hello friends it's been a while!! how are you all? i thought i'd post something properly but i'm not sure which to post first

Leonard Cohen, from The Book of Mercy (1984)

Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home (translated by Megan McDowell)

"she can fix me," she says about a woman who is infinitely worse.

Hey writeblr! Here's a challenge: can you summarize what you're writing in one sentence?

assortment of Palestinian Stamps

I'm seeing the same people over and over on my dash so that naturally means I need to follow some new people to spice things up.

If you're a writeblr who writes original fiction about:

queer, poc, and/or disabled characters (especially ownvoices)

particularly aro/ace and neurodivergent where are u at!!!

high fantasy (bonus for dragons and uncommon settings)

vampires (bonus if not romance)

revenge plots

fluid/nuanced/unlabeled relationships and identities

anything asian or eastern-inspired, especially themes like the yinyang and martial arts and taoism

anything that subverts tropes tbh

Reblog this and I'll check you out! I'm a bit picky about what I like on my dash so no guarantees but I'll try to boost some wips/intros and follow new people <3

If you're interested in fairytale retellings, high & urban fantasy, genderless cultures, dragons, vampires, werewolves, and every type of queer in the book you might want to check out my stuff lol

a search for God.

an excerpt from my recent substack post on religious guilt. haven't been working on my novel but i managed to work on this piece for a bit.

Fady Joudah, from A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation

wip intro - claws

sharp objects x carrie x hellraiser

🩸 Genre: Queer Horror

🩸 Features: teacher/student relationship (university edition), toxic romance, gender fuckery, broken identity, demonology, murder, self-harm, obsession, stalking, infidelity, a lot of blood, pact-based magic system, corruption, jealousy, eldritch entities, love is a wound, body horror, attempted suicide, and a little bit of arachnophilia

🩸 Status: First draft completed

🩸 One Sentence Summary: A young student’s obsession with his demonology teacher sparks a twisted romance that draws him to the limits of his humanity—and into the web of an eldritch horror.

🩸 Series Tag: wip: claws

summary

love makes monsters of us all...

When Vivien Webb breaks into Rainier Mortem’s office, he's only following the whim of his obsession. Love makes you do things like that. Things you shouldn’t. But when he finds—and impulsively steals—a hidden vial of demonic ichor, it sets in motion a chain of events at once everything he’s ever wanted and a nightmare made real.

In Rainier’s defence, sleeping with a student was never something he intended to do, things just sort of shook out that way. Vivien is different. Special. Addictive. And Rainier’s never been good at denying himself what he wants. Besides, if the kid stole his ichor, he needs to know sooner rather than later, because he has plans for it far greater than whatever street corner Vivien’s planning on selling it on. But it isn’t the ichor either of them should be concerned with—it’s the thing it came from. Because demons, much like lovers, want nothing less than all you have to give.

cast

Vivien Webb - gay transmasc nightmare boy. loves spiders, eyeliner, and Rainier Mortem. many issues, none of which he's dealing with. undiagnosed autistic (no, he hasn't figured it out yet either. it's not going well for him.) ftm in this case being female to monster.

Rainier Mortem - wretched bisexual demonology professor. hot and charming and knows it. incapable of taking responsibility for anything. the closest thing demonology has to a rock star. astonishingly good with his mouth. dirtbag trans ally and horny bastard.

Wolfe Talbot - Rainier's oldest, longest-suffering friend. former army medic, current paramedic. regrettably still a little bit in love with Rainier. regularly calls Rainier on his bullshit (not that Rainier listens).

Holly Barker - Wolfe's girlfriend and former classmate of Rainier's. feminist, pagan, and prone to speaking her mind. would stab Rainier in the balls given the opportunity. possibly the only actually sane person in this book.

Alice Vox - hottest, gothest sex worker. owns the nightclub Wonderland. another old friend of Rainier's who is actually smart and never slept with him (much to his neverending despair). enjoys fucking with people.

taglist: @belovedviolence @foxboyclit @coven-archives (ask to be +/-)

hello mutuals and beloveds i am alive i promise i am just drowning in coursework but i will be posting some writing things soon ? maybe ?

