#seventhvirtue

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

WIP INTRO - Sunless Ground

Genre: Adult contemporary fantasy. Sequel to Seventh Virtue.

Status: Currently drafting / NaNoWriMo project

Synopsis: Harrison is in danger. Captured at the Seventh Roost in a deal that freed Reeve, there’s no way to escape—especially as he’s seemingly made enemies with the man he cares for most. Reeve is unhappy. While physically free from her family’s terror, she spends most of her time worrying for friends she’s not sure are still alive, and resentful of Darren, the man who helped get her out. But when Darren goes missing and Lonan narrowly escapes the Seventh Roost—without Harrison—it seems things couldn’t get worse. Without the protection of Lonan and with his own death impending, Harrison makes internal allies—one of whom is harbouring secrets more sinister than anyone’s expected. Meanwhile, Reeve fixates on searching for the Fourth Virtue whose tragic history could be the key to ending her family’s tyranny, and most importantly, reuniting her with Harrison.

Setting: Manhattan NY, Buffalo NY

Vibe: Houses burning down, a lonely cabin in the woods, shattered prayer candles, icy landscapes, hands almost touching, scraped knuckles, fiery sunsets.

Characters:

Harrison Frost (narrator - 26) | loyal, impulsive, dependable, stubborn

Reeve Aldaine (narrator - 24) | persistent, observant, reclusive, unreliable

Lonan Clark (26) | logical, introspective, ambitious, impulsive

Darren Peterson (27) | sensible, focused, compassionate, reliable

Callahan Stenbeck (27) | assertive, vigilant, patient, cunning

Foster Creed (24) | empathetic, intuitive, wistful, unassuming

Excerpt:

She could lie to herself. Say she’s gotten used to waking every morning at yolky dawn in the bedroom she occupies alone. She’s gotten used to the scalding silence at midnight and gotten used to lighting the candlestick on the nightstand even in the middle of the day. The same instant peach oatmeal Darren keeps buying every time he treks out to the city because she said she liked it once. She can’t bring herself to tell him she can’t handle the flavour anymore, the way she’s gotten used to it and the way she’s gotten used to her hair getting longer, nearly touching her shoulders, the way she’s gotten used to her waxen face in the bathroom’s uncovered mirror. She could lie. But nothing changes the truth even when she stays up all night, rocking back and forth, hoping something will. She made it out—no more running, no more hiding. It’s a good thing, and yet the prospect is so lonely, so frightening, that she sometimes considers walking into the woods until she makes it out the other side a woman who did not survive alone.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

WIP INTRO - Seventh Virtue

Genre: Adult contemporary fantasy

Status: First draft completed / ~200k words

Synopsis: After being tormented by nightmares of his ex-boyfriend, Lonan, Harrison seeks a magical intervention from old friend, Reeve. But when she reveals she and Lonan are members of the Seventh Roost, one of seven magical families that coincide with the 7 Holy Virtues and 7 Capital Sins, she also unveils another secret: Lonan is part Virtue, the immortal bird that represents each house, and her family is holding him captive in hopes of extrapolating his power. Harrison must choose to continue life as he knows it or rekindle relationships he thought he’d left behind to save someone he once loved.

Setting: Manhattan NY, Buffalo NY

Vibe: Candles burned to the stump, indigo raven feathers, early 2000s pop, snowy woods at blue hour, dawn fog, a bloody lip, the clatter of city traffic, the singe of gasoline.

Characters:

Harrison Frost (narrator - 25) | loyal, impulsive, dependable, stubborn

Reeve Aldaine (narrator - 23) | persistent, observant, reclusive, unreliable

Lonan Clark (25) | logical, introspective, ambitious, impulsive

Darren Peterson (26) | sensible, focused, compassionate, reliable

Foster Creed (24) | empathetic, intuitive, wistful, unassuming

Excerpt (CW: gore):

Don’t blink when in an instant, none of this—the lake, the bodies—is there. When all there is in sight is a bird heaving in the centre of a concrete room. Approach him. Know him--and quickly. His black feathers so slick, they gloss indigo in the single floodlight fluorescing him. Notice he’s injured. Notice he has hands, fingers, that he grips something small, polished. Notice the blood, how it gels everything—his skin, feathers, the floor. Notice how he holds it all: the knife, the blood, his skin, the feathers, the floor.

Please ask to be added to the taglist! <3

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

“A favour” - Seventh Virtue

Sharing this because it’s super gay I was re-reading some of this book for funsies and I’m now losing it over this interaction & need to scream into a void!

An excerpt from Seventh Virtue. Adult contemporary fantasy.

Is this a reversal of “Is this why you needed me?” PERHAPS.

Text transcript under the cut!

Harrison nods, clutching the pliant trim of his jacket. “Do me a favour,” he says, trying to find the best way to phrase his request. Then he finds Lonan’s eyes again, and nothing about him is nervous, but determined. “The next time you’re feeling unsteady, tell me. I don’t care if it’s a look, if it’s a word, if it’s a paragraph. Just tell me. We can talk if you want to talk or not talk if you don’t want to. But if you need me, I want to know.”

