#and specifically fire and graceling by her

[wavesmp3]

shawna!!! i picked up “the sea is yours to take” and genuinely so In love with your world building! can i know how you plotted the story out or how this world even emerged :OO

omg genuinely so excited to answer this ask, like you have no idea. i pulled out my laptop for it hehe

so as a disclaimer i must start by saying that i first started creating this fic and the world around it in 2019 (which can you believe was 5 years ago lol) AND i haven't really revisited all my notes since i was working heavily on this world in 2020 AND my notebook with all the details and brainstorming i did is at my parents' house and therefore do not have access to for the time being...

all of this to say that i am a little muddy on all of the nitty gritty details, but we continue forward nonetheless!

so as i said the initial idea that turned into this world came to me in the summer of 2019 in a silent chapel in the form of this drabble

(which, a note on the silent chapel part lol, i'm not a very religious person and i had never been to one before that but i think going to a place like that and thinking of the drabble there is why the piece has a strong emphasis on religion and like religious institutions, a lot of which was inspired by catholic ideologies such as the very idea of seven sins and seven gifts. and a lot of the emphasis on the religious beliefs of that world might not be as obvious in 'the sea is yours to take' (tsiytt) but it has more importance in the other installations (read: the world is ours to remake, posted as an original work somewhere on my blog as well as the crown is his to wear which was supposed to be the third and final installation that i never got around to writing rip)

but back to the point -- the drabble kind of set up the main plot which, to put it briefly, is that there is a king who is up to no good so much so that his own son is looking to overthrow him.

(note that the drabble was slightly different when originally posted and had been edited after the fact once i had created the entire world and overarching plot, but it was mainly the same as it stands right now apart from the naming of a couple things. fun fact: the gifts were called the virtues in that drabble)

and from there i kind of let my mind run wild.

i can't remember if i did most of the plotting/creation of that world during 2019 summer or if i did it during 2020 summer, but the main point is that i had almost a full year of just on and off thinking about this piece and this world

so from there (ignoring the timeline of all this world building) it was mainly just figuring out the answers to a whole bunch of questions like: why is the son trying to overthrow the king? what is the 'no good' that the king is up to? why did the prince seek out this other character in the drabble? what does that character know that can be of help? how or why do they specifically know it?

and it continued and continued like that for a long time until i had a pretty good understanding of what i wanted the plot to be. and because of the nature of the overarching plot with the plans to overthrow the king it kind of also did a lot of the world building too. i again had to ask and answer questions like why are all the sins and gifts apart from fortitude dead? why would the nomads know something that the rest of this world doesn't? why have the nomads ceased communication with the rest of this world? and a ton of other questions and answers that literally wouldn't even make sense with what is discussed in tsiytt but kind of helped informed what tsiytt needed to set up for following installations to make sense.

(note: kind of hate the naming of the nomads and the nomads land, it just feels wrong and a bit offensive of a word to use in the context that it is. i was young and really the only thing i was thinking about was the fact that it sounded like no mans land)

anyways this whole lengthy explanation is again just to say that i knew a certain couple of scenes needed to happen to drive the plot forward: like not knowing why fortitude sent the prince away, fortitude killing lord seth, the ending scene, and then a couple others that i won't say because they're probably spoilers.

and from there i just got to add in scenes to build out the love story as well as the characters. i wasn't following a very serious outline (especially when i started to write in may 2020) but rather just following my heart and letting words and scenes come out as i was writing them. but then because i was just thinking about this world and this piece so much i started to think up scenes that i wanted to write that would only happen much later. and so from there i was following a very loose outline. which was really just a whole bunch of bullet points of scenes i wanted to add. like they were so unserious. and to show how unserious, here is a sc i pulled of them (thank you google doc version history)

LOL

anyways i think that's kind of all i have to say right now, but i could really talk about that piece and that world for years, there is so much depth that will unfortunately never leave my little brainstorming notebook. even details like the zalazar river have so much more history and meaning to it than is explored or even brushed on in tsiytt.

i really apologize that this got so long (and if you can believe it, this is me trying to keep it short) and if it makes absolutely no sense. but if you have more questions or things you wanted to discuss or ask pls pls pls go right ahead. my ask box or dms are always open!! i love any excuse to talk about this world and these characters. they're my heart.

