#wip. irontongue

[lyssa-ink]

Because it’s been a while and I need to refresh this thing

Hi! Call me Lyssa, I’m a writer of mainly fantasy stuff and I am absolutely down to make new writer friends here! Feel free to send asks or tag me in stuff even if I can’t promise I’ll respond within a reasonable time because I procrastinate like that

wips

current main focus:

wardens’ shadow (urban/portal fantasy)

Actor Nathan Lee’s life has been going downhill following an accident that he’s still desperately trying to convince himself was not supernatural. But then he’s attacked by demons that this time he cannot deny, right before being arrested by people calling themselves ‘wardens’, who believe he summoned those demons. Turns out there’s another world that sees his as a prison, and someone has come here determined to free the prisoners.

other stuff (i promise i will get back to them. at some point):

eternal empire

Lar Sorin, son of the immortal emperor, spends his days hunting the deadly monsters that stalk the land’s borders as a way of escaping the court politics and constant pressure that defined his childhood. But when the seemingly impossible news of his father’s death reaches him, Lar is dragged back to the capital for a throne he doesn’t want as an ancient conspiracy begins to unfold…

irontongue

Raised a changeling in the human world, Prince Auryn of the Winter Court cannot feel at home amongst the fae he’s meant to one day rule. Both an attempt to prove himself a true faerie and to find comfort in something familiar, he steals a mortal girl and brings her into the court. Except Mira isn’t mortal – not fully, at least. The half-fae princess of the Summer Court seeks through Auryn a path to the power she cannot grasp back home, but may find something else instead as tensions between the Courts grow.

[lyssa-ink]

Hey there! I’m a writer looking for writing friends and a place to infodump about my wips, so a writeblr seemed the way to go. Also a way to motivate me to actually, you know, write and not just daydream.

about me. she/her, malay, probably adhd but who knows 🤷‍♀️, fan of books but also comics, games and drawing sometimes

about my wips. (there’ll probably be more detailed posts about these soon)

Bonus fun fact! The protagonists of both these wips (Lar and Mira) are fantasy southeast asian because yes I WILL project

heir of the eternal king (intro)

Lar Sorin, son of the immortal emperor, spends his days hunting the deadly monsters that stalk the land’s borders as a way of escaping the court politics and constant pressure that defined his childhood. But when the seemingly impossible news of his father’s death reaches him, Lar is dragged back to the capital for a throne he doesn’t want as an ancient conspiracy begins to unfold…

featuring: daddy issues, court politics, a love triangle that turns into a polycule, petty immortals and fun fantasy world-building tm

irontongue

Raised a changeling in the human world, Prince Auryn of the Winter Court cannot feel at home amongst the fae he’s meant to one day rule. Both an attempt to prove himself a true faerie and to find comfort in something familiar, he steals a mortal girl and brings her into the court. Except Mira isn’t mortal – not fully, at least. The half-fae princess of the Summer Court seeks through Auryn a path to the power she cannot grasp back home, but may find something else instead as tensions between the Courts grow.

featuring: trickster-y fae shenanigans, mortality as a strength, falling in love with the guy you were trying to manipulate, a girl who can and will kill you and a boy who’s too nice to be around faeries

[lyssa-ink]

irontongue; a wip intro

She buried her face in the prince’s cloak. He and others likely assumed it was from fear – what else would a weak mortal girl feel when the horse she rode on soared miles above the ground? But truly, the only thing Mira was afraid of was someone catching the grin that spread across her face.

Her father. Her siblings. Every single arrogant fae in the Summer Court. She was going to prove them all wrong.

genre: fantasy

status: drafting

themes and tropes: fae, disabled mc, mortality as a strength, enemies to lovers from one pov friends to lovers from the other, powerful women and soft boys

summary:

The princess of the Summer Court yearns for power. But in her way lie two older half-siblings, the mortal blood in her veins and her inability to speak – a curse cast upon her when her lies angered the wrong faerie. Mira knows she’ll never be anything if she stays in her home. Instead, she’ll carve her own path to greatness, with a little help from a certain changeling prince…

The prince of the Winter Court hopes to belong. But Auryn was raised by mortals who taught him to always see the best in people – a task that grows more difficult each day he spends among the cruel and capricious fae he’s meant to one day rule. Desperate for both acceptance and a taste of home, he finds himself stealing a mortal girl and bringing her to the court. Mira – sweet, silent and perhaps more capable than himself in surviving amongst the fae…

taglist: tell me if you want to be added!