Lonan considers this for a moment, and then drops his face into his palms. Instinctively, Harrison takes another step closer, like he might’ve done when they were still a couple, when they still slow danced to no music in Lonan’s cramped bathroom, when in dewy morning light, the most certain thing in each of their lives was each other. Something pangs in his chest, and it takes him a moment to identify the emotion as the same grief he experienced in the infirmary hallway. How terrible, to be in front of a stranger you recognize.

Harrison lifts his fingers to his mouth, chews on his nails. The bathroom is beginning to strangle with heat, and despite his attempts at also being steady, he’s ready to flee this room, this property, this life, all of it as easy to destroy as a bleak line of dominoes. He turns.

“I need you,” comes Lonan’s voice.

Harrison spins back around.

This time, when their eyes meet, there’s something aflame there, something cerulean, exposed, urgent.

“I need you.”

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

too lazy to transcribe what I wrote for BB today so why don't you have all of Seventh Virtue chapter 19 instead! :)

this is probably the shortest Fostered-verse chapter I've ever written (300 words). also if you want to see what a degree in poetry teaches you, it's this HAHA

context serious: after Lonan barrels back into both of their lives under mysterious (and borderline murderous) circumstances, Harrison & Reeve separately rush to find him.

context silly: Harrison and Reeve are like "wow Lonan really tried to take us both out literally a day ago why don't we both be guided by our joint custody bestie brain to separately do crimes in order to see what the actual fuck is up with him even tho this is against the wishes of our very logical friends."

under the cut!

Seventh Virtue. Contemporary fantasy (2022).

Chapter 19: Half/Half

They both get in their own way. Harrison with the bobby pin he’d stolen from the nurse, Reeve by kicking in a stained-glass window on the roof’s dormer. He could use the key card Estelle gave him but doesn’t want any surprises. She could charm someone else like she charmed Daniel from Orange County but has had enough of sweating into men for one night.

Harrison doesn’t need to see in the dark. He’s been in the library once and navigates it a second time with ease. Tunnels in the library’s basement, he reminds himself as he hustles between shelves.

Tunnels in the library’s basement. Reeve finds them easy enough. She spent a year learning to be invisible out of survival, learned exactly how to move through crowded streets as if she were not there at all; she does the same inside an empty library with grace. Down a hall, then a staircase, turn left, right.

Left, right. Harrison might not be as graceful as Reeve, but he sure is determined. A door labelled EXIT in cherry red letters blazes near the drink cart he and Foster had previously taken their share of. It can’t be that easy, can it?

It’s easy, how Reeve drops down another flight of stairs, and then another. She is air, a feather falling from a raven’s wing.

A wing of hallways beyond the EXIT door. Harrison follows them until he reaches a staircase on the right, yanking off the security guard’s jacket and gloves as he goes.

Go. This is the only thought in Reeve’s mind. She needs to move like a spider effortlessly scaling its web. She needs to find Lonan.

Lonan. What will Harrison even say to him when he sees him? He races down another flight of stairs, and then another, until there aren’t anymore, the thought and his pace juddering his heartrate. Go, he thinks. Go.

Go.

Go.

They collide.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

LONAN KILLS REEVE IN SV?!?!!!

HE DOES LOL

explanation & excerpts under the cut! <3

CW: murder/death/torture/trauma

okay so I am the DRAMA--obviously Reeve is still alive, but she does technically die and only survives what happens because of Harrison (king <3).

TL;DR: Lonan is brainwashed by his tyrannical family & is sent on a literal mission to kill his sister. He does, but Harrison "revives" her with his magic (the icon the legend the man himself).

More details: So back in 2015 when I was writing book 3 of the original series, Lonan was ALSO brainwashed, but by his other sister Anna and Anna's girlfriend Kate who were mad at him for some reason (I can't remember why exactly, everyone is mad at Lonan in that book LOL). The logistics of how this was done are quite fuzzy because I was 13 :) but essentially think of Lonan as a bluetooth speaker who could be controlled remotely! <3

In this state, Lonan almost kills Reeve a couple of times (and this is when they love each other! not when they don't know they're siblings and have been trying to murder each other!). This DEEPLY upsets him and becomes a major point of tension for his characterization (I believe he makes Harrison promise to kill him if he tries to hurt his sister again, which is... on brand for right now <3). At that point in the series, Lonan's biggest fear is that he's still a terrible person--he's struggling to be redeemable even to himself. So to hurt the most important person in his life at the time, his sister... oof. He's not happy.

I wanted to bring this back into SV, since I love recycling old material into this book to relive the joy of writing them originally (not me... finding joy in psychologically torturing these siblings oops). So Lonan is once again "programmed," but the logistics make more sense because this is done through magical means. Lonan in SV is an extremely controlled person. Every move he makes is monitored, and what little good he does have in his life are used against him to torture him (like... his girlfriend... who I haven't talked about on here... but we can!).

