#scarvenartist

[tsfennec]

A lynx gryphon, inspired by @scarvenartist's Ganrok. :D

[fictionadventurer]

I can't believe we've known about @scarvenartist's Shapeshifter Stories for this long, and still haven't made "What animal would your/your OC's/your blorbo's firstform be?" the new personality quiz.

You can consider what animal fits their personality, but you also get to consider what hereditary forms fit their entire family, and which one they'd inherit. The analytical possibilities are endless!

[bookshelf-in-progress]

2 and 9 for the writing asks?

2. Describe your wip/one of your wips in the format of “___ + ___ =___”

Victorian England + 1850s American politics + pro life debates + glowing people = Shadowstruck

9. What’s a story you’d love to write but haven’t even started yet?

I'd love to write the portal fantasy culture shock romance of Lily Between Worlds, but I've yet to write a word of an actual draft.

Also, over the past day, I keep seeing things that make me want to read/write my retelling of "King Thrushbeard" set during the Great Depression.

[valiantarcher]

Tagged by @scarvenartist to explain why I picked my URL - thank you!

So, the short answer is that it's been a general username for me for a while and it was natural to carry it over to Tumblr when I came here.

The slightly longer answer is that it originally came about because I was looking for a new username for a site because my old default had already been taken. I wasn't coming up with anything but a sister (being much clever at these sorts of things than me) suggested it as a reference to a fictional character I'm fond of, and I haven't looked back.

Tagging @morfinwen, @wanderingwolpertinger, @theworldiswhispering, @aceofstars16, and @stingrayextraordinaire, if they so desire!

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

4 and 10 for the end of year writing asks!

Thanks! :D

4. what is your favourite line you wrote this year?: This paragraph from Silver Glass:

Because in this case Yo-han really didn't believe that justice was best served by publicly revealing the murderer's identity. Because sometimes murder victims weren't really victims at all. Because there were some criminals who the law couldn't or wouldn't touch, and the only way their victims could get justice was to take matters into their own hands.

10. which character(s) turned out differently from what you had planned? how so?: Davit and Gwladys. Originally Davit was working with Dzovig from the start, Çelik Bey was the intended murder victim, and Gwladys got killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then I started writing, and Gwladys turned into Rachael 2.0.

[urban-hart]

A song you associate with Caspar!

okay i was. way overcomplicating this ask set ^^' so I'm FINALLY just gonna answer

'Fool for Love' by Lord Huron! definitely has Caspar's vibe. doesn't match his story part-for-part, but it's the bit about trying! the vibe of just drifting into oblivion in the end *throws hands* how else can i say it other than THE VIBES??

character theme song ask

[tsfennec]

Stylized version of @scarvenartist's Kiro and Nezka in their shifted forms, loosely inspired by the descriptions of Nezka seeing his forms while traveling in the Nothing.

[fictionadventurer]

Book asks - The Monster-Blood Tattoo series by D.M. Cornish?

added to TBR | on my TBR | couldn’t finish it | did not enjoy | it was OK | liked it | loved it | favorite | not interested

I had to think a while on this one. My initial reaction was no, because I tend not to mix well with things with "monster" in the title. Looking up the series made it sound very intriguing, but the magic system might edge just a bit beyond what I'm comfortable with, so I'm not sure I'll seek it out.

[tsfennec]

@scarvenartist

Edna St. Vincent Millay, "To a Young Poet"

[bookshelf-in-progress]

1, 8, 13 and 15 for the end of year writing asks?

what was your writing-highlight this year? what made it special and how will you reflect on it next year?

"The True Story" was definitely the highlight. After two years of struggling and failing to write an epistolary fantasy, and more years of failing to write anything longer than about 5,000 words, to write a 10,000-word epistolary fantasy in just over three days was close to a miracle.

I had fun writing original characters! I got to make use of the Imaginary Book Recs! I got the closest I'll ever come to writing Cardinal's Map! I just let myself have fun and somehow it managed to come together in a story that mostly works and that accomplishes what I wanted it to do. It was amazing on a lot of different levels. I'm going to look back on it--and the wonderful feedback--very fondly.

8. what are three things you’re looking forward to next year?

Writing more retellings. I'd specifically like to finish either my "Tattercoats" or "Twelve Huntsmen" retelling as a slightly-longer work, but there are also some shorter stories I'm looking forward to exploring.

Trying to write slightly longer work, ideally an original story.

Writing something that's been edited. I'd like to try using beta readers again instead of just posting lightly-edited first drafts.

13. how did you change as a writer? did you learn anything new? started to plan instead of pants? share your wisdom!

