#verse novella

[alectepohe]

Avast! Pirate Stories from Transgender Authors edited by Michael Earp and Alison Evans @alisonwritesthings is out now!

More info here.

[ejunkiet]

60% of writing is daydreaming, 30% is editing, and 10% is getting words on the damn page omg

[novella-november]

Is this fanfic friendly? I feel like an outlier.

I guess this is my sign it's time to throw together a FAQ post to link to lol.

Yes, every event for this blog is fanfic friendly :D

Though as I mentioned on my Ominous October post, for events that include multiple short stories, I encourage everyone to flex their creativity and take one of their planned short story fanfics, and at least *attempt* to turn one of them into something entirely original; rebuilding a character and story from the ground up to stand on its own two legs is no easy feat, and that is what makes it so fun!

It really gets your creative gears turning, to make an "au of an existing material" to be something entirely original, and you can be pleasantly surprised about the things you come up with!

As a few people say, its not just a matter of "filing the serial numbers off" -- you have to add in just as much *or more* as what you take out when you are turning a fanfiction into something that is original and completely divorced from its original source material / inspiration, and that is a hard, but very rewarding challenge!

Obviously, this is not a requirement (there's no hard requirements for any of the challenges, other than no cheating, including no using AI),

but if you would like an extra challenge for the short story events and you're planning on doing entirely fan-fiction, I highly recommend trying it out at least once, and seeing where it leads you--

you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by what you find down that rabbit hole!

[dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition]

my favorite line in my grad thesis so far just so everyone knows

[nerdasaurus1200]

[hurricane-eva]

DO YOU NEED ELECTION DISTRACTION

If anyone would like to listen to a novella in verse today to distract themselves for an hour and a half, I have audible codes for élégie. (And also spotify codes, so you can take your pick.) PLEASE GET THEM OFF MY HANDS.

You can read reviews here: https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/elegie-by-eva-seyler

[stillsolo]

@desiccation moved & cont. from [ x ]

– Teshin does not need to watch Han to notice how restless he is. Hunger gnaws at his stomach too but risking a journey down to the jungle floor was something he would rather avoid. While Teshin was more than capable of defending himself, it was not that which worried him. If the Infested came across him the entire hive-mind controlling them would drag a horde to their location, and not even the tallest branches of the trees would stop them then. – “When the sun rises we must move quickly. If we clear the trees before the Grineer awaken, walking across the plains will be unnecessary.” – How tiring this was for him, and completely unusual. If Han had been any other person from within the system then the chance of Teshin stopping to help him survive were slim. But, Han Solo was something else, for sure. He only hoped that this endeavor would not be for nothing. If there were other worlds out beyond the Sol system then maybe there was hope for the colonies that could not survive under the constant war between factions. – “I recommend trying to sleep, if you can. There is not much time left and you will need your energy.” – Though he does not take his own advice, restlessness is contagious and not even a Dax could be immune. Sitting back on his heels where he kneels, Teshin draws out a single Nikana. His gaze wanders over the blade and looks for the smallest of imperfections across it. Nicks are brought on from cutting through metal and bone alike. Even so, the edge still managed to continue on just fine and serve its purpose. Teshin was almost the same. Sharp and willing to kill, but not without his flaws. – Frowning to himself at the aching reminders of his wrong doings, the weapon is sheathed once more. Stray judgement of himself lead to the conclusion that he is no blade, because unlike the tempered metal, he cannot be mended. – Hearing the distant sound of a departing Eidolon draws Teshin’s attention away from himself and to the land laid out before them. Now there was no time to sleep. Rocking back on his toes Teshin stands up and looks down to Han. Seeing him in a daze and simply staring to the water below makes the Dax wonder if he is going to have to carry him out to the plains. – “It is time to leave.”

             ❝𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴,❞ 𝚂𝙾𝙻𝙾 𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙽𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙸𝚃𝙷 𝙰𝙻𝙻 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙷𝚄𝚂𝙸𝙰𝚂𝙼 𝙾𝙵 𝙰 𝙼𝙰𝙽 who could use several days of uninterrupted sleep.  ❝feels like i’ve been losin’ my mind up here.❞

their descent to the forest floor was as han had predicted: leaden and tedious, more strain than it was worth, really.  by the time his boots hit the parched sod of earth, fresh blood saturated the sleeves of his tunic, blotting up the last of the already faded crème color.  anchored to solid ground, he could feel it now; thick and warm, crimson rivulets streaked down exposed forearms and wet his hands chilled by dawn’s early bite.

