#voidyelling.txt

[sodaliteskull]

HEARD A WEIRD NOISE.

FOUND A (small) WASP NEST IN MY ROOM.

MADE A MAKESHIFT BEEKEEPER OUTFIT OUT OF RAIN BOOTS, SWEAT PANTS, HOODIE, GARDENING GLOVES, A SCARF, AND A FUCKING MANDALORIAN HELMET.

ONE EMPTY HOT CHOCOLATE POWDER CONTAINER AND A PAINT SCRAPER LATER, AND THAT FUCKER IS OUT OF HERE!!!

ANYWAY, GLAD I DON'T HAVE WORK TOMORROW, BECAUSE I'M TOO KEYED UP TO SLEEP ANY TIME SOON!!!!

[sodaliteskull]

I've always written, first and foremost, for myself, because writing is like lancing a boil for me, and if I don't do it, I start to feel myself festering into someone I'm not proud of. I gotta get all this nonsense out of me before I blow!

Sadly, while my WIP folder is bursting at the seams with notions and ponderings and the most threadbare outlines imaginable, I don't have a lot of completed works out there! Which is something I am working on fixing!

You can find the bulk of what I've got online through my tumblr, and once I finish up the final editing pass of it, I'll be posting the completed Silent Island of Crow stories on this standalone website (which is going to take a hot second, as there's 175 of them!)

This is the promo post.

PROMOTE YOURSELF.

DO EET.

SHOW ME THOSE LINKS.

Hope you had fun and I’ll see you again next month!

I will be posting all the questions in a single post shortly, as well as queueing up every answer I see to keep it going through the month, and interacting where I can.

Thank you for joining us!

[sodaliteskull]

Writeblr Reintro

Now that I am free from tumblr purgatory, and actually have some free time, I figured I may as well reintroduce myself!

I'm Steph, legal adult and she/they queer living in the mildest climate in Canada. I write pretty much exclusively sci-fi and fantasy, and I fill my casts of characters out with mostly ladies because I am really tired of hearing about dudes! I have five main WIPs I'm rotating around in my mind at any given moment:

The Silent Island of Crow intro post A forum RP currently being reworked into book formatting, it's about a bunch of weirdos getting up to shenanigans and dealing with threats from their pasts and elsewhere. Started really juvenile and grew to be more serious in tone, jarringly so, but there's still some interesting kernels in there...

The Island of Crows intro post ...So my best friend and I are taking those kernels and making something that's a little more consistent and in line with where our writing skills are now! Currently in the planning stages, but the core of it will remain the same: A bunch of weirdos getting up to shenanigans on an island they've all been pulled to for one reason or another.

The Starcrossed Cycle intro post The solo adventures of some of the characters I am going to be bringing to the Island of Crows, before they actually get there. Iradurel is a criminal frozen in time, and Ryla is the monster hunter that finds and frees her. The two of them will come to realize that this is not the first time they've been pulled into each other's orbits.

Abyssal Scrutiny intro post Look, I saw Power Rangers at a formative age, so super sentai shit is always at the back of my mind! So this is my take on the genre, where a group of people are granted powers from a mysterious source, in order to fight against eldritch abominations in some sort of parallel realm. Only, as Morgan uncovers, there is more going on than just fighting monsters of the day.

The Moons of Boryarlta intro post This started life with the intent of being a lesbian rewrite of a mecha anime, but has spiralled into an unholy hodgepodge of sci-fi genre nonsense. Stuck in a dead end job just trying to make rent, Cass didn't think she'd ever have the chance to leave her hometown, let alone her planet. But then she's captured and thrown into a gladiator arena on another world, and her life just gets weirder from there.

Beyond those, I have a couple random ideas that are percolating, so I may have more to add in the future. But for on here, I am always down for tag games (lol just late to respond to them!), love to hear about all the weird shit that people are writing about outside of the traditional publishing scene, and reblog a lot of images and words that remind me of my WIPs (I try to keep my tagging system organized). Gimme a follow if any of that sounds like your cup of tea!