Happy New Year! I wanted to just give a little update on what I'm working on and some of my hopes for my writing in 2024.

Project Amgydala (tentative title: Ballad of a Blue Whale) Novella- Literary Fiction/Surrealism Status- Draft 1 complete at around 33,000 words 2024 Goal- First revision/draft 2 Synopsis- Maren Hara, a recent graduate, moves back in with her father and turns completely inward. She removes herself from the life she created throughout university and begins walking from sunset to sunrise, looking for something she cannot put her finger on. This leads her to Devereaux's Salvation, a jazz bar seemingly from another era, whose eager manager and illusive owner begin to crack through Maren's walls and bring her back into humanity.

Project Corvidae (tentative title: I Want to Build a Home with You) Undetermined- Literary Fiction/Light Mystery/Horror Status- Plotting and beginning first draft 2024 Goal- Complete outlines and give draft 1 my best shot Synopsis- In the wake of the death of her family matriarch, portrait painter and former performance art prodigy Leonie Richards finds herself on the receiving end of her grandmothers vast literary legacy and her eclectic, spirit filled home. Alongside her uncle, the art store clerk, and a host of portrait clients she begins to unlock the secrets of the final years of her grandmother's life.

This is the one and only true goal I made for my writing this year: Learn to write short stories. So here I am, learning this new form and having a hell of a time at it. I have around three completed in a first draft capacity right now, but don't plan on doing much serious revising or rewrites as I find they come out mostly formed and it's best to just let them be. But here's a taste of the ones I've written so far! Mind Over Matter- this is actually backstory for Leonie from Project Corvidae and seeks to shed light on her past performance art pieces and the relationship between her and her grandmother. Light body horror, unsettling women, the works. One of These Nights- a slice of life, Murakami-inspired piece of an American expat living in Tokyo trying to ground herself within a new language. Digs into themes of friendship and social anxiety. Lots of fun music cameos. a green pea moon- my FAVORITE. My little baby. A surrealist romp through the dream world and how it relates to the joy and fear of being queer and letting yourself be loved. Near and dear to my heart.

Thank you all for keeping up and showing me love! Can't wait to see what we all get into in the coming months. xoxo char

taglist: @annlillyjose @coffeeandcalligraphy @subtlefires @belovedviolence @onomatopiya y'all are amazing, if i am missing anyone please let me know and i'll try to keep better track!

the five love languages:

cannibalism

surgery

saw bathroom trap

giving the one you love a rock

and quality time

I am sorry to everyone who tagged me in some tag game and I never responded. I saw it and thought “aww they thought of me” and proceeded to forget about it right after

award-winning palestinian children's illustrator baraa awoor writes:

"what use is it to be an illustrator of children's books when the world has sentenced the children of your country to the death penalty, to vanish, to genocide?"

some of baraa's illustrations:

this is an illustration for youssef, whose mother is remembered running desperately into the hospital asking if anyone had seen a "small white boy with beautiful curly hair, his name is youssef," a description which was remembered by millions when she finally identified his body:

this illustration is for young omar, who was hugging his little brother and teaching him how to repeat the shahada after him (a prayer spoken by muslims before their death) as he lay on his hospital bed:

"we want a new year that doesn't kill us or our children, we want it a year without blood, without screaming, without pain, we want a new attempt to get our lives back, or something that resembled our life, even if life is a lie we still cling to it, return life to us—a new year's card unlike any other year:"

Eight girls from Beita, Nablus, carrying a hand-sewn outlawed Palestinian flag and singing Palestinian songs during the First Intifada, after Israeli soldiers dynamited 15 homes, killed a 16-year-old boy, and arrested all the village’s male adult residents. By George Azar.

girl ur such a vibe can i live in ur ribcage

Like Water for Chocolate, Days of Being Wild, Les Félins