#gutwwip

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

The fairies aesthetic I keep seeing whenever people talking of the fae in books comes up in the algorithm:

The fairies vibe I intend to write in Glory Upon the Wretched:

Post quickly made with stuff fished out from Pinterest; I'm not bashing, it's just a comparison because I felt kinda lonely only seeing the same "picture perfect handsome beauty" ordeal while using Instagram

And it's not that the fairies I write are simply more monstrous and unconventional to human standard, because they love playing with glamour as they see fit, and showing themselves as scarier, or as hashtag human beauty, if the situation calls for it to cause their pleasing and amusement

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Thanks, you gave me some things to work with! I'm open to all sorts of info because although I gave this one starting point, there is potential for all sorts of events and all branches of lore

I also gave a try at asking because like, who knows? Sometimes you only find a lead by taking a chance, and a starting point is still a starting point

Do you have recommendations of sources and books about fae? Cause I need some reading on them for Glory Upon the Wretched (my evil queen & beast arranged married wip)

My vague role for them starts with a woman who accidentally passes a test of a powerful one and is granted a wish, that she uses to bless a baby with survival (the beast), not knowing the baby will grow and keep ties with all sorts of "other folk", the same way he handles beasts and wild animals: kindly (when possible), respectfully, and always aware they could bite his head off, so don't cross their boundaries unless actually necessary

I have a lot of fairy tale reading ready to do, but it's on fae that I feel the drought due not knowing where to start

Hey pumpkin, I can give you sources but I don't usually read modern stuff about fae. I did ask a friend of mine (who had better be asleep, so it'll be a moment) who does read fae/elves stuff. She's a big LOTR fan, so she'd probably rec that? MAYBE? I DON'T KNOW!

I would probably start with reading Celtic mythology. Irish (the Aos si) and Scottish (the Seelie and Unseelie courts) myths are generally what I fucked with as kid, though myths from Wales and Manx convered them too I believe ... (also actually the Norse had their own sort of faeries too, but I'm less familiar). I'd focus on stories about deals (one I like and is well known is the Ballad of Tam Lin) and changlings (like Yeats' poem The Stolen Child) -> even though the child doesn't seem to be one, it'll probably lead you to stories about magical babies.

I am sorry but I'm the worst to ask for sources, like books and such these days because all I do is google until I find what I want. The Encyclopedia Britannica and wikipedia are my friends, particularly wiki because I use it to lead back to THEIR sources.

So, I'd probably start there. Actually, specifically look up 'books about fairy bargains' and there seem to be a list of stories -- I don't know how good they are.

Maybe someone I follow will be of better help <3 (and I'll keep an eye out, in case I find something.)

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Wip intro made on canva with images from the windswept picrew by Elena-illustration.

Not quite a fairy tale retelling, but an exploration of fairy tales and fairies.

If any character looks familiar, this wip started out as an au of my own ocs.

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Leon whipping up his fairy offerings like,

Here's some amazing cream, and bread with top quality jam - I literally developed a special recipe to figure out how much fruit and sugar will please them the most

And here's animal blood and flesh meticulously presented in appealing fashion for my Unseelie friends. Do not fucking tell if you've just eaten a man, I do not need to know that.

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Say hit to Cow!

Leon's eldest, Diego, has an affinity with fairy cats, and it all starts with the black and white kitten he met as a Lil kid and thought was plausibly related to cows

Much to the exasperation of both his and her parents, kitten decided she liked being called Cow and refused to answer to anything else, even in human form many years later

The double buns in her human form are to hide her cat ears, and the human ears are just decoration disguise non-functional

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

When the beast doesn't need to turn into a bland "pretty" human as some kind of reward for the beauty for "tolerating" the "beastlyness" for so long

In my evil queen and beast arranged marriage wip, the "beast (by misunderstanding)" is a normal looking man, but the evil queen is quite freak looking

She has visible dark green veins all over her pale and frigid body, odd green "blood" seeps from eyes at times, and affects even her saliva, staining her mouth and lips and making her taste like blood

That never changes (tho it is disguised at times in public events in other kingdoms), and the beast doesn't mind it at all

Question for the masses: What are your favorite things to see in a Beauty and the Beast type story? What elements do you look forward to? What moments would you hate to see left out?

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

I am so glad for this outfit because it fits one of my ocs (an evil queen) so much

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Wait I now have to come up with at least one named speaking fairy lover uhhh

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

An attempt at the Evil Queen/Althaea and the Beast/Leon/Leandro in the windswept picrew to match the plot and a potential future wip intro of Glory Upon the Wretched

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Originally I was supposed to participate in camp nano, but...

I will spend April continuing to re-read all my books on writing, and I'm considering also doing reading for my kind of fairytale retelling wip of an arranged marriage between an evil queen and a beast, titled Glory Upon The Wretched

The reading for this wip involves a variety of "original" versions of fairy tales (from the "traditional", to Celtic, to Nordic - and the collection just got the east Asian volume greenlit! But it'll only be sent to supporters on like June or July), a book on fairytales and disabilities, another on the appeal of fairy tales, another on fairies themselves, one on witches and witchcrafts across the world and time,

And maybe like, one on poisons/poisoning for some repertoire for the evil queen, plus one on the lovers of kings, and one on lovers of queens, for ideas for the court dynamics in the kingdoms the queen and the beast have to visit

With all this reading I should have a better grasp on how to finish conceptualizing the premise of the wip, and keep myself busy while nothing else goes on

Camp NaNo

Anyone doing Camp NaNo this April? I'm theoretically attempting it, I've set a loose goal for 30k words to see if I can put a dent in my Deathdancer outline draft and maybe still meet my goal to finish it by the end of the school year.

