Between having multiple existential crises and personal breakdowns for the past two weeks because of how this administration's policies are directly affecting my career, I have managed to create a very rough outline and write the prologue for my book.
I'm really trying to lean into creation to get through all this shit.
WIP Intro: The Spymaster
Genre: paranormal horror, possession, Kafka-esque dread
Status: In the Discovery drafting stage
Synopsis: Sucked into the routine of a dead-end night-manager shift, Jonas yearns for the Good Ole Days, back when he and his two best friends used to break into abandoned buildings and do seances and EVP sessions. When he meets a beautiful young woman, she encourages him to get back into the Ghost Hunting gig to win her heart. Only his first date results in a two week time lapse of which he has no memories. Jonas, alongside his best friends, fight to uncover exactly what transpired during that fortnight. Can they find the mystery girl and seek justice for the horrors wrought on Jonas, or will the horrors he enacted outside of his conscious catch up to him first?
Setting: haunted houses, convenient stores at night, the glow under street lamps, dirty train stations, the comfort of a best friend having your back
Vibe: elder millennials, emo music, the waft of cigarette smoke, clean up on aisle 12, the pain of adult friendships, the stolen potential of lost dreams, curvy goth girls that appear and disappear in clouds of smoke, night-vision cameras
Touchstones & Inspiration: Project Fear, My Best Friend's Exorcism, Metamorphosis, Carmilla,
Characters:
Jonas - the grocery night manager who dreams of something more profound
Wayne - a sound engineer who is just worried about his best bud
Sammy - an exchange student turned physical therapist that would rather be anywhere but the seedier sides of town, but steps up for the emotional support
Unnamed Babe - the beautiful woman that lured a scrawny boy under her streetlamp and offered him a drag
Excerpt:
Jonas sighed, toes of his sneakered teetering over the precipice of the bread. Deep red liquid spilled between the cracks in scuffed linoleum. Shattered glass clinked beneath stiff broom bristles. More red splattered the cuffs of his khakis.
Story where the new monarch isn’t crowned by a religious figure or by themselves (either because no religion ranks higher than them or that no one takes up their god’s particular priesthood), but they are instead crowned by the person who hates them most.
Maybe it’s their worst enemy. Maybe it’s some kid in the slums. There’s a ceremony to discover the person who hates the heir presumptive most, magic that tells the realm’s protectors who it is and where to find them. When it comes time for the coronation, the heir has 72 hours to convince their biggest hater why they deserve to be crowned the realm’s next monarch. If they can, then their enemy places the crown on their head, as a sign that while they may dislike the monarch they trust their ability to rule.
If they can’t, the heir presumptive is removed from the line of succession. Maybe it goes next to a sibling, or to another branch of the Royal tree. But if you can’t convince the person who hates you more than anything else in the world that you’re the best person for the job of ruling the realm—not a good person or a kind person, but the best person capable of making the sort of hard decisions that come with rulership—then this person isn’t going to make excuses for why you should be the next monarch anyway. It doesn’t matter you were firstborn of a firstborn going back several generations. You suck and you’re cruel and you’re not going to do the realm any good, so the crown passes to your uncle.
the ocean got too high
Happy Resbang 2021 everybody! Here is my submission this year, freshly minted by the seat of my pants. Big shout outs to my artists @karmahope and @macabremermaid
Summary: Ten years after the fall of Asura, and Maka is floundering to figure out who she is and what to do with her life. On a whim, she takes a year long position in Oceania to help settle rebellions in a witch colony despite the fact that Soul must stay behind. Her decision to leave breaks them, but it also gives them both the opportunity to remember their strengths, and remember what their partnership means.
Warnings: Minor character death, canon typical violence/gore, mental health issues, general angst
Story Link: Here!
i wrote op-eds for my school paper when i was an undergraduate. it’s been a lifelong dream to publish an op-ed with a national news organization.
last week, i was livid and depressed and fired off a haphazard pitch. my first ever pitch.
anyway.
it’s been published! and i’m getting paid!
i want to keep writing. i want to send better pitches. but i’ve accomplished a goal.
and because it came in a week where i’m quitting my job of six years and starting a part-time job, i’m not properly excited. which sucks. i’m not sure how to celebrate this.
anyway.
mutuals - if you want to read it, shoot me a message and i’ll send the link your way!