SITHFIRE—!  slapdash brushes over the singed fabric of his trousers produced him no favors, as what open wounds that had scabbed over amid the night split anew, dotting red beads over dirtied gashes—a perfect adhesive for dirt and filth.   great.   han wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but if the inhabitants of this backwater planet didn’t land him a snug resting place six feet under, an infection would.        should’ve known better.

although deemed inane in hindsight, han was quick to accuse both hunger and a lack of rest for his disquietude, yet soon found he couldn’t overlook the crash and the injuries sustained upon impact, the blood loss that had driven him to the very brink as he stared down at the dark precipice.  han pushed aside the thought, unwilling to recall balancing atop that razor-thin edge of life and death—a hairsbreadth away from no return—or TRINITY PRIME, and her incomprehensible feat—

   THE ERUPTION OF LIGHT WHICH SWEPT HIS MIND              REBORN, LIKE A PHOENIX, HE’D COME ALIVE AGAIN.

in the wake of stinging pain, crawling self-derision curdled into something borderline venomous.  for the first time since this ordeal began, han longed for the weight of his blaster in his hands, to wrap his fingers around its durasteel grip and welcome the comforting press of security at the back of his mind.

❝don’t suppose your pal could come back ’n patch me up?❞ solo groused as he reared both palms for a quick inspection, flexing flesh torn by the sharp edges of petrified bark.  ❝’been gone an awful long while.❞    they didn’t have much time.    by the look of it, earth’s imminent daybreak was scant minutes away, commencing a forenoon that allowed no sanctuary from the vigilant eyes of THE GRINEER.     first light would bode well for neither of them.

[foxmulderautism]

whilst i think ghosts in lover boy would be so fun i can’t make them an objective part of the world in Lover Boy the Novel from beaus pov because it just wouldn’t work w what the novel is trying to do about grief like 1) i think a ghost narrative would work best if it was just bobbys but bobby is not the only one who dies 2) so much of lover boy hinges on beau wanting to be haunted and wanting signs but not getting anything clear because for that to be effective i can’t let him have anything that’s objectively a sign from bobby. he has to decide for himself. and i think in this case the longing is better if there is nothing spiritually to latch onto so 3) it’s not about whether or not bobby objectively is with him. it’s about whether or not beau decides he believes that he is. which makes no ghosts better for the story as much as i would love scenes of beau talking to bobbys ghost LOL. but anyway it still interests me and then i was half jokingly like the only way for me to write that would be from bobbys pov like lover boy side story him as a ghost watching his friend grieve and not being able to reach out and i was like oh no no no no that sounds fun

[edda-grenade]

a matter of love

35k, dragon age inquisition, solas/adaar, solas&everyone #soulmarks, capital A angst, capital C catharsis

The names are easy. Love names mean you will meet this person and fall in love with them. Death names mean you will kill them. Easy. Fate is kind like that. — For years, Saar has had a death name on her back that no one can read. Solas meanwhile has never had a name of either kind on his skin. He receives a love name at last—after he and Saar enter a relationship. And then, he keeps acquiring even more…

on AO3

written for the @dragonagebigbang.

@zialinbanana was my artist and did wonderful work, all of which you can find embedded in the fic and also here! go check her out, she's amazing :D

[skygemspeaks]

Okay I keep seeing your Earth Girl posts and they rip my heart out a bit. I don't go here but I have to know. Is Jarra ever reunited with her clan?

(If the answer is no, I am going to have to read fix-it fics, and then I'm going to get invested in the characters, and then I'm probably going to end up invested in the world, and then I'm going to get curious about the plot of the novels, and oh god I'm going to read this series aren't I. Damn it.

This is your fault.)

YES! READ IT.

Dw, Jarra does get reunited with her clan!

I must admit, given that I've read the main series a long time ago and am now reading (and posting about) later stuff, you're seeing the story backwards a little lol.

There are three books in the main series, and Jarra has a little bit of interaction with her family in the first book, but it isn't until the second and third book that we learn more about them. Even then, her relationship with her family isn't actually that prominent.

I've recently been reading the Drago 2781 quartet, which is from the pov of Jarra's cousin (the titular Drago) and takes place around eight years before the main trilogy does. It isn't really until that series that you learn a lot more about her clan, and get to know her siblings and everyone.

[morethanthedarkness]

‘ i will either find a way, or i will make one. ’ // @dryadalismagicae { Na'elle }

It has not been long that Alakdiirn was returned to himself, a mere two days indeed since he was brought from that dark and twisted form that had skittered about in the shadows, clutching the light of that accursed lantern and ceaselessly uttering his praises of the Absolute.

