#raevenly WRITES

[raevenlywrites]

Queuing up some old work fo rthe new followers *waves*

In Search of Asylum: Interlude, Dreams in the Desert pt1

INTERLUDE: DREAMS IN THE DESERT, PART 1

He scowled at the figured curled up on the sand before him. He couldn’t be mad at him, but he was still so full of anger and hurt, even after giving everything he had in the Whispering Dark. Why were the negative emotions always the first to return? Why couldn’t he recall his mother’s face, his cousin’s laughter, a kind word, a sunny day? It was always the things he tried to keep buried that rose to the surface first.

He sat down in the white sand, hurling a handful of sparks to call a fire into life before him. He watched the shadows play across his sleeping companion, wondering if he should wake him. He never rested, never slept, and something about watching the other man lay there made him want to shake him. He didn’t feel like himself at all. He was usually so much better at keeping his calm.

He turned his gaze to the waxing moon, days away from zenith. The desert always seemed so haunted beneath the silvery light, but it was preferable to the empty stretches of darkness left when il’li Dareiya turned her face away. Balance. Where was his balance? He searched the goddess’s face for answers, but she was as empty and silent as he.

He turned back to the crackling fire, willing the heat to seep into him, to chase away the chill from his bones. Funny, but he never seemed to feel the cold of the Whispering Dark before. Numb, yes, empty, yes, but never the cold. Could it be the hawk?

Keep reading

[raevenlywrites]

I'm so sad thinking about all the Ties That Bind that could have been written if it weren't for fucking work. i've had so many ideas over the past year that if I could just sit down and write them then and there when I have them, god, the thing would be finished by now

i know there's people out there who love it. i still get comments on it (which blows my mind how i haven't updated in like a year) and i like, I still love it. Its my love letter to a series that started me writing.

but there's never any goddamned time. or energy

i hate it here :/

[raevenlyreads]

Spin a sakkri spread

As yall know, I was obsessed with Hawksong and the rest of the Kiesha'ra as a kid. So when I found this write up the author did of the ahnleh, I knew I had to turn it into a tarot spread.

My Spin a Sakkri spread is good for immediate advice on a current decision or problem you're facing. The she card frames the present moment, the point of decision. o'she reveals a past point that is still influencing the present. a'she is one of many possible futures. Ahnmik illuminates that which binds you, freezes you, or perhaps stabilizes you. Anhamirak liberates, burns, and sparks change. And the Free Will card speaks to how you can impact the course of sheni, the ever-flowing line of time as it marches through Mehay.

If all of that made actual sense to you, congratulations, you're a nerd :P Come talk to me about having your own sakkri spun, and come check out all of my other spreads on my ko-fi page.

[dragon-swords-prophecies]

Bladesingers, you say? That sounds super rad tell me more!

Hi, happy wbw! Thanks for the ask!

So bladesingers are a type of ancient elven warrior which were almost entirely eradicated when Londori (elven homeland) was destroyed during the first dragon war. (The only surviving one was a elf named Thia Nailo, who survived merely by being late for a conference by two days. she has a pet panther. and an eagle).

They combine magic wizard shit with swords, and it looks really really cool when they do it.

And my brain has decided to discard every single thing I worldbuilt about this (which was serval things!) and I am too lazy to go look at my notes so that's all I have now but watch me reblog this later with all that info, save it in my drafts for two months, and then post it then.

WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Their signature color is a weird fiery orange-yellow. Its fun. And full bladesingers wear a sash with criscrossing bits, and appretices wear a sash without a second one crossing over the first.

[aparticularbandit]

If you don't start, you also will not do the story justice, because there is no story written to be considered. Only the passing dream of one.

That sounds cruel.

But don't use not writing as a way to avoid failing writing the story.

If you are not writing the story, you have still failed at writing the story.

The most frustrating experience as a writer is having a clear vision in your mind of the story you want to tell but being too afraid to put pen to paper for fear of failing to do the story justice. I’m so scared that my actual execution will fail to meet my expectations that I’m paralysed to even start.

