#about my novel

[cowandcalf]

I took a break from writing my first novel to participate in the H50 Big Bang writing challenge and I finished my McDanno story. I longed to be with the boys for a bit. Sometimes, it helps to take a break from a big writing project to gain some distance. I'm back at reading my own writing to ease myself back into this fantastic world and vibe I've created for my novel. It's a merpeople AU. It always fascinates me how I forget about details after some time away from my project. But I'm back now and I'm so happy and proud of what I wrote so far. I want to share one paragraph because I laughed out loud when I read it just now. I'll finish what I've started.

"Let's get you inside. Why did you take off your coat? You're not waterproof anymore, okay? You need rain protection otherwise you freeze, and people will look at you because you behave weirdly. Human weird, it's different to merpeople weird."

[solarianvoidthearoace]

Okay, okay, so–

My novel requires a re-write of the 24 chapters I already have done-ish (which aren’t even covering all the plot I have planned)

The final 6-10 chapters (not yet written, just loads of notes) are supposed to be a complete genre-swap

And I have been really into RPG-Maker type games recently

I was thinking… what I have planned as the final arc of my novel would make a fine story to be put into an RPG-Maker style basic RPG

I’m hoping RPG Maker MZ goes on sale sometime soon (maybe when Steam has its next huge sale in general)

Story summarised without spoiling too much:

Player Character (PC) & Player’s Partner (PP) are a happy couple

Evil Mother (EM) kidnaps PP

PP’s Best Friend (BF) accuses PC

PP sends a covert message to forget about them

PC and BF get into fights with each other

PC and BF stake out EM’s house

It looks like EM is brainwashing PP

PC wants to involve police

BF want to break PP out themself

Observation looks like PP is barely hanging on

PC and BF team up

Over-dramatised breakout and subsequent escaping the city

BF concedes that maybe PC is right for PP after all

The three live happily ever after

In the novel writing-notes this includes a non-amorous/ aromantic polycule and obviously none of the characters is straight (I’m a tumblr user after all)

But I figure with the drama, the fighting, the “quest” to rescue PP and everything, it would maybe make a nice little RPG and the way the story is planned for the novel, PP would be bigender (which in a game would mean the player gets to choose whether their Love Interest used “he/him” or “she/her”) and overall it’s just very queer, which could all translate into simple variations being all up to the player (like Player Character’s pronouns, Love Interest’s pronouns, type of relationship, etc.)

And I figure the sprite of the PP would get a drastic change as EM is forcing them to adapt to what she demands rather than allowing PP to be themself

Initially PP looks more androgynous (hence up to the player which pronouns are used) and after the abduction, PP would have hair cut short and forced to conform to the gender binary – I just realised, this is basically a “forced detransition” storyline, because in my OG version PP is she/he nonbinary. oof. yikes.

I’m a writer, not a game-maker or artist, though

I haven’t looked into what a basic RPG Maker game takes but would a storyline like this be of interest for anyone?

I know a few people I could ask to help with GIs and character sprites;

And I think I can figure the rest out, depending on RPG Maker’s UI

As I said, I hope RPG Maker MZ goes on sale sometime soon and that I can figure it out pretty intuitively

I know my storyboard, as a writer I tend to focus on dialogue (aka script), and I already made some notes

I want high customisation at the beginning, like, as a feature, that there are default names but the player can also choose to name the PC and PP, like how the player can pick the characters’ pronouns, because I assume that’d create some more emotional attachement

Default names I intend so far are Aleks and Emory (not related to the novel draft I pull this whole plotline from)

The first few minutes are going to be a “week” of PC interacting with PP and their shared home to also further attachment/ make the player care about the love interest; as well as adding some context on the relationship, giving the player time to figure out controls, etc.

