In today's #excerpt a loved and supported trans teen says, "Your billionaire ex tried to buy a politician, failed, and is now running for office. Obviously she's evil and should be drowned in a sewer. How are you not divorced yet?"
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ADJACENT TO WRITING:
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ART:
CATS:
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Today's #excerpt:
Clarity on whether this was a date or a recruitment pitch would have helped her guess if the professional ensemble she’d switched to was the right call of if she should have stuck with the one that yelled, “Check out my boobs! And have I mentioned I’m easy?”
Over the next few days, I'll try to find lines about someone other than Ets. He IS my favorite character in Book 2, though, so...
Etsian felt it would be cliche to regard himself in the mirror as he struggled with his internal conflict, the sort of nonsense a broody leading man might try to pull in a period drama. So he resolutely put his back to it. Then realized that was also something such a character might do. Rot and accursedry.
Today's excerpt:
Following The International Seasickness Incident of five years past, Lyra’s family had stopped allowing Etsian within sight of their yacht. Although no one had cared about his motion sickness prior that, vomiting on the Crown Prince of Sansal had been bad enough to get Etsian blessedly banned from even being on the docks.
Today's excerpt:
Etsian was in what many called paradise. It was torture. He didn’t merely loath the island weather, aggressively sunny and oppressively warm, but being surrounded by the type of people who enjoyed those things mired him in violent ideation.
Out of context WIP line that was inspired by my life:
“To summarize: it’s a miracle our devotion survived and sane people should never attempt to build their own house.”
I got a bit too ill and so won't be catching up on #WritingWonders So instead, I'll just do a few of my favorites from the list:
19: share a snippet from a battle. AND 21: How descriptive is your writing? Share a snippet. I think my examples here fit both.
Korrasami: (Taken from a fanfic I wrote that takes place after the Comics Turf Wars and Ruins of Empire):
_
“Okay.” Korra’s voice grew muffled, then her voice came through clear. “I’m coming with you, Asami. The Air benders will give us air support.”
The radio crackled when the call ended. As she flew toward the rest of Team Avatar, she could see Korra sprint toward her. Her girlfriend swirled up on a tornado. The gust buffeted the plane, and she pulled upward out of the turbulence. Korra’s hands connected with the poles of the biplane’s wings. She spun and landed lightly.
Asami throttled up hard, and the plane shot upward. Behind her, the Sky Bison circled higher, many of the benders readying themselves in stances. Pieces of earth broke off from the mountain and hurtled their way. Asami spun the plane out of the way of two, but another hurtled right at them. Korra punched the air, and the rock shattered.
Asami righted the plane and flew them higher. The Air benders split their force, one coming in hard to east of airship, the other west. From below came Bolin's signature lava boomerang. Asami gritted her teeth, and throttled up more. The plane’s speed increased, the wind blowing her hair back and out of her face. Flames shot from the sides of the ship, but gusts of wind from the Air benders sent the fighters sprawling.
“They’re dropping a payload!” Lao shouted. “Asami, we got to take that out!”
“On it!” Asami curved their trajectory and dived the plane. “Korra!”
“Got it!” In her periphery, she could see the wind, fire, and earth start to swirl around her love as her eyes glowed from the Avatar state. A blast of fire, wind, and earth hurtled into the bomb and slammed it into the side of the mountain instead. It exploded in a fiery rain of rocks and earth.
“Another incoming!” Lao shot fireballs upward, but both missed.
Asami twisted the controls left, and yawed the plane to curve around the bombs. More dropped, and she dodged the plane diagonally to the upper right and then wove it down again. Lao and Korra shot fireballs or gusts or fiery wind. Again and again, the bombs slammed into the mountain and exploded. One exploded in the air just above them, and the blast sent their plane into a spin.
Pulling up hard on the wheel, she adjusted the throttle to regain control. The plane swept up meters from the ground and flew back into the sky. More bombs dropped. How many did this airship have? Keeping to a weaving pattern, Asami dodged and flew closer and closer to the underbelly.
More explosions midair as Korra and Lao took out the bombs. Shrapnel and bits of earth fell into the village below. This gave her an idea. “Korra! Gonna get as close as I can. Tear up that ship!” She hoped this airship was built by Cabbage Industries, as that was plain metal, while her company's had a platinum ribcage.
“On it, love!” Korra readied her stance.
Closer and closer they flew as Asami kept up the weaving pattern. One of the Sky Bison flew by, several air benders hurling massive gusts of wind into two more bombs, which exploded against the mountainside. She sighted Jinora and Kai who waved to them before they turned the Bison toward another set of bombs.
“More planes incoming!” Lao shouted. He pointed to the north.
Asami pulled up further, the underbelly of the ship alarmingly close. Korra lifted her arm and cut her hand through the air. The underbelly split open, like a cracked nut. A few people fell from the hole, but Jinora and Kai’s Sky Bison dived, and they air bended them down to the ground safely.
A crack above sounded. Bombs startled to drop through the hole. Korra slammed her hand upward to curl the metal into the bomb cages. Air benders dived and blew the bombs into the mountainside with their bending. Mount Saadin became pitted with holes and rockslides.
Yawing the plane to the right, Asami throttled up the speed, and they shot out from under the now maimed airship. It began to lilt downward. Planes from the north, a dozen of them, far more than they could take on alone, sped toward them.