[mrs-ravens-nest]

Happy Tender Tuesday! How would your OCs answer the question "So how did you meet?" Would their answers match each others? How close is their version of the story to the truth?

London would say they met when he got a job working for her in a very behind the scenes way then he pushed to get a bigger job and become closer to her. She would say about the same but in a much more crass fashion, calling him some human guy who couldn’t leave her alone about wanting more money and she gave him a promotion to shut him up.

Marcy would say that she sometimes does business with Evaine. She doesn’t know when it started and it doesn’t matter. Evaine would tell you an entire story about their first encounter, what they were buying/selling, what caught her interest in the strange woman and the entire story of their first time actually talking to each other as people instead of business acquaintances.

London would say that Evaine helped bandage him up when he almost died. Evaine would say she was hired to save an acquaintances pet human.

Most Tender Tusday posts from me are going to be very poly. Get ready Tumblr! 

Thanks for the ask!

[monumenttojustice]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Tell us about how the story "plays" in your head. Are you a visual person, watching the scene like a movie? An audio person, hearing the lines to write out in your head like an audiobook? What's it like in there, before it makes it out here?

Most of the time, I see flashes of characters and scenes with tiny bits of audio and maybe a feeling. I have a wee bit of synesthesia so things like colors and numbers match up in ways they wouldn’t in other people, and those wires cross the same ways in my stories. Everyone I know (real and fictional) has a color that they are (Angel is dull purple, Lennan is light blue/green, Asas is dark red, etc) even though it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I like to build off of the color or number that the character is and work it into the story even if no one but me understands it.

[tenacious-scripturient]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! :P What excites you about writing?

this is super vague answer but...

just the art of writing. the fact that i’m creating, and can show other people that all of this came from inside my brain!! you know how crazy that is? it’s just so fun and super satisfying once i finish that scene or that chapter. and it’s even better when i show people and they’re just as interested in it as i am. it’s awesome

now i just have to find friends who are interested in it owo

[ happy storyteller saturday! come send me an ask! ]

[pheita]

14! Tell is about those alt scenes

Ohhh Raevenly, you opend Pandora's box. I tell you, my friend. 14. Are there any alternate scenes that never made it to your final WIP? There are a lot of them. And most of them have to do with Lyran. This bard really wants to annoy me, I tell you. The first thing was a slightly drunk try to seduce Sojan two days after he saved Lyran from the tree spirits. Somehow it didn't make it in the final draft because I couldn't see when Lyran could get drunk with being so damn curious about everything, and it surely wouldn't help with Sojan, who is stubborn as hell. The next one would be a conversation between Sojan, Lyran, Neesha and Elaven while they are out to find information about Elaven's missing cousin. Actually, I had in mind that Sojan and Neesha had a romantic past since both are way older than they look and that Lyran keeps on asking seriously intimate things while he thinks they are out of earshot of Sojan. Which wouldn't have work out anyway because Sojan's hearing is better than Lyran knew at that point lol. I kinda came back to the idea a little later by having Sojan mention that during his first years at the monster hunter guild in Lagawood he and Neesha ended up having sex after a tough hunt. One scene I had to leave out was the guys witnessing the shaman Shununda and her young trainee discussing loudly at the marketplace because the young girl figured out a lot of things by herself and refuses to do these things the way she gets taught. One scene I left out because it would feel strange with Lyran's and Sojan's romance plot. When they find Sojan's sister Arritit, she immediately takes interest in Lyran, and it is established a few scenes later that something powers her magic up, and she needs sex to balance it out (yay for being lust demons on this note) For a while there was the idea running around in my head, that while she tags along Arritit gets hit by another huge power up and would need to ask Lyran to have sex with her to balance it out. But since it becomes clear pretty early on that Lyran only cares for Sojan in this way, I ignored the idea and instead had her having some sort of friends with benefits arrangement with Yunadeldi, the young dwarven woman who joins them in their journey. One scene I couldn't write because the WIP follows soley Sojan's POV is Lyran's imprisonment at the end of the story. It could have been pretty funny to see him being a pain in the ass as a hostage, but the POV didn't allow it. The biggest change is the end. The first idea when I started writing and brought Lyran into the quotation, I planned for them to part at the end and only meet once in a while during their travels. But at some early point, it was clear that Sojan is too much of a stubborn idiot to let Lyran go once he realized he actually does have a romantic interest in the bard. Ok, not much of a stubborn idiot, but more a still heartbroken mess of a graysexual idiot who had to unlearn some stuff. And for the things after the WIP, that will become parts of the sequels at some point (means when I find the peace and motivation to sort it all) was Niat. She was only meant to be an important side-character for a mini-fic and somehow Lyran happened again who decided to make her consider switching from being an elven warrior to becoming a monster hunter. Next thing I knew was Niat backing up her stuff and tagging along with the guys to the next guild house. From there it devolped into a poly triad. And then Lyran's sister Mithelia and her close friend Ylva happened. Sometimes it can be a curse to have OCs who live centuries lol