If you're doing it, come tell me about your project! What are you working on? Goals? What are you excited about?

If you're not doing it and you just want to tell me about your current project/s, then feel free to do that too!

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Glory Upon the Wretched tentative sketch 1

Im posting it like this to share with some friends.

The invitation to the king’s court comes with great pomp and circumstance of official messengers, guards and paper adorned in gold.

Leon’s mouth turns bitter at the sight — it cannot mean anything good.

As he grabs a plain brown coat, he turns the words over in his head, affirmations about a great honor and serving the even greater good.

Arrival at the castle brings a crowd ready outside, and making their way into the building as much as they can fit in.

Leon recognizes a trap when he sees one, but for what purpose?

People part the way to the doors seeing him come down from his horse, having refused the carriage, and chosen to ride along at least two of his hounds.

The dogs need make not a sound to pressure onlookers into giving wider berth.

Paupers turn to nobles in such drastic contrast of debauched luxury, Leon does not wonder when to stop walking and kneel before the court.

“No, no, rise my boy!” The king exclaims in obvious drunk stupor. “After another few weeks, we will be of the same standing!”

“Your majesty? What could you mean?”

“For a long time you have served this kingdom well, my boy, and it is time you not only end your service, but meet a great reward!”

Leon hesitates, then rises back on his feet and meets the king’s eyes with his own, seeing no one else can bear to look at him.

“Recently, Greenwood has entered discussions of alliances with the great kingdoms, and it has been decided that nothing less than a holy marriage will better seal the deal officially.

Great discussions have come and go between the crowns of these lands, over who best could represent us in the role of the groom… And that, my boy, will be you.”

Leon makes nothing of the turmoil of emotions budding in his body, quick to suppress it and attempt to maintain a peaceful expression. “Your majesty, I do not question the wisdom with which you have ruled this land to prosperity, however, won’t the Lady of the Greenwood consider this an insult?”

The king snorts, pouring more wine into his cup, and the mumbling of their audience becomes louder. “How, my boy?”

“For one, I am barely of noble birth, For two, despite the fondness with which you call me ‘boy’, your majesty, I am nearing the fourth decade of my time. Third, and in that time, I have already married, brought about my offspring, and divorced. Yes, it was a pagan wedding, but it was still a consummated union that did not last. Your majesty, I am in so many ways past the prime of what a fitting representative should be for such an ordeal.”

“Your lifetime accomplishments more than make up for where you lack, Leon del Valle. It is not in jest that this decision was made.”

Leon wants to dare the king to name those accomplishments, knowing that for the common people he is a near benign beast that could any day go out of control, yet the eyes that avoid him imbue the king’s actions with a level of threat that the eyes that do dare upon him only emphasize.

“Very well, your majesty. Could you tell me, then, how we will proceed about this agreement?”

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

Welp, Leon might not have knitting and crocheting in the setting of Glory Upon the Wretched, but now he has sculpting skills for the purpose of magic rituals and all that

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

I wonder if I keep Leon/Beast childless or I bring along his children and ex wife from his original wip/story and all that

I think it could add layers and so on to many things, but I don't know if it's necessary at all to his background here

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

The Beast's name is Leon (aka Leandro), but his beasts are black hounds, like the ones in his family's heraldry

Except when his family scorned him and he left for once and all, the family never managed to tame or train another black hound again

The maid that was left to pick his name did it hoping to bless him, creating the imagery of a lion cub among treacherous hounds

But as the cub grew, instead of finding a pride, it kept meeting other, better, greater and more dangerous hounds that chose to follow him

Even as a king, he does not adhere to lion symbolism, but sticks to the hound

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

New Glory Upon the Wretched character: a sorta mercenary who was hired to help the usurper slaughter the Althaea/evil queen's family, but once he witnesses the revolt of the land upon the act and the strong magic involved, he realizes the usurper lied about the bigger picture of the job, and becomes a double agent that enables the then imprisoned princess Althaea to grow into "bite the hand that beats you", or, to grow into the evil queen

[karolinarodrigueswrites]

I know the average writing advice is to not allow as much as possible that your characters say the truth/what they mean, but as the fairies value honesty or "honest manipulation", neither the evil queen, the beast, or the people associated with them will simply lie

Omission? Yeah we gonna have plenty of that, thought carefully, as to not just lie

Because I found some stuff in my research, and decided that, indeed, for stronger command over magic, honesty is a requirement

The more often your words are meaningless or worthless, the less magic will find convincing conviction in your summons and commands to bend reality

As a challenge, however, the evil queen has secrets to keep for herself, specially depending on the kingdoms beliefs about witch marks like hers, and the beast, as mentioned in the intro, abides by the secrecy of the fairies, meaning he cannot be open about everything even if he must be honest