For your consideration:

A)

B)

C)

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators:

Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

How easy is it to earn their trust?

How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

What animal do they fear most?

How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

What makes their stomach turn?

Are they easily embarrassed?

What embarrasses them?

What is their favorite number?

If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

Why do they get up in the morning? 

How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

 Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

 What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

 What causes them to feel dread? 

 Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

 Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

 Who do they most regret meeting? 

 Who are they the most glad to have met? 

 Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

 Could they be considered lazy? 

 How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

 How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

What memory do they revisit the most often? 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

How do they feel about children? 

How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

✦ FACECLAIMS ✦ Valeriano & Altaluna

Here are the current faceclaims for The Sorcerer's Apprentice's main antagonist and protagonist. For Valeriano, I've chosen the formidable Brian Cox (because how could I not?), although I could have easily also chosen Anthony Hopkins. As for Altaluna, I've picked the Venezuelan model, Irene Guareñas. What do you think?

With the ‘discovery’ of America, the idea took root that colonization was also a climatic normalization, a way of improving the continent’s climate by clearing and cultivating land. It was a promise to the colonists and a discourse of domination: a way of saying that native peoples had never really owned the New World. In the eighteenth century, acting on the climate served to rank societies and their historical trajectories hierarchically: Amerindian peoples still in the infancy of a savage climate; European peoples creating the mild climate of their continent; Oriental peoples destroying theirs. The Maghreb, India and, later, Black Africa: in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the French and British empires were built on accusing Blacks and Arabs, Islam, nomadism, and the ‘primitive’ mentality, of wrecking the climate. Colonization was conceived and presented as an attempt to restore Nature. The white man must mend the rains, make the seasons milder, push back the desert – and to that end command the natives.

— Jean-Baptiste Fressoz & Fabien Locher (translated by Gregory Elliott), Chaos in the Heavens: The Forgotten History of Climate Change.

Follow Diary of a Philosopher for more quotes!

@that-chibi-writer reblogged your post:

#i have literally never once heard of solarpunk im my life#so now i am eduacted#hey also#did you know#utopia is a greek word that means no place?#lol gotta love ancient greece and their love of word play

Honestly, I wasn't super familiar with solarpunk before this either! From what I read, it seems like a very interesting new genre. Also, that was an amazing fun fact and I am going to save it in my mind forever! 💚💚💚 Typical Ancient Greeks; still giving us reality checks in the 21st century lol

Thank you for reading and reblogging my insanely long post 💚 Appreciate you!!

@that-chibi-writer reblogged your post:

#i have literally never once heard of solarpunk im my life#so now i am eduacted#hey also#did you know#utopia is a greek word that means no place?#lol gotta love ancient greece and their love of word play

Honestly, I wasn't super familiar with solarpunk before this either! From what I read, it seems like a very interesting new genre. Also, that was an amazing fun fact and I am going to save it in my mind forever! 💚💚💚 Typical Ancient Greeks; still giving us reality checks in the 21st century lol

Thank you for reading and reblogging my insanely long post 💚 Appreciate you!!

@blind-the-winds reblogged your post:

#others' writing#I'll be real reading through your research and your thoughts on solarpunk vs cyberpunk was *fascinating*#and furthermore I love the idea of a solarpunk/cyberpunk mash-up#not just in terms of aesthetics but also those politics sound even more like a delight#almost like you've got somebody making godawful policies with a smile on their faces#on that note add me to the taglist? :D

Thank you so very much for reading all that and for your lovely comments!! They made my day! I'm glad you approve of the solarpunk/cyberpunk mashup. 🌿 I admit I was a little worried it would be controversial, but all good so far! I'm deeply honoured to have you join the taglist. Thanks again for your interest in my little project 💚💚💚

04.03.2024

BI-WEEKLY (ISH...) ACHIEVEMENTS:

Hello everyone! Apologies for the delay. My offline life has gotten quite hectic lately, which has made it hard to keep on schedule. Hopefully, things will smooth over soon!