Reeve isn't an exception to this. The play by play of what happens here is that the squad (Harrison, Reeve, Darren, Foster), have all been looking for Humilitas (the magical bird that's been missing for a while/the magical bird that Lonan is part of). They locate Humilitas (Harrison flew on the back of a giant bird who showed him where he was :) lol :)) and this is great! This has been their goal the whole time. But then this happens:

“Humilitas,” she says, inching her fingers toward its face. Her eyes sparkle like she’s seeing a saint, a god, even. She begins to smile, so close to touching him.

A branch snaps.

Not delicate. A weighted sound. A human sound.

Harrison spins around.

He doesn’t believe what he’s seeing at first. Surely, he’s hallucinating, sicker than he’d initially thought, bombarded by strange, unrealistic visions. Black hair like a silken cut of obsidian. Fingers precise, thin. Eyes kingfisher blue and as hot as a gas flame.

“Lonan?” he says, dazed, hardly able to make out his name without slurring every letter. Harrison lurches forward to where he stands, ten, twenty feet away, barely catches himself on a bramble bush. Thorns skewer his palm, but he feels no pain, not even when blood seeps down his wrist, candle wax overflowing. Instead, his mouth foams, his knees so weak that on his next step forward, he falls onto his elbows.

(there's a Feeding Habits easter egg here with the kingfisher eye description--which is the way Suzanna describes Harrison's eyes to Lonan awww. Also I love that feverish Harrison can describe Lonan once again like a painting. My god.)

Harrison is so stunned and is ALSO physically ill at this sight (relatable content <3). No, but really, he is quite literally sick (H&L are bonded through magical bird things & being so close is... not good for them at this point).

Reeve is so excited that she doesn't really notice Harrison's Suffering (TM). This happens:

As if she’s never seen Humilitas, as if he no longer matters, as if she’s an elk running from a mountain lion or a mountain lion chasing an elk, as if the earth no longer matters either, as if she is wind and he is alive, he is alive, as if, no matter who tries, no one can stop her, Reeve launches at her brother with full force.

And then we get... the actual drama:

Lonan raises an arm. From the ground, as Harrison watches through jittering eyes, he looks as if he’s going to hug her. They could be children again, reunited after a summer trip apart, one about to spin the other in greeting. Reeve is crying, tears glittering off her chin like flakes of shattered glass. She wraps her arms around her brother, shaking, sobbing, shocked as a rat snapped in a trap.

Lonan looks at her. His arm still raised. Does he smile? Harrison’s vision has spotted so badly that he can hardly tell.

Against the deep backdrop of night, a glint.

Harrison gasps. He wills himself to get up, to run to her. Ash. Bone.

But by then it’s too late. One moment, Reeve clutches her brother, and the next, he gouges a knife straight through her heart.

Aaand that's how part two ends. Fun!

We start part three in Reeve's first solo POV chapter, where Darren explains what happened:

“You died,” he whispers. Reeve blinks. “I saw you. On the ground. I swear, I got to you not even a second after he hurt you, yet you were gone. I looked at you and I thought, I’m going to have to bury her.”

(THHHEEE ROMANNNNCCEE)

She also sees the consequence of Harrison's magic (that did bring her back in the end!):

What marks her chest: a pattern the colour of soot, radiating from around the bandage covering the puncture.

Permanently grafted on her skin are the sun’s waving rays.

Harrison doesn't actually know how to use his magic at this point in the books/what his magic even is. But seeing his bestie literally die is... too much for him, and instinct just takes over really fast. This is the opening of chapter 17 and where the title of book 2 comes from:

From Harrison’s bloody fingertips: a hot, bright ribbon scatters from his body and across the ground, bounding like a heartbeat. Watch as it ripples and ignites a line of maple leaves, beating to the same rhythm as the words she can’t die. She can’t die. She can’t die. Not after all of this. Not now. Watch as it climbs over her thigh, side, stomach, a messenger with its goal in target. Watch as it stabs her body as the knife previously did, how upon contact with her heart, her entire figure luminesces. She becomes a Madonna on that sunless ground, haloed in light.

^^ get you a best friend who is so stubborn he refuses to let you die so miraculously uses his magic to save you <3 aw

After this, Harrison passes out for a long time. He's not aware of how terrible of a state he was in (also near dying) until he talks to Foster:

“Where’s Reeve?” he asks. Though he’d been feverish and near-unconscious on the ground, he’d seen the look on her face as her body fell. Her smile of relief punctured with some sick mix of shock and horror.

“She’s okay,” Foster says, and glances out the private room’s exit. “Darren’s with her.”

That’s all it takes for Harrison to move. He rips off the catheter in his nose, peeling up the tape securing several tubes to the back of his hands.

“Hey—” “Don’t get in my way,” Harrison growls when Foster goes to herd him back into the cot.

“You’re not well—”

Harrison yanks all the wiring knotted around his body so harshly that one of the monitors checking his vitals appears to shut down.

“Does this look like the work of an unwell man?”

(LEGENDARY DIALOGUE HARRISON ^^)

We ALSO get Harrison going beast mode and calling Foster by his actual name LOL:

“Get out of my way, August,” Harrison nearly shouts. If Reeve is in this infirmary, alone with a man who sure, cares about her, but that isn’t him, he will damn well get to her.