That “first week” is supposed to include some simple choices about interacting with the love interest, emphasising the affection between PC and PP (like “cuddle on the couch”, “share food”, “join for shower”)

And I want to utilise a color filter/ overlay because the ‘secondary perspective’ relevant character is colorblind, which would be signified through that color overlay (also to make POV changes easily recognisable)

[solarianvoidthearoace]

Except nobody I’m still calling a friend ever read more than a chapter of my novels 😅🥲

Or really much of any of my writing 😅

I can’t motivate myself to get started on that damn re-write also

[lucidloving]

@roach-works // Melissa Broder, "Problem Area" // Mary Oliver, "The Return" // @annavonsyfert // Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer // Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance // David Levithan, How They Met and Other Stories // Tennessee Williams, Notebooks

[ilovedthestars]

there really are few emotions i find more compelling in a story than "you should be afraid of me. please don't be afraid of me"

[runawaymarbles]

Reading Mockingjay as an adult is extra devastating because. Of course the plucky teenager and her ragtag friends aren't going to sneak into a government building to kill the president with a bow and arrow. That's absolutely ridiculous. It's the kind of thing that's only possible in the kind of propaganda that Coin developed. But she's so good at it that in some ways she tricks the reader into thinking that's the kind of story this is, too--even after 3 books reminding us that pretty much everything that Katniss does the second she volunteers is manipulated by adults pulling strings to make propaganda in some form or another.

[solarianvoidthearoace]

#we need more books like loveless

I genuinely, sincerely, hope that my novel can be similar to this

I know my novel won’t ever make it big, it’s too queer and too out of whack for that

But I sincerely hope that my novel maybe someday makes someone understand what it’s like to be an aroace “in love” with an aroallo

(Plus the loveless aro side-guy and the promiscuous alloace and overall queerness because fuck gender)

I was talking to someone about Loveless the other day and they were going on about how 'sad it was' and whilst I get it's not a happy book etc, it's not really supposed to be sad in that way. It's supposed to be a book about accepting who you are, and learning that's its okay to be who you are, and aro ace people shouldn't be excluded from that

What is sad is that I forget how many people still view aro and/or ace people + anyone on the spectrum as 'broken' or as 'missing something' or 'lonely' or 'depressed'. Like we are NOT broken for god sake and my depression is definitely not from being ace. I'm not saying it's easy but I hate how we are often stereotyped

[tossawary]

I just know in my heart of hearts that in "Star Trek" at one point, there was some moral panic somewhere on Vulcan (among the uppity sorts) because Human culture was "infecting" the local youth with their overly emotional, destructive, unproductive, frivolous, and uneducational ways.

And what was actually happening was that a bunch of Vulcan kids got really into 23rd-century "Minecraft" or something.

Small Vulcan child @ another Vulcan child: (in a tone that sounds flat to Humans but angry as hell to Vulcans) "You have compromised the optimization of my fortress. I am having an emotional urge to blow up your house... in Minecraft."

[yuutaguro]

it’s not a sin to be a child ☁️

[ahsokalegend]

One of my favorite choices the Apothecary Diaries made was making the Emperor a “normal guy” (as far as I know as an anime-only). He’s not evil. He’s not hindering Mao Mao’s journey. He respects the concubines.

If anything his lack of autonomy and presence as the most powerful person in the country further enhances the show’s themes of working within the confines of class and gender inequality.

The previous emperor was a horrible, horrible pervert. Okay, then this emperor only weds women of age… Until he’s forced to take his father’s precious wife due to politics. The current emperor reasonably avoids her.

Eunuchs exist? Bam! now the surgery is outlawed, but this will create a reduction in male labor around the palace.

The emperor clearly favors few women. Well, now he must recognize a concubine with a powerful politician father playing the system.

He supports Mao Mao toeing the line of social expectations for women, but hasn’t removed the law against women preparing medicine. It makes one think, if he wanted to, could he make the change at all? For every two steps forward, he’s forced to take one step back.

In this universe even the Emperor is limited by social pressure and the expectations of his station. His life and that of his children is out of his control, and if that isn’t such a compelling piece of world building I don’t know what is.

If that’s how the author twists the narrative of the Emperor you better believe her female characters dealing with women’s issues in this society are even better written.