[sodaliteskull]

Nine Lines, Nine People

Got tagged by @nrivanwrites (scope their own response over here!), and I'm pulling from the SIoC story "Swimsuits" for this one:

Suddenly Windy jumped up, whipping off the towel she had changed into her swimsuit in and shouting, "I made mine too, you guys! What do you think?" It was in Windy's signature sunshine yellow and sky blue, surprisingly well-crafted and decidedly beautiful. So it came as something of a shock to Windy when everyone screamed and ran away from her. "Oh come on you guys, that's not even funny! What's wrong with it?!" Design wise, there wasn't anything wrong with Windy's swimsuit. Under better circumstances, the others would have outright admired it. The problem lay not in the design of the suit, but in the sheer material in which it was made. It hid nothing.

No pressure tagging @byjillianmaria @aether-wasteland-s @atomatowriter @hagscribes @thatfunkylilfey @cee-grice @livums @tragicheirs @overcaffeinatedjomarch and an open tag in case anyone's been hankering for one of these!

[sodaliteskull]

9 Lines 9 People Tag

Once again, big thanks to @monstrify for the tag! I'm tagging @foyle-writes-things, @byjillianmaria, @thesorcerersapprentice, @pandoras-comment-box, @cee-grice, @mxxnlightwriting, @aether-wasteland-s, @livums, and @tragicheirs, but absolutely no pressure!

Pulled this one from the story, "The Islanders In Paris" from the Silent Island of Crow:

"I KNEW IT!" Connor shouted, grabbing the bars of the cell he'd thrown Kesper and Syrenna into. "O'Jyren Kibblins, is that some sort of covert separatist group?!"

"It's a town, actually," Kesper corrected.

"Where?! I need locations!" Connor demanded, "You and your ilk have been causing chaos for long enough. It's time we put an end to you!"

"And just what kind of chaos have me and mine been getting up to?" Syrenna asked calmly, smirking at the frantic look in Connor's eyes. He looked like Ahab with the white whale in his sights (which she thought was appropriate, since Moby Dick killed Ahab in the end).

[sodaliteskull]

The Gods Of Marenkes

The pantheon of Marenkes, going clockwise from the upper rightmost (red), we've got:

Coraxborax, the god of the arts, craftsmen, and revelry

Tarnagaar, the god of prophecy, destiny, and dreams

Zhadhul, the god of justice, law, and truth

Xanghul, the god of the day, harvest, and animals

Vulrani, the god of trade, travel, and seasons

Ransaran, the god of the afterlife, karma, and perseverance

Grelthor, the god of knowledge, innovation, and gratitude

Lyrrath, the god of the sky, storms, and forests

Quasvina, the god of duty, celestial bodies, and history

Pelexal, the god of night, the sea, and mystery

Jendrosia, the god of war, victory, and faith

Ahazhada, the god of love, passion, and courage

The gods have made sure that they are omnipresent in the lives of mortals on Marenkes by making their domains as all-encompassing as possible. Under their rule, they demand that every action a person takes is a prayer to their glory.

(I go into more depth about what each god's domains cover below the cut)

These gods are parasites (lol that fact is established in chapter 3 of this thing!), usurping the place of the actual Gods of Marenkes for their own ends. While their domains cover a wide array of concepts, there is no one god of Life or Magic, or even of the world as a whole, as all of the gods claim joint custody of these things.

There aren't any gods to "evil" concepts (things like Asmodeus, Bhaal, or Shar of D&D fame), as they are purposefully painting themselves as being benevolent, parent-type deities. That doesn't mean that they don't accept prayers from people offering them up for nefarious purposes. On the contrary, someone would have to jump through some serious hoops to justify why their prayers should be answered for evil, and these gods are in it for the energy put into a prayer, not its intent!

