Writing my way to a better world

 Aphrodite traced her body around the pole in the dim lit club waiting for her next dance. Seduction swirled from her lips and traced it’s way down her skin. As she collected the money strewn on the stage she breathed in the lust from the crowd. She breathed out a sigh as that limited power and energy flowed into her. She walked over to the bar and sat next to a man clothed in black.

“Uncle, you were not who I expected to see here. Has your wife grown tired of your sulking and your dog?” She asked snidely.

“Aphrodite dear- still sucking the crumbs from the table? Do these mortals sate your thirst? Is their worship enough? And how is your husband? Still crippled in a frozen forage?” Hades asked.

“You know as well as I do that we must take power anywhere we get it. Or do you forget- some of us must find worshipers wherever we can. Not all of us rule the dead.” Aphrodite bit off.

“And you remember that the souls no longer flow in my river. Like you I must take my power where I can find it.”

“Ha, as if any of us have a choice. The only ones who thrive now are the muses. They don’t need worship only energy. We were great once, now you patrol the streets looking for dying souls to offer a ferry, I feed off these scraps of lust and pleasure, Dionysus finds junkies chasing their next high, Artemis roams the streets to find men who prey on women, Apollo wanders the hospitals looking for desperation. We were great once. We were powerful once. What happened to us?” Aphrodite asked looking around at the mortals that filled the club.

“What happens to all old gods.” Hades shrugged. “We were replaced. The world changed. We are only as strong as those who worship us. Zeus sits rotting on his mountain, Poseidon drowns in his sea and I drink from a dry river. We are dying Aphrodite. Even the gods die when there is no one to give them tribute.”

“Modern gods- as pathetic as mortals. More so- they don’t need us to survive.” Aphrodite said bitterly staring at the energy around her. Lust filled the air and whenever any of it was directed at her, she drank it in. She could still manage to make them come to her caught up in her limited power but it was rarely worth it anymore. The energy wasn’t worth the scraps she found.

“No, without something to worship the mortals die. They are just no longer worshiping us, we don’t die when not worshiped. We just become weak. Artemis is the strongest of us all. It seems human nature doesn’t change even after thousands of years.”

“I think Uncle you mean men don’t change. They are molded after Zeus after all. He has yet to change for all he rots on that mountain top. A fitting place for a decaying idol.”

“Zeus has always been rotting my dear. Ever since he cracked our dear fathers head open and freed us from that hell. The mortals say it best about power and corruption.”

“What do the mortals say about it?“ Aphrodite asked.

“Absolute power currupts absolutely. You’ve been living among the mortals for centuries of their time. You know this to be true.”

“True or not Uncle we still feed from the scraps, Zeus still rots and you still ferry the dead. What good is this existence if we are to be robbed of our power to have it.”

“That my dear seems to be the question although we are gods and cursed not to die. You should sail on my river, come to eat with my wife and my dog. Bring your husband. It isn’t the feasts of the past but we have ambrosia and necter to share.” Hades offered.

“You do not make offers with out cause Uncle. What do you want?” Aphrodite demanded. She refused to play any more games.

“To take our power back my dear, what else? My wife grows tired of her empty halls and so do I. My brother has sat useless on his throne too long. There is a reason the mortals no longer worship us and I aim to change that. I aim to take back our power. Aren’t you curious to see if its possible?” Hades grin had too many teeth to be completely mortal just as Aphrodites figure was too perfect to be natural. The fallen goddess stared at her uncle and imagined what he said.

“We could return.” she muttered.

“Possibly.” Hades said, “If the universe is in our favor. We were great once, no reason we cannot be great again. I can return to my halls, you and your husband can return to a firey forage. Who knows. Maybe it’s time the mortals had something new to worship.”

“I shall speak to Artimis.” Aphrodite said. “We have gotten on good terms this century. She’d like more power to hunt her prey. She’ll come if I ask.”  

“Good, I shall speak with Apollo and my brother Posiden. Hera already waits with Persphone in my halls. She has long been tired of her husbands games.”

“We shall meet in your halls in three suns time.” Aphrodite said as she stood. She walked out of the club ignoring the shouts of the manager behind her. Soon the mortals would remember who the old gods were. So idiot mortals like the one screaming the name she gave him would tremble at the sound of her true name. Soon Artimis would set her bow on the fools who thought that woman meant prey. Soon Apollo could heal in the hospital halls he wandered so desprately. Soon Zeus would continue to rot but not on his mountain top. He’d be cast from his throne and they would reign in all the splendor this new world could offer. 

Often have trouble with complex phonemes and will simplify them. ‘Thr’ becomes 'fr’, like 'I frew up’. Hard 'R’s or 'Er’s become 'w’s or 'ow’s, with 'bird’ pronounced like 'bowd’

Are very reactive, falling into hysterics at the drop of a hat and then able to be soothed just as fast.

Are very self-focused, usually not imagining the impact of their actions on other people. (How do you think they felt when you did that? Do you think that was fun for them?)

Can have advanced knowledge of certain subjects of interest, but have very little overall understanding of how and why things work.

it can't believe what it has witnessed.

So it plays it out again and again, every night, maybe trying to find where everything went wrong, trying to understand.

