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THE DISTANCE BETWEEN STARS AND SALT, a WIP Intro by @authoralexharvey

GENRE — dark fantasy || adventure

INSPIRATIONS — The Tiger's Daughter, Final Fantasy 10, I Am Setsuna, LoZ: Wind Waker, PMD: Explorers of Sky

POV — first-person directive with third-person interludes

TAGS AND TROPES — adventure, angst, (non-MC) chosen one, established couple, finding your purpose, grief, lgbtq, marital problems, post-apocalyptic setting, post-flood setting, queer worldbuilding, quests, sacrifice as an act of love, seafaring, tragedy, travel

WARNINGS — animal attacks, emotional trauma, mentions of plagues, self-sacrifice (NOT suicide), violence

STATUS — draft 2

GOAL — ~80k words

THE DETAILS

CHARACTERS

Edera, the woman who married a star. To many, she bears no significance outside of this fact, which has now caused an identity crisis in the face of Seren's prolonged absence.

Seren, the star who fell from the heavens. For a year and a day, she was conscripted as all Celestine are to watch for the world-devourer of legend. After being the one to witness its return, she becomes desperate for solutions.

SUMMARY

There was and there was not, in the oldness of time, a star-born woman and her hapless wife who ventured on an arduous quest... Star-born Seren has been gone for a year and a day, conscripted as all Celestine eventually are to track the cosmos for signs of a legendary devourer of worlds. When she returns home, her wife Edera couldn’t be happier… until Seren confesses that she herself has seen the World Devourer’s return and that, because she was the one to see it, she must be the one to stop it. Unwilling to allow them to be separated again, Edera and Seren must venture across their drowned world in a harebrained effort to save it. But as darkness looms in the fringes and a strange rot afflicts the world they love, they will have to race across the raging sea to avoid being consumed. But just what is it that lies at the end of this mission? And how can they stop a force so much larger than themselves?

Details of this post subject to change as the drafts continue.

TAGLIST (Ask to be added!)

I realized that I haven't made an update in a while, despite consistently working on this project. So uhhhh... have an update. Nearly 26,000 words down in this zero draft and I hit the halfway point of this book and also the scene I've been waiting so long for: a vague sex scene in a boat surrounded by glowing algae. AKA, the glowing algae sex scene!

Aside from a light touching of chests, though, there's not explicit content here.

Your skin, already so pale, took on a moon-like glow when I followed the shadowed divot of your wrist, the sharp curve of your elbow. When we locked eyes, the sea reflected back at me. “Edera.” My name fell from the soft curve of your lips and landed in the space between us, as fragile as featherdown. You didn’t resist when I pulled you towards me. We fell back against the slats, me hovering above and you cradled by the luzzu. Your hair shone silver, framing an expression so full of longing I physically ached to witness it. How breathtaking; how devastating. With agonizing slowness, you trailed a hand down my chest—across the pouch of bone shards, across the modest peaks of my breasts—and to the muscled planes of my stomach. Your three fingers twitched as they worked at the tie of my trousers. Then, as the strings pulled free, you cocked your head and examined me with furrowed brows. My mouth dried. “What?” “The light.” You ghosted the back of one hand along my cheek. “So breath-taking. You’re glowing like the stars.”

TDBSaS Taglist (Ask to be added!)

I don't need to say it; I am sooo bad at keeping up with tag games. I have some free time today, though, so I'm going back through a few. I'm combining a couple of first/last line tags I got a while ago, using TDBSaS for it ^^

I was tagged by @amewinterswriting , @andromedaexists , @anoelleart , and @sarandipitywrites . Thank you!

First Lines

On the day of my birth, it is said that a star fell from the heavens in the shape of a girl. The spectacle shook our quiet coastal town, busy as it already was with its yearly re-enactment of an archaic wedding tradition. My mother had originally been one of the actors selected for such a role but, for obvious reasons, was now preoccupied. As such, all tales surrounding the star-shaped girl were later delivered to her via second-hand accounts, and to me from her own drip-fed re-imaginings.

Last Lines (so far)

The sea had always been a primordial beast of the most tempestuous sort. To venture across it, one was required to understand you could never claim the waves, only hold tight to your oars or mast with white knuckles and pray that the unfeeling force beneath your boat would turn a blind eye to your insignificant existence. And this, in the time of such a sailing crew, was especially understood.  It was this understanding that such a sailing crew elected to ignore.

I'm doing.... some sort of writing thing this month. It's not NaNo, it's not NOT NaNo, but some secret third thing. In any case, I'm making headway on The Distance Between Stars and Salt, my sapphic, Maltese-inspired seafaring fantasy novel about a starborn woman, her hapless wife, and their impossible quest together. Here's a snippet because I'm excited about it.

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@surroundedbypearls , @magic-is-something-we-create , @ceph-the-ghost-writer

It is once again MaltaWIP time lmao Here's an excerpt of The Distance Between Stars and Salt, my Maltese-inspired sapphic seafaring fantasy novel. I'm finally getting to the part where Edera and Seren kickstart their adventure in earnest.

But first, gross fish stuff.

CW: Vomiting, dead animals (fish), depictions of illness

“You are returning, I hope?” [NAME] stared at me in that shrewd way of hers, brown eyes like fishing hooks. It was a gaze capable of disemboweling me if I made a wrong move. “With the sea, you never know.” Her mouth set in a firm line.  A stitch of equal length formed between my ribs. “Edera,” she said with unusual gentleness, “just what is it you are doing?” “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.” I made to flee when there was an exclamation behind us. Spinning around, I watched as, with eerie slowness, a crate teetered and fell from a dockworker’s hands. It crashed to the floor and exploded open. Moments later, the stench of something so vile my stomach fought to free itself from my body. As I made to pitch over and hurl, I saw it: rotten fish, scales blackened with illness. A strange black liquid spilled out around them, the same sort that now filled their gelatenous eyes. Their gills oozed a foul pus. [NAME] shoved me forward and out of the way of the spill right before I vomited.

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Once again emerging from my cave to share the thing I'm working on. Here's another snippet from The Distance Between Stars and Salt, my sapphic, Maltese-inspired seafaring fantasy novel.

“Will you go with her?” the Keeper asked after a beat. “How could I not?” Their brow quirked, as if they couldn’t believe my willingness despite their knowledge of my devotion to you. “Even if the worst should happen?” My fists clenched so hard they trembled. “I would rather see Seren to the ends of the earth than allow her to die alone.” The Keeper set their teacup down, saucer and all, and leaned in close.  “And do you think your involvement in her mission will make a difference?” “It… It has to, doesn’t it?” And yet, the more I thought on the question, the less certain I became. I had not connected to the Dorégal in many months, though my fingers often twitched with the complex patterns which would bring them forth. I hadn’t properly sparred in some time, either, and though I was often recruited to help the fishermen with their hauls down by the docks, my muscles were ill-suited for most other tasks. Truly, what could I offer to you and your mission that you could not achieve on your own? Would I drag you down instead? I worried my teeth on the slim crescent of my thumbnail, chewing until I heard a crack. 

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