Tag Archive | weeklies

Magic Mondays: The Aunt Family, and Uncles

Apr29

@DaHob asked about the Aunt Family’s Uncles.

The Aunt Family, as it has been revealed so far, has magic of some sort (Witchery, “the spark”) residing in one unmarried, childless member of each generation. Through an unknown-so-far mechanic, when the family gets too large, it splits; thus there are several Aunts at any given time (Evangaline, Deborah, Becka).

But what about men? Beryl’s brother Stone has the spark, that much is already been determined. And there have been Aunts without the spark as well – Evangaline’s Aunt Asta, for one, was described as mostly a vessel, holding the title for a generation.

The answer is, more or less: the family as a whole has the genetic possibility for the spark. They aren’t the only ones in the world that have it (Their family is very old; they could have the only bloodline that has the spark after all, just spread out over the world over the last millenia), and the Aunt is not the only person in any given generation to hold it.

But their particular family holds that men have other things they need to focus on, and that the magic is in the sphere of women alone. What this means for men with the spark depends on the man, the branch of the family, and the era.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/523538.html. You can comment here or there.

Magic in Stranded World: Summer

Apr23

See also Magic in Stranded World.

As mentioned, most Strand-manipulators in the Stranded World fall into three categories: Strand-smoothers, Tanglers, and Connection-readers.

Autumn’s little sister Summer is one of those who falls in between.

What Summer does with the Strands is closer to witchery or charming than to the tangible geometry of her brother Winter or the kitten-tangles of her sister Spring. Summer tugs on the Strands by virtue of charms, hexes, a few muttered words and a few drawn symbols.

Those symbols have the power to hold the Strands into a position, to tug them later into that place, or to keep them from going somewhere: she can cause someone to fall away from good fortune, or to it. With effort, she can pull people together or push them apart.

Although Summer’s power is limited – she cannot use it easily, if at all, without her words and symbols, and it rarely has an immediate effect on anything – it can be immensely powerful as well.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/517156.html. You can comment here or there.

No-one said it would be easy

Apr20

No-on said it would be easy.
But no-one said it would be this hard.

Aelgifu sat in the break room, nursing her infant son while trying to figure out her biology homework.

Siggie was having a moody time of it lately, whiny and demanding whenever she left him with other people – even other-Mom, Io – for too long. His older sisters, in turn, were taking turns being as bratty as they could manage. None of them liked the apartment. None of them liked the day care. And, to a one, they all – even, on days like this, Ayla – wanted to go back to the Village, where all their friends were.

Nothing ever worth doing is easy.. Ayla kissed her son on the top of his head, and counted her blessings once again.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/514984.html. You can comment here or there.

WebLit Wednesday: KAJones (Guest Post)

Apr17

Today’s Weblit Wednesday Guest Post comes from [personal profile] kajones_writing.

Lyn has, since I first started writing weblit and crowdfunding, been one of my inspirations. I remember the first time I donated to any crowdfunding project was when she was trying to get money to help Drake with his diabetes. (When I heard he’d passed away I cried.) Back then I didn’t know anything about the settings she wrote in, or much at all about what she did, so after a quick look through what she did I asked her to write me a story in her Tir na Cali setting – I couldn’t resist the kitties. I still love Cali, but now I know more about the writing Lyn does, and I do occasionally write fanfic for her, I read stories from many of her setting.

It is thanks, in part, to Lyn that I decided to follow in her footsteps by not only crowdfunding but by writing in a number of different settings. I call them collections, because they keep growing, and the thing I’ve found with weblit is that having someone post a comment or tell you they enjoy what you’re writing helps plot bunnies to reproduce. Before I started posting on the DreamWidth and Livejournal accounts I first used they were bad enough, but I don’t regret a thing. Writing more is one of the best thing that’s come out of writing web lit.

Fantasy is one of my favourite genres, because I can world build. World building is something I love, although I may have gone a little overboard with one of my readers’ favourite collections, the World Walkers collection. It’s about people who can travel the worlds of the fae built Web, the races of those worlds, and the worlds themselves, because they’re sentient. One of the things I love about weblit is how easy it is to work with other people, so I have two worlds that are created by other people, and I’d be really happy to have more. To learn more about my worlds check out my Beginner’s Guide .

This year I’m attempting to post at least 500 words a day, because I was forced to take an unplanned hiatus last year due to some family issues. I want to increase my audience for two reasons: I love writing for people, which is why I have prompt sessions; and I want to be able to make a living doing what I love. Crowdfunding means I can experiment with ways of earning money, so I do different things to see what works, and two of my favourite creations are character adoptions and setting rentals. Adopt a character and get a story, in PDF format, of a word count of your choice (currently a maximum of 4000 words) about that character sent to you, which can last for a maximum of six months. Rent a setting and get a story, again in PDF format, of a word count of your choice (currently a maximum of 6000 words) about that setting sent to you, which may also last up to six months. The word counts can be split, depending on what you want.

I’m also writing a serial. It’s set in the World Walkers collection, on a world that was created by Elizabeth Barrette and she wrote the plot. Writing the Case of the Counterfeit Enchantments has been an eye opener for me. Having someone else write a plot has been great for me, because it means I don’t feel like I’ve already written the story which is how I feel if I write out a plot line for myself, even though I’ve already gone way over my planned word count (sticking to a specific word count has always been a problem for me). It’s something I would happily do again if I had the chance, especially as it’s given me more ideas for stories within the collection. I post a new part every Monday and Thursday, I have plans for bonus stories, and I’ve started a side story about one of the characters in the serial, which is something I’m experimenting with by only posting more words if I get donations.

