Lydia Redwine's Blog: Lemma Beans Books - Posts Tagged "writing"
My New WIP That I Actually Have Zero Time To Write
So...hi guys!
It's been a hot minute since I've written on this blog. Ahem, since like January...
But I have something I want to scream at you about through the interwebs via lots of html and CAPS. And that, my fellow reader friends, is a new book that I am devising that I actually have no time to write between working full time and you know, FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL, annnnd finish edits on book 2, Keepers of the Crown, of my six book long epic fantasy series. (Check out Spirit Followers if you haven't already!)
But this work in progress is something I am insanely excited about. So here we are. And I am 100% open to any suggestions/brainstorming tidbits that anyone might have for this story because what I am about to share with you is basically (almost everything) I have planned so far.
Please, PLEASE COMMENT THOUGHTS.
Here goes nothing.
So its called The Irony Rules and in short, it's about two young men who are twins and whose names I NEED NOW IN ORDER TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE SOME SORT OF FOOTHOLD HERE who decide to steal certain things from everyone’s house who live in the town.
The town is smol and quaint but also shadowy and atmospherically creepy!
The town thinks that a) its one boy and b) that he’s stealing because he’s young and rebellious and wants to BUT THEY’RE ONLY PARTIALLY RIGHT. (I mean, they are stealing because they are young and rebellious BUT THERE ARE ALSO OTHER REASONS.)
Liiiiike that there is an antagonist (who I have not decided if he’s just extremely morally gray or purely evil...probably the former) who threatens some sort of harm over the town if the two boys don’t bring him certain objects from each of the houses that they’re stealing from. The objects may or may not hold magical qualities.
But, you may be asking, why in the heck deck darn does this oh-so-mysterious villain want these objects of which I myself have not yet identified for myself?
Because he’s a hoarder.
And because he likes nice things and wants to make a bunch of people mad. Kidding. Well, he is a hoarder, of sorts. But turns out, these people have actually all been trapped in this town for a REASON. Errr a reason I don’t know of yet because #complications.
So anyway, this super antagonistic dude gets these two twin boys to steal from houses and they do it for reasons but what the town doesn’t know is that there are two boys. You see, the town thinks it's one boy doing all the stealing when in reality its TWO. So the story also follows these boys trying to figure out why their parents told the whole town that there was only one of them.
Story features a bakery and both boys being obsessed with baking and baked goods because why not make your mouth water while you read? #amiright #yesiam #thankmelater (Also, if I ever have a launch party for this book baked goods will be in order.)
Some other little wonderful things this book will feature:
1) So far, one of the main characters looks like Cole Sprouse in my mind. (AHHHHH) But with a name that isn’t Cole he’ll probably end up looking different.
2) BAKED GOODS. I already mentioned it, but I really really need you to know that there will be much baking going on. And coffee. Lots of coffee too. One character who loves coffee and another who despises it. And since those are the only types of people in the world, everyone will relate!
3)One of the twins will be constantly quoting Shakespeare. Like. All. The. Time.
4)Speaking of Shakespeare, there may or may not be a Tempest retelling in the works involving a magician and a ballerina.
5)Much sassery.
6)Annnnd blood because the two go hand in hand in my worlds.
7)Twilight Zone vibes meet Jane Eyre vibes meets The Night Circus??? Because I’m cool???
8)Lots of sweaters and used bookstores with secrets and vintage guns (is that a thing?) point is, there is an aesthetic going for it.
9)Also, pain and suffering. I am an author after all.
10) But the sassery and donuts will make up for it.
11) Maybe.
12) Also, sibling goals meets what you never want to have as a relationship with your sibling ever kinda thing. (hahahaha help me I have no idea what I am doing.)
13) A ballerina named Selle (from the name Giselle) because ballet in general is AESTHETIC
14) An unlikely female friendship
15) A character called The Timekeeper whose real name is not yet identified and history of time and clocks that you may find completely unnecessary
16)And the villain will be called the Magician
17)So...magic, obviously
18)There will be a little crew of people who work together under mysterious circumstances. Picture heist stories or the Midnight Dinners in The Night Circus.
So what else must you know???
That I’m insanely excited to write this even though I’m in the middle of writing both a poetry collection AND a six book high fantasy series in which only the first book has been published. But WHO CARES THAT I HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE ANY OF THIS.
But here’s an excerpt of what I have so far!
The Rules of Irony are simple. You just have to know where Burton’s Bakery is first.
That is where you could always find at least one of the twins if everything was going to absolute shit everywhere else.
