#dreamshadow

Shadow Milk Cookie x Dreamweaver Cookie!

I've never seen this ship before so ig I have the honors of being the first to ship them lol

How many dragon OCs do you have, and would u plz talk about the lore you have for them?

Never apologize for asking!

(I, however, apologize for taking a while to respond ldkdl)

Hello! I think I don't have dragon OCs in the way you mean, but I do have dragons in my stories! :D They just tend to not be the POV characters and have evolved as part of the worldbuilding more than anything else.

In my current main WIP, Dream's Shadow, "dragon" is the word used for any animal with 4 limbs and 2 wings, and the main ones that show up in the story basically fill the same niche as birds (while birds also exist). They're sentient and smart and have a much bigger importance in the grand scheme of things, but my main characters don't know that yet. (There's a lot more foreshadowing of it in this current draft, but not more than that yet). To them, dragons are slightly smarter wild animals that also talk (to some limited degree); you can befriend them, but they aren't domesticated. Even so, they're seen as messengers of one of the major figures in the religion my main characters follow. In the grand scheme of things, it turns out that they're extremely powerful beings in their own right, who can tip the "cosmic" scales in your favour if you treat them well (or the other direction, if you treat them badly). They're originally from another world, and some of them are also reincarnations of once-human souls.

Ages ago I made a wip meme powerpoint, which is still mostly up to date, so I'll also put that here :D (it explains the more mundane things a bit more)

This Isn't Control by dreamshadow

Narrated by: @paulatheprokaryote

Advisories: Domestic Abuse, Sexual Content

Summary: In a brief moment, Tom almost hesitates.

It's been so long since I last did a tag game, so it seems fitting to return with my most fave of them :D I got tagged for this twice, with flower, fresh, laundry, letter by @desperatlytryingtowriteabook and blue, trust, lie, shiver by @wilde-writing, I'm gonna combine the two tags into one post :) Thank you for the tags! If you want to do it again, please consider yourselves tagged back :D

The latter snippets are from my newest wip, which is a trans fae/eldritch rapunzel short story retelling (so it only had 3 of the words xD). It might expand into a novella, so maybe it'll get an intro at some point.

Everything else I couldn't find there is from the completed 5th draft of Dream's Shadow, before I start on the 6th draft :) Gonna try to be more active in writeblr in general again, so if you wanna tag me for stuff it's fairly likely i'll actually respond to it properly again djfkd

flowers (ben pov / Dream's Shadow)

He forces his thoughts away from the attic, the monster, and his parents, and then he walks down the stairs to the calendar next to its doorway. Papa’s elegant scribble mingle with Mama’s symbolic scratches. Only Papa can really read them, but Ben’s gotten quite good at interpretation over the years. The margins are filled with Ava’s sketches of flowers and cats and dragons, and seeing the little hearts dotted around his own name at the top sends a painful ache through Ben's chest.

fresh (fiyare pov | Dream's Shadow)

She concentrates, and then light bursts out of her and she can feel the shackles loosen, falling off. She scrambles off the rack, hissing in pain. The wounds are far from healed; just enough to let her move, raw and fresh but no longer bleeding. She finds the fresh, aching pit in her memories. Does her best to ignore it… but it’s like a new gap in her teeth—she can’t stay away from prodding it. —A childhood friend, lost in all but name and concept— She tries to push it away, shudders. Despite the sacrifice, she isn’t even a quarter back to her proper health.

letter (elinor pov | Dream's Shadow)

The walk to the hospital is quite short. After all, the schooling area is close to the Core as well. I suspect this is where Ava broke into Level Eight, but not even that lightens my mood. Instead, I unfold and refold the letter one more time (the creases are almost worn through now) and try to push away the idiot fears my mind keeps conjuring. It makes no sense. None whatsoever.

trust (ava pov | Dream's Shadow) (for context, Socks is a little dragon)

“Apple?” Socks asks hopefully. I sigh, shaking my head. “I don’t have any apples today…” Socks mimics the sigh and sits down beside me. Distant enough to take off quickly if they have to, but close enough to show their trust. It’s the bestest feeling in the whole world.

blue (At The Edge, The Tower)

Up close, the tower is built from large, chunky rocks. There are wide gaps in between them, but there’s no door, no stairs, not even a measly ladder. The stones are black and slick, and when I touch them with a shaking hand, my fingertips go numb and blue-tinged. I draw them back in a hurry and stare upward and upward. I know he’s up there. There’s no way I can scale this tower.

lie (At The Edge, The Tower)

A barbed branch slaps against my arm, biting through skin. I grunt and tear myself free; it leaves behind a smear of metallic blood. In the human world I bleed red, but the shimmer doesn’t have to uphold the lie here. This is supposed to be home, but it is no home at all.

shiver (At The Edge, The Tower)

The First Language is something you feel rather than understand, and his song is about the creation of worlds, of oceans and skies and what lies beyond. I shiver, even as a part of me yearns. I stamp it out ruthlessly and carefully free myself from the shrub.

blue (At The Edge, The Tower)

Up close, the tower is built from large, chunky rocks. There are wide gaps in between them, but there’s no door, no stairs, not even a measly ladder. The stones are black and slick, and when I touch them with a shaking hand, my fingertips go numb and blue-tinged. I draw them back in a hurry and stare upward and upward. I know he’s up there. There’s no way I can scale this tower.