His mind is still healing from being so fractured, so shattered, his body still feeling somewhat clumsy and unnatural after so many years with several more legs, yet even so…

He'll be damned if he will allow this horror to continue now that he is himself once more, now that he has been told how this nightmare might, at last, be brought to an end.

[ He owes it to Eilistraee—does he not?—and to the adventurers within this party that the broken Oath of Vengeance paladin turned Cleric of the Absolute had been rescued from his curse rather than simply struck down. He would not allow that debt to remain unpaid. ]

"As I will see this finished and set right. If it is the last task that I do before departing to the hereafter, then at least this second chance will have been well-spent."

[all-is-fair-in-love-and-war]

~Another Time~

Modern verse

@xhideyourfires

Novella walked behind her father as they made their way into the building, it was large and open and Novella couldn't help but look around and be in awe of it. Her father had a meeting with Jacopo Pazzi, to try to strike up a business deal, concerning what exactly Novella was not exactly sure about that. She was honestly a bit surprised that her father asked her to come along, Novella didn't know why but she didn't want to give up the opportunity to learn more about the business.

Although her father had told her to wait in the lobby once the receptionist had called him into Jacopo's office. Novella opened her mouth to protest but before she could get a word out her father was gone. A breath of frustration left her lips and she sat down, smoothing out the skirt of her dress, her red curls tied back away from her face. Her eyes scanned her surroundings and she picked up a magazine from a table and began flipping through the pages.

[thatsneakymedic]

"This village needs a strong leader. And that means, strong subordinates. Enough of this spying on Orochimaru. Come back to the village, soldier."

@lord-danzo

He knew exactly what he was getting into when Lord Orochimaru told him to start spying on the Hidden Leaf for him. Even though Kabuto told him about his worries about Root, Orochimaru assured him that Danzo was not allowed to harm a hair on him if he wants to keep their alliance to take down the Leaf.

Even so, that didn't also mean that the old man can send his subordinates after him to attempt to persuade him into rejoining their side. It's equally frustrating when they can also make passing glances and talks and he can't do anything about it unless he wants to destroy his cover if he lets his emotions get the best of him.

Walking past the old man at a night walk, he only stopped for a moment as he listens to their offer. Betray Orochimaru and return to ROOT? Do they know exactly why he was with Orochimaru to begin with? Would they even be making this offer if Mother Nonou was still alive as well? Why do they even need him if they wanted to get rid of him in the first place? Damaged goods is what he is now, and it disgusts him that Danzo now knows about it and wants to exploit that for himself.

Like hell he will go back to that traitorous ungrateful liar.

He offers them one of his fake smiles as he shrugs his shoulders casually, "Nah, I'm good where I am... for now. Orochimaru takes good care of me and saw my value way before you did. But your offer is a bit interesting if you actually keep your promises from now on. "You see, I have been questioning my own loyalty to Orochimaru these days so I'll think about it. You just keep that old Hokage of yours distracted from our plans and let us handle the rest. Who knows? What if I do decide to betray Orochimaru by the end of all of this? Until then, have a nice night."

Never. Never again will he trust him nor ROOT ever again. He'll kill them all when the time comes.

[vvarriorheart]

❛ working together again, it’s just like old times. ❜

@pctentialbreakupsong

The relief Cassian felt at seeing a familiar face in London was immeasurable. He'd been trapped here for almost a gods damned year, and he was running out of hope of ever finding his way back to Prythian. It would have been harder seeing one of the Night Court and knowing they were likely just as stuck as he was, but Beau had more experience living in the human world. It didn't mean they'd find a way back, but it was reassuring not to be completely alone.

If they also had a bit of revenge business tucked into that agenda, well, the Illyrian was fully capable of multi-tasking. It had always hit him wrong that someone had taken Beau's wings and gone unpunished for it. Cassian had been forced to live without them for a time after Hybern, and it wasn't something he'd like to revisit. Being earthbound was hell for him, far more than being confined to a single, human city (although that was starting to climb the charts). Carrying out justice on someone else's behalf was practically in the General's job description. He'd be glad to help his friend pay back an old debt.

Research was admittedly not a place where Cassian excelled. He could do war strategy and fighting techniques for days, and he'd even started to be a little fond of Nesta's filthy romance novels, but his brain had a tendency to check out of anything it found too boring. Paging through dusty old tomes for ways back to the fae realm wasn't his idea of a good time.