[ilovedthestars]

ask game: 4, 19, 35, or 51?

Thank you for so many options! I'm going to take the first two because i'm having trouble coming up with answers for the others.

(writer ask game)

4. what is the plot bunny you’ve been carrying for the longest? optional bonus question: do you ever wonder why you haven’t written it yet and experience deep existential dread?

if we're talking murderbot fic, the very first murderbot fanfic I sat down to write is still unfinished and yes it haunts me. i call it my targetControlSys wip and if you're on the discord you've heard a bit about it before but the basic concept of it was: in that part of NE when TCS almost takes over Murderbot's brain, What If It Did? it was the first iteration of me writing what i later started calling malware fics, aka "murderbot is almost forced to hurt people it cares about and afterwards it has emotions about this." parts of the draft are actually quite complete so i hope i'll be able to finish it someday but it's on the backburner for the forseeable future.

if we expand it outside of murderbot fic, when i was about 13 i started writing a YA fantasy novel and i worked on it for a solid five years without ever finishing a complete draft. i still love the characters and concept dearly, but at some point i realized that i liked it too much to let go of parts of it that needed to go, in order to fix the plot holes that 13 year old me put in there. so it's in the metaphorical trunk until a time when i can take it out again and take it apart to build something new. on the possibility that it will someday make it into published book form in some recognizable way, i will be vague about the plot, but it had a prophecy and a chosen one who really didn't want to be the chosen one and her found family who tried to make it bearable for her <3

19. what are some books or authors that influenced your style the most?

oh, god, hard question. the vast majority of what i read as a kid/teen was YA fantasy, mostly the kind starring a girl with a sword. i read countless books like that, i don't know if any particular ones stand out but i'm sure they've affected how i write. specific books/series I was really into as a teen include Tui T. Sutherland's Wings of Fire, Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, Kristin Cashore's Graceling trilogy (it has more books now but i have not caught up), and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows. not sure how any of those have specifically influenced me but maybe it will be obvious to others XD I'm sure reading Murderbot and some other similar adult SFF has also changed and developed my writing style in the last few years as well.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

10 Characters 10 Fandoms 10 5 Tags

Rules: choose 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms -- no double dipping! Then tag friends or mutuals to complete the game as well.

Tagged by @apocalypticavolition (who I extremely blame for making me pick favorites. I am now the Miette meme sending this mutual to jail for 1,000 years)

Top 10

Jaina Solo of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (technically its now the Legends Continuity, but fuck Disney for that) - The unhinged drama that the extended Skywalker and Solo clans has a special place in my heart, but Jaina's A+ mix of badassery, trauma, angst, communication issues, and severe allergy to feelings makes every stage of her life an absolute treat to watch. That and the fact that she is the last Solo kid standing as of Disney's murder of the EU makes her the best in my book. Teenage me DESPERATELY wanted to be Jaina Solo. Adult me wants to give her a hug and take her out for a synthale.

Lady Sybil Ramkin Vimes of Discworld - This might be a low-key surprise pick, since I have previously cited Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes as Discworld favorites, but Lady Sybil also holds a special place in my heart, because she is literally an amazing partner to Sam without losing any of her own interests and personality. She is also a complete badass in a quiet, competent way that adult, married me would give literal years of her life to have. And then there was the time she absolutely let Serafine HAVE IT because she was pregnant, being held hostage, and Sam's life was in danger, but the goddamn tipping point was that Serafine DIDNT RESPOND TO THE ANNUAL LETTERS. Perfection.

Iskierka from the Temeraire series - She breathes fire, she is a holy terror, and she is basically a pirate masquerading as a soldier. Iskierka is a queen without equal.

Briar Moss from the Circle Universe - I just desperately want to give this poor traumatized boy a hug, but he already has three sisters and two mothers to do that for him. I genuinely think Briar's three books are the best written and executed in the Circle Universe, and his journey feels deeply grounded in a way that the girls' don't, because within their origins and cultures, the girls all came from some level of privilege. Briar is a grounding force that I deeply appreciate.

Dau from the Warrior Bards trilogy - Dau, much like Briar, is in desperate need of a hug. Another traumatized boy, but his one literally has to go on a three-book arc to learn how to feel his feelings and how to people. Basically, we have to socialize him, and watching Liobhan try to do that is by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, and rage-inducing. Dau tries so hard that he makes everything about five times harder than it has to be.