And of course, he's back to wanting to kill Lonan:

Harrison crosses his arms. “I’m going to find Reeve. And then I’m going to kill Lonan.”

It’s the first time he’s said the words aloud, the words that’ve hummed in his body since he awoke. Kill Lonan.

“I can’t let you do that.”

“I don’t need your permission.”

At this point, no one actually knows Lonan did this unintentionally because he's been unable to tell them because someone may or may not be trying to kill him as we speak!

And strangely, Harrison also has matching markings on his palms like the one Reeve has on her chest:

When his palms are naked again, he doesn’t even question the black solar markings in the centre of each palm—nothing matters. Lonan cannot die. “Hey,” Harrison says, hands trembling even harder now as he tugs the hem of Lonan’s shirt upward to reveal the wound, likely pierced through, or close to his heart. Lonan’s mouth hangs open, like he’s trying to say something, but Harrison won’t let him. No goodbyes.

(not me just leaving this excerpt here as if this isn't going to open up a whole bunch more question LOOOL I'm evil and also willing to talk more <3)

Eventually, when everything settles down, Harrison confronts Lonan about what the actual fuck happened that night he "killed" Reeve:

“One of the first things I told you was not to look for me. Why did you?”

Harrison laughs. He doesn’t think. He’s not even sure what it means—if he’s genuinely amused, or if he’s shocked, or if he’s angry. “Why wouldn’t I look for you?”

“I told you not to.”

When Harrison laughs again, he’s absolutely sure why—exasperation ripples off his body. “You were haunting my dreams to the point where I couldn’t sleep. Your sister begged me to help find you. And besides, you found us.”

“But you shouldn’t have saved me. You should’ve left. It would’ve been best—”

“Are you telling me I should’ve let you die? Forget you for a second—what about Reeve? She should’ve died too?”

Lonan looks over to him—Harrison feels his gaze on his face, but now he’s looking at his hands, trying to force them to still with his mind. He’s not angry. Lonan is not ungrateful. He’s not angry. Lonan is not ungrateful.

“Harrison,” Lonan says after a moment. “My family is dangerous. I wanted to keep you as far from this as I could—”

“But you didn’t,” Harrison says, his voice breaking. “You gave me half your power. You knew they would look for me if you took what made you useful and gave it to me. And you did it anyway. You put a target on my back.”

“That target was always on your back. From the moment you were born it was on your back. I needed to be certain you could keep yourself safe when something happened. Not if.”

“Safe?” Harrison almost shouts. Out of everything he’s considered himself in the whirlwind of the last few weeks, safe was the absolute last one. And the absurdity of this implication, as if Harrison would even understand how to use his own magic to keep himself safe. He’s somehow managed to keep himself alive and burned himself on a fork—Lonan didn’t gift him his powers and a manual to use them. Safe. Impulsively, he yanks his hands from his pocket, splaying open his fingers to reveal his palm and the black sunrays tattooed onto the centre. “This is what you’ve done to me, Lonan. This is what you’ve done to Reeve.”

Lonan’s brows perk up, and now he’s trying very hard to catch Harrison’s gaze. “What is this about Reeve?”

(For context on the "what about Reeve" dialogue--since Lonan is the Virtue, if he dies, which is impossible since he's immortal but... almost happened lol, his whooooole family dies with him. Also: "burned himself on a fork" I'm crying LOL)

From this excerpt, we can tell Lonan clearly has no idea what happened and what he did to Reeve (accurate to the OG books). This may or may not lead to a nervous breakdown.......... oops!

Anyway so that's the explanation!

I love spoiling SV. Always happy to talk about it!

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

2 & 20?

2. Did you have any writing goals? Did you meet them or not?

I didn't actually have any formal goals besides "finish Feeding Habits" (which was my literary fiction novel from hell)! I did manage to do that in June, which was great! I didn't want to have too many goals this year because I'd done a short story challenge in 2021 that created some rigidity in my routine (and I wanted to switch it up)!

20. Did you make any Pinterest boards, aesthetics, art, etc., for your writing? Share your favorite.

I've made a lot of art actually that I haven't shared on this blog (I haven't shared my art on this blog in sooo long, tbh)!

Leftmost: A digital Foster sketch that I adapted from a traditional sketch I did probably in 2020? I think this is my second piece of Foster art I've ever made lmaooo even though he's been around for years! This was to practice colour!

Middle: Quick Reeve shading study. Traced this from a Pinterest reference so I could take more time to understand how to shade in colour digitally. I struggle SO MUCH to shade in colour digitally, but I've been trying to practice more often.

Right: Angsty Lonan & Harrison sketch based off a scene in Seventh Virtue hahahaha (as you can tell from the blood, RIP). Traced this also from a Pinterest ref so I could practice shading, and this one was particularly helpful for getting more of a hang of digital colour!

Though I'll probably never understand digital colour the way I do traditional colour, lol, it's SO HARD but I'm trying!

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

🌽 and 🍻 for Reeve in Odd OC Asks!

🌽: How does this OC feel about acts of affection? What’s their favourite act of affection, physical or emotional?

