"How's Your Magic?"

"How's your magic?"

"Explosive and unstable. Yours?"

"Draining my life force through a sieve."

Hello, my fellow writeblr! While I write mostly high fantasy, I have now a grim dark cyberpunk superhero story in the works, called Open Secret Files, and will probably start posting about it soon. It includes all of the above tropes except for the fanfiction part, since this is my original story lol. It has vigilantes,troublemakers, superheroes and supervillains (often the roles between the good guy and bad guy are reversed, since some of the big superheroes of the world of my story have become corrupted and villainize those who stand against them), there is a lot of found family to be found (most of the main cast are a bunch of young outcast kids who form a group/foun family to fight a corrupt system), and there are plenty of morally ambiguous characters!

You can interact with me, if you want, in my blog: @mysticstarlightduck

hello writeblr - i’m looking for mutuals so please feel free to interact if you’re interested !!

reblogs appreciated! especially looking for:

people who like superheroes and/or supervillains and/or anything in that vein

enjoyers of the hero/retired hero and their yet-to-have-their-spirits-broken protégé

found family enthusiasts !!!

fans of morally ambiguous characters or villains that aren’t wholly sympathetic

fanfiction !! writers and/or enjoyers !!

Happy STS!

How would your characters react if you locked them in an escape room together? Who solves the puzzle first, who breaks something by accident, who sabotages the rest of the group, etc?

Happy Storyteller Saturday (or Sunday, since I am answering this only today, sorry)!!! 💕

Oh, this is a fun question! I loved coming up with an answer for it!

How would your characters react if you locked them in an escape room together?

I think that the reactions would be very varied, given the personalities of each of my characters. I will choose a few of the characters from the main cast. Also, who are we kidding, if my characters ended up trapped in any form of escape room in the story, it would most likely be because of the villains and would be a pretty dangerous situation because of it, so it is interesting to consider this because a situation like this can say a lot about how each one of them reacts under pressure. (I can already picture the villains somehow trapping them in a maze-like escape room to try and test them, or even get rid of them)

RAELEN: Raelen would most likely feel very nervous at first - especially if they were locked together in that room against their will by the villains - but she would be quick to recompose herself and rapidly work to find a solution to their situation. Raelen is a very creative person, and she is good at thinking outside the box, as well as being very determined, so I think that she would react pretty well to this new situation - once she got past the initial nervousness. Raelen is very good at noticing patterns, so she would have a pretty good chance at solving the puzzles that rely on that - so she would be very likely to solve many of the puzzles first.

AZRA: Would most likely have a negative reaction at first, like, he would be very angry - as in trying to scream at whoever locked them in there (even if there was no one in sight), trying to find a weakness in the walls, doors or windows, stuff like that. But once he realizes that these actions are futile and are only going to make things worse, he would join in with Raelen to help find a way out. He is very smart and clever, especially once he is able to get his emotions under control and not let them take over him. Azra has a good sense of self-preservation that includes the protection of his friends, so he would likely be helping everyone out in solving the puzzles. He would also be likely to break something by accident during his initial angry reaction.

JULYAN: Would likely be incredibly chill about the whole situation. Julyan works very well under pressure and is incredibly practical when it comes to solving a situation quickly. I would say that he'd be hardly fazed by the whole situation, and would most likely just get on with checking out the environment and trying to understand what is the quickest way out of the escape room. He likes to keep things under his control and has a tendency to take the lead in situations, so he would help the others focus on finding a solution. Julyan, however, has some anxiety when it comes to being trapped or not being completely certain about the outcome of something, and if any of the puzzles of the escape room involved splitting up with the group - especially if it meant letting his siblings out of his sight - that would make him pretty nervous, but I think that, even so, he'd be able to keep his emotions, mostly, in check.

VALLERIUS: At this point, I can say with certainty that Vall would be hardly surprised - in truth, he would find the whole experience very fun and entertaining, as he has the mentality of "if I can't avoid a certain situation, I might as well enjoy it, you know?". He would just be like, finding little quirks in the room and wandering around, making everyone concerned. He is very precise and would be a good help for the others to figure out the puzzle, though he might get sidetracked for a while there. Vall is quick, and if there was any puzzle that was meant to test that, he would surely win it, and I think that he is by far the one most likely to wander off from the group into a vastly different path and still come out not only before anyone else from the room but completely unscathed - and would be just waiting for the others to escape in deep boredom.

