Entries tagged with fantasy

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Spooktober Prompt Call

Hello! I'm hosting a Spooktober Prompt Call on my journal. I've described the theme in more detail, with examples, in the post linked. This is my chance to shape stories together with readers and write what you wish you could read.

Last year I wrote three stories for Spooktober '22, which you can read here. I hope to write many more stories this year. If I didn't get to your prompt last year, do comment again this year.

Prompting continues from now until Halloween, the end of October.

What I write will be posted for everyone to read. Right now, I accept tips in the form of Dreamwidth Points, and appreciate signalboosting to bring me more readers.

I hope to see new prompters and readers, and receive plenty of ideas to write plenty of stories.

Current Mood: creative

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Spooktober Prompt Call

Hello! I'm hosting a collaborative creative space on my journal. This is my chance to shape stories together with readers and write what you wish you could read. The theme is Spooktober. I've described the theme in more detail, with examples, in the Prompt Call on my journal. Prompting continues from now until Halloween.

What I write will be posted for everyone to read. Right now, funding is donation-based, and I will link my Tip Jar in relevant posts. Everyone who boosts the signal and shares word of the Spooktober prompt call gets to nominate a theme/topic for future prompt calls.

I hope to see new prompters and readers, and receive plenty of ideas to write plenty of stories.

Current Mood: busy

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Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, February 4

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, February 4, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "If the devil's nicer than the church folks, then we've got a problem." I'll be soliciting ideas for devils, angels, churchgoers, clergy, theologians, deities, children, fish out of water, historians, philosophers, ethicists, activists, heroic leads, antagonists, other people involved in theological conflicts, worshipping, praying, speaking, listening, reading, writing, summoning, banishing, discovering yourself, testing boundaries, creating connections, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, shocking people, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, temples, churches, church clubs, spiritual study groups, seminaries, monasteries, convents, charities, finishing schools, other places of worship or spiritual socializing, etiquette, bigotry, religious abuse, clergy sexual abuse, Religious Trauma Syndrome, devil-angel relationships, devil-human relationships, tenets of belief, hypocrisy, virtues, values conflict, moral injury, betrayal, alienation, crisis of faith, rebellion, religious language, the heroic journey, liturgy, personal growth, imprint vulnerability, rites of passage, and poetic forms in particular.

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

Clay of Life deals in Jewish folklore and religion.

Fiorenza the Wisewoman is Italian historic fantasy with Roman Catholic and Italian folk religions.

Fledgling Grace features angelic and demonic aspects as people develop bird wings.

Frankenstein's Family includes Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis is about the God of Evil becoming the God of Drunks.

Path of the Paladins presents the human impact of divine disputes.

Polychrome Heroics has characters from many different traditions. Shiv and Turq are two characters who have mentioned religious abuses. The theme can also be generalized to supervillains behaving better than superheroes or other socially approved people.

Or you can ask for something new.

I have a linkback poem "The Bushfire Shawl" (10 verses, Arts and Crafts America).

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

( New to the fishbowl?� Read all about it! )

Current Mood: hopeful

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The Many Worlds... Help Needed

More than once I've talked myself out of posting this, for two reasons. Impostor Syndrome being the first, and the second being the fact I am terrible at asking for any kind of help (thank you for that bad lesson, childhood - it really isn't at all helpful).

If you've seen me around here then you know what I do, but if you don't then I write stories for 'The Many Worlds'. Not enough, as far as my mind is concerned, due to how complicated life has been for the last 18 months. In short my long term partner had some serious mental health issues we're slowly getting through - and it took a lot of energy to use through it all. During that time my energy all went into my main earner - ghostwriting. However, even with all that energy going into it, there have still been months when it's been a struggle to find it. Last month was bad. I'm burnt out, almost permanently exhausted, and trying to work through too much alone.

That's why I'm posting here. 'The Many Worlds' went through some changes. The website has a different URL, I took everything down and started from scratch, and I'm slowly trying to build up the Patreon. For the moment I'm focusing on grocery money. We spend around £150 ($200) a month on food, although I have been stretching this out to around six weeks, and this means having a lot of the same dinners over and over. Before my partner's savings dwindled to almost nothing he was the one who paid for those groceries. Now I'm taking that on, along with rent, because, for the moment, he's not in a place where he can work. (I am working on getting him to the doctor again, but that's an added complication, and another draw on my energy.)

