#albana

First one is Katoptris. It’s my oldest and the most developed; it’s set in a fictional universe in a city called Sica (I can go on rambling about this city’s layout for hours so I better not even start), in some kind of 1700-800 (maybe? there are no guns though). The main character is a girl called Julien, who has the ‘ability’ to mirror others (hence the title, katoptris, mirror in ancient greek). I’ll leave her power at this because I’m mean and I’m terrible at describing it. Anyway, Julien was kidnapped when she was nine because of her ability, and when she escaped (she was fourteen at that point), she spent a year alone on the streets (learning the art of thievery in all its forms) and then joined this… gang? I guess you could call it a gang, of thieves (after robbing them and trying to break into their house… long story). And these are the main secondary characters (is that even a thing? they have povs and are very important but they aren’t main characters): Aliz, who doesn’t have any memories, Aaron, her brother, in a difficult situation, Kal, her… boyfriend?, Halia, the unofficial leader, Aidai, a knife-worker and scholar. Then (last main side character) there’s Hazel, Julien’s little sister, who sold herself to Julien’s captor as an assassin for hire in exchange for Julien’s freedom (which was promised but not given). And she was seven at the time. (There’s also this girl, Laia, Kal’s sister… but she’s dead anyway so I’ll talk about her another time)

The story basically revolves around Julien escaping, trying to kill Madame Rosaleen (the woman who kidnapped her), failing, and then developing a complicated and clever plan to try again while she’s running for her life because Rosaleen has set Hazel on her heels with the order of killing her (obviously Hazel doesn’t know she’s chasing her own sister because why would she otherwise?). So basically it’s a story about: revenge, with side stories about friendship, found family, and small romance subplots.

The second one is… unnamed. Because it’s New. But it’s high fantasy, set in an imaginary world where there are a cold place (continent? it has countries in it so maybe?) to the north (iloya), a warm one to the south (unnamed), a temperate one to the side (dünamai), and a large sea in the middle (no, the sea doesn’t have a name, sorry). The main character, Kinna, is a kimaera (fancy name for shapeshifter), and comes from Iloya. Iloya has recently (about two years before the beginning) been invaded by a people from Lakha, which is a country in [warm place], who hate all kimaera and tried to exterminate them, and Kinna has been taken prisoner by them and brought back to their home country. But then the lakhan princess, Milah (she’s ten don’t get strange ideas now), helps him escape and they go back to Iloya where there’s a rebellion and then there is a rebellion in [warm place] too, and they join the first one and then a mess happens. Other characters are: Zilya, Kinna’s twin sister, Lór, her savior, Mavri, a bitter girl out for revenge, Sravi, the leader of revolution #1, Myrre, the leader of revolution #2, Hiem, … a cat (a very important one!), and a whole lot of others. This is a story about…, um, trying not to die while trying to free your country from occupation? Also, from Milah’s point of view, about taking all your grandfather’s (the king’s) power for yourself, and from Mavri, about, again, getting revenge for your killed family.

I’ll waste almost no words on the third one because it’s basically scratch. It doesn’t even have a plot (it’s character-driven), and it’s a bunch of kids trying to survive in Italian high school, in this universe, in this time, and in a fictional city called Albana because I can’t be bothered to do research for a real one! Anyway there are multiple main characters (examples: Amelie Duarte, French, has been living in Albana for six years, Evelyn Jones, English, recently moved in, Martino and Martina Mori, twins, orphans, Nicola Mortinieri, has family problems, Luca and Marco Turre, brothers, Alba Rumi, secret gatherer). That’s it. For now.

As for where they’re at? Nowhere! Katoptris has a few written-down chapters, and I have most of the plot figured out, the second one is nothing more than a complicated structure in my head which will definitely collapse one day, and the third is a bunch of characters huddling together in a corner without a plot or anything!

What am I struggling with? Everything! But mostly dialogue. I hate dialogue of all kinds and genres. It’s torture. And plot gaps. I hate those too. (I am not talking about plot holes like things that don’t make sense, I’m talking about plot gaps, or maybe it’s better to call them story gaps? They are places in which things are supposed to be happening but are just blank space and I just invented the term.)

What have I planned for my ocs? Tragedy. (Revenge. Revolution. Mobs. Death. Heartbreak. Chases. Cats. Snow. Desert. Pigeons’ murders. Drowning. Greek homework. And more!)

What scenes am I looking forward to? I can’t make you a list, it would take me all night and several more and I have a physics test tomorrow and I need to revise all right? But some of them are: Milah and Kinna talking (yes I know I said i hate dialogue I just want it there and done so I can beam with self-satisfaction because their dialogue is—brilliant), Mavri and Zilya meeting for the first time and then… meeting for the first time again, Aidai getting killed and Julien being found (what did I tell you? Tragedy), Amelie dancing around in her room, someone running around in the city under the rain with someone else (no I’m not telling you who I told you I’m mean), someone else than someone else stargazing on the roof with someone else than someone else than someone else (I love these maddening little things), etc. etc.