"Art" is subjective, and so Coraxborax has a lot of wiggle room when it comes to what it can consider prayers to itself. Anything from a composer's magnum opus, to a toddler's unsupervised crayon wallpaper scribbling are "art" enough for Coraxborax. Those who create owe their prayers to this god. And what is a celebration but another creation? This is the logic as for why parties are under this god's domain.

The hazy hopes and dreams of a people are what Tarnagaar dines upon. Anyone who hopes, or wishes, or dreams, must offer themselves up into prayer for this god's use. Any kind of divinatory practices (tarot, runes, entrails, cootie catchers, etc.) are just another form of worship as far as this god is concerned.

The rule of law, the meting out of justice, and what truth actually means are what Zhadhul feeds upon. All of these concepts are governed by this god, and so it has final say over what is (or isn't) considered a crime. Judges and criminals alike both pray to this god.

The glory of the sun, and all that grows under its divine light, Xanghul claims credit for all of these things. Food, resources, pets, a perfect day at the beach, prayers should be offered up in thanks.

Getting people and goods from one place to another in the world is highly dependant on what time of year it is, and so Vulrani takes advantage of this interconnected system when harvesting prayers. Farmers looking to ship their produce are as likely to pray to this god as vacationers looking for favourable weather are.

Death is a scary concept, but knowing that there is someone standing at the precipice between that and life is a comfort, which Ransaran takes full advantage of. Rebirth is a known fact on Marenkes, and so the people offer up their prayers that the departed will get what they deserve in their next life, for good or ill. Continuing on in the face of adversity, knowing that your next life will be better, is something that keeps people praying.

Technological advancement is something that the gods keep a tight leash on, and so the people better be grateful for what they allow to come to fruition! Grelthor is the arbiter of what can or can't be developed, and so this god, more than any other, has a heavier hand in controlling what information mortals have access to. The knowledge that it is doing this is certainly not one of those pieces of information!

The natural world can be a scary place, the forest a beast at your back while the weather above is a fickle monster, Lyrrath demands prayers in exchange for safety when dealing with these forces. Fear of uncertainty, and fear of the unknown, this god will have its tithe.

The iron clad oath and the one who upholds it, the past made immutable thanks to the passage of time, and the perceived eternity of the heavens above, Quasvina is the overseer of all these things, an immovable force that will have its due. Those who pray for change and those who pray for things to stay the same will both bend in supplication to this god.

Things that are vast, deep, and conjure an existential dread in the soul are the things Pelexal holds domain over. Sailors hoping for an easy journey, the child afraid of the monster under the bed, those who revel in the wonder of the unknown, all of them pray to this god.

For Jendrosia, war and faith go hand in hand, as both lead to the other. Under this god's control, that is. The stability of peace times and the chaos of conflict are fertile grounds for prayers, and with all sides praying for their own successes to the same god, it means there's never a shortage of prayers coming in.

Matters of the heart are Ahazhada's source of prayer. Familial love, romantic love, the love of a little treat after work, all these things fall under this god's domain. Passion could mean lust of the flesh as much as it could mean a drive in one's soul for some cause or desire. As for courage, well, you need that to pursue both what you love and what you are passionate about.

[sodaliteskull]

The Foretelling

A cool new tag game from @thesorcerersapprentice's own @philosophika! Check out the ones for her protagonist Altaluna and antagonist Valeriano!

Going to tag @ryns-ramblings, @new-royston-cursebreakers, and @meerawrites for this (no pressure, however!), and also leaving it as an OPEN TAG so get in on it if you're seeing this!

INSTRUCTIONS: Assign Tarot Cards representing your character(s) in act 1, act 2, and act 3, the tag some friends!

RYLA

One of the protagonists of the Starcrossed Cycle, she is the daughter of nobility turned monster hunter.

Act 1: The Hanged Man

Bound to a path by one's own will. The willingness to sacrifice may be noble, but this can lead to stagnation while waiting for a blade worthy enough to fall upon.

Act 2: The Hermit

A lone wanderer, in search of something. The introspection that can come from isolation may be illuminating, but that can turn to loneliness and disassociation just as easily.