Worldbuilding & Solar/Cyberpunk Considerations: As I mentioned in the last couple of updates, I've been working on a post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer's Apprentice universe, which I meant to publish last week (and the week before that, lol). I've completed the three sections that correspond to the (as of yet unnamed) second empire's territory (second because the book focuses on neo-colonialism, the successor of old-world colonialism), all of which are based on the natural world of Colombia at 2600 meters above sea level and beyond. Because the plot of The Sorcerer's Apprentice mainly transpires in a city within this region, while writing the aforementioned sections, I was also trying to figure out what a city that incorporates the novel's themes (the link between colonialism, environmental catastrophe, and capitalism) would look like within this context. Given that one of the main themes is capitalism, my first impulse was to make the primary plot location in the novel a cyberpunk-inspired city. After all, what screams capitalism gone mad more than cyberpunk? To this end, I read quite a few articles on the subject (Rethinking the End of Modernity: Empire, Hyper-Capitalism, and Cyberpunk Dystopias by Jeffrey Paris, Elements of a Poetics of Cybperunk by Brian McHale, Neoliberalism and Cyberpunk Science Fiction: Living on the Edge of Burnout by Caroline Alphin, Recycled Dystopias: Cyberpunk and the End of History by Elana Gomel, The Cyberpunk Dystopia as a Reflection on Late Capitalism by Marius Florea, and more). The problem with this idea was that when I looked around me at Bogotá, the city I live in, I just couldn't see it. Bogotá is a green city. There is green everywhere you look. Furthermore, traditional-looking cyberpunk flattens any culturally specific elements it incorporates, the same way big-chain supermarkets worldwide completely obliterate the slightest whiff of uniqueness from their premises. No matter where you are, they all look the same. As I mentioned in a previous update, one of my aims with The Sorcerer's Apprentice is to celebrate the culture of my region of the world. Cyberpunk, at least as it has been traditionally conceived, works against that objective. Again, this fits with what capitalism does irl, but I really really really don't want to write yet another NYC-inspired urban hellscape. In fact, I can't think of anything worse than having my main character admire a cyberpunk city... My search for a more suitable alternative led me to the antithesis of cyberpunk, its eco-friendly adversary, solarpunk. For information on this genre, I relied mainly on @alpaca-clouds post on the History of Solarpunk and @solarpunks's informative response, which includes several very helpful links (check out both posts here!). At first glance, solarpunk seemed to fit The Sorcerer's Apprentice much better than cyberpunk had; it allowed me to envision a city that elevated rather than obscured (or flattened) present-day Colombian culture. Basically, with solarpunk I could keep the city green, as cities in this region of the world tend to be; I could retain the push for sustainable innovations that play such a vital role in our mainstream policy; and I could keep the regional architecture, as well as site-specific building materials like guadua, a hardy local species of bamboo. Most importantly, with solarapunk I could genuinely describe the city with respect and admiration. The only remaining issue was to figure out how to incorporate the novel's themes into this genre. After all, although Solarpunk is utopic, The Sorcerer's Apprentice is not. How do I illuminate and criticize the link between capitalism, colonialism and environmental decay within a fantastical city that walks and talks like a utopia?

Cont. My solution is to create a hybrid proposal somewhere between cyberpunk and solarpunk; a city that presents like solarpunk, but that has achieved this green, sustainable self-expression without renouncing its colonial and capitalist exploitation of vulnerable peoples and environments elsewhere. Essentially, this would make the city the large-scale equivalent of one of those high-end clothing brands that have "recycled" symbols on their tags, but that have their product made in deplorable overseas sweatshops. The message of the novel would, thus, be amplified to include the idea that there can be no environmental justice without social justice. Does it work? We'll see. That's what I've got so far.

Researched the Link between Colonialism, Environmental Catastrophe and Capitalism: To educate myself on the main themes of the novel and how these can be better incorporated into the setting, I picked up Chaos in the Heavens: The Forgotten History of Climate Change by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz & Fabien Locher, and translated by Gregory Elliott. And let me tell you, I was not expecting to learn what I learned!!! This book is honestly fire. I had no idea climate science was so deeply rooted in colonialism!! Honestly, more than any other book I've read so far, Chaos in the Heavens articulates the link between the three main themes I've been trying to work with so, so clearly. Now I understand why people say we're lazy because we get too much sun. Or why all the native trees got cut down and replaced with pines. Eye-Opening!!! 100000% recommend.