[bookmarks-reviews]

Happy Storyteller Saturday! Do your characters ever argue with you? Or reveal bits and pieces of themselves slowly? How independent are your characters from you, how alive? Do you enjoy it, or could you prefer it another way?

Hey Raevenly! My characters are extremely independent - which both makes it easy and very difficult to write them. I usually write with a few major plot points in mind (go here, confront this individual, find out about X), but basically everything else is up to the characters. I try to let them be themselves, and their interactions then show me so many cool things that I couldn’t have planned out if I had tried.

Of course, this can be a problem when I really want a character to do something specific, and they don’t want to do it. This is the biggest thing that drives writer’s block for me, because it feels like the characters are fighting me. I usually either have to really work to break through, or just go with the flow, and see how they get back to my plot.

[agwitow]

Weekly Writeblr Banners (pt 1)

Hello lovelies, hope everyone is having a good day :)

I was inspired by @manitamuerte​‘s round-up of daily writeblr tags/asks/themes --now, the ones I like/plan to use are a mix of the ones they’ve listed and ones I see on Twitter and elsewhere. And I’m sure other people have other daily tags/themes they prefer over their set or my set.

But, if anyone of these work for you, then please feel free to use these banners wherever you’d like!

MOTIVATION MONDAY: originally from AO3; tag people who motivate/inspire you, spread the appreciation, and/or share something that motivates you

MONDAY MEET’N’GREET: from manita muerte; send asks to writers/creators about their original characters; creators try to answer ‘in-character’

*note: I didn’t realize I’d flipped the phrasing of this until I was making this post - I think it sounds good either way, and manita muerte’s graphic/post is very pretty so I’m leaving mine flipped and you can use whichever

TEASER TUESDAY: unknown originator/from Twitter; share an excerpt or sneak peek of what you’re working on; send asks about future story events (make creators sweat as they try to provide spoiler free answers)

TUESDAY TREAT: unknown originator/from Twitter; originally pics of baking or other toothsome treats, I like to share ‘sweet’ scenes/excerpts (lots of fluff, squees, and awwwws); sends asks about family, romance, pets, etc.

WIP Wednesday: unknown originator/AO3′s definition; talk/gush about your current work-in-progress; send asks about someone’s WIP, their writing process, or other ‘behind-the-scenes’ questions

WORLDBUILDING WEDNESDAY: from raevenly writes; talk about the world(s) in your story, share maps and/or facts; send asks about a writer’s world

 (part 1 | part 2)

[raevenlywrites]

Queuing up some of the older stuff for teh newer followers *waves* hi yall!

In Search of Asylum: Interlude, Dreams in the Desert pt 3

INTERLUDE: DREAMS IN THE DESERT, PART 3

There was always fire burning in the big pit in the middle of the rei’sumae, no matter how hot it was outside. Even if it was a simple bed of coals, buried under a fine layer of ash, the fire was never allowed to completely burn out.

He sat before the pit, little face screwed up in concentration. He could feel the fire beneath the ashes, but he had no idea how to call it. It was fire. It didn’t listen. It didn’t come bounding gleefully into the room when you whistled, didn’t alight on an arm held out to the sky, didn’t beg for fish scraps when it followed you to the river. It was fire.

