#scouthearted

Hi and thank you! So I really only have one WIP that I’m allowing myself to work on, Unshakeable, and I went through a number of clever and vaguely sexy-sounding titles before I landed on this one. The reason I came up with this name was because of this scene I wrote, which was because of the following:

>be me

>be in university library doing research on hungary

> read in book that Franz Liszt gave up on learning Hungarian because of the word “Tantorithatatlansag” which loosely translates to “unshakeablity”

>find this hilarious and use it in a scene

I REALIZED I’VE BEEN VERY BAD ABOUT POSTING MY ART LATELY SO I HAVE A HUGE BACKLOG GOING.

Oho I’ve cut SO MANY subplots from APHELION. I’m the queen of convolution, and I constantly have to cut unnecessary things from my wips.

Behold, the first bullet point from my “Edits” document

The biggest subplot I cut involved six ghosts that were attached to Rian (think Jodie and Aiden from Beyond: Two Souls). Rian could also control the ghosts to do his bidding if he wants, as well as spy on people. They also helped Rian to teleport, something he couldn’t do on his own.

Unfortunately, all of this was redundant. Rian was already telekinetic--he didn’t need to control ghosts to do that. Rian was already telepathic--he didn’t need ghosts to spy for him. The teleportation powers felt illogical given how grounded I wanted the story to be (at least, as grounded as a sci-fi story with superpowers can be). Any conflicts the ghosts could provide were already existent between Rian and Bee and Cay.

Cutting the ghosts meant major shifts to the story, especially if I cut out the teleportation, which played a big part in the third act. My “Edit Notes” document delved deep into all the plot points I would have to change, and providing alternatives and solutions.

Turns out, APHELION without ghosts was MUCH better than APHELION with ghosts. Instead of the ghosts providing Rian’s internal conflict, Rian could have that internal conflict on his own. Instead of having the ghosts explain things that the characters wouldn’t otherwise know, now things can be left up in the air for ~mystery~ (and honestly the characters didn’t even need to know all that stuff anyway). It made the story much more streamlined, and it made Rian a much stronger character.

Here’s a post I made in February that detailed some other plot points I cut:

(at some point I had cut down the 6 ghosts to 3, but same difference)

hi, @tabbykatwrites! thank you for the ask! 

(this actually applies to... multiple of my WIPs... but which ones? 😏)

Thank you, Tabby! <3

Kind (from Sisterhood of Blood) - “She looks just like you-” She eyed a wedding tintype sitting alone on an unruly bookshelf. Henry stood beside Eliza, kind eyes staring back at her. Dark hair combed neat on top of his square head.

Send me a word, if it’s in my wip document I’ll answer your ask with the sentence that it appears in.

From The Romantic Trials and Troubles of Daisy Fraisier

“And…what about you?” I prompted, trying not to sound hopeful.

Hello and thank you for the question :)

And well, not exactly. Rather, I put all my interests in the story and build a plot around them :D My interest for the Middle Ages probably came when I was around 16. I began to develop a fascination towards castles and medieval structures, so much even that I even had dreams about them. I still often dream of castles, walking the corridors or seeing them in the distance. I still remember one particular dream I had many years ago where I walked down a narrow cobblestone street, into a village and onto a little square where I then stood beside a well. That’s all that happened. But somehow that still is all so vivid in my head, how the place and the medieval buildings all around me looked like. Strangely, it always feels like a memory rather than a dream? It’s so weird.

I also became rather obsessed with swords (and bow and arrow). So my interest for everything medieval exists for like 10 years now and I’m still learning new things to love about it. It just always fascinated me somehow, especially the buildings and how they were able to build such structures at that time.