You see, nothing could go to shit in Burton’s Bakery. That place was sacred. It was a taste of heaven. How could it not with the aromas of freshly baked goods drifting into the cobblestone streets at every hour. (Yes, even in the dead of night.) How could one not resist when pastries lined shelves after shelves and Burton himself slipped a dark liquid into small bottles and left them idly on the back counter for one to grab if the need arise?
The answer is that even if you could resist, the Winchester brothers would not. No, they were hardly the type to resist anything involving baked goods and battles of sassery in other people’s houses.
Oh, and thievery.
Thievery wasn’t merely a pastime. It was a way of life.
In a tiny town where everyone knew everyone, no one knew that the Winchester twins existed. Well, they knew, but they did not know that they knew. To them, there was one child of Charles and Caroline Winchester. One boy. Not a second. The second had died.
Or so they thought.
But they had been told a lie.
It's been a hot minute since I've written on this blog. Ahem, since like January...
But I have something I want to scream at you about through the interwebs via lots of html and CAPS. And that, my fellow reader friends, is a new book that I am devising that I actually have no time to write between working full time and you know, FINISHING HIGH SCHOOL, annnnd finish edits on book 2, Keepers of the Crown, of my six book long epic fantasy series. (Check out Spirit Followers if you haven't already!)
But this work in progress is something I am insanely excited about. So here we are. And I am 100% open to any suggestions/brainstorming tidbits that anyone might have for this story because what I am about to share with you is basically (almost everything) I have planned so far.
Please, PLEASE COMMENT THOUGHTS.
Here goes nothing.
So its called The Irony Rules and in short, it's about two young men who are twins and whose names I NEED NOW IN ORDER TO FEEL LIKE I HAVE SOME SORT OF FOOTHOLD HERE who decide to steal certain things from everyone’s house who live in the town.
The town is smol and quaint but also shadowy and atmospherically creepy!
The town thinks that a) its one boy and b) that he’s stealing because he’s young and rebellious and wants to BUT THEY’RE ONLY PARTIALLY RIGHT. (I mean, they are stealing because they are young and rebellious BUT THERE ARE ALSO OTHER REASONS.)
Liiiiike that there is an antagonist (who I have not decided if he’s just extremely morally gray or purely evil...probably the former) who threatens some sort of harm over the town if the two boys don’t bring him certain objects from each of the houses that they’re stealing from. The objects may or may not hold magical qualities.
But, you may be asking, why in the heck deck darn does this oh-so-mysterious villain want these objects of which I myself have not yet identified for myself?
Because he’s a hoarder.
And because he likes nice things and wants to make a bunch of people mad. Kidding. Well, he is a hoarder, of sorts. But turns out, these people have actually all been trapped in this town for a REASON. Errr a reason I don’t know of yet because #complications.
So anyway, this super antagonistic dude gets these two twin boys to steal from houses and they do it for reasons but what the town doesn’t know is that there are two boys. You see, the town thinks it's one boy doing all the stealing when in reality its TWO. So the story also follows these boys trying to figure out why their parents told the whole town that there was only one of them.
Story features a bakery and both boys being obsessed with baking and baked goods because why not make your mouth water while you read? #amiright #yesiam #thankmelater (Also, if I ever have a launch party for this book baked goods will be in order.)
Some other little wonderful things this book will feature:
1) So far, one of the main characters looks like Cole Sprouse in my mind. (AHHHHH) But with a name that isn’t Cole he’ll probably end up looking different.
2) BAKED GOODS. I already mentioned it, but I really really need you to know that there will be much baking going on. And coffee. Lots of coffee too. One character who loves coffee and another who despises it. And since those are the only types of people in the world, everyone will relate!
3)One of the twins will be constantly quoting Shakespeare. Like. All. The. Time.
4)Speaking of Shakespeare, there may or may not be a Tempest retelling in the works involving a magician and a ballerina.
5)Much sassery.
6)Annnnd blood because the two go hand in hand in my worlds.
7)Twilight Zone vibes meet Jane Eyre vibes meets The Night Circus??? Because I’m cool???
8)Lots of sweaters and used bookstores with secrets and vintage guns (is that a thing?) point is, there is an aesthetic going for it.
9)Also, pain and suffering. I am an author after all.
10) But the sassery and donuts will make up for it.
11) Maybe.
12) Also, sibling goals meets what you never want to have as a relationship with your sibling ever kinda thing. (hahahaha help me I have no idea what I am doing.)
13) A ballerina named Selle (from the name Giselle) because ballet in general is AESTHETIC
14) An unlikely female friendship
15) A character called The Timekeeper whose real name is not yet identified and history of time and clocks that you may find completely unnecessary
16)And the villain will be called the Magician
17)So...magic, obviously
18)There will be a little crew of people who work together under mysterious circumstances. Picture heist stories or the Midnight Dinners in The Night Circus.