REMINDERS:

Answer pending asks, and publish that promised worldbuilding post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice universe, you know the drill lol

Research Transhumanism.

Research Designs for Sustainable Cities and New Green Technologies.

TAG LIST: (ask to be + or - ) @the-finch-address @fearofahumanplanet @winterninja-fr  @avrablake @outpost51 @d3mon-ology @hippiewrites @threeking @lexiklecksi @achilleanmafia @blind-the-winds

© 2024 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. All rights reserved.

For my part, I have found that, when I wish to write a book on some subject, I must first soak myself in detail, until all the separate parts of the subject-matter are familiar; then, someday, if I am fortunate, I perceive the whole, with all its parts duly interrelated. After that, I only have to write down what I have seen. The nearest analogy is first walking all over a mountain in a mist, until every path and ridge and valley is separately familiar, and then, from a distance, seeing the mountain whole and clear in bright sunshine.

— Bertrand Russell, The History of Western Philosophy.

Thank you to the fabulous @that-cyber-writer for tagging me in this Writing Questions Tag Game! D.M. Foyle, as @that-cyber-writer is also known, is working on a nail-biting crime thriller entitled Tangled Wires starring Raz, a brilliant hacker on the run from the Russian mob. Interested? Go check out Tangled Wires and all of Foyle's projects here! I'm tagging (no pressure!): @inkovert @outpost51 @aquadestinyswriting @merlina87 @sarah-sandwich @lucianinsanity @winterandwords @threeking @avrablake @the-finch-address @thawinoakenshield @the-down-upside-finch @lunarmoment @sodaliteskull @kingkendrick7 @harps-for-days @cee-grice @tate-lin @rubywrite @poppy-in-the-woods @hippiewrites @the-down-upside-finch @lexiklecksi @linaket and anyone else who'd like to participate!

✦ What is your absolute all-time favourite idea you’ve ever had?

The one that inspired the novel I'm writing right now, The Sorcerer's Apprentice! Initially, I just wanted to explore the relationship between two individuals at completely polar opposite moments in life: one, an elderly character, preparing to die and looking back; and the other, a youthful character, just beginning to come into their own, in early adulthood, still figuring out who they are and what they believe in, facing forward. It would be a lie to say that the novel isn't still very much built around this dynamic, between the elderly sorcerer Valeriano and his young apprentice, Altaluna. But it's grown from the original idea to incorporate issues and topics I hadn't expected; climate change, environmental disaster, colonialism and neocolonialism, the body as a machine, contemporary theories of perception, abusive family dynamics, and more. These topics and their associated plot/world ideas are likewise what makes The Sorcerer's Apprentice my favourite written piece to date. It's like the more I dig, the more I enjoy what I'm doing. If the first idea was compelling but lukewarm, the accumulation of ideas that has ensued as I attempt to do the initial idea justice has taken it to the next level.

✦ Is there a question you’ve been asked that really stands out to you and that you still think about sometimes?

Not that I can think of off the top of my head! Sorry :S I wish I did.

✦ What is your favourite part of being a writer? What parts could you take or leave?

The trouble is, you can't have any of it without all of it, so this is a bit of a trick question, to which I don't really have a clear answer. I love it all. I hate it all. I struggle every step of the way. And I have the time of my life, always.

✦ What is your greatest motivation to write/create?

It's changed over the years! As a child, I just liked exercising my imagination. In my teens and early twenties, I wrote to escape or to envision the life I wanted, the person I wanted to be, and how I wanted to be perceived by others. Now, my greatest motivation is rage. I am one very pissed-off adult lol I suppose the difference is also that now I actually have something to say, something I feel is worth saying. And I feel that very strongly, which helps me get over the bad days at the desk where no words are coming or where I doubt my capacity to write at all. Because it doesn't matter. This -the message of my novel- has value to me. It's more important than my small personal feelings of insecurity or ups and downs. So I'll find a way. That's my motivation. It's not really that I want to write, it's that I have to. It's that I can't live in a world where this isn't said ~ and where it isn't said the way I'd like to say it.

✦ What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever read or been given as a writer?