Lan Chitward from the Valdemar Universe - OK, I might prefer guys who need hugs, because Lan is a beautifully executed tragic hero. This kid ends up half trained and sans mentor and support system on the front lines of a war with his lifebonded partner and the phyrric victory claims both their lives. Before that though, Lan gets to speed run found family, and it's just delicious because it twists the knife even deeper. I have my issues with Mercedes Lackey, but in Lan she nailed a tragic, doomed hero.

Penelope Featherington from Bridgerton - The Netflix series is objectively better than the book series, but even in the books Pen is my favorite. Our girl is a WRITER, and she isn't afraid to use that skill. There also aren't enough writer protagonists out there, so shoutout to this lovely one.

Fire from the Graceling Universe - Fire is a fascinating protagonist because she is quite literally a monster, and just existing in the world for her is an exercise in understanding what humanity is...even in those humans who lack it.

Ikenna from the Blood Gift universe - Our beautiful murder barbie is inimitable and frankly I want there to be MORE books with her. And murder barbie speaks to my heart in some extremely specific ways.

Nyneave Al'Meara from the Wheel of Time - *yanks braid, smooths skirts* Literally if I didn't pick her, Nyneave would walk out of those books and come for my head, and I would have no choice but to agree with her because she is very much the best.

@giaelesramblings

@iliiuan

@tatithetinybooktuber

@lillywhitefield

@reddy-reads

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Have you noticed the thing in fanfics of children's lit where the writer gives the protagonist new parent figures? The parent figures say things like "no child should have had to do x!". PF's don't prevent protagonist from doing heroism but might ground them for it after. Under their care, the protagonist is likely to get a job, often at the business of the PF. Seems less common for the Animorph (more in ATLA and Harry Potter), but if you have seen this, what's going on? Why do writers do this?

Why do writers do this?

Welcome to the fandom renaissance, Nonny!  My best stab as to what’s going on here is that we’re seeing fewer and fewer shipping wars due to a whole range of forces from “the average age of fandom is increasing” to “there’s an ongoing post-monogamy societal shift.”   BUT that there’s still a desire to see relationship-building fic go in the gaps where (for instance) Pro-Jacob Anti-Edward fic used to go.  So instead of writing about Edward and Bella’s romance, people are writing about Edward and Carlisle’s mentorship, or Leah and Rosalie’s friendship.

What’s going on?

Again, a stab in the dark: it’s a really fun story premise, one that can get away from the way ships are sometimes fraught with baggage.  Found Family is intensely cathartic, in the sense that it takes characters who are miserable and/or lonely in canon and allows them to build loving relationships with each other.  It also (IMHO) reflects that trend among Millennial Whippersnappers to move away from nuclear definitions of “family” and toward embracing everything from polyamory to sexless romance to adult adoption.

Not only that, but it’s awesome in that it lets writers play so much with foils.  Stranger Things obviously does this Up to Eleven (pun intended): Steve’s an arrogant jerk when he’s interacting with Nancy but a dorky sweetheart around Dustin, Hopper’s at his worst around Joyce but at his best around El, Billy’s evil to Max but might be redeemable around his mom, etcetera.  This premise gives fan writers the chance to get wildly different characters into a room together — what if the Tonks family adopted Neville Longbottom? — and start playing out the fun potential.

Why Avatar and Harry Potter (but not Animorphs)?

In a word: FOILS.  Both AtLA and Harry Potter are series filled with good, bad, and ugly mentors, and both series have contrasts between the good and the bad.  For AtLA, it’s no accident that Zuko finally reuniting with his father in S3E1 is intercut with the scene of Katara finally reuniting with her father.  Katara’s fam airs their grievances, talks things out, yells, cries, apologizes, forgives, hugs, and affirms their ongoing love.  Zuko’s fam deals with having 500 times as much baggage by... Zuko kowtowing silently on the floor while Ozai talks about everything but their problems with each other.  After that sequence, the desire to get Zuko into a room with Hakoda for some proper fathering is practically overwhelming, and many brilliant fan writers have obliged us by doing exactly that.