[solarianvoidthearoace]

Thank you :3

My novel main cast consists of:

Jerry – bigenderflux nonbinary-femme, still a man, aromantic bisexual; later on calls himself his partner’s girl

Cal – agender-genderqueer sex-repulsed aroace; end ups scoring Jerry as their queerplatonic/ alterous waifu

Elmo – aplatonic aroallo gay, proud fag, proud slut, “I’m easy, doesn’t mean I’m cheap” ‘nough said

Ben – demisexual gay guy who has a similar reputation to Elmo, ends up dating Jerry

And aside from Cal, they all sleep with each other (and Ben and Elmo with whomever else) as they please

I still need to re-write that novel but my she/he main character is set in stone and it only gets more queer XD

queer people online: transfag too weird. transbian too problematic. cancel lil nas x

queer people irl: i literally don't have a gender but lesbian sounds cool so that's me now. im bi but im feeling gay today. im not a man and i dress femininely but my pronouns are he/him. i am repulsed by the idea of sex but i make the best sex jokes you've ever heard

[luchsyy]

some concept art for a short graphic novel pitch for one of my classes. "came back wrong" horror trope except that the character came back nicer and more put together (yuri version)

[bobellafofella]

some recent vimes doodles! finished off my year with fifth elephant and a reread of night watch --- now onto thud!

[llamahearted]

two people will go through similar things & learn to cope in different ways

print ♥︎ song

[rat-spit-village]

say what you want about solas but you have to respect that he's a girl's girl. he's like one of those dogs that growls at all men and will only snuggle with women. elgar'nan? he's never despised anything to the core of his being more than that guy. falon'din? he can't help himself but to spill the tea about that psychopath. and yet mythal? even with all their weird and twisted history? she's an old friend. he hisses at elgar'nan for even deigning to speak her name. he calls ghilan'nain 'brilliant' and 'sensitive' even though she's always been transparent about the fact she thinks the blight is Good Actually. the only remark he has about andruil out of everything he could've said is that she's the god of sacrifice. sacrifice, king? i think that might be putting it mildly. i just fucking love that he turns into a chest-beating idiot in front of any man but he's for sure cried in front of every woman he's ever known

[solarianvoidthearoace]

Someone forwarded me this and *cracks knuckles*

Jerry, something around 20-ish, I think. Like he’s still friends with about 10 guys from his city, most of whom he slept with. Also had to sleep with some woman at some point, I suppose, to verify he’s bisexual. Then there’s obviously Elmo, and Jerry dated roughly 6-8 people before getting with Calixte. But Elmo isn’t an ex and out of the 10 guys only 7 have names so far (Background characters are fun)

Elmo… 50+… I mean, we’re talking 17 years with no supervision, no reason not to sleep around, and no interest in relationships, likes one-night-stands… now that I think about it, 50 might be low-balling… uh… NEXT!

Calixte has 3 exes before they meet Jerry, two of which would get socked in the face if they ever meet Jerry. Cal is the “resent and remember” type and Jerry is just protective enough she might punch someone in Cal’s behalf (not likely, Jerry’s not at all violent). No but for real, Cal still struggles massively with the sexual and relationship trauma from those two shitheads, so even Elmo thinks those men deserve a beating.

Ben… uuuuuh… fewer flings than Elmo but definitely “got around”. He hasn’t been living in the big city for as long as Elmo or Jerry, so it’s not like Ben had a decade to fuck around. And he tends to keep to the guys he knows, so basically new relationships only happen on a “referral” basis. Also still friends with many of the guys, mingling with Jerry’s social circle because they just happen to be part of the gay scene of the same big city. Basically: if he’s good friends with a man, chances are they fucked at least once.

Although… technically it isn’t ex-flings for Ben or Elmo, there’s no reason they shouldn’t sleep around. Jerry decided to be faithful to Cal, Elmo, and Ben, though. In that order! Because without Cal as his primary partner, Jerry wouldn’t have achieved his goal of settling with someone and therefor Cal came first, leading to Jerry “closing” the relationship with Elmo. And Ben just sort of happened along the way.

How many Exes/Ex-flings does your OC have? Do they still have any form of contact with them?

👆