It's been A While™ since I last did a tag game! I'm gonna tag @ettawritesnstudies @corishadowfang @stories-by-rie @jacquesfindswritingandadvice @adayforducks @fatal-blow @lady-redshield-writes in hopes of the tags actually working and you being fine with being tagged (:

Your words are grey, scream, sky and pretty :D

lskdjfdls i am so sorry for the incredibly late response, i saw your ask, went !!!!!!! but it was late and then it was marked as read and i forgot about it again :c thank you so much for your interest and the ask!!! i really appreciate it, even if my brain is stupid sometimes

ANYWAYS

my fave part of writing it has been all the worldbuilding in later drafts, and also just ... having seen how it develops, really? how i refine the world and society and dig in a little deeper in some areas, or how characters have changed through the drafts, or who the characters have become :'3 i've been working on it (on and off) since nanowrimo 2014 and it's come so far and it's changed so much, kinda just like me ... and it's really cool to see that in the story and the worldbuilding and the characters too? :'3 i really don't like editing all that much, but rewriting is Fine Actually, and i love rewriting scenes in a way that makes them Sparkle afterwards, or giving them the certain Something that makes it hurt so much more hehehe (especially on rereads)

so basically, i guess what i love about it is how much it shows me how i have grown as a person <3 but strictly speaking, writing wise.. i don't know, i love every part of the actual writing, i love shaping the words and brainstorming and dialogue and description and creating the worlds and the characters :'3 just not editing. but we are working on that. XD

initial inspiration ... it's so basic, actually? but it's also sort of a spoiler, so i will leave out that part xD it was literally just this kinda very basic "image" of a parent sitting at the bed of their child, who's in a coma after a car accident, and the ghost of the child has their hand on the parent's shoulder, and it's mainly a story about grief, in a sort of bittersweet-sad-beautiful way. And at some point the ghost-child figures out that they can create dreams for their parents, and that they can fly bc they're a ghost, and there was a demon, and the family cat could see (and help) them.

(One day i want to go back to that original concept, it feels like something that might work as a graphic novel?)

At that point i wasn't a very good writer yet though, so I could never have pulled it off in a way where it wasn't boring. So the second draft shifted it into its own fantasy universe, the characters changed a bit, it escalated somewhat.... and now it's still a story about grief and ben is still a ghost and the parents are still grieving and the cat can still see him... so the heart is still there, but it's also sort of shifted, because now it's ava's story too, and it's grown a lot around this initial seed :D

that's another thing i really love about writing. because you take a seed and then the story grows out of it, and who knows if it's a flower or a tree by the end?

Things i am excited to get to ...

So, i am in the 6th draft now. a friend finished her beta read in ... july? i think? and i haven't gone back to it since then due to various reasons (but mainly uni and No Time To Write). previously i'd hoped that i could finally leave it be structurally, and just do line edits and stuff (my beloathed kjdjfd). turns out the first act is still too slow and needs some reworking. and all reworking i'd done previously hadn't done the trick, so i guess shifting things a bit isn't enough!

but thankfully my wonderful friends @ettawritesnstudies (and @thehollowbetween and @lady-redshield-writeswith research) helped me figure out some stuff with how i can solve the issues, maybe. and what i'm most excited about is that this will include the addition of early days sound recording technology now, and possibly also early stages photography (like daguerreotypes maybe?), because it fits into the world and story and plot so seamlessly as though i'd planned it from the start (particularly with the mcs' mother being an engineer/inventor)!

so basically there are some scenes now that offer a view into the past of my characters through really old recordings that degrade as you listen to them, because i have gotten very :hypereyes: at that kind of tech and the wonderful(ly evil) things i can do with it. :3

I am VERY excited about diving deeper into the research and then figuring out how to rework the story, and then actually writing the sixth draft for nanowrimo this year :D

Tagged by @adayforducks thank you! <3 I didn't even know ppl still used the spreadsheet, I'm so glad you did :D

She doesn’t know what this means for her future, but she knows that she isn’t lost, even if her name on the metal plate claims otherwise.

