#moon interacts

Thank you @gioia-writes-and-others and @wintersenwritings for the tags. My ADHD brain hijacked these tags and hyperfocused on summarizing six too long focus topics in bullet point form instead of actual scenes so hope that's okay <3. It's messy, chaotic, and a free write but it really helped me after having some writer's block. Yaaay!

Genre & Subgenre(s)

Core Genre: Dark Romance

Subgenre(s): Science Fiction, Psychological Drama, Erotica, Horror Elements, Dark Fiction

Slow burn dark romance w/ pining, obsession, overprotectiveness, genuine care and emotional intimacy, deep interpersonal histories/connections, and ACTUAL ROMANCE in the story (that's a topic I could rant about forever if anyone wants to hear me screech about it as most mainstream dark romance is actually just dark erotica). 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sci-fi Stuff: immoral scientists, corrupt dystopian corporations, human experimentation, super soldiers, mercenaries, telekinesis, bioengineered monsters, fictional science and technology.

Setting & Book Stuff

Third person w/ a new adult target audience (if any audience at all, hehe), main male character POVs with additional rotating character viewpoints, mostly those in Raine and Micah's social circles.

A dark romance focus in a science fiction setting, set in a mostly modern/earth-adjacent world w/ fictional countries, culture, and technology.

ADHD Tangent: If anyone's curious, I'm currently writing an entire dark romance series set in this original universe, with a focus on three main couples and their lives. Raine & Micah, who you're reading about right now, as well as Lucia & Orion and Iris & Kory. As a queer writer myself, I love engaging with many expressions of romance & sexuality in fiction: het, mlm, wlw—you name it. So a series with a dark, intimate, sensual focus on couples is my perfect playground. <3

Characters

Main Character 1 (MC1) = Raine Sinclair (Ilianos Etreides)

Main Character 2 (MC2) = Micah Corvius

Two young men who's lives have been forever marked by the harsh realities that govern the separate worlds they live in.

MC1 grew up neglected, disdained, and utterly unseen as a half-Imperial in a traditional Imperial household. MC2 grew up in the same unforgiving Imperial culture but was protected as a child but groomed into becoming a weapon for the betterment of his family.

Opposites attract (gentle first responder/dog rescuer MC1 college student x mercenary/Dexter-like serial killer MC2 who kills to sate his dark urges & protect his family and their criminal business empire).

Similarities (neurodivergent main couple w/ history of individual and connected traumas). MC1 has depression, anxiety, a sensory processing disorder, and PTSD. MC2 has depression, is on the spectrum for antisocial personality disorder, and PTSD. They both have fictional neurodivergent conditions not yet fleshed out.

Romantic Couple Focus

Enemies to lovers but make it two once-inseparable young boys/former best friends/childhood sweethearts torn apart by naive decisions and life circumstances before meeting again as adults, beginning a tumultuous second chance/redemption arc that is going to get worse before it gets better, teehee! ✨

An enemies to lovers kind of relationship with angst, emotional baggage, BELLIGERENT yearning, unrequited hate to love (one-sided hate), and a crazy possessive, obsessive, overprotective serial killer ex-boyfriend. I'm really amplifying the hurt and comfort in this one, so it starts off toxic and (eventually) leads to growth, healing, and redemption.

AO3 Tag Dump

General Tags: slow burn, hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers, ex-best friends, childhood sweethearts, re-encounter, emotional baggage, romantic tension, gray morality, angst and feels, fluff and humor, trauma, mental health issues, found family, friendship/love, neurodiversity, healing, personal growth, eventual happy ending.

Dark Romance Tags: stalking, jealousy, paranoia, yandere, obsession, possessive behavior, twisted and fluffy feelings, power imbalance, overprotectiveness, surveillance, kidnapping, interrogation, forced cohabitation, forced self-care (like brush your damn teeth stuff lol)

Blurb Stuff

Childhood best friends turned childhood sweethearts before souring into heartbreak during their last meeting ten years prior: vicious argument over their future resulting in a series of unintended outcomes each worse and more miserable than the last: the initial fall down the spiraled staircase, the heated scuffle shattering the cabinet of glass, the final, ugly, hideous exchange of words and blows that could never be taken back. Literally, as not long after the Etreides' main family estate mysteriously catches fire during their yearly winter gathering—with every single family member sealed inside.

Raine, along with his father and more than half of the Etreides family and their house attendants, are pronounced dead but Raine makes it out alive and, after the realization hits that Micah's abandonment and his father's death leaves him utterly alone in the world, runs away from his miserable home at the young age of 14.

These two once-inseparable young boys, torn apart by foolish decisions and a decades worth of separation, meet again as adults in San Liberos, the city of sinners and dreamers.

Is this reunion the turning point in Raine and Micah's fractured relationship? Or will the dark, unforgiving nature of the different worlds they live in tear them apart again for good?