The best advice I ever received was from a world-renowned author in his 90s who told me that it (writing) never gets any easier, so basically, your choices are either quit or keep going with the knowledge that it's never going to magically turn into a picnic, no matter how much experience/talent you have. I also got some lovely advice a couple years ago from (I think?) Anne Lamott in her writer's memoir Bird By Bird. In one of the chapters, she mentions that if you lack inspiration, you can always write to get your own back, aka. you can always write as a way to avenge yourself. And that just flipped a switch in my brain. I don't think I'd be writing The Sorcerer's Apprentice without that little seed she planted.

✦ What do you wish you knew when you were first starting out writing?

Nobody knows what they're doing. You'll never be more prepared than you are right this minute. But also, you have to live a little before you can know what you want to say ~ the same way you have to live a little to figure out who you are. Writing is organic. It grows with you. You have to let yourself grow, so the writing can follow.

✦ What is your favourite story you’ve written to completion? Link it if you’d like and can!

I don't have a favourite completed story to share, so I'm sharing a link to my current WIP, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a fantasy novel exploring the interplay between colonialism, capitalism, and environmental catastrophe through the fraught relationship between a mysterious sorcerer and his protogé.

✦ Which of your characters would you say has the most controversial mindset? Why do you say so, and how do you personally feel about their ideals?

Valeriano, the antagonist of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, is the only character I've ever written whose views are absolutely despicable in almost every way. I'd be very concerned if my readers don't find his mindset controversial. The man is sexist, racist, and classist; he discriminates against any LGBTQ+ classification that isn't his own (biphobia, anti-lesbian, etc.), he's morally perverse, and he bristles with a sense of in-born superiority. In short, he represents the polar opposite of my own personal views and ideals.

✦ If you, when you first started writing, met you now, what would younger you think?

A younger me would definitely not recognise me, let alone understand why I'm writing what I'm writing. And that's how it should be! I'm glad little me enjoyed a time when all that mattered were unicorns and fairies, and the world was bright, open, and good. I wouldn't take that away from little me for all the world, not for anything. Plus, I have the lingering feeling that little me would be proud of me anyway. Even if she doesn't quite get it. She'd trust me and my choices. We'd be different, but we'd be cool, you know?

© 2024 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. All rights reserved.

Hi @sharkblizzardblogs! Thanks so much for tagging me. Fox is a writer in their 20s who writes fantasy loosely inspired by European and Scandinavian folklore. Check out her Writeblr and WIP Nowhere to Nowhere here! Rules: Post three pictures or images you feel relate to a character. They can be face claims, famous artworks, photos, or anything you think fits the Vibe™. ✦ Tagging (no pressure): @aquadestinyswriting @that-cyber-writer @inkovert @hippiewrites @sender-paulson, @kingkendrick7, @tate-lin @words-after-midnight @songsofsomnia @iced-ginger-tea @autumnalwalker @wildswrites @outpost51 @cee-grice @avrablake @blind-the-winds @lucianinsanity and anyone who wants to participate!

The above images are associated with the one and only ✦ Altaluna ✦, enchantress extraordinaire and protagonist of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a fantasy novel exploring the interplay between colonialism, capitalism, and environmental catastrophe through the fraught relationship between a mysterious sorcerer and his protogé.

EDIT: Switched out the images because I found better ones!

© 2024 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. All rights reserved.

Hi there friend, sorry it’s been a while, life has been busy. A question about AUs, since this is something I’m currently exploring:

If you were to create an Alternate Universe of your setting, what kind of setting would it be? What changes would you make for you characters to fit?

Hi Aqua (@aquadestinyswriting), thank you for this thought-provoking ask! And no worries <3 Life is life, and it gets us all! I'm always psyched to see you on my blog. To the moots, if you aren't familiar with the fantastic Aqua yet and/or you love the Titan Fighting Fantasy universe, go check out her Writeblr Masterpost for a complete overview of all her projects!

This is the question of the moment for The Sorcerer's Apprentice as I'm currently redesigning the universe. You couldn't have hit the nail more squarely on the head!! Previously, the story had been set in (1) a heavily UK-inspired high-fantasy macrocosm (á la Game of Thrones) and (2) a modern-day psychological horror version of a NYC Fifth Avenue apartment (á la Rosemary's Baby). In these previous universes, Valeriano and Altaluna were, respectively, a King and his heir, and an elderly socialite and his heir. However, since both these settings and their associated character roles eventually chafed against what I was looking to achieve with the story (aka. an exploration of the link between capitalism, colonialism, racism, and environmental disaster), I decided that this time I'd abandon all familiar formulas and rebuild the world from the ground up to highlight the broader social tensions that underlie Valeriano and Altaluna's relationship and, on a meta-narrative level, ensure that the aesthetics of the novel do not in any way reinforce or glorify the issues I'm attempting to criticize.