Ahh, I love questions like this! It really depends on who the person is that's giving affection when it comes to how Reeve feels about it. She's a very secluded, private person, so would HATE being affectionate with people she doesn't know well, but when it comes to people she loves and trusts, she likes affection but has her limits and needs to control how much of it she gives/receives. She loves hugs (though forgets to ask for them often enough), and also loves hearing about people's happy memories. Memory is a major thing to Reeve in Seventh Virtue because her magic revolves around memory, so for her, it's nice to hear about memories when magic is completely detached! Those discussions make her feel very safe, which is her #1 priority.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

For the odd OC asks, 🍓🍩🍟 for as many of the seventh virtue characters as you'd like! I think they're all so fun to hear about and love your videos

Thank you for watching my vids, happy you like them! <3 I'll answer for the main cast!

🍓: Does your OC have any particular scents they like? Or hate?

Reeve likes: cashmere, cinnamon, vanilla, bergamot, all things warm!

Foster likes: fresh cotton, fresh pine, rain, all things nature-y and fresh!

Harrison likes: coffee. Very much a coffee person (also cinnamon!)

Lonan likes: absolutely no scent ever lol

Darren likes: coffee (he and Harrison can bond over this haha), bonfires

🍩: What’s a crime your OC is most likely to commit? What’s a crime they’re most likely to get arrested for?

Reeve: would commit murder, probably wouldn't get arrested for anything even if she tried

Foster: is too baby to commit any crime at all!!

Harrison: is a self-proclaimed thief, haha, and is ALSO caught being a thief, so!!!

Lonan: like his sister, would probably commit murder (FOR his sister?? likely lol), and also wouldn't get caught

Darren: I am genuinely stumped on this one!

🍟: What does your OC admit to be their guilty pleasure? What actually is their guilty pleasure?

Reeve - guilty pleasure: beef jerky (this has been a thing since 2014's book 1 haha). Actual guilty pleasure: quite literally eating frosting by the spoonful straight from the tub.

Foster - guilty pleasure: LOVES plants! Will overtake his entire apartment with plants. Actual guilty pleasure: even though he makes a big fuss over his love for tomatoes, he's also like, a kale guy.

Harrison - guilty pleasure: emotionally unavailable men Actual guilty pleasure: emotionally unavailable men.

Lonan - guilty pleasure: would never admit to liking anything ever. Actual guilty pleasure: Harrison <3 loool

Darren - guilty pleasure: very fancy cookware (soft spot for cutting boards) Actual guilty pleasure: building himself secret hiding places to run away to lmaoooo

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

🎂🍻 for reeve

🎂: Has your OC have any contradictory interests or traits to the first preception people have of them? How do they surprise people?

Something interesting about Reeve is that she can be both DEEPLY empathetic and DEEPLY apathetic. We love a queen with range, lol! <3 I think both actually stem from her empathy, though, as she feels A LOT, and as a result of feeling a LOT, can feel very little for people at certain times (it's kind of like she's feeling so little A LOT, haha). I think she surprises people with her kindness, though. There are so many reasons for her to not be nice at all, and sometimes she isn't. She's a flawed person. She's learning. But she can extend so much kindness to even strangers, which I think is where her vulnerability peaks through the most.

🍻: What’s your OC’s favourite comfort ritual? How do they calm themselves down after a rough day?

Does staring into Darren's eyes count loool, because there's a whole chunk of this book dedicated to that! It's cute! Otherwise, she's a bath, wine, and candles girlie, and I love that for her! <3

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

✨ :3c

✨What’s one totally unique thing that sets your WIP apart from other stories?

I don't think this is particularly unique, but I don't see it often (actually, I've never seen it at all). I've seen LOTS of seven deadly sins books, but my book (Seventh Virtue) focuses on both the sins AND the holy virtues (funnily, I saw an IG reel saying they also don't see books that focus on the virtues--which is where the book gets it name--and I was like!! omg!!! me!!!)

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

🤠🗑️🐱!

🤠”Spoil” the ending of your WIP using only memes.

Does this work LOL

🗑️Share an excerpt where a character is up to some embarrassing, unflattering, or mildly unsavory nonsense.

CW: vomit

Context here is that in a daze, Harrison comes up with a revelation about a major issue he’s been trying to solve & rushes to tell his friend (who he thinks is cute!) about it, but is so out of sorts that he quite loudly embarrasses himself lmaoooo

“Have I humiliated myself?”

Darren adjusts the damp cloth back onto Harrison’s forehead. It smells faintly of eucalyptus. “Depends on who you ask.”

“Oh, please.”

“You were very urgent,” Darren says, and accepts a roll of paper towel that Jordan, who looks more concerned than alarmed now, hands him. He rips off sheets of it and places them down on top of Harrison’s mess.

“Please don’t clean up my vomit,” Harrison says, his cheeks hot. If lightning were to specifically strike him at this moment, he would definitely invite it to—in fact, he’d buy that lightning dinner just to kill him now.

🐱 Share a picture of your pet! (Or plant or favorite book or something!)

My sweetheart Liuna! She’s 12 and pretty much another sister, lol! So much personality.