[lyssa-ink]

irontongue – character intros

picrew

Mira is the daughter of the Summer King and his human bride – a warrior who fought her way into the Faerie and the king’s heart. Yet despite her mother’s undeniable strength, she’s always looked down on humans. The only advantage she sees in her mortal blood is that unlike other fae, she is able to lie. Though it was less of an advantage when that ability of hers angered the wrong person and she found herself cursed to never speak another word again. She’s not too caught up on that though, as communicating in sign language works just as well for her plans. Plans that involve escaping life as last in line and gaining the power she knows she deserves.

Auryn is the youngest son of the Winter Queen. With plenty of other children to be her heirs, she had qualms in trading Auryn away for a human baby who caught her eye. Raised by the human couple who never suspected what he was and always taught him to see the good in the world, Auryn became a skilled hunter and a kind-hearted, human, person. Until mysteriously, each of the winter heirs died and the queen dragged her changeling son back home. Adjusting to magic – and antlers – that he’d apparently had his whole life was one thing, but navigating treacherous fae society is another. He’s not blind to their cruelty, but he can hope that not everyone here is heartless, can’t he?

Piper is Auryn’s quote unquote “brother” – the mortal child he was switched with when they were infants. Growing up as a human in Faerie, Piper developed an understandable distrust towards everything and everyone. He’s learnt to survive, keeping charms in his pockets and avoiding deals that merely sound sweet. His other skills include swordplay, the flute and smuggling enchanted mortals out of the Winter Court. Though oddly, that’s never included himself. He’s left to the mortal world with victims of the fae many times, but he always comes back.

taglist (ask to be +/-): @angie-j-kay @reneesbooks @taskignored @serenanymph

[lyssa-ink]

make me write

Picking up @reneesbooks open tag!

Rules: make a 24hr poll listing the title of every wip that you want to work on. Whichever title gets the most votes, write 1 sentence for every vote.

I only really post about one WIP here but I have a lot but here's the ones that are coherent enough to share lol

Also leaving this open to anyone and everyone because polls are fun

[lyssa-ink]

1, 2, 4 and 11 from the ship ask game? For either or both of your ships! Sorry if it's too many questions fjshsdfgshdf you don't need to answer all of them if you don't want to

Thanks for the ask! Splitting this up to two for each ship–

lar/fel/niara

1. What’s their love languages?

Lar: Quality time. Even just being in the same room is good to him, a reminder that he’s not alone

Fel: Acts of service. Maybe it’s the whole raised to fulfill your families’ legacy of servitude deal, maybe she just wants her partners to know she’s always there for them

Niara: Gift giving. She was expected to ‘earn her place’ as a kid so giving something freely, no matter how small, is the biggest act of love she can think of

2. Do they have a dynamic trope? (enemies to lovers, sunshine x grumpy, etc?)

I think I’ve called them ‘enemies, friends and lovers in almost every possible order’ before which is an accurate description. Niara and Fel are enemies to lovers, Fel and Lar are friends to lovers, and Lar and Niara are friends to lovers to enemies to lovers

mira/auryn

4. What’s their favorite sleeping/cuddling positions?

Okay I think Mira’s the embodiment of that old “Are you the big spoon or the little spoon?” “I’m a knife” “She’s the little spoon” meme.

11. What’s a song that describes their relationship? Or, what’s the song that they’ve deemed “their” song?

If Only. Yeah from the disney movie. But literally it’s about a girl pretending to date a guy to achieve he own ends but falling for him. That’s literally them.

