Don't You Sometimes Get An Absolutely Extrodinary, Mind Blowing, Such An Awesome Idea For A Story, But

Writers' Resolutions

A bunch of resolutions for writers and people who want to try writing this year. It's in no way something you must do, these are just ideas how you can set out to improve your writing in the new year.

Try something new

Try to write something you have never written before.

Write something silly, write something serious, write in a different genre, try to write characters that you haven't explored yet.

Write consistently

Writing consistently will not only give you exercise to become a better writer, it can also keep your voice as a writer consistent.

If you have a first draft, write it down quickly and without big breaks inbetween.

Don't wait for inspiration

Waiting for inspiration to come can take forever. So don't wait for inspiration: search for it.

Make writing into a habit that comes natural to you every day, look up writing prompts, read a book you like, get yourself into the mood to write and do it!

Do your research

As a writer, you need to know about a lot of different things.

You can do research by reading books, listening to podcasts, watching movies, talking to other people, etc.

Take this year to learn something new and then tell your reader all about it.

Edit that draft

We all have that one story we wrote a while ago and then stopped at the first draft.

Take it and reread it and then rewrite it. You have a new perspective on it now and maybe this will be the year you turn your idea into a book.

Set yourself a goal

This explicitly doesn't have to be a goal about how many words or pages you write.

Your goal can be to finish something, to edit something, to write a few sentences every day, to share more of your writing or to publish something.

Don't compare

Try not to compare your writing with that of someone else.

Writing is about finding your own voice and telling a story that only you can tell. Also: other people's accomplishes don't diminish your own!

Write!

Whatever the outcome of your writing may be and whatever you want to do with it, if you want to publish it, if you want to share it with friends, or if you want to keep it to yourself: just start writing!

Do what you love to do.

To all my lovely writers, I wish you a great year, may everything work out in your favour!

- Jana

Can we stop with the whole “AI is plagiarism” narrative? AI is not doing anything different from any human that gets inspired by other art. If sampling is inherently theft then so is the vast majority of modern music. If copying other works’ style and techniques is plagiarism then every renaissance artist was stealing from Michelangelo. Art is, as a medium, taking inspiration from other sources, be that the world, other people, or other art, and combining those inspirations into something unique. And AI works are unique by literally any standard you decide to use.

There are plenty of actually good reasons to hate AI. Can we please stop parroting the stupidest and most easily dismissible one, all we’re doing is making it easier for them to defend themselves.

You may do whatever you want but I will not stop calling logicials that scraps works of people on the Internet for parts only to blindly regurgitate stuff of subpar quality "plagiarism programs" or any variant.

Sorry for not being able to abide by your request.

I would also suggest you to look up the difference between inspiration and plagiarism. There is a reason why we're not using the same word for both.

With all due respect,

Me

ME TOO

I WANT TO EAT THIS ENTIRE GAME OMNOMNOM/POS

AJSDFKLA I love the energy in both of these asks thank you so much for the kind words and apologies for your (semi)friendly neighborhood friends-to-lovers chaos gremlin😔

New Sketch-a-Wish for October’s Patreon vote! Featuring Xingyin and the Venerable Four Dragons from Daughter Of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan!

This request ironically was an amalgamation of the two previous DOTMG fanarts I’ve done, so I decided to take it down a different route for styling (a mix of my illustration and papercraft design). I had a super fun time creating this piece, very chaotic and clean!

And perfect timing, since the sequel Heart of the Sun Warrior comes out next week!! I was able to get a beautiful arc of this several weeks back, but my eyes and hands have been abysmally scrapped for free time to make any progress in a small pile of arcs I’ve received this year. 😭 I’m pretty much waiting for the audiobook at this point, my ears are ready!! Only a few more days! I’m so excited to revisit this world!

People in badly written fantasy stories will usually talk about the major historical events of their world and how magic has affected the lives of everyone, but ask a person in the real world to describe the effects of WWI and the invention of the combustion engine on modern life and they’d probably couldn’t tell you.

illustrated this comic for insider, recounting abdul-azeez sulaiman's journey from being tricked into doing construction at the world cup to becoming an advocate for worker's rights. you can read the full thing here

found out that there’s a book centered around a daughter of Chang’e, and i wanted to play around with designs a bit

Misplaced

Misplaced is a fantasy romance interactive fiction WIP, wherein your choices not only determine your own fate, but that of an entire kingdom. Let me take you an adventure filled with both whimsy and tragedy alike.

The current demo goes up to the end of Chapter 3, available here: https://calliopefiction.itch.io/misplaced

The Story:

For decades, the human kingdom of Gaiapeia has been fighting against the fae living in the surrounding lands. How this conflict started depends entirely on who you ask.

