#i am at heart a closeted romance author from the 1700s

[louisinart]

*aggressively curbing my instinct to call everyone by pet names so nobody wrongly thinks i'm falling in love with them*

[dyrewrites]

WiP Titles Tag

@owlsandwich wants me to suffer, I guess (I kid). ^.-

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Let's spread the suffering! @stesierra @rmgrey-author and @pb-dot -- what you got hiding in your folders? =P

I have folders for what things are, so we'll arrange by that.

And, to keep it less ridiculous--because this is already so long--I'll only share ones with actual bits written...instead of all the ideas and notes and random dialogue. It needs some prose in there or it won't count.

Also I am just sharing snippets, because it is easier than trying to explain what they are for me. >.>

Shorts -- Horror

I have 6-7 of these planned out but just the one started

The Roommate

I'm starving. It's been a week now since you went shopping, since you made a meal, and there's nothing to eat. Nothing to sup or chew or even gnaw.  And I see you, every day I see you, in this deafening quiet that used to be our home. You leave our bedroom, eyes forward, steps stiff and dig in a closet by the kitchen. Rope then in hand, you check the front door but you don't open it.  On your way back to the room you turn on every light. They're blinding, crackling, begging to burn out and still you leave them on.

Novellas

Rite of the Dinfa -- Mar Sidestory -- dark fantasy/romance

One of four planned sides-tories for the Children of Mar series.

Ophmit is the name we were instructed to use for our Cardinal. An Imaryn name, but not one given by family. It was one she had earned through lust and sacrifice, as one of us soon would, and I wondered then of names. As the lights wore and the Glaer crashed upon our caves, slaking the thirst of the Teeth we crowded in, I lost my focus to that wonder. What power must rest in names, that we clutch some so close and toss others as freely as stones into the sea? Her tale burned brighter; brighter and hotter than the fire that stung our nostrils and squinted our eyes. It wetted us deeper than the sea-licked air and drew us - every one - into the dance of her shadow.

Children's

Mr. Friendly

Did I do it wrong? The shadow wondered, from the quiet darkness of the closet, it’s three little taps first, then again, then three more, and then quicker ones, right?…or was it slower ones? Was I not s’posed to tap the door after? He had tried this before, many times in fact, more than he could count–maybe more than anyone could–and it always ended the same. No matter which way he did it, no matter how many patterns he tried, they ran away.

Standalone Novels

Before Deluca -- vampire romance //tie-in to Bloodhound Series

Yet we are discussing the night before 1700 began, when my future sauntered off one of those ships. Whether I wanted it, asked for it, agreed to it…well, that was as unclear then as it is now. But his presence heralded magnificent, insurmountable change. Ethereal, that presence, there exists no other word. He glowed in the light, near pearlescent skin a mesmerizing contrast to the bronze complexions I was accustomed to. Never mind the litheness of his figure, the feline grace in every twist and curve as he walked the dock. I couldn't look away; in fact I shifted to chase him, sliding my hands along the railing to keep him in my sights. He sang to me, all of him sang, and I ached to dance to that melody...

Ruddy Cheeks -- mystery/thriller

It was warm, balmy and bright that summer. The sort of weather that itches, that burns redhot on any bare scrap of skin not slathered in sunscreen. An average summer for the land without seasons. The city of sun and sea, of transplanted palm trees and overreaching cartoon mice… And it was during that painfully average summer that Lexi died. Her heart continued to beat after, her blood pumped, her neruons fired and she even reacted to outside stimulae. She smiled, she laughed, when appropriate, when expected. But, despite her best efforts, Lexi wasn't alive and, as she stared into the too-clean mirror of her bathroom at the emptiness overtaking her eyes, she worried. No, she concluded, with absolute certainty; she never would be again.

Gravedust -- horror/mystery/comedy

They say that, in my line of work, there are no accidents. That is true. There are eons of intent and planning. You have to make it look like an accident, however, or the critters start to get suspicious. Natural disasters are the easiest, of course, but you try getting all of that chaos to line up in just the right way every time you need it to. The second best are crashes; whether plane, train, ship or automobile. A crash is hard to top, plenty of shades available to paint the scene you want without drawing any attention. These divisions are considered menial labor, any fresh bag of bones off the rack can handle faulty brakes and an icy road.

Series Novels

Children of Mar -- dark fantasy/horror -- quadrilogy

I only have the first one, which is essentially finished, only notes written for the other three but including them anyway

Weald and Wen

The Nothing screamed. Its hollow wail pierced the disquieting gray and cyan of the Darklands. Fyrni lands, Loahl's lands...and he heard it, loud and dreadful through the stillness and prayed to the Lady that the younglings did not. With their ears twitched tall on their youth-rounded heads, his younglings scrambled behind him, eyes alight in vibrant blues. Blues that should have been yellow, burning with the fiery tether of their shadows...but those shadows were lost.

Wake and Glare

Flicker and Din

Heart and Breath

Tales of Morne -- urban fantasy/absurdist -- trilogy

Pale Blood

Opinions held for good reason—as far as he was considered—as he’d been kissing their asses and doing whatever was asked of him since he fucked up and fell from the grace of Upper Dolor’s majestic towers. A fall those crusty old relics wouldn’t let him forget. Jealous fucks the lot of ‘em, he’d remind himself whenever their teeth sunk too deep, or their words cut too wide, can’t stand that I can do what their ancient asses can’t. And he was right, in a way.

Light Thieves

That fancy little auto may have been much smaller and faster than ours, but it was getting awfully close…with no signs of losing interest. “And whose fault is this?” Delilah asked–more sneered, but who could blame her. I didn’t need to answer, and she would’ve clocked me if I tried…but it was my fault. I couldn't help it! We had jars upon jars of the shine and there was no time when we grabbed it to really look. So, as soon as we were free of the transport, and free of the drones, I looked. A peek, really! Worth it, if you asked me–and someone would, later, probably with knuckles involved. But I didn’t care.

Wish

One by one the street lamps flickered and went dark. The roar and hum of the vehicles on the street faded, the birds ended their nightly songs with sudden and uncomfortable silence. She was alone. Well, that was nothing new really - but alone in a few blocks of parking lot with no lights and no sound was certainly new.  Waiting for her sight to adjust to the lack of a light source, she stood completely still. Eyes sliding back and forth, scanning the area - what did she expect to find?  Monsters, surely. What else would cause such a scene just for her. What else could.  "What else indeed." The voice was close, familiar too. 

Chronicles of Ash -- urban fantasy/mystery

Notes in the Undersong

only one I have anything for, but I know it's going to be a series...

The blood dried up, but not before that soft round face—that was surely something to look at when it was flesh and bone instead of dripping ectoplasm—poked out of the wall in front of me with its tongue out. “You're no fun when you're workin’,” she whined, echoing voice vibrating a bit too loud. “And you've never been any, what's your point?” Bit harsh, I'll admit, but she ruined three potions and half a grand of materials. I had a right. The pout did hit me though, a tad, but I could bring her some cat bones later, and add a feline to my ever-expanding menagerie of spooks. She'd love that.

Bloodhound -- urban fantasy/mystery

Another one that'll be a series, but I only have a scene in the first book so far

But, at the moment, with the sun rising—throbbing its heat in time to his veins—Deluca was more concerned with getting home before his daughter woke for school. While she was old enough to make her own way there, she would smell the man on him—werewolf senses were something one never got used to—and deride him for it. Her list of ‘things to shove in Dad’s face when I want something’ was long enough… He had to get home and shower before she had the chance to add to it.