Patreon, I hope, will become that grocery fund. I'm here to ask for patrons. For every two new patrons I'm going to post something newly edited up at the website. That's at any level. I also have a Ko-fi, so if that's something you'd prefer to do I'm also going to post something for every two coffees. If I reach $50 at Patreon then I've got a couple of ideas as to what I'm going to do for it, but no definite decisions yet. From there I'm going to do something for every $50 point after that - and if I reach the $200, making it possible for me to get groceries next month without having to stress out about it, I'm probably going to cry.

Signal boosting is also much appreciated. Let me know about your boost here, and I'll post a snippet of one of the newer stories I've been working on, or some world building, or something from one of the characters I know the best. This can be DW/LJ, Twitter, or anywhere else you happen to have a place to boost. (One thing for each boost, so boost three times and get three things.)

Current Mood: thoughtful

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The Many Worlds

With work going well, albeit slowly, on the Many Worlds I have a new goal for the Patreon. I'd like to be making $50 a month by the end of the year, as that will give me a tiny bit of extra time to be able to write more for me, as all of my time and energy has been going into ghosted work.

I've been editing the next part of Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments, so that should be going up at some point in this week. Along with this I've been going through some other stories, trying to get a bit more in depth with the world building, and it's been interesting. There are some things I've got no idea what was coming next, which will make it even more fun to write.

Should I reach $50 then I hope to be able to get back to doing semi-regular prompt calls. I'm probably going to start off by season, and slowly build up to more. If I get more than $50 it'll be even easier to put more time into writing.

There is also the Ko-fi if you'd like to help me out, but not pay a specific monthly amount.

Current Mood: busy

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Poetry Fishbowl Report for June 4, 2019

Our theme this month was "Oaths and Promises." I wrote from 1 PM to 6:15 PM, so about 15 hours 15 minutes, allowing for lunch and supper breaks. I wrote 4 poems on Tuesday and another 13 later.

Participation was similar with 18 comments on LiveJournal and another 42 on Dreamwidth. A total of 20 people sent prompts. There were no new prompters.

Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the June 4, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Because You Have Made It So"
"The Foundation of Great Accomplishments"
"In Her Honor"
"Oaths of Office"
"Written Not in Blood"

"May Everything" (standalone) (linkback perk)
"Whether You Deserve It or Not" (May 7, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl and May Creative Jam, Polychrome Heroics: Officer Pink) (free epic)
"Through Many an Listening Chamber" (May 7, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl, Polychrome Heroics: Officer Pink)

Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from June 4. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available. All poems sponsored in this fishbowl have been posted. This month's donors include:

curiosity,

zianuray,

erulisse,

janetmiles, Anthony and Shirley Barrette. There are now 4 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl, which will take place in July.

The Poetry Fishbowl also has a permanent landing page.

Current Mood: busy

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Poetry Fishbowl Report for March 6, 2019

Our theme this time was "Easterns as a Genre." I wrote from 12:30 PM to 4:15 AM, or about 13 hours 45 minutes accounting for breaks. I wrote 6 poems on Wednesday (the fishbowl got delayed this week) and another 7 later.

Participation was much lower, with 15 on LiveJournal and another 35 on Dreamwidth. There were no new prompters.

Easterns as a genre proved quite popular. We introduced a new series, the Hollow Way, with three poems.

Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the March 6, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"A Country of Craftsmen"
"The Diary of the Human Race"
"The Line of Righteousness and Justice"
"The Lowell Mill Girls"
"The World's Columbian Exposition"

"Gökotta" (January 1, 2019 outside prompt calls, Hart's Farm)
"The Queen of Crows" (February 4, 2019 Poetry Fishbowl, Polychrome Heroics) (free epic)
"A Perfection That Eludes Us" (December 4, 2018 Poetry Fishbowl, Polychrome Heroics)

Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from March 6. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

All the sponsored poems have been posted. Donors this time include:

satsuma,

fuzzyred,

erulisse, Anthony & Shirley Barrette. There were no new donors.

The Poetry Fishbowl also has a permanent landing page.

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(no subject)

I am selling, and calling for prompts for, short stories. Further details at my journal.

Update!

dialecticdreamer, as described in the comments or at her journal, is offering more words to the same money! Thank you,

dialecticdreamer!

Current Mood: busy

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Other Project Winner

Based on the runoff poll, "Letter to a Super-Hurrah" by Alatefeline is the winner of the Other Project category for the 2017 Rose & Bay Awards.

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New Reader-Driven Webserial

Cal and I have a new webserial!

MARKED follows the story of Nilien, a Wild Rune in an era where most Runes are created in the safety of the Academy.

But you can do more than follow, you can participate! Daily updates each lead to new polls where readers can decide names, details, and even what Nilien decides to do next!