Tag Stuff

I was tagged by @hyokas !! Thank you ♡♡♡

Classical

Nocturne No. 20 in C sharp minor, Op. Posth - Chopin

Pavane pour une infante defunte - Ravel

Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2 - Chopin

Nocturne in B-flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1 -  Chopin

Goldberg Variations BWV 988: Aria - Bach

Ballade No.1 In G Minor, Op.23 - Chopin

Moonlight sonata (1st movement) - Beethoven

Suite Bergamasque, L 75: III. Clair de Lune - Debussy

Deux Arabesques L.66 No. 1 - Debussy

String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130. 5 - Beethoven

They are all chill, slow, beautiful and maybe kinda sad pieces (im into that ok)

Other + Anime

Detroit - Miss Caffeina

Oh, sana - Miss Caffeina

Supersubmarina - Supersubmarina (the video is the weirdest shit ever)

El rescate - Miss Caffeina

Neptune - Sleeping at Last

Fumes - Eden ft Gnash

Moondust - Jaymes Young

불장난 (PLAYING WITH FIRE) - BLACKPINK

봄날 (Spring Day) - BTS

Nineline - Aimer (エメ)

The first 4 songs are spanish songs because i think it could be interesting to share some music from my country, the next three are songs in english you maybe dont know, the next two are kpop songs and the last one is in japanese.

For me the first thing that comes to mind with fay are pixies from disney movies and leprechauns, and maybe fauns, they are for me beings of fairy tales not fantasy, if that at all makes sense? I know of course that there are fay creatures, and they exist in worlds like d&d and so on, but I have never ended up interacting with those media as much. With that in note,

I mostly write short stories and got one larger project in mind. I do various worldbuilding, but usually not too extensive, and my count on elves and fay is quite low. Which is to say, I have written elves before, and planning on using them a lot actually, but for now it's mostly in my head. I do differentiate between High, Wood, Low and basic elves in my worldbuilding, they are more varied than just one race. The fay I have actually not written at all, maybe one short story or two could be considered to have them. This post actually remained me that I like the concept of dryads a lot! I should write those things. (Are those fay?) Perhaps in my world there will be fay, it might be simply something that I haven't got around to that aspect yet

I think I use elves more often because I feel like they fit the stories I write more, and because I'm not as familiar with the fay.

Here are some notes on how elves I write work:

High - They are region specific, dystopian! Utopian society which is pretty, isolated and rotten to it's core

Wood - just generic elves that live in the woods for now

Low - The elves who were forced to live in desert regions of the world, hard work is their life, rare to see outside those regions

basic - the elvish travellers, ones you most often see on the roads and towns

My dear @hachi-qo (go poke him, cool but shy fella) on the other hand in his worldbuilding project(intended for an rpg) has both fay and elves in his world. In short both small 'pixies' and elves exist and are intended as +- common thing, I don't know much more on his world but wanted to include another perspective while writing this,

This was a mouthful, I'm sorry if it's a bit long, Hope this helps with your thoughts, and have a nice day! (｡◕‿‿◕｡)つ🫖🍵

(also hi, this is an ad, I'm not yet properly a writeblr, but I'm planning on being one)

I like your races ideas for elves, there's honestly soooo many ways you could write them and have them play a part in your world. I especially love when different writers use the same naming tropes for elves, like you said High elves, Wood elves, Low elves, and basic elves (which you could also call them Common elves if you wanted to) but I love how everyone's version of a 'High elf' can differ. Seeing the same tropes implemented in different ways is such a cool thing to see when reading fantasy books.

All the love,

~ toribookworm ❤️

Thank you so much for the ask, I've been meaning to hop back into my writing (I've been so busy with school lately ugh) and this ask made me go back to my docs and get back into it again! I've been working on my modern fantasy WIP for a while now but I'm so excited to share it with everyone on here. It's going to be a series set in an entirely made up world with lots of adventure, action, romance, mages, magic & technology, magic systems, corrupt governments, exploration of human nature, and a lot of dark (and fluffy) themes. Hurt/Comfort lovers, I welcome you to check out this series because I had that specific trope in mind when creating this series and its characters.

I'm having a lot of fun designing the world and all the different countries, cultures, landscapes, and lots of other interesting details. I feel like there's not a lot of secondary world modern fantasy novels out there (when it's a completely made up universe it's usually fantasy set in the past or the future), so it will appeal to people who are looking for that. It's inspired by Greek/Roman mythology, astrology, astrological signs, tarot cards, the zodiac, and mythology in general. Here is a list of tropes & themes that are going to be present:

Rivals to Lovers to Enemies to Lovers

Identity, Character Growth, Mental Health, and Found Family

Hurt/Comfort (Experiencing, Overcoming, and Healing from Trauma)

A Focus on Human Relationships (Romantic, Platonic, & Familial)

Tell me more about it. What isbthw name of the WIP? What is it about? How did you get the idea?

So, here is my dilemma with two of my wips: they're essentially the same story told in different settings. If you've followed any of my previous posts, you'll know that I really struggled with making decisions about whether I wanted my wip to be either modern fantasy (and more urban fantasy) vs. science fantasy (and having more science and magic technology).

Thanks so much for the ask, it's been a while since I've answered one hehe.

My favorite thing has to be the m a s s i v e amount of worldbuilding I've put into my oldest and most beloved WIP The Fated Series.

I've been researching and worldbuilding this universe since I was like twenty years old... so for nine years. It's more than just a fun thing I love to do in my spare time. This world and its characters are very dear to me. I've studied history, languages, mythologies, and started making my own just for this story. I've built an entire magic system, fae courts, fantasy races with strengths and weaknesses, researched medieval clothing, dances, food, courtship rituals, and the list goes on and on.

If I had spent as much time writing as I had worldbuilding it'd have multiple books by now, LOL.