When a new family comes, the house plays it again for them till they understand. it doesn't want to scare them away, no. it wants to protect them.

the house tries to warn them. this is what has happened to me, it wants to say to them.

it's not a broken record playing over and over again, its a part of the house itself.

the only thing that ever mattered to the house was love. unconditional love, with all the scars, the pain, the trauma.

The second book in A Thief’s War is now out! You can find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu, and others. I would really appreciate it if anyone left a review, as it would help me out so much!

Barnes and Noble

Amazon

I want the nerdy conservatively dressed girl bestfriend get her hair done and her fancy clothes on and she appears in a pressed suit. And I want the love interest to loose his breath because she's so handsome in a bow tie and slacks.

I want the guy in a skirt or a dress, I want his love interest so blown away by the way his nylons look.

I wanna see the girl give the boy a corsage.

I was tagged by @magic-is-something-we-create!! Thank you!

Rules: Post the last line you wrote and tag as many people as there are words

“I don’t want to die,” she croaked.

Clara couldn’t help but point to the white-haired girl- Kate, who was tapping her knuckles together, looking between her and Lara. She looked so nervous that she felt rather bad for putting her in the middle. “So far, she’s the only one here I like.”

Odysseus: Regret it why?

Cassandra: You won’t believe me if I tell you. If I prophecy, nobody believes me. That is my curse.

Odysseus: … I’m Nobody. Fill me in. 

*A couple of months later* 

Odysseus: HELLO PENELOPE, I AM HERE PRECISELY ON TIME AND NOT YEARS LATE incidentally I rescued and adopted a Trojan seer while I was away, she’s great, got me home really fast, Cassandra this is your new mother who’s not going to treat you like shit. 

Penelope: … I’m going to need more details, but okay, sure. 

have fun

write whatever is interesting to you, even if it won’t be interesting to anyone else

appreciate kudos when they come, but don’t expect them

appreciate comments when they come, but don’t expect them

if you wish you could just write that one scene you have in your head, do that. you don’t need to create a 30K backstory for it first.

embrace one shots

embrace drabbles

embrace writing your story out of order

rough drafts are meant to be rough. if you can’t think of a word, put in a placeholder for it and keep going. 

try not to get stuck on the little things

it’s okay if your readers can’t see the picture inside of your head

some people work well when they have a posting schedule. some people work well when they don’t. it’s okay if you don’t know which kind of person you are, and it’s okay if the type of person you are changes over time.

if a rule you created for yourself isn’t working for you, get rid of that rule.

make fandom friends. even if they don’t read your fic, they’ll cheer you on while you write it.

cheer on other writers you know. you’ll be cheering yourself at the same time.

no trope or genre is better or worse than another one. they all just appeal to different audiences.

quality and popularity are not the same thing, although they do sometimes overlap

numbers and statistics will never tell you whether or not you’re a good writer. they will never tell you how valuable you are as a person. 

you belong in fandom if you want to be there

you’re a writer as soon as you start writing things

writing and posting are two different things. your story is still worth writing, even if you never plan to share it

you don’t need to apologize for what you write or what you post. 

don’t worry about taking up too much space. the internet doesn’t have a maximum size. 

keep your readers in mind when you’re tagging your content. how could they search for your fic? if you use a tag, will be a reader who loves that tag be satisfied with how much it appears in your story?

if you have a relationship in your fic that plays a minor role, tag it in the Additional Tags section instead of the Relationship section so that people who love that ship don’t get their hopes up

be cautious when looking at bookmarks on your fic. they aren’t “extra comments.” that’s a space where readers make notes for themselves and each other, not for authors. 

you don’t need to know everything about canon before you start writing fic

you don’t need to read fic in the same fandoms you write for

you don’t need to read fic at all in order to write it

love your work because sometimes you’re the only one who will - and that’s okay

if your hobby starts feeling like a job, you might need to take a break before you get burnt out

if you get stuck on a story, you can always start a new one

if you fall out of love with a story, you can always stop writing it. if you’re worried about your readers, you can always give them a bullet point summary of where you were planning to go with thing. for a lot of people, that’s satisfying and provides closure

if you get hate, report it

use the tools at your disposal to block hate before it can come in (limiting or turning off comments, limiting or turning off asks, blocking users, etc)

try replying to comments sometimes. it can be a lovely way to make fandom friends

don’t be afraid to reblog your own writing posts.

if you get stuck on your summary, just write 1) who the story is about 2) what they are doing and 3) what problem gets in their way

notice when your writing makes you smile. that moment is a gift. enjoy it.

notice when your writing makes you cry. that moment is a gift, too.

even if you’re disappointed in how your story turned out, there’s something in there that’s fantastic. find that thing and focus on it and feel proud.

some ideas are ones you want to write. some are ones you want to read. if you ever have too many ideas to deal with at once, give some of the latter ones away to someone else. 

sometimes the things you write will be really personal. be careful about putting them where other people can comment. they won’t know how personal it is for you, and you need to remember that comments aren’t about you, they’re about the story.

remember that you can write series as well as stories. if the story is done but you still have passion or ideas, start a new one in the same universe.

enjoy the satisfaction of finishing a story. savour it. bask in it a little while.

don’t feel guilty about abandoning a story. not every story gets finished, and that’s okay

you can have separate accounts for different fandoms. you can have one account with a million fandoms in it. do whatever works for you.

sometimes writing is more important than sleep - but only sometimes

it doesn’t matter if that story has been written before by someone else. it doesn’t matter if it was written by you. write it again.