ELLINOR: She would likely assess the situation and take the lead of her group of friends. An incredible strategist, Ellinor would handle herself pretty well in an escape room, being able to predict the likely outcomes of her actions and of the puzzles around her. However, Ellinor might can easily get upset and will resort to unconventional approaches if it means getting out of the escape room faster, even though that might complicate things in the long run. Even though she has leadership tendencies, Ellinor is a good team worker and will help out anyone who is in trouble.

LUCIYA: PANIC MODE ACTIVATED. Luciya despises being trapped anywhere, especially if it is against her will, and is definitely going to react very badly to the situation. It would take a while for her to collect her thoughts and act rationally again, as these kinds of situations are a deep trigger for her. However, once she does, Luciya would be more determined than anyone else to get out, like, seriously determined to the end of times. She would have some trouble with some of the initial puzzles, because of her nervousness, but would then get the hang of it as she goes along.

TANWIN: Tanwin would just be extremely quiet throughout, doing his own thing without addressing anyone else. He would be the kind of person to watch the others struggle with solving a puzzle without saying anything, wait for them to give up, and then, while they're arguing over what to do, just solve it in a matter of one minute. And if anyone went "Why didn't you just solve it in the first place?!" Tanwin would just answer, as nonchalantly as possible "None of you asked me to". This would go on until they are all out of the escape room.

JAMIE: Jamie would just be helping everyone around him like a golden retriever. Seriously, he would just jump in and help without any prompting. And he wouldn't be upset by the whole situation with the escape room either. He would just go "This is a cool challenge!", and saunter up to the next puzzle with the most genuine smile. Also, people around him would get increasingly surprised by how fast he is to find solutions and how smart he is - he is living proof that someone can be a sword-fighting knight who loves what he does while being a genius. He is just a different kind of genius than Zephyr is, but he is one.

SYBIL: This little feral girl would complain all the way throughout the challenges, non-stop, about anything that is mildly harder than she expected. And it is not because she isn't smart, oh she is very smart, she just doesn't like having to do something when she wants to be doing another thing. Also, she is too lazy to always use those smarts. She would be bored and make it everyone's problem. Also, in the middle of this, she would be the one most likely to sabotage the group either on accident or because she wanted to see what would happen if she did The Thing.

EMRYC: He would be the one to go "Well, it was nice knowing you all, because we are going to Die", in the most sarcastic way possible. He would spend the entire time trying to cheat his way through the puzzles to find a quicker way to solve them, and sometimes this would surprisingly work, other times it would just horribly backfire. He would continue trying to cheat his way through until either they are all out, or Ansell has to restrain him to keep this boy from making things worse than they already are.

And so on!

Thanks for the Ask, @elshells!!!

Happy WBW! What hairstyles are popular in your world? Are these hairstyles you can do at home or ones that you'd have to pay a professional to get done?

Happy Worldbuilding Wednesday to you too! And thanks for the Ask @writernopal!!!

(Disclaimer: This will be a long post since I picked up some images from Pinterest for reference and want to detail some of the more kingdom-specific styles)

What hairstyles are popular in your world? Are these hairstyles you can do at home or ones that you'd have to pay a professional to get done?

In Agrannor, there are many regions and kingdoms of varied cultures, and therefore, many styles that are available everywhere. Some kingdoms might value beauty and style more than others, while others might prefer practicality and usefulness. It is also very hard to describe hairstyles like this, but I will try my best! (:

Many styles are popular throughout Agrannor. If we take a more broad, general view of the entire continent (as in considering the styles that prevail all across the land regardless of where you are from) we would certainly find some specific commonly popular hairstyles. Long, loose (untied) hair styled with braids, as well as shorter, more detailed styles seem to be very popular throughout the continent (You can see that by how the main cast dresses: Raelen has long hair that is often loose/untied and braided, Azra has short hair that he ties back into a ponytail, Vall has long hair that is usually tied back or completely loose, Emryc has very short hair, Ellinor has a similar hairstyle to Raelen but more voluminous, Ragnah has short shabby hair styled with colorful beads and ornaments, and so on).

So, braids, ponytails, and loose (untied) hair seem to be the most prominent. And usually, people will mix those styles together to fit their own personal aesthetic, the level of practicality they want, and other personal things.