Testing said spells, on the other hand, was right up his alley, not least of which for the possibility that it could go terribly, terribly wrong and send him somewhere worse than this. Or kill him. "Nothin' about this place is like old times, buddy. Magic's been hit or miss for me here." He paused to recheck the symbol he was painting on the floor. Cassian wasn't known for being cautious, but this was Amren-level shit. He didn't fancy being turned inside out or sent to a Hel dimension.

[keepfight1n]

@infectd asked: "Is this everything you wanted?" (based in their proper end of part two on the farm together)

ㅤlife was so quiet here. it might have been easy on mornings like these to forget the tragedies that had carried them here. the air was still a bit cold with remnants of the night, though the sun coasting over the hill was quick to warm whatever it touched. the breeze rustling the tall grass just beyond the house was the only sound save for his own breath. this was calm. this was peace.

ㅤhe should have known that he wasn't going to be alone for long. not that he minded. no, he preferred it most days. nevertheless, her voice startles him when it rings clearly through the early morning air. now that the winter had been banished by earlier sunrises and later sunsets, it was rare that he started his morning anywhere other than the porch. how long had it been since he'd seen sprawling fields without the accompanying dread of what lay beyond them? how many years had he spent searching for ways out of the walls that confined him, only now to see undisturbed horizon?

ㅤso no, he wasn't disappointed to have been interrupted. peace like this deserved to be shared ── especially with her. " hmm, " he hums as he finds the words. all he'd wanted for so long was safety, consistency. he'd found that with tess, albeit behind boston's walls. then he'd met ellie. desires long put to rest had started to awaken. he wanted to protect her, to give her a life of safety, to show her things she'd been robbed of merely by chance. two decades of suppressing the will to care for someone else and some smart - ass teenager had picked it out of him as if he hadn't spent years cementing it into place. then he'd wanted to save her. he'd wanted to give them a life only his brother could promise. then he'd wanted to spare her. [ . . . ] as he was sure she relived that day in nightmares, he, too, could hear her pleas. JOEL, GET UP! he'd wanted to be better for her. to right the wrongs he'd so desperately tried to disguise as sacrifices.

ㅤat the heart of it all, he supposed he wanted what he had been robbed of. a family. a home. a place outside of chaos without need for constant caution. and somehow, through all of it, she'd decided to choose those things, too. it's subtle, and in the harsh light of the morning it was probably indiscernible, but a smile plays at the corner of his lips. the lines on his face grow deeper with the gesture, eyes crinkling at the corners. " reckon it is . . . " he offers with a nod, turning to face her. " we've got our work cut out for us, but ── can't deny that view. " lips curl into a smirk, remembering a child so different from the young woman before him seeing the world for the first time. how had her desires changed, that little girl with a hope he couldn't understand? could this be what she wanted? truly, after everything? " think it'll be . . . enough? " enough to heal old wounds to make room for new desires, new dreams, new life.

[cinisemperium]

@roguesenses cont. from here || bonus music

They always said that words were a fiercer weapon than any gun or blade could ever be, and he had always been confused by that. What could one person possibly say that would hurt worse than bloody hands trying to keep insides in, clenching fingers reaching desperately to hold tattered skin together?

But now, sitting here with Izuku so tenderly holding him, his touch a facade of the love Shouto had finally started to believe in, he knew. The words made so much sense it hurt. His stomach contracted violently, and he launched himself to his feet, stumbling to get as far as he could from the false hero. His cheek burned where Izuku's fingers had just been, as if the memory of his touch was a vile one.

Izuku had promised broken broken of course he broke it that he would never leave Shouto. That he loved him and he would never give up on him, that it wasn't too late for him to come home. And Shouto was trying, he was trying so hard but he was so broken so lost so -

-betrayed.

Something cracks inside of him, an irreplaceable piece of him splintering off to shatter at his feet. Where only moments ago he was angry, and hurt, a raging inferno of emotions warring inside of him, he was now calm, the storm quiet. Was this how his efforts were rewarded? Was this what he got for finally opening up to Izuku and being honest for once in his miserable life?

Dabi was right , why didn't I listen?

There was no love for people like them. No second chances. Dabi had tried to tell him, had tried to make him see, but Shouto was insistent. That small part of him that still wanted to be saved, that still wanted to go home-

Well, that part was gone.

Now it was Izuku's turn. Shouto would make him pay for this, for hurting him so badly. For proving all the voices in his head right. A smile crosses his face, but it's wrong. Even he can feel that.

"Goodbye then, Izuku."