One of the biggest changes I've made in service of this goal is that I've taken the story completely out of the northern hemisphere. The geography, fauna & flora, religion and culture of the newly minted universe are all based on Colombia and Latin America more generally. In this way, I'm hoping that the novel itself will push back against the idea that our culture and environment are appealing, but only as the setting of a romantic weekend getaway or as the backdrop to a drug and/or human trafficking drama. I want to show that fantasy is possible here, too. That we can dream in our own terms. Furthermore, I want to undermine this general feeling that we (Colombians & Latin Americans more generally) have nothing to be proud of when compared to the US or countries in Europe. By highlighting and praising our architecture, food, natural diversity, and customs my aim is to chip away at that self-deprecating streak and all its associated myths (that we're poor because we're stupid, and lazy because we get too much sun) as much as I can. I would be really happy if my novel could help people see themselves and the world they live in, in a new more positive light...

Of course, this change in the setting/universe means changes for Valeriano and Altaluna as well. It would be tone-deaf to keep Valeriano as a King in a novel that is inspired by a region so heavily marked by the fight for independence from a monarchical society. For this reason, I'm leaning toward keeping the 'socialite' role he played in the Rosemary's Baby edition of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, with a few modifications. I'm actually thinking of using him to show how art can work to perpetuate colonial power (but more on that later! I still need to hash out some details). Similarly, Altaluna will be conserving her 'heir' role from the Rosemary's Baby edition, but with some of the more large-scale social movement/impact she had in the Game of Thrones rendition. If I can successfully adapt both Altaluna and Valeriano to this new universe, then their conflict should expand beyond a family drama into a commentary on the horrors colonialism enacts both on the oppressor and the oppressed (thank you, Discourse on Colonialism by Aime Cesaire for opening my eyes). If I'm really lucky, then maybe I'll be able to test possible solutions, like Babel by R.F. Kuang does (the solution there is violence, which is very Fanon adjacent).

Anyway, who knows. We'll see how it goes!

10.02.2024

BI-WEEKLY (ISH?) ACHIEVEMENTS:

Worldbuilding: Worked on a post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer's Apprentice universe which I meant to publish last week, but was unable to finish due to life circumstances (my favourite aunt went to intensive care, and I caught a nasty stomach bug while visiting her). At any rate, it's almost done, so it should go up sometime next week.

Continued Researching Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Coloniality as a Concept and Decolonial Practices: I've been reading Edward W. Said's Culture and Imperialism for the last few weeks and I'm making slow but steady progress. My plan is to pick up Said's Orientalism next, which I've heard is also a go-to text on colonialism. In addition, I also read A Decolonial Feminism by Francoise Verges, which I found quite eye-opening and will be incorporating into Altaluna's storyline (namely, I'll be showcasing how some forms of feminism are used to further colonial aims through interactions between Altaluna and her supposedly 'transgressive' peers); The Good Die Young: The Verdict on Henry Kissinger, a compilation of essays on how Kissinger (who I met in his declining years) used and abused human rights discourse to further US economic control (capitalism with US supremacy incorporated) over so-called 'third-world' regions, and how this is the standard practice for US foreign policy to this day (I'm borrowing this two-pronged approach for interactions between the Empire and it's subordinate 'independent' states); and Toussaint L'Ouverture: The Haitian Revolution, a compilation of Toussaint's (and a couple others, including Napoleon's) correspondence during Toussaint's fight for independence. The book features an outstanding introduction by Jean-Bertrand Aristide and offers a stark contrast to Kissinger's views on Human Rights; in Toussaint's letters and speeches, these rights come with no strings attached and are pursued on principle, out of the genuine belief that they are inalienable to all (at one point the British offered to 'make him' King of Haiti and he refused, which I have to admit, I was pretty impressed by). I also did quite a lot of follow-up reading on Haiti, as an example of the colonialism-to-neocolonialism pipeline. Given that The Sorcerer's Apprentice is set in a neo-colonial world, reading up on Haiti's history helps me better portray the continuity between these two systems and indirectly criticize the idea that today both my readers and I live in a post-colonial world. BTW, if you're unfamiliar with the horrors visited upon the Haitian people (did you know that up until 2015, when France 'forgave' them their debt, the government of Haiti had been paying the French compensation for their loss of slave labour?), check out this article. Likewise, if you're unfamiliar with the difference between colonialism and neo-colonialism (as I was for 99.9% of my life lol), take a look at the iconographic below.

