Writing

The State of the Writer: 10/17/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 10/3/21         The State of the Writer: 10/31/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 771
Prior Word Count: 774
Word Difference: -3
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

Slow going is better than no going.  I’ve spent the past few weeks figuring out ascot/tie knots as it pertains to status/standing because that was a thing in my first novel that this one is the sort of sequel to.  I remembered I had a site saved with a bunch of different ways to do it.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 8 – Maiden Kisses

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 13 Comments

Update: We’re treated to another comic from my illustrator for this chapter (in the same vein as Chapter 6!) and I couldn’t be more delighted ♥  You’ll find it in the appropriate spot i.e. the text the inspired it.  Is this a ploy to make you reread?  Mmmm, it’s a possibility 😉

The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 7                                                                                                    Chapter 9–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Aeris grows more comfortable with the sight of her skin and finds enjoyment in something surprising.

A pair of flat white shoes with large, white bows on the front. The heel of one shoe rests on top of the other, and they are sitting on what appears to be a hardwood floor and in front of a rough, stony wall. “Chapter 8 Maiden Kisses” in white is in the upper right hand corner. The picture is framed in a fading black edge.

Aeris awoke always with the thought of how long since she’d been saved.  It’s been forty-three days since I was last used.  Only praying that this was no dream, the maid wiped soft tears away.  She stepped in her shower, though small hands still shook running over her tableau of scars.  The water was warm with no trace of sea, which helped wash her grief’s salt away.  She remembered he’d told her of materia that made the waves’ bitterness sweet.  Purify.  Aeris squeezed her lids tight, wondering if it was white as seafoam… Afterwards robed, amidst drying chestnut, she entered her bright, walk-in closet.  Ever and always the maid bled awe that this luxury was now her life.  She swallowed spare tears before they could sting then climbed the ladder to reach a high shelf.

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The State of the Writer: 10/3/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 6 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/19/21         The State of the Writer: 10/17/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 770
Prior Word Count: 774
Word Difference: +4
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

I honestly thought I didn’t have any extra words this week, but I wrote four?  Holy shit!

Most of what I did the past two weeks was trying to figure out clothing materials so I could describe what a tie was made of.  Am I babbling nonsense?  More than likely.  I’ll try to explain.  So in my first novel The Serpent’s Tale I came up with this system of telling a man’s status by both the material and method of how he ties his ascot/tie.  While I didn’t go into too much detail about the knot in TST, I did decide that the “highest” material was silk.  Well in attempting to describe her BFF’s outfit, I had to stop and do some world-building on this whole system, which meant researchng fabrics and reaching out to my fabric/historian friends on FB lol.  I’m still working on it, and because I am how I am, I can’t move on until I have the foundation laid.  I have to know why I’m picking that particular material.  It’s…weird.  I think a lot of this comes from me needing to justify why I do/think things, and that’s carried over into my writing.  Even if I don’t put all the details into the story itself, I always consider, “What if someone asks me why I did this?” so I always want to have an answer.  World-buidling based on trauma responses, y’all!

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The State of the Writer: 9/19/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 9/5/21         The State of the Writer: 10/3/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 770
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: +94
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

What?  Drafting progrress??  An increased word count???  WHAT???!

While I didn’t fulfill my goal of drafting Chapter 1 on my two week vacation, I did at least make progress, and there’s actually a lot more done in the background.  Even though I added less than 100 words, I did a lot more work with the world-building, organization, and micro-outlining.  I’m also having an extreme amount of fun writing the dialogue for the main character Maya and her BFF Caemlyn.  It’s this friendly, flirty banter that’s hamstrung in the beginning by the MC’s anxiety about something happening tomorrow.  I’m very adamant about showing as much as possible, so I’m trying to have his reactions to her perceived grumpiness reveal that this isn’t their typical dynamic.  I’m also being a presumptuous prig by doing this sort of metatextual foreshadowing (I implore you to try using that in a sentence without sounding like an elitist ass lol), and I just hope it works out.  I know drafting is just supposed to be about shoveling the sand into the bucket for castle building (editing) later, but I have to make sure I”m laying the groundwork for exactly what I want to build with maybe some surprising embellishments.  I do feel like I can move forward now and continue drafting (when I have the time/energy), and I actually look forward to it, too 🙂

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The State of the Writer: 9/5/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 8/22/21         The State of the Writer: 9/19/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 1

I did some serious brainstorming/notetaking over the past few days, fleshing out one of the side characters.  Even if it doesn’t find its way into the story, I like to have a robust background for as many people as possible.   I might work on more today, since I still have some creative juices left for it.

