#but i'd somehow managed to gaslight myself into believeing it. wasn't magic??

[theroseempress]

Weaving and Finger Painting for the ask meme!

(Weaving: are your works typically similar to one another? Pick two works, and share one similarity and one difference between them.)

I don't know if I'd say my works are similar per se, but there's most definitely themes I gravitate towards, and as such most of my works have said themes in common.

As to what said themes are... I'm honestly not entirely sure, to be honest. I definitely like writing character interactions, so I guess most of my works have strong inter-character relationships? I also really like exploring platonic love (and in general find exploring various types of love/relationships fun) so there's that as well.

As to the two works, I'll pick The Golden City and Mercy City (placeholder title) since they're the two I've been recently working on. Similarity- the main protagonist of TGC's name is Felix and the main protagonist of MC's name is Felice Aside from their names, Felix and Felice are pretty similar in some aspects. Also each of these stories currently has City in the title. Difference- Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that MC has a magic system and TGC does not, just average humans. There's also a lot more groups of people up to their own agendas in MC than TGC.

(Finger Painting: share a small snippet from your earliest work (or the earliest that you can get back to). How would you rewrite it today? Either share the rewrite itself or just describe how you'd do it.)

Oh wow, my earliest work... Actually, hang on, I might be able to get that. One moment... Yeah, couldn't find my actual earliest work. It's hypothetically somewhere in my email, but I emailed it to someone when I was like 11 or something, so yeah.

My actual earliest work was a fantasy book where the main characters were horses, believe it or not. I called it Isles of the Endless Sea (which is honestly a very cool name) and it had like 3 or 4 books before I got bored halfway through the ending of one and just. stopped writing them haha.

IotES was honestly quite a good series despite the rather clunky writing (not blaming my past self, she did her best), I reread it recently and there's quite a few moments where I was like 'huh that's actually a really cool concept/line'. The first book's title was 'Night of Shadows' and I honestly can't figure out if that's a bit too dramatic or if it's actually a very cool title.

I'd like to try rewriting it someday, to be honest. If I did, the biggest change I'd make would be changing the characters to humans. I'd also adjust the plot a bit so it's less convoluted, and definitely change how ALL THE CHARACTERS are somehow related. (I'd just discovered the concept of 'secret evil sibling' and was very enamoured with it).

There's a snippet (the first book's prologue) under the cut! Notes specifically on the snippet... not that bad honestly. Formatting could definitely use some work. If I were to edit it now, I'd probably rewrite some of the lines, but overall quite good, especially for what was basically my first time writing.

“She will see you now.”

The white attendant stepped out of the way, and Reikan strode past him, into the throne room. The mare who waited there was beautiful, a deadly kind of beauty, however.

She was the color of polished black ebony, and had striped hooves. Her face was neatly structured, suggesting a hint of Arabian. The only flaw was a long scar,running down her jawline. It was not a ugly thing, merely a line where there was no hair. However, it served as a reminder of who she was to her legions. That and the sabre, that deadly curved sword, that hung in a sheath at her side. It had emeralds studded down the handle, and a blade many suspected was dipped in poison.

It was, in fact. A narrow tube ran down the blade, feeding from the tip, to a reservoir set in the handle, that was filled with adders venom! It had a plug at the tip, so that when it stabbed something , that plug would give leeway for a thin trickle of venom. If you felt the tip, you could feel a slight bump, the plug. However, no-horse felt the tip, as Ziara made most of her kills without using the poison at all.

But perhaps her most recognizable feature was her eyes. They were black, which was not a strange thing. But the kind of black..ah, that was strange. They were a deep black that if you stared into, you felt almost as if you were being sucked into a vacuum. When she was angry, the black gained a strange gleam to it. She was also a master of stares, and could make almost any horse feel the way she wanted them to.

Ziara was studying a map when Reikan entered. However, she greeted him before the door had even closed

“Reikan.”

Somewhat astonished at how she had know it was him, he bowed, and replied. “Milady”

Eyes spitting fire, she turned around.

“Reikan! How many times must I remind you? Do. Not. Call. Me. Milady!” “Apologies General. It was a slip of the tongue.”

The lethal mare returned to her previous state, one so charming it was impossible not to be awed by her beauty.

“Your report?”