I write speculative fiction, mostly fantasy and magical realism.
I write (and read) in this category because a bit of magic makes it easier for me to digest hard, realistic truths that all too often are unfathomable to me. I have trouble understanding the world as it is, or maybe I just ask too many questions.
Sometimes I write mediocre things. And sometimes I write less mediocre things.
I used to write a lot growing up and in college, but then I decided it would be fun to exhaust myself building software. Building software is fun, but somewhere along the way I stopped writing, so I’m just getting back into the practice now.
Because I haven’t written in a while, or been a part of a critique group, please take my self-assessed critique strengths and styles, and what I’m looking for in a critique partner (filled out below) with a grain of salt.
I wish for the same thing on my birthday every year. I’m trying to build momentum since the key to wish fulfillment is consistency and repetition.
I like waking up early, Yotam Ottolenghi recipes, and wearing boots.
- Found family (LOVE LOVE LOVE).
- Morally grey characters.
- Lyrical writing.
- Magical realism.
- Fairytale retellings.
- Scary monsters.
- Sweet and sultry romance.
- Fleshed out love triangles.
- Best friends to lovers.
- Unexpected, well-done deaths.
- Romantic tension.
- Studio Ghibli-esque stories and characters!
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- Bone Gap by Laura Ruby
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman
- The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic by Leigh Bardugo (the retelling of “The Little Mermaid”–absolutely stunning)
- Throne of Glass series by Sarah J Maas
- And I Darken by Kiersten White (a vicious main character with a background to back it up)
- Sabriel by Garth Nix (my favorite fantasy)
- The Epic Crush of Genie Lo F. C. Yee (SUCH a fun book)
- The Lunar Chronicles by Marisa Meyer (felt so sad when it ended)
- Iron-Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill
- The Apothecary by Maile Meloy
- SUPER self-righteous main characters.
- Preachy stuff.
- Best friend or someone the MC loves is killed by MC’s not-yet love interest, MC gets with murderous love interest anyway (it happened).
- The Rise of Skywalker.
In a land where the tide brings ghosts and the wind carries toxic magic, an ambitious young scholar and her former friend partner up with a misanthropic demon to cure herself of a poisonous curse.
Cyra, an ambitious seventeen-year-old royal scholar, wants nothing more than to belong to a fallen race of warriors known as the Moirai. All of her time is spent studying their remaining texts and analyzing their weapons with the hope that if she can uncover all of their secrets, maybe she could become one. The only problem? Moirai are born–not made.
When an attempt to uncover one such secret–a secret heavily restricted to only the senior-most researchers–goes awry, Cyra is cursed with a rare magic that crawls slowly through her veins, rotting her from the inside out.
To cure herself, all she needs is a Moirai blade. Illegal now to own, but not impossible to find.
And someone to wield the blade. A living, breathing Moirai. Who had, until recent rumors of being spotted in the capitol, been assumed completely slaughtered.
Suddenly, one mistake has Cyra making a deal with a shifty demon in exchange for a memory of his choosing when it comes time.
Suddenly, one mistake has Cyra fleeing from her life as a Moirai scholar, back to a seedier life in the capital with a sin-eater she loved and left (and would rather not see again) not all that long ago. All for slim chance that the rumors are true, that there are Moirai left who can cure her.
Suddenly, one mistake has the Queen’s head researcher, Kelvin, tracking her across the kingdom, set on quieting her about the things she saw by any means necessary.
**Please excuse the rawness of the query. I’m at the earliest of stages for this story (I’ve just started outlining), and I wanted to make that clear to potential CPs. This seemed like an appropriate place to do so. I do, however, have pieces of similar (if not pieces of past drafts of this same WIP) of work I can send in order to give a better picture of my style.**
They were told to stay away from it.
Really, the royal scholars were gathered and told three things: a new curfew was being implemented on that night; there may not be water past ten; and finally to stay away from the old warming house.
Cyra had done her research. The warming house had been built atop a hill, the cloister surrounding it long abandoned since the start of the war. Its doors, Cyra had read, had been painstakingly carved, its knobs and door knockers famously smithed. When passing to and from the temple each evening, Cyra took note of the way it overlooked most of Ivria, a bright sentinel. It hardly seemed like the type of place that would be deemed off limits.
“Why?” Cyra had asked.
There were been reports of wailing being heard, not far below. Not much more was said on the subject.
When they filed out of the hall, a single word buzzed around.
Residuals.
“This far from the coast!” someone crowed. “This far from Rielle! Impossible.”
Cyra failed to laugh. Monsters in their various forms this far from the Eastern coast, she wondered. Some residuals proved useful, if you could get them to talk for long enough without eating your flesh, and the warming house was not even ten minutes from where they slept.
I’ve finished two book-shaped things in the past:
- A 40,000 word YA fantasy about an investigative journalist, a rich guy obsessed with her, and a soul-smoking uncle bent on world domination. Written in 2014.
- A 61,000 word YA fantasy written for NaNoWriMo 2017 that was basically a very very early form of my current WIP, so early that it’s unrecognizable since it’s changed so much.
Both of these I choose not to revise because neither seemed worth the time.
I also learned that writing 61,000 words in 30 days might not be the best use of my writing time since No. 2 was so…all over the place.
I hope to work on some short stories in the future. I’ve been mulling over some ideas. Just gotta put the pen to paper.
Here are some best practices for reaching out to a potential CP:
- Include the link to your own CP Match profile! You can find it on your Dashboard. Don't have one yet? What are you waiting for? Anyone with a WriteOnCon.org account can make one!
- Introduce yourself a little, and say what appealed to you about their listing.
- Respect what's listed here in their profile. They took the time to fill it out, and they've included this information for a reason. Don't send a message about a book they specifically say is a Hard No, for example.
- Offer to swap a small sample of your works, so you can see if you're really compatible. First chapters are a good starting place.
- If one party no longer wants to continue the interaction, it's nobody's fault. Sometimes finding the right CP takes time.
Happy writing and CPing!
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