For Harry Potter, there’s no scene that’s as in-your-face with the contrast between healthy vs. unhealthy disagreement with one’s father, but there are still plenty of mentor foils.  Sirius and Petunia are probably the clearest examples.  Sirius is a raging mess who (on the surface) has nothing to offer Harry: he’s an ex-con with a drinking problem and untreated mental health issues who spends much of the series homeless.  Petunia has her shit together and (on the surface) is the perfect guardian for Harry: she’s a wealthy full-time parent who lives in a large suburban house, and is both his closest surviving relative and his legal guardian.  But of course all Harry needs from a parent is love and support, and Sirius offers that in spades while Petunia has none to spare.  Again, the desire to rip Harry away from the Dursleys and ship him off to go be a Black is overwhelming, and many beautiful works of fan fiction have done exactly that.

Animorphs... doesn’t have mentor characters.  Like, none.  Elfangor dies, Toby does her own thing, Erek can’t be trusted, neither Ax nor Jake wants to mentor, and all adults are possible controllers.  Eva’s the closest we get, but by the time she’s free, everyone (especially Eva) recognizes that the Animorphs are already more experienced than her.  We don’t even see a dynamic like the Teen Titans show where the villains mentor the heroes — Jake and Marco might occasionally parallel Visser Three and Visser One, but they don’t learn from the vissers the way that Robin does from Slade or Raven does from Trigon.  The kids just... find their own way.  So while people have written fic where Elfangor or Eva or Mertil or Tom mentors the team, there’s not this in-your-face missed opportunity for the kids to get the parenting they deserve in Animorphs the way there is with Harry Potter and Avatar.

Have you noticed the thing?

Personally, I love this trend.  I’m not much of a shipper — I’m not fond of “will they or won’t they” romantic premises, and actively dislike “they will because they’re soulmates” premises.  My favorite Ship Dynamics are all platonic.  Like, my faves include (but are not limited to):

Grubby Semi-Feral Mentee and Aloof Socially-Incompetent Mentor Bond with Alarming Speed Over Niche Magical Interest (see: Briar and Rosethorn in Circle of Magic, Boy 412 and Marcia in Septimus Heap, Jason and Bruce in Batman, Wart and Merlin in The Once and Future King)

Well-Intentioned Loving Parent Irretrievably Fucks Up Child, Copes with Fallout (see: John and Dean in Supernatural, Adam and Cal in East of Eden, Soichiro and Light in Death Note, Elaine and T.J. in Political Animals)

I’ve Only Known This Person With Extremely Specific Shared Trauma for 10 Minutes But If Anything Happened to Them I Would Kill Everyone (see: Toph and Zuko in AtLA, Luke and Annabeth in Demigod Diaries, Ax and Tobias in Animorphs, Spike and Angel in Angel, Parker and Eliot in Leverage, Johanna and Finnick in Catching Fire)

Saving the World Sucks But At Least My Ultra-Competent Siblings Are Suffering With Me (see: Edmund and Lucy in Chronicles of Narnia, Sam and Dean in Supernatural, the Hargreeveses in Umbrella Academy, the Crains in Haunting of Hill House)

Just Because I Tried to Kill You That One Time Doesn’t Mean I Won’t Help You Hide a Body, JFC We’re Still Family and I Don’t Know What You Take Me For (see: the Robins in Batman, Septimus and Simon in Septimus Heap, Kyle and Ian in The Host)

We Were the Weird Cousins At All the Family Reunions and We’ve Only Gotten Weirder Since (see: Kate and George in Story Time, Jake and Rachel in Animorphs, Po and Bitterblue in Graceling Realm)

[cocoartistwrites]

Do you know any books where the female lead is ruthless and the male lead is quite innocent/shy? I've always read the opposite but it gets quickly boring and I wondered if there existed books with a twist like that?

Circe by Madeline Miller is probably the closest I can come up with. It takes A WHILE to get to that romance but you will and the book is extraordinary. Books like this are very rare, I think. That’s one of the reasons The Hunger Games was so groundbreaking. I’m told The Immortal Rules is along the lines you’re looking for but I haven’t read it and also possibly Spindle’s End. 

In the post-Gone Girl world we are seeing more ruthless female protagonists, which I personally think is great when they’re done well, but I can’t think of many with the specific dynamic you’re after. 