Reading and voting is free, but pledging MARKED's Patreon gets you all kinds of extra content, from character bios to an in-world newsletter.

We just started last week, so it's still easy to get caught up!

Check it out~

The serial: http://marked.rustedphoenix.net/
and the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Marked

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New Reader-Driven Webserial

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Fund Community Education, Get Original Fiction! (AKA) Fundraising with the Shared Worlds project

I'm selling a number of 3000-word (and potentially longer!) short science fiction/fantasy stories or scenes, inspired by prompts, for $30 each. These funded scenes will become part of the Shared Worlds canon, and the first ten purchased scenes will each be accompanied by a sketch by Oakland-area artist Davin Yant. The purchaser will receive the original sketch on a postcard.

This will raise funds for the Foundations educational system, a San Francisco Bay Area group focused on community-building, personal development, education, and safety within the Alternative Sexuality and Diverse Genders and Sexualities communities.

Read more and purchase a prompt here!

I had a lot of fun with the Shared Worlds prompt call when I did it, and I'm looking forward to what will come from this fundraiser.

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78 Tarot Nautical, a Companion Coloring Book, and a Sea Monster Mini-Coloring Book!

I had the honor of being one of the artists in a new tarot deck being crowdfunded now, the 78 Tarot Nautical deck: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kayti/78-tarot-nautical

This is a gorgeous looking deck with some big name artists that include Larry Elmore, Selina Fenech, Jasmine Becket-Griffith, and Amy Brown. It's at 84% of its goal after just over a week, and there are some great perks and extras available.

Including a new coloring book that I've put together for it!

This coloring book, with 20 pages of tarot art for you to color, is only available through the Kickstarter as an add-on for now, but will be offered in open edition at a later date. The Kickstarter MAY be the only chance to get the PDF version, though...

Speaking of PDF versions, you can get a sea monster mini-coloring book PDF for as little as $2! May is Sea Monster Month at Torn World, and I am crowdfunding a half-sized coloring book. It is coming along nicely, and we just hit our goal for commercial printing AND extra pages! We're $10.10 from a free pdf of the sea monster scale chart for all supporters to print and color. http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1515101.html

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Sea Monster Month at Torn World, Mini-coloring book, Next Sketch Fest!

May is Sea Monster Month at Torn World! http://tornworld.net

Every year, we celebrate a month of the big ocean dwellers in this shared world platform. You have just a few more hours to join in our kick-off Muse Fusion: http://torn-world.livejournal.com/229215.html

Bring prompts, and our artists and writers will create something just for you! Your prompts can be generic, if you aren't familiar with the setting, or specific to the Torn World monsters: http://www.tornworld.net/settingpageview.php?id=114

I'm doing a personal Sea Monster crowdfunded project - a Sea Monster Mini-Coloring Book! http://ellenmillion.livejournal.com/1515101.html

I'm making an 8-page half-sized coloring book (8.5 x 5.5) of sea monsters, both serious and silly. We've made our goal for getting a print copy - PDF copies start at just $2, and are included in every sponsorship package. Further stretch goals include more pages, bookmarks, and professional printing (which will ensure stock for future sales)!

I am promising sea monster sketches for the next 13 prompters at the Muse Fusion, so get those in swiftly!

And, the May Sketch Fest is on the calendar for May 14-16. Join us for 48 hours of creative sketching! http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/

(June's Sketch Fest is tentatively scheduled for June 12-14!)

Current Mood: excited

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New Crowdfunding Project: "Magpie Monday"

I'm thrilled to announce that Dreamwidth user Dialecticdreamer has launched her own crowdfunding project, Magpie Monday, to be held the second Monday of each month. Reply with prompts and get at least a page of prose privately, or a poem if you prefer. Signal boosts extend the length of your fill. Further perks are available too. The author currently has four original worlds active; you can prompt for any of those or something new. Go play!

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Portrait Adoption anniversary re-launch! (And next Sketch Fest)

The new and greatly improved Portrait Adoption has launched!

Whether you're a role-player or a writer, there is something magical about getting a portrait that is just for your character. Less magical is the traditional process of commissioning an artist. Let's be honest, artists can be slow, flaky, and sometimes their vision just doesn't quite line up with yours, even when they are honest and mean well (which isn't always the case!). It's rare to find someone who hasn't been disappointed hiring an artist.

Portrait Adoption takes all the guesswork and risk away.

February marks our eleventh anniversary. For eleven years, we've been providing pre-finished portrait adoptions. Dozens of talented artists offer a wide array of styles and options, and many hundreds of orphaned portraits have found homes through our service. We've come a long way from our two-artist launch, and we're celebrating with an amazing upgrade to our site.