My Inklings Challenge experience--especially with "The True Story"--make me reevaluate my writing habits. I learned that while I need to have a rough idea of the kind of story I'm telling and what ending I'm aiming for, it works better if I don't know everything. The story takes a more natural shape if I let the details that pop up during drafting determine the direction the story goes.

While writing the stories I posted at the end of December, I further developed this insight into three related maxims.

The story starts at the beginning. No matter what cool ideas you have for the overall work, the story unspools in a sequence of words beginning from the first scene, so you have to sink into that scene and let the story flow from there.

Develop the meta after you write. Getting too deep into the the characters and themes during the brainstorming process makes it very difficult to translate that to words on the page. Writing first and then digging deeper into the meta makes the process work much better.

The beautiful story that exists in your head should be the inspiration, not the goal. The words you write on the page are never going to be able to capture the layered emotions of your daydream. Instead, use that daydream as motivation to start writing, and then get excited about the (similar but not the same) story that exists on the page.

15. time for shameless self-promotion! answer with a piece of writing you want others to see/read!

Even though it's an unfinished piece of fiction, I'm still fond of my Anne of Green Gables meets fairy tales Island verse, and "The Sylph in the Storm" was built out of one of my favorite pieces of it, so I'll give it a shout-out here.

[healerqueen]

writing update

I am very happy to report that I AM WRITING!! A lot. At last. I have the discipline and drive to sit down and work every day if the time is right. Stress, health, busyness, client work, and other priorities have held me back for the last few months. It just wasn't a season for writing. But now I'm back. I actually prayed the other night, asking God to help me write, because I want to write so much and haven't been able to. And he answered!

I decided to just sit down and start re-outlining my novel manuscript from beginning to end. It's called a reverse outline--a new outline of the first draft and the changes I plan to make, before continuing with the revised draft. It helps so much to have a road map for my revisions, and to have something to work on each day. I don't have to think about it. I'm still carrying every scene of this novel inside my head, along with all the changes I plan to make. All I have to do is write it down and do the work in front of me, instead of wondering what I'm going to write each day. I am able to push myself again now that I don't have stress or health concerns holding me back. And my discipline and motivation gives me the ability to sit down and work each day. It's sometimes a little hard to get started (procrastination is the enemy), but once I get going, I sometimes write for hours--and an hour or two is usually enough to give me a full day's quota. I wrote 2900 new words of outlining each day for two days, and then 1600 words of outlining today. I've written a summary of 24 scenes, and I'm almost a quarter of the way through the outline. I ended up spending the rest of the day drafting a rewritten scene from start to finish. I was outlining the scene, and I realized I'd better just sit down and draft instead. So I got out a pen and opened my drafting notebook, and I didn't stop till I'd rewritten the entire scene from scratch, several hours later. Now I have something to edit, between the new version of the scene and the old draft. That is very encouraging. It's going well, and I'm grateful to God for helping me and giving me energy and focus. It's a daunting task to rewrite this manuscript from start to finish, but all I can do is keep going. And I'm encouraged knowing that I'm on my way.

[e-louise-bates]

Oh my goodness, you guys, @scarvenartist did it again! After her perfectly smashing job of Maia's portrait, I commissioned her to do a portrait of Len to go along with it, and just look at what she came up with! This absolutely IS Lennox Davies, spy, detective, and magician. Ahhh! I'm so delighted with this!

I'll do another post later of both portraits so you all can see how well they go together, but for right now I want Len to get his moment in the spotlight all on his own.

Thank you again, @scarvenartist! These have been my first-ever commissions of art for my books, and I couldn't be happier with them!

[talesofsorrowandofruin]

👑 and ⌛for the WIP asks!

Thanks! :D I'll do this for Like Snow on Hungry Graves:

👑 - Are there rulers? A government? Who calls all the shots?: Yep! There are three main kingdoms: Vakaryan, Sui (based on Tang-dynasty China) and Çarisar (based on the Ottoman Empire, with elements of the Seljuk and Mongol Empires). So far only Vakaryan has got much attention, and I haven't figured out how the other kingdoms work.

Vakaryan (Rusudan's home): Is ruled by Queen Khvareshan. Her oldest child and heir is Princess Ketevan, which means the kingdom is basically doomed as soon as Ketevan takes over. But Rusudan is more-or-less ruling behind the scenes because she has information on everyone, is extorting money from everyone, and can influence government decisions if she wants to. She also hates Ketevan, so there's a decent chance she'll stage a coup and make herself queen as soon as Khvareshan dies.

Sui: Is ruled by an emperor. Who happens to be Konstantine's father, and is also the worst. Seriously, he sets his own son up for murder.

Çarisar: Is ruled by an emperor, who happens to be Hariye's grandfather.

