of trying anymore after getting dumped on Christmas Eve over a dinner that was supposed to be nice.

None of them could have expected that Makoto coming to support his trans friend would lead to a kiss on the cheek, an apology and a conversation creating a connection they both appreciated.

BtH is still being drafted, but TnC is fully drafted and going through revisions. Worth mentioning that TnC has an age gap, and the story's themes are largely consent and respect boundaries.

I also have several short stories about other side characters and I'm also writing a longer side story about one of the antagonists in BtH, because his perspective might be important for context.

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Finally we get to the BIG ONE. THE LARGE ONE.

When the World Falls, I'll be Safe From the Wrath of God

This is the one I mentioned earlier in relation to LoTRG. This story is about Answard, an OP mage who travels while doing as he's told by the church. During his travel some people join him, to his dismay.

In a sense, Ansy's the villain of the story. The rest of the world essentially hates his kind (witches), and he too is just treated like a tool. He does help people, but if he's doing it out of kindness… That's for you to decide.

This is written as if Ansy's writing his story after it's happened and it's divided in 8 arcs. Ansy's trying to solve a mystery (or more like, he's somewhat dragged along to do it) relating to undead, but it's also a journey about himself. I expect this to be like 50 books, ngl. He's detailed. If he skipped all the character development, I guess it would be like 8 books of a travel log.

If you see this, tell me about your book

Whether it's a published book, a wip, or just something you're imagining for now, I want to hear about it! Share some art, too, if you have some!

Tagging a few people who I don't think would mind, but lemme know if you don't want to be tagged in the future! Fyi, to anyone seeing this, you can always tag me <3

@valeriestorm @rosantha-tindall @kittensartswriting