Act 3: Judgment

To reevaluate oneself when faced with choices set to alter the rest of one's life. To let go of doubt and self-loathing, to instead take action and embrace the future that has been earned.

IRADUREL

The other protagonist, she is a former gang member who survived the ending of her world, both literally and metaphorically.

Act 1: The Devil

Trapped by one's lifestyle, enslaved to vice. The shackles of excess and addiction, which have been a shallow comfort in a harsh reality, must be broken in order to restore the self long left languishing.

Act 2: The Chariot

Forward momentum, the driving force of one's own will. At its best, it's about ambition and willpower, while at its worst it's about a lack of focus and control.

Act 3: Death

The ending of things, for good and for ill. To let go, to transition and change, rather than to lose oneself in an endless cycle. The fear of the unknown hand in hand with the hope for a kinder future.

RANSARAN

The antagonist, it is the last god left alive after the rest of its pantheon was killed, and it is going to make that everyone's problem.

Act 1: The Emperor

A stoic figure - a leader - head and shoulders above all others. Authority and stability, thought that could just as easily become tyranny and inflexibility.

Act 2: Justice

The iron authority of the law, and retribution against those who would go against it. Integrity and accountability can be corrupted into vengeance and denial, however.

Act 3: The Tower

What has been wrought is now torn asunder, a necessary change to bring about new growth. The foundations have been destroyed, the folly of the structure visible for all to see. And so, something new will be built.

[sodaliteskull]

what painting/image/illustration, when you see it, makes you think "that's my story world right there!" ??

For the Silent Island, it's pictures I've taken out in nature. A large part of these stories were brainstormed amongst my friends and I while we were out wandering in the woods, so where I live has always had a big influence on the setting for this thing!

[sodaliteskull]

I appreciate the tag for this!

Went with Iradurel from the Starcrossed Cycle, since I'm working on one of her scenes atm!

Seasoning: Mint Weather: A thunderstorm, uncomfortably close Colour: Celtic blue Sky: A nighttime spray of stars with no light pollution Magic power: Durability - she's survived more than she should have Plant: Himalayan blackberry Weapon: Naginata Social media: YouTube Candy: Cinnamon hearts Fear: That she actually deserved everything that befell her Method of long distance travel: Train Art style: Dadaism Stationary: Notepad Celestial body: Alcyone

This is an open tag call, but I'm also hitting up @foyle-writes-things, @thesorcerersapprentice, @byjillianmaria, and @vintagetypewriter too!

Unusual Association Tag

Thank you so much for the tag @cain-e-brookman!

I thought it would be fun to let Robertas shine. He's the brother I get to talk about the least. And he deserves more love.

Seasoning: Cinnamon. Weather: An early March morning, when nature awakens to the warmth of the sun, and the tree catkins start to emerge. Color: Lime green. Sky: A beautiful blue cloudless sky with the sun hiding behind the roof. Magic power: Healing. Comforting his loved ones always comes natural to him. His smile's too precious. Plant: Chamomile. Weapon: A leaf rake. Social media: Definitely Pinterest and Instagram. Candy: Sour gummy worms. Fear: Losing his brothers or something bad happening to them, never finding love, being alone. Method of long-distance travel: These days he drives a car. When he was a child, he used to take the bus. Art style: Impressionism. Stationary: Pencils. Celestial body: Earth.

Tagging: @addomfarm-ogf-updates @satohqbanana @mrbexwrites @darkangel319 @alintalzin & anyone else who wants to do it!

[sodaliteskull]

Hey Steph! Happy Writeblr Live! Learning and growing as writers can be such a messy process, I'm so glad you have a positive view of your older writings! How do you think you've grown the most so far? Would you ever want to try to rewrite stuff that you wrote previously to see how your style has changed?

I think the most outstanding change is the flow of a story. Looking back on the older stuff, it was very much EVENT EVENT EVENT EVENT RESOLUTION with very little in regards to connecting tissue, so going back and tying everything together has been the main focus for the editing process.