Sarah J Maas does a very good ruthless female lead but her male protagonists can usually keep up and definitely aren’t innocent.. If you haven’t read it you could try The Grisha Trilogy - she’s not ruthless but she is powerful. You can hardly count Cardan as either innocent or shy but it’s on the right track and you don’t get much more ruthless than Jude in The Cruel Prince. Aliena in The Pillars of the Earth is certainly more ruthless than Jack. And older than him! Also try: The Bone Witch, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Graceling, His Dark Materials, The Bear and the Nightingale. 

I hope that’s helped a bit and please add in comments if anyone sees this and has recs. I love this dynamic! 

Looking at you especially @paperbackbones

[chaoticbasementpeach-blog]

One thing I strongly disliked about the Grisha series was the viewpoint the book seemed to have that powers are bad. Or more specifically strong powers. This is something that isn’t uncommon in young adult books. Authors writing about characters with superpowers or fantastical abilities and then demonizing these powers or making the happy ending be about taking them away.

When I was younger it would make me so sad to finally find a book on a topic that I loved and have the topic treated as bad. The Grisha series ended with the main character losing her abilities and the message from the book was that that was how things should be. Another book that did this in a horrific way was Fire in the Graceling series. The author created a new race only to label them monsters and the only happy ending would be an ethnic cleansing, or the main character making it so that she could have no babies to continue her race.

(I wish we could see much less authors creating new races only to say that there is nothing good about them. It is neither creative, nor realistic. On its own it is a dark idea, but in the world we live in where some races are viewed as different- having superhuman strength or being predisposed to violence- it is even more horrific. )

There are great conversations to be had in worlds with powers. What are the dangers they present and how should they be dealt with? But for the solution to only be removing them is boring and shows the author hasn’t completely considered all of the implications. I hope we can soon see books that treat all the characters created as important and vulnerable.

[zarseblog]

Module 8: Graceling

Genre: Young adult fiction, Fantasy, Romance

Book Summary: Katsa is a graceling - one of the few people in the world gifted with a magic power called a “grace” and marked by differently colored eyes. In service to her uncle, the King, Katsa sets out on a mission to save a man from prison and instead stumbles across a mystery with horrific implications. With the help of the secretly graced Prince Po, Katsa will risk everything to save the seven kingdoms.

APA Reference: Cashore, K. (2008). Graceling. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

Impressions: Graceling is a book that does some things very well and others very poorly. Very well: graces - I absolutely love the idea behind graces and the ones that were shown in the story were really unique (specifically survival as a skill). Cashore also has variety of strong women characters, most notably Katsa who is physically strong and capable, but also Bitterblue who has strength of character and will. Very poorly: Katsa’s hatred of everything “feminine” - it is one thing not to want children, which is perfectly valid, but I am tired of the idea that a woman can only be strong if she rejects everything that is considered traditionally feminine. Frankly the strongest women I’ve ever met have been mothers and it’s insulting to insinuate that a woman cannot be both strong and interested in anything remotely feminine or traditional. Also the world building was lacking and I am less than impressed with the kingdoms that have essentially been named north (Nander), south (Sunder), east (Estill), west (Wester), and middle (Middluns).

Professional Review: Highly acclaimed around the world, Cashore’s fantasy centers on gracelings, gifted beings who use their supernatural abilities for both good and evil. Katsa, an unusually strong fighter, has been controlled by her uncle, rey Randa, who manipulates Katsa to intimidate and even kill others. Then Katsa meets Po, a young prince, whose special gifts and friendship convince her to use her fighting skills for better purposes. The fast action, convincing protagonists, and intriguing domains create an engrossing read.

APA Reference of Professional Review: Schon, I. (2009, November 1). Graceling [Review of the book Graceling, by K. Cashore]. Booklist. Retrieved from https://www.booklistonline.com/Graceling-Kristin-Cashore/pid=3832599

Library Uses: Summer reading challenge - my library often creates summer reading challenges and booklists and this would be perfect for a fantasy themed challenge.

Readalikes: The Girl of Fire and Thorns is a similarly fast-paced fantasy starring a strong heroine and interesting political intrigue. Snow Like Ashes features a lot of action and the disposal of a dangerous tyrant weilding magical powers to keep his subject in line. Throne of Glass, similar to Graceling, has a main character who is no stranger to working as an assassin. Both heroines work to uncover the truth behind the political machinations of men who abuse their power and find they have magical powers contrary to anything they had believed about themselves.