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JLWrites

@jlwritesstories

Author. Adult. All original fiction. Wattpad Fanfiction account @dragongirl642

Welcome to the blog

Hello and welcome. Here you will find all my original fiction.

Science Fiction and Fantasy are my fav genres. What are yours?

If your looking for fanfiction, check out my other account @dragongirl642

For all other socials:

I do not consent for my original writing to be used in ai training/writing or c.ai under any circumstances.

The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul - Doppelganger x reader insert story.

A Princess longing to prove herself to be as brave as any prince, a sorcerer hired to save an ailing kingdom by spinning straw into gold, and a spinning wheel. A fairytale unlike any you have heard before.

"You have 7 days to solve a murder...before your luck runs out." Supernatural meets Death in Paradise are the vibes I was going for.

Rewrite of The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul: Eloise knows something is wrong. Her boyfriend is not her boyfriend. They are something else, wearing his face. She should run ... but she doesn't.

If you want to be added to the tag list for any story or have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to drop me an ask.

Me: *Removes my cat from my lap to do something else.*
My cat: Father is...evil? Father is unyielding? Father is incapable of love? I am running away. I am packing my little rucksack and going out to explore the world as a lone vagabond. I can no longer thrive in this household.

The spiritual successor to Miette

Might I also add

WHEN IT HURTS TO ADMIT IT Prompts

⟡ “I don’t know when I stopped feeling like myself, but I know it wasn’t all at once.”

⟡ “I keep waiting to miss this life more than I hate it.”

⟡ “I don’t even know if I’m sad or just tired of pretending I’m not.”

⟡ “You ever wake up and realize you’re living a life you didn’t mean to choose?”

⟡ “I don’t hate you. I just don’t recognize who I am around you anymore.”

⟡ “I thought if I ignored it long enough, it would go away. It didn’t.”

⟡ “I’m not asking you to fix it. I just need you to stop telling me it’s fine.”

⟡ “I keep telling myself this is enough, but it never sounds convincing.”

⟡ “I don’t know what I want, I just know this isn’t it.”

⟡ “I’m scared that if I stop, everything I’ve been holding together will fall apart.”

⟡ “I don’t want to leave. I just don’t want to stay like this.”

⟡ “I don’t feel brave. I feel cornered.”

⟡ “Every time I say I’m okay, something in me flinches.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to explain this without sounding ungrateful.”

⟡ “I keep thinking there has to be more than just getting through the day.”

⟡ “I don’t trust myself to make a decision because what if I regret all of them?”

⟡ “I don’t know who I’d be if I wasn’t needed all the time.”

⟡ “I thought being strong would feel different than this.”

⟡ “I don’t want to disappear. I just want the noise to stop.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to ask for help without feeling like I failed.”

⟡ “I keep hoping something will force my hand so I don’t have to choose.”

⟡ “I don’t know how to leave without hurting someone.”

⟡ “I don’t want to be the reason everything changes.”

⟡ “I don’t know if I’m scared of losing this or scared of keeping it.”

⟡ “I feel like I’m watching my own life instead of living it.”

⟡ “I don’t know how much longer I can carry this and still call it living.”

⟡ “I keep thinking tomorrow I’ll feel different. Tomorrow keeps showing up the same.”

⟡ “I don’t know if I’m asking for permission or forgiveness.”

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

If anyone has any recommendations give them to me please!

Gladly! The pieces on this list aren’t limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.

  • Anything by NK Jemisin. She is the best speculative fiction writer of her generation and probably the best speculative fiction writer alive. She is easily one of the best writers working right now, across all genres. That’s not hyperbole. She deserves all the hype.
  • Anything by Octavia Butler. She needs no introduction. Her short fiction is incredible; “Bloodchild” is one of the pieces that inspired me to write.
  • An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon. Excellent. Just read it.
  • The Radiant Emperor duology by Shelley P. Chan. It broke my heart and it'll break yours.
  • Babel by RF Kuang. You’ve probably already heard of this book because Harper Voyager marketed the shit out of it and was right to do so. It’s very, very good. Kuang writes a compulsively readable story, that’s for sure.
  • The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
  • So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonial Science Fiction and Fantasy (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.
  • Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (anthology) edited by Nalo Hopkinson.

Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:

  • The Blood Trials by NE Davenport. Given the current chokehold romantasy has on the public it’s insane to me that this book hasn’t sold a billion copies.
  • The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. It’ll change you.
  • The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera.
  • The Lesson by Caldwell Turnbull.

Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesn’t immediately center them and they don’t automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the story—even if it touches on (gasp!) racism—and maybe, just maybe, it’ll reveal something to you.

Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much I’m going to fling myself into the sun

Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didn’t want to do it but here I am

Don't forget Aliette de Bodard! Especially her Xuya and Dominion of the Fallen series.

Zen Cho is my other favorite - Sorcerer to the Crown and The True Queen, and also Black Water Sister.

  • Octavia's Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements is a fantastic collection of short scifi stories written by a variety of social justice activists
  • Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson is so intricately plotted, I really enjoyed the world building in it, the back of book blurb says "The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways — farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends."
  • Dread Nation by Justina Ireland is a YA alternative historical fiction zombie novel in which the American Civil War is interrupted by a zombie apocalypse, and a young Black woman must find her way in a world where the living may be more dangerous than the undead. (it's the first of a duology)
  • Everfair by Nisi Shawl is a steampunk alternative history, which explores the question of what might have come of Belgium's disastrous colonization of the Congo if the native populations had adopted steam technology as their own. (also part of a series)
  • The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline is a great ya dystopian book about a world where people have lost the ability to dream and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America's Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors.
  • The Getaway by Lamar Giles is a very intense YA dystopian horror that takes place in the future, in which a teen boy and his family work and live at a Disney-esque resort, which provides safety from the upheaval in the outside world.... until the trouble in the outside world gets worse and the most rich members of the board and up moving in and locking the resort down, leaving the families who live & work on the resort at the mercy of the wealthy board owners who control it.
  • Not a book and not exactly scifi (although some of the stories are scifi) and not always anti-colonial (but a lot of the stories have anti-colonial themes) , I really love the Nightlight Podcast hosted by Tonia Ransom, which is a podcast of horror stories by Black writers and performed by Black actors
  • not fiction, but semi-related nonfiction I'd rec is Bodyminds Reimagined: (Dis)ability, Race, and Gender in Black Women's Speculative Fiction by Sami Schalk

Throwing in The Kingston Cycle by CL Polk, basically everything I've ever wanted in a fantasy novel. Like if the author had my checklist.

No, seriously, do NOT.

Feeling dirty and grimy for extended periods of time is extremely draining on the mental well-being of humans. Psychological studies prove it is detrimental to our self-esteem and contentment. And no wonder; we are animals--homo sapiens, a kind of ape--that instinctively places high importance on personal grooming. Like monkeys and cats and birds in a zoo, one of the best ways to make us feel sad ... is to make us feel gross to ourselves.

So here's an easy saying from my therapist/zookeeper:

"If you feel like you hate the world, eat something.

If you feel like the world hates you, get some sleep.

If you feel like you hate yourself, take a shower.

You will probably feel much better."

Do all three at once to become the perfect life form

Whoa! Is this where @redgoldsparks ‘ comic comes from?

Yes this is the source of the text!

Sun Tzu is so fucking funny to me because for his time he was legitimately a brilliant tactician but a bunch of his insight is shit like "if you think you might lose, avoid doing that", "being outnumbered is bad generally", and "consider lying."

My personal favourite is his lengthy lecture on the subject of Supplies Being Very Important I Cannot Stress Enough The Importance Of Protecting Your Supply Lines But Also Supply Lines Are Expensive As Shit So Steal The Enemy’s Supplies At Every Opportunity. 

One of the more important things to consider about any historical work is the audience it was published for. The Art Of War was aimed at fancy nobles high on philosophy with little practical military experience who were nonetheless leading armies.

Sun Tzu, after desperatly trying to explain extremely basic logic to a bunch of upper-class twits, basically sat down and wrote the most elaborate "As per my last email" ever

I was trying to explain The Art of War to my mother recently, and I referenced The Prince, in that Machiavelli wrote The Prince both as a genuine guide on good governance* (as he saw it) but in its historical context it may also be understood as an acerbic political commentary on the issues he saw both with Italy in general and the Medicis who had exiled him specifically.

Some of Machiavelli's advice also seems blindingly obvious - "don't use mercenaries if you can avoid it, and if you can't avoid it, most certainly don't refuse to pay them," "maintaining a balanced budget is a good idea," "if you make alliances, honour them" etc. etc. - but if you look at what was going on at the time he was alive, you can see why he might feel it necessary to plainly state these things.