Here are some pictures from Pinterest for reference:

And so on!

Also, unless you are: 1. A royal/noble, 2. An important member of the court/army, 3. A very rich merchant/influential person, you would likely have to style your hair by yourself, as "hairstylists" are often incredibly expensive in Agrannor and in some kingdoms, the trade is known by only some royal servants of high standing.

However, if we want to consider more kingdom-specific styles they would be very interesting too: (I'll list the most remarkable examples here)

ADRELLIOS: In this Golden City, style and beauty are everything. They strive to stray from what is commonplace and often style their hair in unique and often incredibly intricate ways. In Adrellios you are likely to find people with delicate updos that would take hours to make, style with only the finest of the kingdom's jewelry, gold, and silver, and surely tied/braided with the best colorful silk, all of it shimmering in the sun. Since this is a city near the desert, they seem to prefer styles that are either shorter or outstanding updos that keep all the hair tied up. In this city, you would be very likely to encounter humans with their hair dyed unnatural colors, the most common ones being purple, turquoise, and orange. Also, you would likely find the medieval equivalent of a hairstylist, who could fashion your hair into the most beautiful trend of the season, if you have enough gold pieces to pay for it that is.

KESTRALL: In the snowy mountain kingdom of the soldiers and dragon riders, hairstyle usually focuses on being practical, as ephemeral things such as delicate beauty and spending time styling your hair won't get you through the battles and the winter. (Here, you'd be very likely to encounter those styles I showed above in the pictures). However, their Code of the Old Warriors also has some interesting takes on hair - and how the way you should style it to reflect your accomplishments in battle. This would get too complicated to explain, but basically, you can tell someone is a warrior by the hairstyle they use and you can also tell how accomplished they are. A serious warrior would be expected to follow this "Dress Code". Braided hairstyles are incredibly present in this kingdom.

ERGYRE: Very similar to the styles found in Adrellios, though they have a penchant for iron and steel ornaments, as well as ones made of colored glass. Crystals and rare minerals from their mines are also commonly used by them for hair adornments. Some nobles and even some of the common people (or rebels) like to have silk and colored wool "sewn" into their braids (don't worry, not in a hurtful manner, just sewn into the already done braids).

THE MOROSYN EMPIRE: Though there are many kingdoms in the Morosyn Empire, their styles seem to follow whichever is most popular in the Imperial Capital at the moment. Their hairstyles value symmetry and show impeccable attention to detail. Blond, White Silver, and Pitch Black hair seem to be the beauty standard and some people will either dye their hair to match it or to exacerbate their already existing features. Ornaments are common but they also follow a certain sense of stoic symmetry and delicate details.

VELLAMERE: Loose/Untied styles with gently placed ornaments, small braids, and loose buns are very common here in Vellamere. In this seafaring kingdom, your hair would usually be styled in such a manner that it could flow easily in the wind and in the flowing water. Long curly hair, delicate tiaras, and cloth ornaments are very popular, as well as those made out of iridescent sea monster shells and the famously important gemstones found in their seabed. Your style should be proper to both sail the seas and attend a high-end masquerade ball, but this is easy to achieve here.

LIRANTHIS: This is a city that values intellect and delicate beauty at the same time, while also preferring more "rational" and practical hairstyles. You would likely find styles of all shapes and sizes here, though shorter ones seem to be more popular now, as well as many pastel/mildly colorful ornaments that often serve the very practical purpose of keeping your hair out of your face during your scholar enterprises.

Also, there are some Non-Human species in Agrannor that have hairstyles worth mentioning:

The Elves: (This will apply to their native culture and not to those elves that are captive slaves of the kingdom of Ergyre or the Morosyn Empire) Elves are often born with "unnaturally colored hair", which means their hair is often some shade of blue, blood red, pure white, or other rare colors. But "normal" human colors such as brown, blond, black, hazel, red, etc, can also occur. They keep their hair long and usually style it with very thin braids. On important occasions, such as weddings, the first birthday of someone's child, etc, they use specific styles made just for the occasion. Horned elves sometimes style their fringe in braids that surround the base of both horns. Their styles are highly personal. Ornaments are rare but not uncommon, and the most popular ones are woven into their braids or adorn their horns.