So what else must you know???
That I’m insanely excited to write this even though I’m in the middle of writing both a poetry collection AND a six book high fantasy series in which only the first book has been published. But WHO CARES THAT I HAVE NO TIME TO WRITE ANY OF THIS.
But here’s an excerpt of what I have so far!
The Rules of Irony are simple. You just have to know where Burton’s Bakery is first.
That is where you could always find at least one of the twins if everything was going to absolute shit everywhere else.
You see, nothing could go to shit in Burton’s Bakery. That place was sacred. It was a taste of heaven. How could it not with the aromas of freshly baked goods drifting into the cobblestone streets at every hour. (Yes, even in the dead of night.) How could one not resist when pastries lined shelves after shelves and Burton himself slipped a dark liquid into small bottles and left them idly on the back counter for one to grab if the need arise?
The answer is that even if you could resist, the Winchester brothers would not. No, they were hardly the type to resist anything involving baked goods and battles of sassery in other people’s houses.
Oh, and thievery.
Thievery wasn’t merely a pastime. It was a way of life.
In a tiny town where everyone knew everyone, no one knew that the Winchester twins existed. Well, they knew, but they did not know that they knew. To them, there was one child of Charles and Caroline Winchester. One boy. Not a second. The second had died.
Or so they thought.
But they had been told a lie.
First Excerpt from Keepers of the Crown
The tall grass withered in the wind before him. His eyes slipped shut as he felt the breeze brush his face. His bare feet curled into the soft mud. Something light touched his face. His fingers traced the side of his cheek, drawing the ash over his skin.
Riah’s eyes opened.
The plain before him was stiff in its silence. Waiting. Watching.
He turned. And saw the tree. A single tree upon which blackness was creeping. Riah walked, his steps light and thudding on the soft ground. Golden globes of fruit began to appear, scattered on the terrain. He peered up at the tree. No fruit could be found weighing its boughs.
But a rope was extended from one of its branches.
He stood, his bones and muscles numbing. She swayed gently in the wind, her own bare feet ash colored like her face. She was low enough to the ground that when Riah reached to brush the tangled mass of hair from her face, he knew the eyes.
Arria.
Her name was a hiss on the wind.
A scream curdled the air.
And Riah did not know if he had screamed or if it was the wind or sky or the ground splitting apart.
A cracking sound followed.
And the tree split in two.
The following darkness was blinding.
Riah stumbled, his back hitting something hard. Bracing his hand against the object, he felt something rough. Bark. The outlines of trees were growing more distinct in his vision.
The forest was dripping purple tears.
And Riah knew exactly what he would see. She appeared as she always did, her eyes hollow and once silken hair a tangled mess over her pallor skin. She was staggering as she always had, her bony hands reaching, reaching…
Riah turned and ran, his heart slamming against his chest. Beads of perspiration slipping down his neck and back. The forest ground was hard beneath his feet with stones and sticks and vines broken and scattered. He did not stumble. He had fled the confines of this place too many times to falter.
But leaving the forest, finding what was beyond…
That had never happened before.
Riah halted, his burning lungs easing into their normal feeling. His heart beat thunderously in his ears. A lake of silver stretched before him. And there was something large and rectangular floating in its center.
He did not even think before he thrashed into the murky, warm water. The mud at the lake’s bottom squeezed between his toes as the water rose to his ankles and then to his knees and then to his waist. He was floundering towards the object when he was only feet away.
With a mighty heave, he grasped the edge of what he now knew to be an iron structure and pulled himself to peer over its edge.
The face of the corpse was ash white, the eyes closed. The skin wrinkled and patched with spots of black. The long, wrinkled fingers upon which scales marked, grasped a single, red rose. The robes were tattered and black.
The scream sounded again. The same terrifying scream that had echoed across the plain. And Riah did not know if the sound had burst from his chest at the sight of his father or if the lake itself had curdled with the sound.
But when he lifted his eyes, through the veil of mist, he saw a single light.
She held a lantern in one hand and a dove in the other. Even from across the expanse of water, Riah could see her shining doe eyes beneath the rippling of her light brown hair across her face.
“Saffira!”
This time, he knew he had called the name.
She remained still on the other side of the lake where she stood ankle deep in the water.
He swam. Then he floundered, Then he ran. “One, two, three…” Steps. He reached the surface, extended his hand to grasp her and…
She vanished, wisps of light where she stood. And the dove…
It remained. For a moment, anyway, before it snapped its wings together and flew into the forest beyond.
Riah fell to the ground, his knees sinking into the soft mud. He threw his fist into the earth as a wild cry escaped the cage of his ribs. He squeezed his eyes shut against the burning tears.