What's New?

With hundreds of portraits to pick from, it can be challenging to find the portrait you're looking for. New search tools allow you to pick features and options that will allow you to zero in on the face you've got in mind. Do you want to find all the females with long, straight, dark hair and green eyes? Do you want to see all the human men, but not the ones with beards? Do you want to see only the portraits that have customization, or originals, as an option? It's a simple as using our new comprehensive search page.

And what's that? Originals? That's new, too: artists may now offer their original traditional artwork through the site. You'll get a web adoption through the Portrait Adoption site, and the artist will ship you the original piece. (Ah, yes, there is a little risk with this option - but at the very minimum, you will have the digital image and adoption rights, and I am very firm with artists who don't live up to their obligations.) Originals are marked with a gold star.

Customization has gotten a major upgrade, too. Not only does a portrait tell you what customization options are available, now you can easily send the artist notice of your interest and put the piece on a temporary claim while you wait to hear back from them. No need to try hunting down their contact information or try to google their webpage if they don't have it listed, only to find that the portrait you wanted them to adjust was adopted while you waited! Look for the pencil icon on these portraits.

Still can't find the portrait you're looking for?

We are taking submitted descriptions! Submit your character description for all of our artists to consider drawing. There is no obligation to adopt, and a good chance you'll get several portraits to choose from. You can see some of the pieces created for submitted descriptions in the newly rebuilt sample gallery.

Don't forget that you can watch an artist you love, too - sign up for their watchlist, and you'll receive an email when they have new work approved!

Your character deserves the perfect portrait. Portrait Adoption is here to provide it.

Also, our next Sketch Fest is scheduled for Friday the 13th! Join us for a fabulous 48 hour creative jam.

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The Redeemer Chronicles: REDEEMER

ysabetwordsmith has invited me to not only post here about my current crowdfund project, REDEEMER, but also to link to a couple of recent crowdfunding posts I've done, including The 10% Problem and what makes crowdfunding tick for me.

REDEEMER itself is an urban fantasy set in 1945 (this is your grandma's urban fantasy!): As monsters follow the boys home from WW2, Rosie Ransom learns she can redeem a damned soul--but will she lose her own in the process?

The war is over...but for Rosie the Redeemer, the homefront battle is just about to begin!

It's July 1945, and handsome young soldier Johnathon Goode is home from the war. Reportedly shattered by his experiences, he takes a night shift job at the local factory. It's no surprise that the girls there are smitten with the handsome young soldier, but as they start to leave their jobs--and no forwarding addresses--Rosie Ransom begins to suspect there's more to Johnny's homecoming than believed.

When Johnny tries to turn a vampiric bite on her, Rosie kills him in self defense--and sees his soul, pure and uncorrupted, rise into the ether. Within hours, she's approached by handsome, dangerous Hank Turner, who believes her to be a Redeemer--a rare talent who can save a lost soul even after demonic possession has taken place.

Rosie, facing the loss of her factory job as men--and her fiance Rich Thompson--come home from the war, is eager for any future that grants her the independence she's come to cherish as a working woman. If there are monsters to slay, she'll embrace the opportunity. Because without Rosie's help, the scare started by Johnny may turn into a full-fledged nightmare...

Teaser chapters are available here and the Kickstarter (which crossed the funding threshold while I was typing this!!!) is is right here: The Redeemer Chronicles! :)

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A pro's musings on crowdfunding

mizkit, a professional author I like who has run a couple of successful crowdfunding campaigns, has another running right now. Her LJ post today about the author's side of things seemed like it might be of interest to the group. How hard do you push? How do you get the word out to those who might be interested without driving others away? Questions without clear answers.

(The current project, The Redeemer Chronicles, is for a novel described as a cross between Rosie the Riveter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's an ensemble cast urban fantasy centered on a WWII-era pinup girl. With some socio-economic subtext thrown in.)

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fantasy,
fiction

Hiraeth updates roundup, 11/2014

Installments of

hiraeth posted since last noted here were:

part fifty-four, "Road Trip", and part fifty-five, "Road Trips".

Thanks to all who've been following along with the erratically-published adventures of a vampire trying to lead a quiet and moral life in this increasingly inconvenient modern world!

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Hiraeth updates roundup, 11/2014

Since the last mention here "Hiraeth" ran:

part fifty-four, "Road Trip", and part fifty-five"Road Trips".

Thanks to all who've been following along with the erratically-published adventures of a vampire trying to lead a quiet and moral life in this increasingly inconvenient modern world, and remember that the story also has a dedicated DreamWidth comm for your reading convenience!