Incidentally, this is also the very last line of the wip cause I finished Dreams draft 5 tonight oops :D 3 days early aaa

tagging @corishadowfang @kittensartswriting @ettawritesnstudies @fatal-blow and anyone else who wants to!

Hello everyone!

I managed to finish the fourth version of my main WIP about a week ago and would love to see what other people think! <3 So below there’s an intro, and a mini excerpt from the start of the story can be found under the cut <3

DREAM’S SHADOW|

Book 1 in a series; Version 4.1

LENGTH | 132,166 words (according to scrivener)

GENRE | dark fantasy set in another world, hopepunk, creepy/horror elements, small scope that will transition into epic fantasy later on in the series

POV | first & third person limited, present tense

THEMES & TROPES | hopepunk, sibling dynamics, dysfunctional family, power of kindness & love, platonic love, queer characters, queer-embracing worldbuilding, mental & physical trauma, light & dark, secrets, tragedy, lies, betrayal, loss of innocence, holding on & letting go, cute creatures, (in)humanity, trees, religion & belief, growing up, monsters, dreams, nightmares.

CONTENT WARNINGS | angst, depression, anxiety, manipulation, terrible self-esteem/no self-worth/self-hatred, suicidal ideation, nyctophobia, panic attacks, nightmares, surreality/unreality, spiralling thoughts, body horror (esp eye related), scopophobia, blood, injury, violence, torture, character death (but it’s not what you think,,,)

SYNOPSIS |

When Ava and her parents arrive at the hospital, they find her older brother Ben in a deeply unnatural coma—and nobody can tell them what happened. Despite the magical abilities of the Asim Healers, there seems to be no way to save him. But then, why do they still keep him alive? As Ava slowly learns the magnitude of how terrible Ben’s situation (and impossible his future) truly are, she finds herself embroiled in a larger conflict, ready to hook its claws into her as well. And the one person she cares about most—who always had her back—is gone. So despite everything, there’s only really one choice. Find out how to save him and try anyways.

CHARACTERS |

AVA, 10. She/her/they/them. The Smol Angery Bean.  Animal (dragon :3) person, doesn’t get along with people most of the time. Basically got raised by Ben and thinks he can do no wrong.

BEN, 18. He/him. The Responsible One. Good in school, takes care of his dysfunctional family, keeps everything from falling apart. Everyone thinks he’s perfect. Is selfless to a fault. It’s a problem. No self-esteem.

ELINOR, 16. She/her. The Wayward Daughter. Got taken by the Asim as a child because of her inherent magic potential.

... and a few side characters <3

SCHEDULE ETC. |

I don’t really have a schedule during which you’d have to read anything because I’m going to be working on other stuff for the next few months (and let’s face it, we’re all busy anyways). My current time frame is “within the next 4 months would be nice” :)

I’d give you the story in ~15k chunks so it’s not all at once, I can see what you think while you’re reading it, and it doesn’t become too much (and ofc you can stop at any time if you don’t end up vibing <3).

I have a list of questions or you can just tell me what you think as you read, I am not at the point of line edits, this is more "does everything make sense” and pacing-related. <3

If you’re interested, please shoot me a message/ an ask/ email me at [email protected] <33

I’ll also love you forever if you reblogged this post so it can reach more people <3

(Taglist & short excerpt below the cut)

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you / interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it! 

Thanks @timefirewrites​ for tagging me!! :D

I’ll be doing this for Dream’s Shadow bc it’s the most relevant!

Soo... uh I have a scrivener project? It’s been with me for 6 years .... typing out all the names would be too much so I’ll give you screenshots instead x’D

If you fold everything up, the file structure looks like this:

The writing is in "Manuscript” (surprise), “The New Age” is everything that’s up to date in regards to worldbuilding, plotting, characters, etc. “The old age” has all the outdated files of that kind in it.

Book Two is the second half this story (it was once book 1 of 3 but now Dream’s Shadow is book 1/2 of 3 xD).

Conflicts is just a file created by scrivener when I have syncing conflicts between the desktop version and the mobile one :P

Stash is for everything that got cut but not deleted. 

Regarding the manuscript,,, there are currently 127,096 words in there because I’m editing the third draft. The black stuff has to be overhauled/rewritten before I can do general edits!

basically, Ben needs a major overhaul and I still have to write Elinor’s chapters because I changed her plot after finishing draft 3 xD

Those are the other “interesting” files in my worldbuilding etc folders:

Those are A Lot Of Words but I’m just so very pleased that it’s exactly that wordcount and I didn’t know until now xD

Uh yeah this is probably not what the tag game intended but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

if you wanna know about anything, i love to show snippets or stuff x’D

I’m tagging @ettawritesnstudies @raiswanson @lady-redshield-writes @astraeaillustrative @kittensartswriting @corishadowfang​ @concerningwolves @pheita @cirianne if you want to <3