And then he felt cold drops falling on his skin. The pattering of the rain followed. And then a crash and thunder. The lake split in two.
He opened his eyes, and found the cliff edge around him to be jagged rock, the sky a boiling storm, and the sea a swirling bowl of fury hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet below.
“Who will I see here?” But he knew. Riah knew deep down inside of him that there was only one person he would find on this cliff edge.
The figure staggered towards him, long fingers grasping at its cloak to keep it fastened to him to act as some sort of shield against the sky’s tears. Riah rose on legs he found surprisingly steady.
The creature raised its head, and even with two gaping holes where eyes should have been, Riah could hear its name screamed in the wind, an echo from the storm.
Ather.
The Shadow Bearer rose its head, twisting its neck and hissed in a rasping, broken voice. “Elyon has come. The Savior is here.”
Riah’s eyes opened.
The plain before him was stiff in its silence. Waiting. Watching.
He turned. And saw the tree. A single tree upon which blackness was creeping. Riah walked, his steps light and thudding on the soft ground. Golden globes of fruit began to appear, scattered on the terrain. He peered up at the tree. No fruit could be found weighing its boughs.
But a rope was extended from one of its branches.
He stood, his bones and muscles numbing. She swayed gently in the wind, her own bare feet ash colored like her face. She was low enough to the ground that when Riah reached to brush the tangled mass of hair from her face, he knew the eyes.
Arria.
Her name was a hiss on the wind.
A scream curdled the air.
And Riah did not know if he had screamed or if it was the wind or sky or the ground splitting apart.
A cracking sound followed.
And the tree split in two.
The following darkness was blinding.
Riah stumbled, his back hitting something hard. Bracing his hand against the object, he felt something rough. Bark. The outlines of trees were growing more distinct in his vision.
The forest was dripping purple tears.
And Riah knew exactly what he would see. She appeared as she always did, her eyes hollow and once silken hair a tangled mess over her pallor skin. She was staggering as she always had, her bony hands reaching, reaching…
Riah turned and ran, his heart slamming against his chest. Beads of perspiration slipping down his neck and back. The forest ground was hard beneath his feet with stones and sticks and vines broken and scattered. He did not stumble. He had fled the confines of this place too many times to falter.
But leaving the forest, finding what was beyond…
That had never happened before.
Riah halted, his burning lungs easing into their normal feeling. His heart beat thunderously in his ears. A lake of silver stretched before him. And there was something large and rectangular floating in its center.
He did not even think before he thrashed into the murky, warm water. The mud at the lake’s bottom squeezed between his toes as the water rose to his ankles and then to his knees and then to his waist. He was floundering towards the object when he was only feet away.
With a mighty heave, he grasped the edge of what he now knew to be an iron structure and pulled himself to peer over its edge.
The face of the corpse was ash white, the eyes closed. The skin wrinkled and patched with spots of black. The long, wrinkled fingers upon which scales marked, grasped a single, red rose. The robes were tattered and black.
The scream sounded again. The same terrifying scream that had echoed across the plain. And Riah did not know if the sound had burst from his chest at the sight of his father or if the lake itself had curdled with the sound.
But when he lifted his eyes, through the veil of mist, he saw a single light.
She held a lantern in one hand and a dove in the other. Even from across the expanse of water, Riah could see her shining doe eyes beneath the rippling of her light brown hair across her face.
“Saffira!”
This time, he knew he had called the name.
She remained still on the other side of the lake where she stood ankle deep in the water.
He swam. Then he floundered, Then he ran. “One, two, three…” Steps. He reached the surface, extended his hand to grasp her and…
She vanished, wisps of light where she stood. And the dove…
It remained. For a moment, anyway, before it snapped its wings together and flew into the forest beyond.
Riah fell to the ground, his knees sinking into the soft mud. He threw his fist into the earth as a wild cry escaped the cage of his ribs. He squeezed his eyes shut against the burning tears.
And then he felt cold drops falling on his skin. The pattering of the rain followed. And then a crash and thunder. The lake split in two.
He opened his eyes, and found the cliff edge around him to be jagged rock, the sky a boiling storm, and the sea a swirling bowl of fury hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet below.
“Who will I see here?” But he knew. Riah knew deep down inside of him that there was only one person he would find on this cliff edge.
The figure staggered towards him, long fingers grasping at its cloak to keep it fastened to him to act as some sort of shield against the sky’s tears. Riah rose on legs he found surprisingly steady.
The creature raised its head, and even with two gaping holes where eyes should have been, Riah could hear its name screamed in the wind, an echo from the storm.
Ather.
The Shadow Bearer rose its head, twisting its neck and hissed in a rasping, broken voice. “Elyon has come. The Savior is here.”