Funnily enough, I am already in the process of figuring out rewrites for a bunch of older story ideas I have! Having a more experience when it comes to overall storycrafting is making the process a lot more satisfying!

[sodaliteskull]

Fellow writer of gay shit spotted

Yesssssssss let's go!

[sodaliteskull]

alt text under the cut:

SLIDE ONE

TEXT: Abyssal Scrutiny: an urban fantasy hot mess by tumblr user sodaliteskull

(IMAGES: the background shows a washed out image of a person standing before Cthulhu. They are minuscule in comparison. A speech bubble coming out of Cthulhu's mouth reads, "gimme yo FAKKIN MONEY!!!!"to which the person is responding, "NO!")

SLIDE TWO

TEXT: The city of Port Crowden... IS UNDER ATTACK!

people are being gruesomely murdered

property is inexplicably damaged

monster sightings!?

ANGEL SIGHTINGS!?!?

There's only one thing that can save it... MUTHA FUKKIN SUPER SENTAI!!!!!

(IMAGES: in the upper left hand corner is a picture of Vancouver, standing in for the fictional city of Port Crowden. Along the bottom is an image from the 35th anniversary of the Super Sentai media franchise, showing nearly 200 precursors to the Power Rangers)

SLIDE THREE

TEXT: wait wait wait! I'm gonna need a little more context than that!

hokay so, ON THIS ALTERNATE REALITY EARTH! for the last handful of decades, this comet would swing by every twenty-ish years and hang out for roughly twelve months of so.

one of the weird things about it is that is always becomes visible to the naked eye during the week of the Cancerid meteor shower, almost as if the meteors were coming from the comet - BUT THAT'S NOT HOW COMETS WORK!!!

every time this bitch shows up, a lot of weird crime happens. weird in a "literally what is the motive for any of this" kind of way. weird in a "reliable witnesses claim the culprit was some kind of eldritch horror" kind of way. weird in a "conspiracy theorist's wet dream" kind of way

authorities have claimed it's a bunch of shit: mass hallucinations caused by some kind of chemical leak, influencer publicity stunts gone horribly wrong, viral marketing gone horrible worse, run of the mill gang activity, miscellaneous cult tomfuckery. and while suspects have been arrested on suspicion, no one has ever been proven guilty

(IMAGE: a picture of comet Hale-Bopp, standing in for the Star Dealer comet)

the Ishinomori-Haim comet, also know as "the Star Dealer"

(IMAGE: along the bottom is a faded out photo of "POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS" tape)

SLIDE FOUR

TEXT: okay, cool. so what's REALLY going on?

siblings Morgan and Al Kurosawa, along with their cousin Grant Jardine are each struck by a fallen fragment of the Star Dealer comet, which gives them superhuman abilities and equipment. not long after, they encounter Dirk Silberg, a local entrepreneur, who explains that the arrival of the Star Dealer causes - or potentially coincides with - a thinning of the veil between this world and a realm he calls the Otherworld. from there, a malevolent force known as the Spread launches its invasions to try and snatch up any fallen stars that hadn't found their way into human hosts.

forty years ago, Dirk, along with his twin Drake and their friends Tony and Barb were starstruck, and battled the Spread. sadly, Tony, Barb, and Drake lost their lives fighting

(IMAGES: Picrews of the characters mentioned. Morgan has short brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, glasses, and is associated with the colour blue. Al has short sandy brown hair, brown eyes, tan skin, and is associated with the colour green. Grant has short dark brown hair and beard, dark brown eyes, olive skin, glasses, and is associated with the colour red. Dirk has short ruddy brown hair, hazel eyes, olive skin, and is associated with the colour green. Drake has short ruddy brown hair, hazel eyes, olive skin, and is associated with the colour red. Tony has short black hair and stubble, light brown eyes, olive skin, and is associated with the colour blue. Barb has long ginger hair, blue eyes, fair skin covered in freckles, and is associated with the colour yellow.)