____
Elivera Original Novel:
There's not a lot of fighting battles in this one, so here's a scary encounter:
_
“Do you always speak like a storyteller? Or is it the cave’s atmosphere giving you inspiration?” A hint of a smile twitched her lips.
Karik chuckled, their shoulders relaxing a bit. The Song led to the left, so they followed into the glowing tunnel. “Stories are my passion. We are all made of stories. Our past, present, future. The molecules that bind us together. Are we not the universe made conscious through us?”
“I did always love your philosophy. Grandiose, epic, and confusing.” Arun followed after a quick bark of an order at the rest of the group. Tjazun stepped around Sanel’s sled and grasped Arun’s arm. The words spoken hovered at the edge of Karik’s understanding. Arun replied and stepped out of vir hold. “Tjazun asks where we head.”
“I follow The Song. It flows through the brightest tunnels. Less chance of attack.”
“Yes, but Sanel is upset as it’s opposite direction of the signal.” Arun sighed. “If the signal isn’t your Song, then where are you leading us?”
Karik glanced at Sanel who fussed with a device on his arm. “If the signal is not toward The Song, then I advise not following. To go willingly into the darker tunnels? Is this Sanel delusional?”
“Sometimes. I understand my promise to you, Karik. But may we compromise and take the route between these signals? Keep them all happy for now?” Arun gestured to the prior junction.
Karik paused and looked back at the junction. “One route may seem to lead between them, but cave systems are unpredictable. Prone to shakes, cave-ins-”
“Yes. I know. But is it viable?”
Karik walked back to the intersection and held up their hands. Humming the Song Key softly, they closed their eyes and turned in a circle. The pulse of sound from their Ability swept each tunnel, and the echoes of its bends and living occupants mixed with the curls and whorls of fungi and cave formations. A map slowly built in Karik's mind.
Two passages led deeper underground, past the luminescent layers. Nonviable Shadow tunnels. One led directly to The Song, but its path twisted and curved in on itself and the return echoes painted a confusing maze. The final tunnel, within the route from which they’d come, ran parallel to The Song’s tunnel and The Shadow tunnel. But an odd chamber echoed with confusing barriers and formations. Karik couldn’t make sense of the reflected waves. It did stay within the luminescent layers at least.
“Okay, Arun. Tell your people to follow. We track parallel.” Karik opened their eyes and entered the oddly shaped tunnel. Arun called out to their people, and the group turned around, but instead of following, Sanel broke away from the group and stepped into the Shadows of the downward tunnels.
The sense of movement at the edge of Karik's vision coiled. Sanel was slammed hard into the ground. Diving forward, Karik grabbed the fool’s arm.
Sanel screamed as the ice-cold touch of the Loenjepjohtil tugged on his leg.
“No!” Karik tugged backward just as Tjazun shouted, “Sanel!”
Tjazun moved with a surprising swiftness. A knife pulled from an unseen sheath, and a slice into the darkest area of the shadows. A squeal erupted, but a tendril hit Tjazun’s chest. Vi jerked backward into Jak. The pair stumbled into fungi, which erupted in a shower of turquoise spores.
“It won’t release him!” Karik shouted while pulling hard against the creature’s hold on Sanel’s leg. “Fire is its weakness!”
Arun shouted in acknowledgement and dived at the sled. She pulled free a silver oblong object of the likes Karik had never seen. The projectile left her hands, sung through the air, and exploded in a burst of light right in the center of the Loenjepjohtil’s murky depths. A howl erupted. Karik jerked Sanel back into the light, free from tentacles. Tendrils of mist from the burn stunk the air, but the Loenjepjohtil’s sound had vanished down the lightless tunnels.
“Jjai,” Karik muttered. They pulled several indigo and white leaves from their pack and placed in mouth to chew furiously. Sanel panted, face twisted in pain, while smokey tendrils clung to his left leg.
Arun cursed and dropped down next to Sanel. She pulled up the pants leg to show the red marks of the creature’s tendril. “Bad?”
Karik spat out the leaves and moved to press against the wound. Sanel protested and tried to push their hands away. “Tell him this will suck out the poison.”
Arun translated. Sanel grunted and looked away.
Karik worked swiftly to address the wound. The poison bubbled out of the wound the more the herbs were pushed into its indents, until it dribbled onto the floor with a hiss of steam. The red marks faded. Pulling out some wraps, Karik added a thin layer of the crushed leaves and tied it around the bruising.
“Prognosis?”
“He’ll live. Poison extracted. One minute longer and it will have entered nervous system.” Karik wiped away the beads of sweat, shaken by the close counter. “I told you to warn them.”
“I did. Sanel is… stubborn. He wishes to go straight to the signal, and doesn’t always think.” A hint of an apology colored her voice.
“Then tell him he’s a fool.” Karik stood and brushed off their pants. “Anyone else want to gamble their life?” Arun translated, her tone flat. When no one responded to her words, Karik gestured for them to follow. “Then please stick to the light.”
___
Hope you all enjoyed the excerpts! #SF #Writing #WritingExcerpts
I died again, the white ceiling reflects the passing of day outside.
Just a small one this time,
barely a passing of the soul, barely a death at all.
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