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The State of the Writer: 8/22/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 8/8/21         The State of the Writer: 9/5/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Organization
Progress: Chapter 1

I wracked my brain for a week over what to do and where to put my “false” starts.  I wound up making a separate section for them on Scrivener.  I have two more to sort out, but one of them occurs later in the story when the two protagonists meet, so I might just hold off on putting that anywhere on Scivener since I don’t know what chapter that will be.  I’m not sure when I’ll start drafting again, but I am on vacation for two weeks in September so I might plan it out then.  I’m hoping if I can get over this beginning hump, things will be easier.  This chapter has a radically different tone from the rest of the novel, which could be one of the reasons it’s giving me so much trouble.

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The State of the Writer: 8/8/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 2 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 7/25/21         The State of the Writer: 8/22/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

I moved all my notes for Chapter 1 to Scrivener, so now I have those and my outline on that program.  I did some more world-building over the past few weeks as well, since there were a few things I needed to figure out.  Now I want to look at all of my “false starts” over the years and see what I can glean from that.  No clue when I’ll start drafting again, but I at least know the direction I’m going.

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The State of the Writer: 7/25/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 4 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 7/11/21         The State of the Writer: 8/8/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 1

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

I’ve been stuck in a stalemate with this.  It happens when there’s just too much.  My notes are currently spread across Scrivener and OneNote, and I was drafting the story in Scrivener.  I need to put all my notes in one place, and I decided I’m going to draft the story in Word like my other ones.  So now I need to move things from OneNote.  I haven’t entirely figured it all out yet, but I have a plan, and that’s better than nothing.

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The Broken Rose: Chapter 7 – Dark Promises

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 12 Comments

Update: Another artwork update from my lovely illustrator who now has an Etsy shop you should check out!  I’m so happy the artwork for this chapter is completed, as I had to remove the one that was here prior, so I’m overjoyed to have a custom made replacement.

The Broken Rose Page

<–Chapter 6                                                                                                    Chapter 8–>

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and settings are all property of Square Enix so I can take no credit nor claim any ownership of that. I do take some credit for the story’s plot.
Banner Artwork Disclaimer:  The featured artwork for the banner is entitled White rose I and was created by the very talented Deviant Artist RemusSirion who was gracious enough to grant me permission to use it here.  The picture has been slightly altered from the original. All rights belong to the artist, and links are included for both the artist page and the work.

*******MAJOR CONTENT WARNING*******

Consistent and sustained graphic descriptions and mentions of rape/ sexual assault, sexual slavery/bondage, slavery, human trafficking, physical abuse, graphic descriptions of violence, mental abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, body shaming, starvation, torture, forced pregnancy, forced childbirth, miscarriage, forced miscarriage, abortion, and other potential disturbing and triggering topics.

Sephiroth returns to hunting for monsters on the outskirts of the town, though he reflects, in thinking of Aeris, that their boundaries exceed his borders.  Monsters “hunt” her, too, and she asks him for something the fallen can scarcely believe.

The sea was as hushed as it could be and the stars above only spoke silence.  In language unmeant for mortal ears, and he had no wish to heed them.  The sky and him could never be friends, his guilt and its dark bound together.  Nor did he need the moon to hunt, but that crescent still carved him a horn.  It shimmered pale hair and paler skin and gave the stars something to mourn.

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The State of the Writer: 7/11/21

/ The Shameful Narcissist / 15 Comments

<–The State of the Writer: 6/27/21         The State of the Writer: 7/25/21–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 0

Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 676
Prior Word Count: 676
Word Difference: 0
Status: Drafting
Progress: Chapter 1

A little bit of progress?  Like not really in the word count department, but any progress is good, I suppose?  I left myself a note in a previous session to work on outfit descriptions in the next.  I’m not there in the draft yet, but if I have a destination to strive towards, it’s possible I could “build a bridge” per se, so I’ve been working on that.  So far, I’m in the midst of Maya’s (the female MC), and of course as per my brand, I’m adding more than I expected lol, but it’s alright.

*sigh* I also started going back to the worldbuilding, because of course I did.  That’s okay, too.  One of my lovely friends made an excellent point.  She said that even just daydreaming about your projects is working on them, and I’m doing more than that.  Because just thinking about them is solidifying things in your mind, so I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, especially in light of all I’m fighting against.

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