SLIDE FIVE

TEXT: this is just a Power Rangers reskin, isn't it?

sure the fuck is! more so these guys tho -> (IMAGE: a team photo of the Gokaigers. Gokai Red is seated with his arms crossed, while Gokai Yellow is to his left, and Gokai Pink is to his right, holding the mechanical bird Navi in her arms. Gokai Silver is standing behind Gokai Red, while Gokai Blue is to the left of Gokai Yellow, and Gokai Green is to the right of Gokai Pink)

the absolute gorilla GRIP Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger has on my psyche…

Sentinels, empowered by fragments of the Star Dealer, are the only thing that can halt the Spread

they have special suits they can morph into, which protects them from the corrosive effects of the Otherworld, with weapons and special attacks to help them take on the nasties that dwell there

they are also granted superhuman abilities outside of the suits, like how these guys in the 2017 Power Rangers movie were able to jump crazy distances and crush cell phones with their bare hands (IMAGE: a screenshot from the aforementioned movie, showing Billy, Jason, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly standing in the Command Centre)

I call them "Sentinels" as a nod to both "sentai" and "senshi", since Sailor Moon is as much an inspo for this as Power Rangers is (IMAGE: a promotional image from the 90's Sailor Moon anime, showing Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Jupiter striking their signature poses against the background of a Tokyo night skyline)

look, I just like teams of pals who fight monsters together, okay!?!

SLIDE SIX

TEXT: design inspo because I am a visual thinker but shit at drawing!

the Mecha Will Rise/Bulletpunk figures from Devil Toys are the closest to what I have in mind for the look of Sentinels

skin-tight armour suits that manifest underneath street clothes

funky helmets that reflect the personality of the Sentinel

glove and boot armour

clothing changes colour to match the Sentinel's signature colour(s)

some kind of batshit anime weapon for fighting

definitely going more for style than practicality with these things, because who doesn't wanna look cute when fighting Cthulhu?

(IMAGES: thirteen figures from Devil Toys, all of which are wearing cyberpunk/techwear fashion in an assortment of colours, all of them wearing mecha style helmets, while some of them are wielding some kind of over-the-top weapon)

SLIDE SEVEN

TEXT: so I take it you aren't talking about butter?

nope! this ceaseless wave of nightmare fuel wants one thing and one thing only: to monch and cronch on fallen stars. they are single minded in their pursuit, closer to a fire consuming whatever is flammable in its path rather than an intelligence that is working towards a goal

At least, that was the case, until these tarot themed weirdos showed up and started bossing the Spread around! (IMAGES: arrows pointing to four figures - the Empress, a woman with long black hair and pale purple skin and dark purple eyes, associated with the colour silver. the High Priestess, with long pale green hair, darker green skin, and even darker green eyes, associates with the colour purple. the Magician, with a short ocean blue afro, sky blue skin, and pale blue eyes, wearing glasses and associated with the colour red. and the Fool, with long orange hair tied in a pony tail, khaki skin, and golden eyes, associated with the colour yellow)

the Spread are hard to categorize, as they're all chaotically shifting messes of tentacles and teeth. the only exceptions are the very rare, very powerful, and distinctly humanoid looking Abominations

(IMAGES: five pictures of eldritch horrors looming in nightmarish landscapes, representing the Spread. there's a lot of tentacles and pustules and assorted other body horror going on in each image. representing an Abomination is a humanoid figure somehow both skeletal and fleshy, with a mass of tentacles coming out of its back)

SLIDE EIGHT

TEXT: hold up, you mentioned something about angles at the start of this!?!?