The Fae: When the Faeborn were still flourishing, prior to the massacre of most of their population during the Agrannorian Civil War, they had vastly different colors of hair which usually indicated what kind of faerie they were (a sky fae, an earth fae, a tree fae, a water fae, etc) and their home "nest" of origin. A tree Fae would have ornaments not only made from materials surrounding their home tree but would style their hair much differently from a sky Fae, for example. Also, their hair is said to have a naturally occurring glow to it that is born from their strong connection to natural magical forces that run in their blood, similar to bioluminescence but still different, and it is visible at any given time of the day. Nowadays, however, after the death of most of the Faeborn population, the surviving Fae try to pass as human by using human hairstyles (or entirely hiding their hair), hiding their ears, or even dyeing their hair a naturally "human" color.

The Merfolk: This is where things get complicated. The merfolk don't have "hair" per se (as in they don't have the strands of fur that we humans call hair as it would be impractical for their lives in the deep ocean), but they have hair-like appendages that grow in strands out of their head (think of the Twi-Lek from star wars, now imagine what they would look like with multiple, thin lekkus, this is honestly the best metaphor I could come up with to explain how merfolk hair works in the TLW universe). These strands mimic the color of their skin (which can be varied, but usually is either blue, deep blue, grey, purple, pitch black, pure white or multiple shades of green). Also, since said "hair" is made out of bone/keratin, muscle, and skin, it can never be cut - and doing so would be incredibly painful to the merperson. The "hairstyle" varies according to which "sea creature" they are similar to and the environment they live in. It can be styled with pieces of coral, tiaras made of colorful seaweed, ornaments carved out of flotsam, or woven with rope from sunken ships. More recently, since they began to openly interact with humans in the Storm Isles, they have begun to use some human-made ornaments as well.

Thank you for reading it this far! I am super excited about this answer, and I loved how much your question made me think about the world from my current WIP!!! 💕

The person I reblogged this from is someone I enjoy seeing on my dashboard.

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

If you had to choose who your favorite character is from all of your works, who would it be? Why?

As a writer, what are the kinds of things that you find most easy to write about, and what are the things you avoid (+ Is there anything you'd like to improve)?

Let's say your main cast of characters find themselves trapped in a life-threatening situation. How would each one of them react? Who would be the most selfish and who would likely be the most selfless?

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

You are literally so mean lol... (jk. It's just that these are some IMPOSSIBLE questions)

I don't have any "favourite" characters. I love all of them. There's a special place in my heart for each one - even characters that aren't meant to be likeable. Like Bret, for example... in the beginning, you're not really supposed to like him. You start sympathising with him more when you find out more about his life and what he's been going through lately.

If we're talking about which character I'd most likely be friends with, then probably Elise. I've mentioned this a few times already, but she's the character I've given most of my personality to. She's super sweet and friendly, but also an introverted bookworm. It would be so cool to have a friend like that irl... we'd swap book recommendations all day long.

The others are more rebellious and extroverted, so they'd probably be too much for me lol. That being said, I like to give ALL my characters a little piece of me, and I take a lot of inspiration from my life and experiences. So I'd probably vibe with each of them to some level (e.g. Dylan with his family drama).

(More below)

I think the thing I find easiest to write is conflict. I just love creating chaos for some reason...

No, but really. It's something I've always been good at (well, being good at something is different from finding it easy/doing it all the time, but you get what I'm saying). I like throwing things off the rails. I like writing arguments. In Steph's Crew, there are like 5 main conflicts/arguments before we even get to the midpoint lol.

(It's a real problem of mine. When I was a kid, and I'd play dolls with my sister, I used to be the one to come up with all these random conflicts and plot twists for no apparent reason. It would seriously tick her off lol.)

Something I struggle more with is coming up with realistic dialogue. Which may sound weird, considering the fact that I'm literally posting a series of ONLY dialogue, but that is actually part of why I decided to do that! I like practicing writing conversations, it gives my mind a clear idea of what is going on, and planning out dialogue helps me practice more in that weaker area.

I'd also say writing romance of any kind is something I'm not 100% comfortable with, either (purely due to lack of experience lol). And I would avoid it in my own work... if I didn't love it so much. I need at least one love story in most of the stuff I write, I just love love too much! (Another serious problem of mine... )

Your third question is actually super interesting, and I'd actually like to tackle it in it's own separate post if that's ok. I just really need some more thinking time with that one!

Thanks for the ask!