[lyssa-ink]

writeblr meme monday

Thanks to @reneesbooks for tagging me and letting me make silly memes about my little guys. Mostly for heir of the eternal king except one crossover with my other wip which I’ve barely talked about

No pressure tags: @maddilynmuse @serenanymph

[lyssa-ink]

Wip Themes Tag

Tagged by @rachaellawrites! Thanks!

Rules: Bold the themes that appear in your WIP (& italicize those that are loosely covered)

No pressure tagging @serenanymph @reneesbooks @lena-rambles @angie-j-kay and anyone else who wants to give this a shot!

Doing this for irontongue!

addiction | beauty | betrayal | change vs. tradition | chaos vs. order | circle of life | coming of age | communication | convention vs. rebellion | corruption | courage | crime and law | dangers of ignorance | darkness and light | death | desire to escape | dreams | displacement | empowerment | facing darkness | facing reality | faith vs. doubt | fall from grace | fame and fortune | family | fate | fear | fear of failure | free will | friendship | fulfilment | good vs. bad | government | greed | guilt and forgiveness | hard work | heroism | hierarchy | honesty | hope | identity crisis | immortality | independence | individual vs. society | inner vs. outer strength | innocence | injustice | isolation | knowledge vs. ignorance | life | loneliness | lost love | love | man vs. nature | manipulation | materialism | motherhood | nature | nature vs. nurture | oppression | optimism | peer pressure | poverty | power | power of words | prejudice | pride | progress | quest | racism | rebirth | relationships | religion | responsibility | revenge | sacrifice | secrets | self-awareness | self-preservation | self-reliance | sexuality | social class structure | survival | technology | temptation and destruction | time | totalitarianism | weakness | vanity | war | wealth | wisdom of experience | youth

[lyssa-ink]

a 10, but

@reneesbooks tagged me to do this and it’s really fun so here we go!

eternal empire

Lar: He’s a 10, but his daddy issues are the whole country’s problem

Fel: She’s a 10, but her insecurities mean she’ll never believe that she is

Niara: She’s a 10, but she’s incapable of the emotional vulnerability needed to actually show you she’s a 10

Faris: He’s a 10, but he will never admit he likes anyone

irontongue

Mira: She’s a 10, but… that’s it. She seems pretty perfect to you. Nothing suspicious at all, nope. That’s not a knife in her sleeve

Auryn: He’s a 10, but he’s way too eager to believe the above is a 10

Piper: He’s a 10, but he refuses to leave the fae who kidnapped him despite clearly having the ability to do so

and secret new wip i’m doing for camp nano

Eli: She’s a 10, but she owns a cursed sword that kinda ruins the mood

Lance: He’s a 10, but you once caught him attacking his own allies, and you care about him too much to report him, but your relationship and your trust in him was forever shattered

Calliope: She’s a 10, but she still thinks it’s 1000 years ago

Making this an open tag! Tell me about your blorbos!

[lyssa-ink]

Heads up 7 up

Thanks @rachaellawrites!

Rules: Post 7 lines from your current wip and tag 7 people

From irontongue!

“Come with me,” he hissed, and without waiting for a response pulled her through a small archway and down a narrow hall. The sudden silence there after the loud chaos of the revel put her off balance, and she followed Piper along for several moments until she realised that that was not part of her plan.

She jerked her hand away from him. Piper stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, brow furrowed.

“You need to come with me,” he explained again. Slowly, as if speaking to a child, “Now. Otherwise my not-brother or someone worse will notice you’re gone, and we will lose our chance to get you out.”

No pressure tagging @reneesbooks @lena-rambles @angie-j-kay @zmwrites @serenanymph @thewardenofwinter @ethaeriea

[lyssa-ink]

happy sts! a question for you: how would you imagine the theme song for irontongue? vibes? or maybe key, chord progressions — whatever floats your boat! [ hope this is welcome :) ]

this is late sorry

Thanks for the ask! Now I don’t know the first thing about music so I guess I’ll go with vibes – the music you hear when walking deep in the woods and you have a strong urge to follow it to the source but when you do you end up trapped in faerie for a hundred years however to the outside world merely a day has passed

Also there’s gotta be some flute in there since a major character plays the flute

[lyssa-ink]

heads up seven up

Thanks for the tag @serenanymph. Here’s the last seven-ish sentences from irontongue featuring messy family dynamics and Mira judging them.