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

🍬<3

🍬 candy: share a sweet or fluffy scene from your wip!

All my sweet & fluffy scenes in Seventh Virtue are Harrison and Foster bickering (but it being very cute, haha). I wrote this a couple months back. For context, Harrison disappeared with no contact with Foster for a couple of days! Foster is flustered with worry, Harrison is irresponsible and annoying lmao.

“Where are you going?” Foster asks, his hair static around his face like Einstein’s, as Harrison gets off the bed and stretches his neck. That coupled with his bug-eyes makes Harrison laugh. Foster’s eyes bulge even further, his throat coating red. “Are you laughing at me Harrison? I spent the last twelve hours readying myself for when I’d need to identify your body at some morgue.”

Though Foster’s last remark seems casual, Harrison knows his best friend better than that. He looks at Foster, beyond his eccentric, reddened expression, and sees nothing but fear. In the last twenty-four hours, Harrison’s given Foster a bigger heart attack than in the entirety of their friendship. And though he sometimes forgets, Harrison knows that to Foster, he’s the only remaining family he’s got left. They’ve both got that in common now.

Without a word, Harrison crosses the white carpet where Foster stands, and as Darren did with Reeve, secures his arms strong around Foster. A twinge of pain echoes from his chest but isn’t anything he can’t handle.

“You’re trying to kill me now,” Foster chokes, but doesn’t resist the hug.

“I love you, you know that?” Harrison says and rests his chin on the crook of Foster’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

Foster flushes, his body heat reverberating into Harrison’s. “Sometimes,” he says, “I’m confident you’re trying to reduce my lifespan. Just for funsies.”

Harrison laughs, and pecks Foster on the cheek so he grows even hotter. “For funsies?”

Foster tries to bite back a smile, and says, “You’re embarrassing me.”

SO CUTE LOL

October-themed writing asks

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Writeblr Introduction (even though I’ve been here for 6 years oops)

Hi folks! I’ve been posting writeblr content to this blog for over 6 years, but haven’t done a formal introduction since my very first post! So here we go!

(Image description: a photo of a pale blue to orange sunset above a field of green plants and trees that line an embankment. Written on the sky in a green serif font reads “rachel’s writeblr intro” /end ID)

About Me

I am a 19-year-old (nearly 20 oml) writer from Toronto!

I started this blog, Coffee and Calligraphy, when I was 13, and have posted ever since!

I love: green tea, true crime, highlight bloom (lol)

I am also: an artist, a guitarist, a graphic designer, a photographer, and a YouTuber (I make writing vlogs, craft vids, book cover design speedpaints, and more)!

My writing background

I’ve been writing for 7 years. I started writing YA dystopian but now primarily write adult literary fiction (though I do have a few genre WIPs in the works). I also write and publish poetry.

I’ve written 10 books and am at work on the eleventh (and twelfth, and thirteenth, oops)!

I will be entering my third year as a creative writing undergrad at a Canadian university in the fall.

My writing has been published in magazines across Canada such as Minola Review, Grain Magazine, The Malahat Review, Augur Magazine, carte blanche, filling Station (forthcoming) and elsewhere!

My WIPs

Just a reminder: This is my original work and plagiarism of any form will not be tolerated.

Feeding Habits

(Image description: a photo of 8 sheep in a field positioned toward a tree line with the text “Feeding Habits” written in an all-caps cream serif font on top /end ID)

Feeding Habits is my eleventh novel, and the second book of the Moth Work series, which is a spinoff of my six-book series, Fostered.

Genre: Adult literary fiction/contemporary/romance/LGBTQ+

POV: Third person, present tense.

Status: Currently drafting

Logline: Lonan, stuck in a toxic relationship, and Harrison, disappointed by his New York City restart, find themselves on separate trajectories toward inevitable isolation until Lonan finds purpose in helping out an old friend, and Harrison realizes his dull reboot could be revitalized if he seeks out what—or who—is missing.

You can read more about it HERE, where all the writing updates are linked.

Seventh Virtue

(Image description: a photo of two ravens in profile, each facing the other with the text “Seventh Virtue” written in a navy blue all-caps serif font on top /end ID)

Seventh Virtue is my thirteenth novel (if I do finish it!) and an alternate-reality spinoff of the Fostered series. So, the same characters, but in a different world!

Genre: Adult urban fantasy

POV: Third person, present tense.

Status: Currently drafting

Logline: After being tormented by nightmares of his ex-lover Lonan, Harrison seeks a magical intervention from old friend, Reeve. When she reveals she and Lonan are members of the Seventh Roost, one of seven magical families that coincide with the 7 Virtues and 7 Capital Sins, she also unveils another secret: Lonan is part Virtue, the immortal bird that represents each house, and her family is holding him captive in hopes of extrapolating his power. Harrison must choose to continue life as he knows it or rekindle relationships he thought he’d left behind to save someone he once loved.

She is Also Dead

(Image description: a photo of a woman in a pool floating face-up with the text “She is Also Dead” written in a white all-caps serif font on top /end ID)

She is Also Dead is my twelfth book and my first short story collection.