Researched Fiction Genres in 'Post-colonial' Literature: The various iterations of The Sorcerer's Apprentice I've written so far have experimented with two main genres, fantasy and horror. The first iterations were straight-up typical high fantasies with Kings and Queens and dragons in a UK-style setting; the second were more realistic but much more eerie psychological horror stories set in modern-day New York City (if you scroll back far enough on this blog, you'll find evidence of both). Although I like some elements/scenes from both genre adaptations of The Sorcerer's Apprentice and, indeed, although I intend to incorporate some of these in the current draft, ultimately I abandoned the aforementioned versions because, at their core, they failed. Why? Because, while they nailed the interpersonal struggle between Valeriano and Altaluna, they did so without addressing the reason that struggle even exists in the first place. Namely, they failed to go beyond the personal relationship, to its systemic causes. The truth is that a person like Valeriano doesn't exist in a vacuum. He's a product and embodiment of a world with certain values. Yes, Altaluna may have defeated him in a high-fantasy royal skirmish for power or its modern-day equivalent inheritance drama, but engaging (even embracing) the system that produced him (royalty, birthright, etc.), undermines her victory. What was she in these earlier versions of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, but another shade of Valeriano? What did she represent, in her victory if not the desire to be the oppressor? The deep self-depreciation of the oppressed? Even the aesthetics of these earlier versions glorified Valeriano's world, with little mention of Altaluna's. This was my fault. I did not understand that these things were in me. I am beginning to. In any case, I don't intend to make the same mistake twice, so I'm doing a little research into how different literary genres have been used to tell stories about colonialism/neocolonialism/post-colonialism. I read a pretty good article from Globalization, Utopia, and Postcolonial Science Fiction: New Maps of Hope by E. Smith entitled "Third-World Punks, or, Watch out for the Worlds Behind You," and I'm trying to look into Afrofuturism and Latinfuturism.

REMINDERS:

Answer pending asks. Yes, I am bad. I admit it, I am very bad. (why am I so bad *sobs*)

Publish that promised worldbuilding post on the geography, flora & fauna of The Sorcerer's Apprentice universe.

Survive this stomach bug.

TAG LIST: (ask to be + or - ) @the-finch-address @fearofahumanplanet @winterninja-fr  @avrablake @outpost51 @d3mon-ology @hippiewrites @threeking @lexiklecksi @achilleanmafia

© 2024 The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. All rights reserved.

The basic rule you gave us [for writing] was simple and heartbreaking. A story to be effective had to convey something from writer to reader and the power of its offering was the measure of its excellence. Outside of that, you said, there were no rules.

— John Steinbeck, in a letter congratulating his former creative writing professor at Stanford, Edith Mirrielees, for the paperback publication of her book, Story Writing.

22.01.2024

BI-WEEKLY ACHIEVEMENTS:

Worldbuilding: For the past two weeks, I've been grappling with an issue in my worldbuilding that has been paralyzing all progress on the novel. To put it briefly, while I want the novel to address neo-colonialism, I don't want to locate the story in a region that resembles the location of neo-colonial powers in our real world, aka. the global north. This for two reasons: first, because I want to use the novel to highlight and celebrate the flora and fauna of my own home region, Colombia; and second, because I want to get away from the idea that the default setting for epic fantasy is a UK-inspired region á la Game of Thrones. However, setting a neo-colonial superpower in a region that closely resembles one that has suffered immensely from colonialism and neo-colonialism in our own world comes with its own issues. After all, isn't it a form of literary colonialism to elevate the region's aesthetics but obliterate the culture? But, then, what's the alternative? For a long time, I assumed I only had three options: either solve the issue by setting the entire story in regions that resemble the standard fantasy default and bypass the problem entirely, abandon the colonialism theme, or keep the global north/global south aesthetic divide we experience in real life, thus maintaining the global north inspired region as the superpower and the global south inspired region as the oppressed. All three options are, in my very humble opinion, a disappointment and fail to do justice to the story. That said, I think I may have discovered a possible fourth option that allows me to keep the superpower region resembling Colombia. Namely, I'm thinking that instead of basing the distinction in climate/geography on the different hemispheres (and sticking too close to our world), I can base them instead on the different altitudes of Colombia. There is a historical precedent for having the 2500-meter-above-sea-level mark be the colonial centre of operations, which would allow me to keep the Cloud Forest biome as the main setting and somewhat side-step the unfairness of it all (I hope?). It's also possible to create a racial distinction between the inhabitants of the different altitudes if, let's say, the 2500-meter altitude region has been conquered, the native people eradicated and replaced by the new arrivals. This would make them physically distinct from the inhabitants of the rest of the regions (á la US; for the below regions, maybe the colonizers took a more "Spanish Empire" route and mixed). Furthermore, if this same region then gains independence and establishes itself as a new superpower, oppressing the regions below, we also have neo-colonialism (also á la US). Maybe that can work?

Decided on Altaluna's Appearance: I couldn't really settle this until I'd settled on the updated worldbuilding (namely, decided the geography, the races, ethnicities, etc.). Since race plays a hand in galvanizing hostilities against Altaluna in the second and third acts, I needed to be certain that her appearance would satisfy the criteria of 'mestiza' within this universe.

Researched Colonialism: I read two books on the subject, Edward W. Said's Representations of the Intellectual and Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire. I also picked up a third book, You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, a reimagining of the meeting between the conquistador Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma in the city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) where the tables are turned. My aim with Enrigue's book is to learn from what other people are doing with colonization in fiction today, especially as it pertains to South and Central America. I'm always up for recommendations if anyone has any!

Updated Writeblr Graphics: I was supposed to have this done by January 1st but I really didn't like the theme I'd come up with, so I remade everything to the tune of the new(ish) setting. Hope you like it!

REMINDERS

Answer pending asks. I am, as always, behind. My apologies to everyone who hasn't received a reply yet. I promise I'm working on it.

Publish Altaluna's profile... please? (I'm begging you, finish and publish it!)

Complete a full summary of at least one aspect of the reviewed worldbuilding (could be geography, history, whatever). Ideally, two.

In memory of my dear friend, Nicolás, who died two years ago last week. I miss you.

TAG LIST: (ask to be + or - ) @the-finch-address @fearofahumanplanet @winterninja-fr  @avrablake @outpost51 @d3mon-ology @hippiewrites @threeking @lexiklecksi @achilleanmafia

Thank you, Maddie (@veneritia), for tagging me! Maddie is currently working on a high fantasy novel packed with court intrigue titled When Comes The Dawn! Go check it out! You can also find her (honestly, ultra aesthetic) response to this tag game here. Rules: Pick an OC and post a song you relate to them, an image that represents them in some way (aesthetic, picrew, art, etc), and a quote of dialogue or narration from them. Totally feel free to expand and explain! ✦ Tagging anyone who wants to play!

I picked (drum roll!) ✦ Altaluna ✦, the protagonist of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a fantasy novel that explores the interplay between colonialism, capitalism, and environmental catastrophe through the fraught relationship between a mysterious sorcerer and his protogé (the aforementioned star of the show).

✦ S O N G ✦

Particularly for the following lyrics:

I am what I am and I'm good at it And you don't like me well that isn't fucking relevant [...] I have power, there are people who depend on me And even you have time you wish to spend on me And now you all think I'm unhinged But wind it up and this honeybee stings Did you think I was a puppet on strings? Wind her up and this honeybee sings

✦ I M A G E ✦

If Valeriano is thunder, Altaluna is lightning - agile, swift, distinct but equal.

✦ Q U O T E ✦

"Later, when he asked me, I told him I didn’t want to go backwards or forwards, only sideways, that impossible direction into another life."

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