thankfully, not everything in the Otherworld is out to kill you! looking like something of a cross between the angles from Bayonetta and Greco-Roman marble statues, are the Courts. in contrast to the chaotic Spread, the Courts have an orderly hierarchy. ruled by a King and Queen, every Court is defended by Rooks, advised by Bishops, while the Knights lead Pawns in their battle against the Spread. they are quick to ally themselves with the Sentinels

the assorted Courts are all named after metals (the Court of Gold, the Court of Iron, etc), and the rarer the metal, the more influential the Court

the exception to this rigid societal structure is the Court of Gems, which is composed entirely of Knights, and are even more single minded in their desire to wipe the Spread out than the rest of the Courts are

(IMAGES: several different enemy angels from the Bayonetta games, all of them looking like mythological monsters made of white marble and wearing crimson and gold armour, with statuesque faces in places where they should not be. behind them are several white marble statues with veins of gold running through them, almost giving them the effect of the Japanese style of Kintsugi, wherein one uses gold to mend cracks in pottery)

SLIDE NINE

TEXT: overview of the Otherworld

the Otherworld is a reflection of our world - the landscape and structures of here have mirror copies there. organic things, such as plants and animal life, do not have Otherworld counterparts, however. beyond the Courts and the Spread, the Otherworld is lifeless.

it's divided into two distinct locations - the Heights and the Depths. the Depths are especially deadly, as it's blanketed by a corrosive cloud roughly 100m tall. without protection, organic life does not last long in the Depths. the Heights, in contrast, are corrosion free.

(IMAGE: a rough outline of five buildings on a flat plateau, to the left of which slopes down off screen)

the Heights

the Courts make their homes in the upper floors of skyscrapers

(IMAGE: the three tallest buildings are poking up into the Heights, while everything else in the city resides in the Depths)

separating layer looks like waves from below, and clouds from above

the Depths

the Spread live in the dips and valleys of the landscape, surging up onto higher ground whenever they sense a fallen star nearby. when inactive, they just look like an inky black, viscous ocean

SLIDE TEN

(IMAGE: the background is the person standing before Cthulhu image from the first slide, only washed out to the point where it's barely visible)

TEXT: so sum this shit up for me…

a comet swings by every twenty years and (potentially!?!?) shits debris all over the place

if a comet dropping hits a person, they become a Sentinel

if it lands on the ground, the fragment shifts the area around it into the Otherworld

drawn by the power of the fallen star, the Spread destroy everything in their path to get to it, people and buildings alike

in order to protect those around them, Sentinels need to hunt down these comet fragments and find a way to safely dispose of them

but how are Morgan, Al, and Grant going to deal with all this?

does Dirk have ulterior motives for helping them?

if Sentinels happen every time, why no mention of the team from twenty years ago?

what is going on with that tarot team?

if they've been fighting the Spread this long, why haven't the Courts succeeded yet?

all these questions (and more!) will be answered… once I actually fucking write this thing!

[sodaliteskull]

Badly Summarized WIP Tag!

Got hit up by @byjillianmaria for this, check hers out over yonder!

Rules: Pick a bunch of your WIPs and summarize them as badly as possible, then ask your followers to vote on which one they’d be most likely to read. Multiple/all/none options are completely optional.

I'm going to leave this as an open tag, so if you haven't done this yet, get in on it!

[sodaliteskull]

Top 5 Things I Enjoy Writing About

I appreciate the tag @byjillianmaria! You can find hers over here!

This one's an open tag, but I'm also hitting up @noblebs, @noveldivergence, and @wintherlywords (no pressure though!)

*Hatsune Miku voice* ~Women~: I know this is the piss on the poor website, so upfront disclaimer about how this is not in reference to actual living, breathing, IRL people (HAVE WE ALL UNDERSTOOD THAT?!?), but I am fucking sick of men! "Male" has been the default gender, the default POV in stories for eons now, and I'm tired of it! Men bore me!!! I want to write about men the way misogynist men write about women - in that there is only one of them (if any at all!!!), and they're only there to advance the female character's story (by being fridged, most likely!!!)! I want to write about WOMEN!!!! I want to write about them being cunning and clever, as badasses and bastards, as both the princess and the knight!!! You know, like how women actually are in real life!!! Decentralize men? Honey, they're not even in my orbit!!! NO BOYS ALLOWED!!!! I'M EXHAUSTED!!!!!