Auryn dropped Mira’s hands, turning to the human hesitantly, “Yes, brother?”

“I’m not your brother,” he snapped. Then, in a calmer tone, “The queen wants to speak with you.”

Fascinating. Mira knew Auryn wouldn’t have been able to say it had it not been true, but the human didn’t seem to be lying either. What was even more interesting was how the prince stiffened in response to the mention of his mother. Rhienne of the Winter Court wasn’t known as the Frigid Queen for her sunny disposition, but did her only remaining heir fear her iciness as well?

I am too lazy to tag anyone so you know what this is open tag! Feel free to jump in!

[lyssa-ink]

Well @reneesbooks since you asked… 🙃🙃🙃

SO they’re kinda based off the story of Puteri Walinong Sari. Which basically goes like this

Walinong Sari is this princess who is 1) So incredibly beautiful that she has to wear a veil everywhere and 2) A master at silat (martial arts). So obviously a lot of people were in love with her and wanted to marry her, but it was declared that she would marry the one who could defeat her in a fight. Many tried, but silat master and all she always won.

One day, a magic prince noticed her. After a few incidents that involved spying on her as a bird and giving her gifts while disguised as a beggar, he falls in love with her. Also entranced by this random beggar who keeps giving her expensive shit, the princess challenges him to a fight. They were perfectly matched and fought for several days straight until the princess’s veil fell off and princey boy was so struck by her beauty that he just. Immediately passes out.

So bystanders pour water on him to try and wake him up and end up washing off his disguise revealing that he’s not exactly human. It also brings this to his DAD’s attention, who’s not happy about him thirsting after a mortal girl and yoinks him out.

Later, the princess has a weird dream where someone tells her what he really was and that if she wants to find him again, she needs to go to peak of this mountain. And so she dips out of the palace and that’s where the original story ends.

The continuation of that for irontongue is that she faces trials and eventually kills the king. She then marries her lover and settles down, has Mira and generally scares the fae enough that no one’s messing with her.

Mira, hearing this story: So you became powerful by killing the ruling monarch and marrying their kid?

Her mom: No dear, it was my love for your father that drove me–

Mira, already leaving: Seduce the heir and commit regicide, got it

irontongue – character intros

picrew

Mira is the daughter of the Summer King and his human bride – a warrior who fought her way into the Faerie and the king’s heart. Yet despite her mother’s undeniable strength, she’s always looked down on humans. The only advantage she sees in her mortal blood is that unlike other fae, she is able to lie. Though it was less of an advantage when that ability of hers angered the wrong person and she found herself cursed to never speak another word again. She’s not too caught up on that though, as communicating in sign language works just as well for her plans. Plans that involve escaping life as last in line and gaining the power she knows she deserves.

Auryn is the youngest son of the Winter Queen. With plenty of other children to be her heirs, she had qualms in trading Auryn away for a human baby who caught her eye. Raised by the human couple who never suspected what he was and always taught him to see the good in the world, Auryn became a skilled hunter and a kind-hearted, human, person. Until mysteriously, each of the winter heirs died and the queen dragged her changeling son back home. Adjusting to magic – and antlers – that he’d apparently had his whole life was one thing, but navigating treacherous fae society is another. He’s not blind to their cruelty, but he can hope that not everyone here is heartless, can’t he?

Piper is Auryn’s quote unquote “brother” – the mortal child he was switched with when they were infants. Growing up as a human in Faerie, Piper developed an understandable distrust towards everything and everyone. He’s learnt to survive, keeping charms in his pockets and avoiding deals that merely sound sweet. His other skills include swordplay, the flute and smuggling enchanted mortals out of the Winter Court. Though oddly, that’s never included himself. He’s left to the mortal world with victims of the fae many times, but he always comes back.

taglist (ask to be +/-): @angie-j-kay @reneesbooks @taskignored @serenanymph