Genre: Adult literary fiction, short fiction

Status: Currently drafting, 14 stories

Logline: In SHE IS ALSO DEAD, a small town turns murderous when their local invasive species, the Janices, begin dying. A child struggles to understand her mother’s suicide. A mother acknowledges her daughter’s homicidal tendencies after her backyard chickens mysteriously die, and a murderous brother and sister upkeep their yearly tradition of abducting a young girl. These stories follow characters who navigate death, violent impulses, womanhood, and loss, both self-imposed and otherwise.

If you’d like to keep updated on my short stories, I tag all relevant posts HERE.

That’s it for me! Welcome if you’re new here, and hello again if you’ve been here for a while! Look out for new content soon.

--Rachel

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Please tell us more about Seventh Virtue–we need more? Also what was your general thought process for writing this right now?

Hello!! Seventh Virtue is the fantastical version of the Fostered series (which I’ve been writing for many years as you probably already know)! I came up with the initial idea for this project back in the summer of 2019, but knew I’d probably never write it because at the time, I couldn’t see myself writing beyond literary fiction (and also: I know nothing about fantasy :)) in fact I think I’ve only ever read 3 fantasy books from the same series and that was years ago)!

This led to why I’m writing it right now, actually! Earlier this week, my sister and I binge watched Shadow and Bone and it reminded me of this project (which I’d called Fostered But It’s Magic haha). I couldn’t help but delve more and more into the project as the days progressed, and so I decided I’d try to draft it. I actually tried to draft this project once before as a screenplay because I thought it’d translate better to screen, but gave up FAST when I realized I am terrible at screenwriting! With this in mind, I knew I wanted to write this project, but I’m also impatient, and know I want to write more things this summer. TBH, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my vacation writing another Fostered book (I planned to write something outside of this universe but apparently it doesn’t want me to??) so yesterday at 1AM, I came up with a very... stupid idea to write 10k words in one day.

I made this decision strictly for anxiety exposure. I’m exporting the vlog where I chat about this experience so I won’t delve too much into it. TL;DR: I wrote 11k words yesterday, and finished the first chapter (almost done the second).

So what’s the book about?? Honestly, it’s pretty loose right now. This is the pitch I wrote way back in 2019, which is more or less accurate:

After being tormented by nightmares of his ex lover, which result in violent hot flashes and an inability to keep up a job, Harrison seeks a magical intervention. When the clairvoyant he hopes will cure his strange ailment turns out to be a con woman—and his old friend, Reeve—he is thrown back into the past and forced to rekindle relationships he thought he’d left behind.

The main thing that’s surprised me since drafting is how contemporary this world is?? Despite being literally fantasy, this setting is the most contemporary-aligned compared to the rest of the series. Fostered book 1-6 take place in a sort of dystopia (which gets softer and softer as the books continue), whereas Moth Work and Feeding Habits take place in older-contemporary times (2006)! This book on the other hand I could certainly see taking place in some sort of alternate 2019 (because we :) cannot include the pandemic years :)). It’s also magnificently funny?? I feel really blessed to have just decided to write this book. I know about 10% of what is going on at all times, but it’s so fun to draft!

Something I didn’t expect initially was how big a presence Foster would have in this book! I kind of :) forgot about Foster in Moth Work/Feeding Habits (so sorry he is still an icon), and while I knew he’d be Harrison’s roommate, I kind of assumed he’d be a side character?? But no, he said, I am reclaiming my “Main Cast” title and you can do nothing to stop me. For the majority of what I’ve written, Harrison and Foster are living in the past. This is because Foster can ~time travel, but is incredibly ethical and sustainable, so he refuses to actually change the past/do anything that would affect the present/future. After a hex goes wrong and results in Harrison’s mother getting into an accident and eventually disappearing, Harrison’s life is in literal shambles. Tormented by nightmares and hot flashes, he is NOT living his best life. To cope, Foster agrees to take them back to the past where he can relive the last 5 days before his mother’s accident, thinking they will only stay there for that one week. But when they’ve repeated the same week dozens of time, Foster ups the pressure on Harrison to give him the okay to head back to the present. And when these “hot flashes”/nightmares get even worse, Foster tells Harrison about a “healer” who cured his broken wrist (so he could plant his tomatoes lol), Harrison concedes and they finally head back to present day so he too can visit this woman, who is actually their old friend, Reeve.

This book is SO angsty and hilarious! I think my favourite thing about it is that I get to write Lonan and Harrison falling in love again lol, which I didn’t exactly get to experience in the conventional way (the first time around). By the time we meet Lonan (who is introduced in book 2), he and Harrison already have a pretty complex relationship. This relationship gets even more tangled in book 3, and book 5 is where we get to see the first glimpses of a romance. Somewhere in this timeline, between books 3-5, they ~fell in love, but I don’t know when! I think most of that occurred off the page, so even I don’t know. What’s so fun is now I get to glimpse into that a little bit more. Their relationship is my favourite thing and always has been, about this entire series, so I’m so stoked to finally get to dabble with it from the beginning. All I really know at the moment is that they meet because Lonan catches Harrison being a thief lol so, so much fun tension already to work with!