Monsters as metaphors: Tale as old as time here, but I love it when a creature is actually a stand in for something a little more abstract. Vampires as a the fear of foreigners come to despoil our delicate Victorian sensibilities, Godzilla as the spectre of nuclear annihilation, werewolves as the visceral and horrifying changes girls go through when they enter puberty, that's some good shit!!! Any time I have some kind of monster in any of my stories, please know that it actually represents something else!

When a plan comes together: I love when people are in cahoots, when they get up to shenanigans, when games are afoot and capers are carried out! Heists? Delicious. When it looks like the antagonists have thwarted the protagonist's plans, but that was actually accounted for in the plans all along and they've actually fallen even deeper into the protagonist's web?! SUBLIME.

Hashtag Squad Goals: Having people grouped up for whatever arbitrary reason the plot demands is such a neat little way to get to play with a bunch of different dynamics all at once! These two are ride or die, but these two don't see eye to eye, and yet they're all the best of buds! How does that work?! I love getting to show the ins and outs of that!

Ancient Aliens: I don't mean the concept that all historical feats of engineering carried out by non-White™️ cultures were actually done by aliens (THAT concept makes me fucking furious!!!), but instead the theory of panspermia, of life originating elsewhere in the universe and being seeded across the stars. My favourite flavour of THAT is life originating on Earth, but then being brought elsewhere, with humans as basically food stock for some more advanced race! I was digging through my WIP pile the other day, and I realized that concept crops up A LOT for me!

[sodaliteskull]

The last!

The final!

The End!

Finally wrapped up the conclusion to the last incomplete Silent Island story, which means this phase is officially done!!!! Considering we petered out of writing this thing in 2015, this is literally a decade in the making!!!

175 stories with a word count of 1,001,309! That's probably going to fluctuate once I get to the continuity pass and put together the appendix for this project, but still! A million words in this beast!!!!

Gonna go celebrate with some ice cream and video games, and if I'm feeling crazy, I may even get a start on the continuity pass!!!!

[sodaliteskull]

Word Find Tag

Got tagged by @aether-wasteland-s (BEHOLD) with the words LIGHT, TRIP, MAGIC, STARE, so I'm going to toss the tag over to @byjillianmaria, @monstrify, @fleurtygurl, and @writingwithsnails (but no pressure!), as well as leaving this as an open tag for anyone who wants to do this with the words: FLAME, FROST, FEAST, FRACTURE

lol ever as always pulling from SIoC stories for these

LIGHT

Yanna opened up the small door and went in. It was pitch black. She felt around for a source of light. Her hand made contact with a smooth sphere, warmer than the water around it, and Yanna concentrated momentarily on the object under her hands. In her mind, she imagined striking flint to steel, and like kindling catching fire, the sphere she was touching began to glow like a flame. The light illuminated the spacious room. Yanna looked around then smiled. Everything was ready. - Any Excuse To Celebrate

TRIP

With a huff, he marched off to his kitchen, leaving his plate in the sink, then stomped off to his extravagant bathroom. Popping open the medicine cabinet, he quickly downed several vitamin and mineral supplements, then went through his evening ablutions as he prepared for bed. His health had been taking a downturn as of late, so he supposed it was time he made a trip to a physician about it. - Reap What You Sow

MAGIC

"Yes it is. I've done an evaluation and I see that the magic is growing heavy. It's weary and dulling. This can be dangerous. We cannot loose what we have been keeping secret! This council is being held to evaluate your position, you know? There are serious questions about your conduct. You should have-" - As The Barbarians Strengthen

STARE

"I DON'T LIKE HAIRY BEEFY MEN!" She yelled out in the quiet. Everyone turned to stare at the blushing Yanna. Ivanova screamed with laughter. The hefty men approached, finding some kind of offence in that outburst from the Cave Queen. - The Reality Of Stripping