If stuff in a very famous book seems weird or obvious it's probably indicating that you should consider the historical context in which such a seemingly obvious thing needed to be said.

high-tension romantic scenarios to get lost in

  • fixing each other's collar/zipper/tie/etc - getting unexpectedly close, breath catching when they realize (or their light touches burning into the other's skin)
  • ^ also moving someone's hair out of their face/behind their ear
  • ^ or touching someone's necklace/bracelet/watch
  • eye contact in a crowded room, but not exchanging any words/expressions - just looking at each other, the rest of the world going still.
  • ^a(n unironic) wink in this situation. or an eyebrow raise, lick or bite of lips, or head tilt. there's something in the subtlety of it - like "this is between us"
  • pulling someone in by their belt loops??? this is so random idk
  • feeling the other's breath/lips ghosting their neck
  • any sort of whisper. anywhere. goddamn.
  • a long pause when someone is speaking, as though they lost their train of thought while looking at the other person
  • their bodies accidentally pressed together - being stuck in a small space, falling onto one another, or having to sit really close together. the pause when it's realized.
  • ^this but they're hiding
  • "make me"
  • "i dare you"
  • "and if i do?"/"what will i get (if i do)?" "show/tell me what you want"
  • the pinky reach before holding hands for the first time
  • slow dancing (the hand placement, eye contact, proximity, MUSIC)
  • teaching the other something that involves physical contact (like holding their hands while trying to balance on a skateboard, or guiding their hands somewhere)
  • eye contact, waiting for one to fold
  • "don't do that to me" (tempting the other)
  • sharing earbuds - forced proximity, the vulnerability in sharing things that matter to them

i'm back!! i'm in a huge slump rn, so submit to my "ask" box if there is anything you want to see :) alsoo if you have anything to add to this list, reply to the post!! i love hearing what you guys have to say

This makes me want to write a piece that's just these little nonverbal actions that tell the story, no dialogue or anything. That would be fun :)

Whenever I injure myself doing DIY I come away with two injuries because after the first one I'm like "that was incredibly stupid, no way I'll make that mistake twice" and keep working and guess what happens next

So, uh. Did you, by any chance, just injure yourself doing DIY? And more importantly, are you okay?

I'm fine it was only the drill

Please tell me your body has the same number of holes it started the day with

so glad you didn't drill through anything

and colloquially?

I'd very almost healed up and was feeling smug about it. Anyway, guess who has identical drill injuries on the other hand.

Well that barely counts as an injury. That's just respect for symmetry.

Derin do you fucking have stigmata now

I have some fully completed shelves is what I have. Ignore my hands.

- Jesus, probably, (~ 12 bc)

you've heard of death of the author, now get ready for death of the audience: where instead of basing your reaction on a thousand uninformed opinions online, you actually read the text and engage with it

Hot Writers Don't Gatekeep

the writers REALLY liked my artist resource post, so I thought i'd give y'all my dragon hoard of things i use for writing

Reverse Dictionary, you type in the meaning of a word, and it gives you a bunch of words that mean that. (MY MOST IMPORTANT OFFERING IN THIS LIST)

Slang Dictionary, what it says on the tin.

Anglish Translator, Anglish is if English evolved without borrowing from other languages and it really itches my brain (Anglish is if english grown without borrowing from other languages and it truly itches my brain)

Incorrect Quotes Generator, Put character names in, and incorrect quotes come out. Really fun way to goof around with your characters' dynamics.

Handspeak, an ASL dictionary

Library of Babel, Odds are, the finished version of your wip is in here somewhere

Glitch Text Generator is one I use A Lot, does ť̷̨̢͓̤͔̤̤̝̺̯̄̔̄̌̄͗͒͋͂͋͝ḩ̵̼̜͍͚͕̏̓͊̈̉̆̄͐́͗͒̈̃̊̚͜i̵̻̐̇̎̏̀̋̌̃̇̿͘̚s̴̮̔̂̇͒͑͝͝ͅ to your text

Emotions Thesaurus a guide for writing emotions and their associated body language

Mythcreants, has a whole bunch of stuff you can read to learn more about the technical aspects of writing

Trope Talks, particularly good for beginner and younger writers or people who have a hard time reading. Honestly this whole channel is a fantastic format to get information into my adhd rattled brain.

FOR MY AO3 BESTIES! Postimages will host your image forever so you can embed it into your work

Ambient Chaos, sometimes the only thing in the world that can kick your brain into writing mode is nuclear sirens and lofi beats

Radioooooo, play a station from any place and year. Particularly helpful for period pieces.

Food timeline, when foods were invented

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