Web lit has been wonderful for me as both a reader and a writer. It gives me a chance to write for both myself and my readers, which is something I attempt to make as simple as possible by adding a write more button at my website. It gives me a chance to read things that might not exist if there wasn’t such a thing as web lit.

Read K.A.Jones’ writing on Dreamwidth, on her website, or on Tumblr.

Want me to highlight your weblit or someone else’s on Weblit Wednesday? Send me an e-mail!

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/513214.html. You can comment here or there.

Summary of Recent Non-Giraffe Writing

Apr4

Addergoole

Fashion in Addergoole After the Apocalypse, a series of Vignettes (LJ)
Lazy Bidding (LJ)

That Guy/Girl/Squirrel
Tigg (LJ)
Reese (LJ)

Way-back Wednesday
Akatil Yixox (LJ)

Luke and Myst
Matters (by Rion)
Finale (LJ)
Finale, Turnabout (By Rion)
Yes (LJ)

Tír na Cali

Will That Be All? (LJ) Lord Tony and Miss Pepper

Aunt Family

Precedent (LJ) After Intimately Involved – F’locked

Non-Fiction

Thorne Thursdays
But We’re a Cat Family! (LJ) Visiting Newfoundlands

Tasty Tuesdays
Babka for Easter (LJ)

Magic Mondays
Dragons Next Door and Jin (LJ)

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/506780.html. You can comment here or there.

That Guy Thursday: Tigg

Apr4

Tigg isn’t a bad guy, he’s just drawn that way.

Drawn to bad guys (and gals), that is: his Keeping by Manira wasn’t abusive, wasn’t really bad, but Manira has a similar style of Keeping to her own former Keeper, Phelen, so it was an immensely controlled year.

Tigg learned he liked having someone else make decisions. But when Manira left, what was he going to do?

He found Calvin.

Lucky for him, then Nessie found him.

Tigg has a hedgehog Change which leaves him spiky all over, but most specifically over his hair. He’s Mediterranean in ethnic appearance, suburban mid-east in upbringing, and goth-bondagage in fashion preference. Masked, his quills represent as spiked hair.

He’s learning that they take dye well, too.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/506010.html. You can comment here or there.

Tasty (Wednesday): Babka for Easter

Apr3

For Easter Sunday, as a change from the Incredible Simple Cake we made for St. Patty’s Day, we made a “traditional bread” that involved milk, eggs, leavening, sugar, and rum (as well as fruit and the normal ingredients)

Spousal Unit comes from a Polish family, and since I have almost no ethnic tradition of my own (When asked to write a poem about my roots in high school, I wrote “I bury me feet deep/in mud-deep soil/I walk barefoot through the land/my ancestors farmed…” Ethnicity? Farmer), I tend to borrow his.

So when this recipe – Polish Babka – popped up in my inbox, we just had to try it.

Wow.

Warning: we ate the entire thing. In one sitting. Um. There’s two of us.

Wow.

Notes: The candied fruit really added nothing, which is sad, because Rion and I quested for it. We’d double or treble the raisins next time & skip the fruit. And it really does need a full day to soak, and a heavier rum sauce (I added a 1/4 cup of dark rum, what’s this tablespoon crap?).

But really, wow.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/504671.html. You can comment here or there.

Way Back Wednesday: Akatil Yixox

Apr3

Early 1970’s

Reid found the goblin who was dubiously named Akatil Yixox where he’d expected to find him – miles deep inside the machinery, tinkering.

“‘Keel.”

“Reid.” The tiny man pushed his goggles onto the top of his head. “I’m working.”

“I got an offer. And it includes both of us.” He paused. “Mo made the offer, actually.”

“You’re obviously going to take it.”

“It’s got a lot of merit. And it involves teaching.”

“And you want me to come along.”

“They don’t have a good Unutu guy.” Reid could barely say the word. “And, besides, you owe me seventeen and one-half favors.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/504476.html. You can comment here or there.

Magic Mondays: Dragons Next Door and Jin

Apr1

[personal profile] kelkyag asked: How does Jin do magic?

The oldest child of Audrey and Sage, Jin is quite an interesting specimen. It’s no wonder the Tower wants to get their hands on him.

Many denizens of the Tower are the result of a dweomer-human union. As such, their magic is buried beneath the surface and must be coaxed out.

The Tower sorcerers use complex rotes and rituals, diagrams and dialogues, scripts and spells, to complete their magic; each line in each spell is designed to pull the sorcerer closer to the magic and thus manipulate it.

The Tower is only half of Jin’s legacy, however, and the magic of the Pumpkin is much more organic. Although still relatively untrained, Jin uses a combination of his mother’s witchery and his father’s sorcery in a manner that is both innovative and dangerous.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/503793.html. You can comment here or there.

That Squirrel Thursday: Reese

Mar29

Some people just can’t take anything seriously.

That’s Reese in a (ha) nutshell.

Of all of the hermaphrodites to have come through Addergoole (All three, at least, by year 9), Reese is the most comfortable being without-gender; the squirrel has fun blurring the lines whenever possible, and generally dresses in an androgynous and dapper fashion.

The red squirrel tail and ears are the most notable features about the slender squirrel, but looking beyond that, Reese has bright blue eyes, a narrow, straight nose, a beardless, square chin, and a slender body, hipless and with no real breasts to speak of.

Reese generally seems to be out of control – some of that is the squirrel Change, which had a mental component as well as the physical. Some of it is, by this point, an affectation: People expect Reese to be out of control, so Reese is.

Reese as a Kept was a much quieter squirrel; Reese as a Keeper might be terrifying.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/499986.html. You can comment here or there.