I’m not sure if I’ll finish this, mostly because the prospect of writing an 80k novel sort of terrifies me?? The project is almost 12k at the moment, and we really have only scratched the very surface, so we’ll see! I haven’t written genre fiction in so long and I’m adoring this! It’s also so much less strenuous than writing literary lols so perfect because I’m still a little wiped out after my semester ended!

Here’s an excerpt when Harrison meets up with Reeve for the first time:

The shop’s name is The Lark’s Lagoon. When he enters, a string of freshwater shells clatter, like bells would. She is not at the table like she was in the past, so he putters around the shop. Some of the things she sells are silly. Plastic mood rings that are clearly heat activated and more suited for a child but marketed to women in their thirties. Ping pong balls with the inscription enchanted aims. Snowglobes with a miniature witch figurine who says I’ll tell your fortune when you shake it.

“That’s a bestseller.” Her voice comes so suddenly that Harrison drops the globe. It shatters across the floor in a glittery bundle. “So you’re going to need to pay for that.”

Harrison describing Lonan lol:

Harrison hated him. He was cute, but Harrison hated him.

Harrison chilling in his timeloop where he can’t be seen:

It’s harder avoiding birds than he thinks. Every time one spots him, his body lurches, magnetized in the direction of the apartment. If it weren’t for the trees he latches onto along the way, he’d already be back at the brownstone listening to Foster lecture him on not being seen and not exploiting his magic. So he becomes more careful. Checks every direction—up down, left, right, diagonally, whatever—until he is certain no one can see him.

Some Stressed Foster dialogue lol I love him protect him at all costs:

“How many times have I told you that you cannot be seen in the timeloop? I woke up with a migraine five minutes ago and when I went to find you, realized you’d slipped out. Do you know how my brain feels when you stretch the timeloop like that? It feels like someone’s cracking it. My brain, a walnut. You, a nutcracker. Not to mention, you didn’t even leave a note. What if you were robbed? Or murdered? What if they dismembered you and I had no idea?

so that’s this project! don’t see any reason to stop writing it, so I’ll make an update on it soon! :) let me know if you have any more q’s!

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Find the word tag!

Hellooo! Catching up on tags (I’m so sorry I’m so late with these), and the first is the find the word tag - thank you for tagging me @sleepyowlwrites​!!

Will do this for Seventh Virtue because I’m trying to get back into that project after a break!!

MEANINGFUL IMPORTANT:

“No offense,” Reeve says, her voice so hushed, it’s nearly a whisper, “but helping Foster with his tomatoes is not nearly as important as saving my brother’s life.”

Harrison’s brows droop, his mouth clanging open. “How do you know about Foster’s tomatoes?”

Reeve tucks her hair behind her ears, folds her arms across the table. “We talk.”

Just want to have a moment of silence for Foster’s tomatoes which are a legit subplot in this book??? as they should be

MEMORY:

He and Lonan had spoken once, briefly, about their future. The memory is hazy now, one of the potent ones Harrison worked doubly hard to forget. He recalls a checked picnic blanket, the dewy grass soaking the fabric, two glasses of wine, the moonlight rimming Lonan’s face in pure silver.

I love this book because I literally don’t remember having written any of this??

MUMBLE:

Aloud, Harrison says, “Some people just insist I’m too hot,” but then tries, “I’ve been told I’m a real firecracker,” and finally, with his head cupped against the crosswalk beam, mumbles, “They can’t handle this trailblazer, you know how it is.”

The amount of... millennial panic in this novel... love to see it!!!

MOSTLY:

They collected mostly dull bits of limestone, but rarely, peppered between bouts of grey, found specks of agate, and even quartzite.

MAKESHIFT:

When Harrison gets home, Foster is babbling about his new tomato plant to an elderly client at the kitchen island. He’s used this surface as a makeshift conveyor belt, cleared enough space for his customers to settle their plants and even more for a bright yellow tin he uses as a register.

Again, the tomatoes??? They’re a whole character <3

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

Find the word tag #2

Thank you for tagging me @finch-goes-write!

All from Seventh Virtue!

TREE:

Foster insists plant shopping will cure his heartbreak. They look at all different types: dragon trees, ferns, dumb canes, pothos.

We see the Lisa Fernie Ernie cameo <3

SMOKE:

In the belly of the fire, the thing that burns brightest are the eyes. Cyan rippling like they’re their own two flames, puncturing the orange heat. At first, Harrison can’t find himself. He’s just a wisp of smoke, veiling the embers—he’s just a blade of grasp crumbling to ash.

RED:

TW: gore

His pinkies cover two versions of the Queen of Hearts. In one, she is headless, dripping at her gashed neck, and in the next, her eyeballs are made of red roses.

^^ the explanation for this is that Harrison and Foster ~thrifted this cool table that’s decoupaged with old decks of playing cards and sealed with resin on its surface. I want it!!!

SHOE:

Harrison talking to Lonan:

He pointed to the shoes. “These are last season, and clearly fake.”

takedown of the season