⌛ - What time period does it take place in? Does it combine periods?: It's set in a fantasy world loosely inspired by several different time period. Sui is based on Tang-dynasty China (618–907), Vakaryan is based on 13th-century Georgia, and Çarisar is based on a mixture of the Mongol Empire (1206–1294*), Seljuk Empire (1037-1194) and Ottoman Empire (1299–1922**).

*disputed; if you consider the Yuan dynasty a continuation of the Mongol Empire, then it didn't fall until 1368. And if you count the Northern Yuan dynasty, then it didn't fall until 1635.

**no, that's not a typo. The Ottoman empire really did last that long.

[inklings-challenge]

Inklings Challenge 2024: Team Lewis

It is time to officially announce the members of Team Lewis for the 2024 Inklings Challenge

Members of Team Lewis are challenged to write a science fiction or fantasy story within the Christian worldview that fits into one of these two genres:

Portal Fantasy: Stories where someone from the real world explores a new world

Space Travel: Stories about traveling through space or exploring other planets

These genres are open to interpretation, and creativity is encouraged. You can use either or both of the prompts within your story, or if you’re feeling ambitious, you can write multiple stories.

Members of Team Lewis are also asked to use at least one of the following seven Christian themes to inspire some part of their story.

Admonish the sinner

Instruct the ignorant

Counsel the doubtful

Comfort the sorrowful

Bear wrongs patiently

Forgive all injuries

Pray for the living and the dead

Writers are challenged to complete and post their story to a tumblr blog by October 21, 2024, though they are encouraged to post earlier if they finish their story before that date. There is no maximum or minimum word limit. Writers who have not completed their stories before the deadline are encouraged to post whatever they have written by October 21st and post the remainder at a later date. Writers are also welcome to post the entire story after the deadline.

Posting the Stories

All stories will be reblogged and archived on the main Inklings Challenge blog. To assist with organization, writers should tag their posts as follows:

Mention the main Challenge blog @inklings-challenge somewhere within the body of the post (which will hopefully alert the Challenge blog).

Tag the story #inklingschallenge, to ensure it shows up in the Challenge tag, and make it more likely that the Challenge blog will find it.

Tag the team that the author is writing for: #team lewis, #team tolkien, or #team chesterton. 

Tag the genre the story falls under: #genre: portal fantasy, #genre: space travel, #genre: secondary world, #genre: time travel, #genre: intrusive fantasy, #genre: earth travel

Tag any themes that were used within the story: #theme: admonish, #theme: instruct, #theme: counsel, #theme: comfort, #theme: patience, #theme: forgive, #theme: pray

Tag the completion status of the story: #story: complete or #story: unfinished

Team Members

The writers assigned to Team Lewis are:

@ashknife

@asjdklfeuwqoi

@atlantic-riona

@awesomebutunpractical

@bean-with-a-blog

@beneathascorpionsky

@butahumbleguest

@caffeinecath

@caitriona-3

catrina

@challenger2013

@confetti-cat

@cygnascrimbles

@dimsilver

@ettawritesnstudies

@for-the-writing-artist

@freenarnian

@friedwritinggamingghost

@gailyinthedark

@ghostrider-02

@glassheadcanon

@greater-than-the-sword

@heepthecheep

@lady-larklight

@ladyphlogiston

@lauravanarendonkbaugh

@leseigneurdufeu

@littlegirl-arise

@magpie-trove

@muse-write

@n1ghtcrwler

@nervousbookmouse

@on-noon

@onewingedsparrow

@popcornfairy28

@rachellesedai

@saxifrage-wreath

@scarvenartist

@septembersung

@siena-sevenwits

@aussie-the-hedgehog

@tzarina-alexandra

@unquietfaith

@windwardrose

Writing resources, including the Challenge overview, FAQ, writing prompts, and discussions of the genres are available at the Inklings Challenge Directory. Any writers with further questions can contact the Inklings Challenge blog for guidance.

Welcome to the Inklings Challenge, everyone! Now go forth and create!

[muse-write]

WIP Tag Game

Rules: Rules: If you are tagged, you have to work on your WIP until you write a sentence that contains at least one word from the sentence given to you by the person who tagged you. Then post that sentence and tag as many people as you want. Tag-backs are not only allowed, but encouraged! >:)

They were closer to the Ephel Duath than Maglor wanted to be, but he strode in that direction, dimly aware that he had retrieved his sword from where he’d set it out of the way.

(Honestly @griseldabanks made this easy for me, all I had to write was ‘he’!)

Tagging: @afaroffsong @scarvenartist @brievel @clawedandcute No pressure of course!

[tsfennec]

MATCHING FRIENDSHIP DRAGONS FTW :D

@scarvenartist @freenarnian