And yet, his mother said this was his lesson for the day. Call the fire. She sat at the far end of the long room, calmly working at her loom, seeming to ignore him. He knew better—den’Shelena saw everything. Like the great eye of Dareiya herself, mother’s namesake, the moon saw day and night alike, in darkness and light. Nothing was hidden from her.

But the fire remained hidden from him. He wanted to cry. Wanted to yell at the fire, to kick and rage and command it to rise, as he’d learned to command his scales. Was that the trick to it? Did he need to touch his serpent self?

Keep reading

[raevenlywrites]

Fun tip if you tend to work in GDocs or anything else where you can create your own TOC for navigation

Make yourself a section that's just notes. Have places where you can think "out loud", make to-do lists, organize input from friends/collaborators/betas, and most importantly: make a place to keep the stuff you cut!

I have referenced my editing oubliette for so many things, and love having somewhere I can yeet great chunks of text out of the way so they're not distracting me in the main body. 10/10, do recommend

[grimoire-of-geekery]

Tomorrow is the last day to contribute to and participate in the Magician’s Birthday Card Giveaway!  I’ve still only got two posts, one from Kauricat and one from Raevenly, and I know for a fact that there are others who wanted to contribute, so let’s review the rules real quick!

1. Pull a card from your tarot deck, and take a pic of it! 2. Think of it like a birthday card to me!  Post it under the tag and write a blurb to go with it that’s birthday-card-like!  Props to you if you’re super-artistic about it, like you write a story or draw an actual picture instead of just taking a snapshot. 3. The card is a tarot card, after all.  Add something into your post that tells us how we spend my birthday time with you!  Turn it into something hilarious or weird, but DEFINITELY do not take it as a serious omen.

The tags we’re using are “The Magician’s Birthday Card 2019″ and “magician’s birthday card 2019″ in case you didn’t remember!

There are up to 24 regular winners at the moment, and one Grand Prize winner who receives a copy of the Nix Hydra Arcana Tarot deck!

Ok!  One more day left, let’s see how things go!  Make sure to leave me an ask to let me know you’ve posted, just in case the tags aren’t working.

[raevenlyreads]

Thank you all for a fantastic opening month! In this our glorious month of Pride, you beautiful people helped me start my shop off right and blasted through my ko-fi goal. I couldn't have asked for a better opening month, and I'm so excited for the months to come! Things to look forward to from Raevenly Reads:

New decks! My Solis Divinity decks have shipped and are own their way from Australia (thank you again to everyone who helped me meet that goal!), and my Corrupted deck is in its last stages of fulfillment before they start shipping in Aug/Sept. And still in its mid-kickstarter stage, Litha's sister deck, the Children of Ostara is making steady progress towards completion and fulfillment. So many new decks!

More Lenormand write ups, as I teach myself the "right" way to read them and learn more about mirroring and knighting.

New spreads, and write ups of existing spreads. I have some that are unique to certain decks, and others that I'm toying with either releasing as commissionable spreads, or putting together as a month long read-a-long where we all work through them together (if you've ever seen me do @hillbillyoracle Nonbinary November Tarot Challenge on my other blog, something to that effect (also also go check out their blog, it is chock full of great stuff and helped me learn A LOT about reading tarot))

The biggest of thank yous to everyone who helped me get this shop off the ground: those who volunteered to help me make my samples, those who reblogged and shared about my shop, those who commissioned readings and gave one time donations to my ko-fi goal, and those who came and asked me fun questions about my decks and reading process. Specialest of thanks to my graphic artist Mme Zabet and my editor @seedsofwinter (who is open for editing work with spaces available in the autumn, go check em out!)

As always, if you have any questions or just want to come chat, my askbox is here for you. Thank you all again!

[indecentpause]

I DO LOVE YOU DEARLY RAEVENLY not only is your writing a++ but you are a genuinely sweet and wonderful person who I thoroughly enjoy talking to! <333 If you are eaten by a werewolf I will avenge you

Does anyone else have that one mutual who’s like Way Too Popular to be following you and ur lowkey convinced that they regret following u