You are the child of Lady and Sir Grahm, a noble familiy who has been serving the crown for generations. Eager to follow in your father's footsteps, you have been training for years to become a knight worthy of being Prince Az'Lean's Champion - his right hand, his closest confidant, the one who protects his life from the growing danger of the fae.

When the time finally comes and you are chosen for the position, it's a dream come true. You couldn't be happier. But just one day later, on your 21st birthday, a terrible truth is revealed to you.

You are a changeling - a fae child that was smuggled into a human family with only one purpose: to gain the prince's trust and use it against him.

A war between humans and fae is surely brewing and the outcome depends entirely on you.

Features:

Customize the appearance of your MC, play as non-binary, female, or male and romance whoever you like however you like, including the choice for asexual or queer-platonic relationships.

Enjoy the story without having to worry about stats - you will be a competent knight no matter what. There is no failure or success, only different choices and their outcomes.

Shape your personality, and your trustworthiness, with your actions. Other characters' disposition to you will change depending on how they perceive you.

Pick a side early on, play the long con, or refuse to make a choice at all. There are multiple split paths that will feature the same romancable characters - but their relationship to you might vary greatly (including villain romances).

Romance:

Vynn (nb):

Vynn is one of your fellow knights and a long-time friend. Unlike you they aren't a knight by choice and don't care much for fighting. You get the feeling they'd much rather be a bard if they could, seeing as they love playing the lute, spinning epic tales and generally being a source of levity. They are fiercely loyal and good-natured, though there is that bit of resentment that will never quite leave their heart.

Prince Az'Lean (m):

Az'Lean is your prince, the one you are sworn to protect. On first glance, he is the very picture of a fairytale prince: charming, chivalrous, and powerful. He is an excellent fighter, loves animals, and prefers to be treated like an equal. Anyone who cares to look will soon notice the darkness lurking beneath that shining exterior, festering ever since the death of his mother.

Lady Meave (f):

Maeve is a powerful dryad who was sent to educate you on the ways of the fae. She is usually playful and soft, though her patience tends to run short. As much as she cares about decorum and courtly things, she finds joy in the simplest things and easily turns into a giggly mess. For all her humour, you can never quite tell if she is being serious. Sometimes it feels like she's just playing with you.

Thianne (f):

Thianne is a sorceress and one of Az'Lean's most trusted advisors. She is intelligent and hard-working, though sometimes at the expense of her own well-being. Although she comes across as abrasive and rude, she is always willing to help those who need it. Her dry sense of humour and brutal honesty have endeared her to just as many people as they have made her enemies.

Lester (m):

Lester is a half-fae servant, working in the castle. As with most half-fae, his presence isn't entirely welcome and his reasons for being here seem complexer than he lets on. Lester is known for his mischief and his crude humour, often pulling pranks that border on malicious. Despite the way he presents himself as laid-back and uncaring, it's clear that there's a lot he isn't opeing up about.

Warnings:

This story contains potentially triggering content. There will be graphic depictions of violence, death, discrimination, body-image issues and mental illness (including panic attacks, suicidal thoughts and paranoia). Discretion is advised.

Support:

Thank you so much for showing any interest in this project at all! If you would like to receive biweekly update posts, participate in polls, and get access to bonus short stories, consider supporting me on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CalliopeFiction

Hello! I hope this is alright to ask but I remember one post saying Harley has body dysmorphia, I was wondering if it was any particular part of her body she felt uncomfortable with and, this is somewhat of a lore question, can magic be used to subtly alter a persons body, like shapeshifting magic and what not, either casted by the individual or a trained professional mage?

Very excited for this If and hope your day has been going well!

first of all hii & that's totally fine to ask :) and i've been doing great + hope you are too <3

Here's the short answers and under them a longer, lore-ish answer that's about things that will probably never be brought up in this interactive fiction but that are relevant in the broader 'Magici Universe'.

Harley usually just feels insecure about her body in general, some days it's more intense, some days it's barely there; but the parts of her body she continuously feels the worst about are her shoulders and traps.

Harley used to be diagnosed with body dysmorphia (BDD) but she's at a point now where she doesn't meet the criteria anymore; she still experiences insecurity and body image issues, though not at a 'clinically concerning' level, according to her psychiatrist.

You could alter your physical appearance with illusionary (Dark) magic, however it's only that: an illusion, and not actual shapeshifting. Say you have short hair and cast an illusion spell for your hair to be longer; if someone touched your hair they'd realise it's only an illusion and that your hair is short. Other mages with a strong Dark affinity wouldn't even need to touch your hair to know it's an illusion. That's the furthest a human on Earth can go, shapeshifting wise.

Harley has her best friend cast an illusion on her on especially bad days, which helps a lot but isn't a long-term solution. :(

People that can't cast illusions or can't have a mage cast one on them could buy an illusionary tincture brewed by a proper mage. They'd need to take it every week or even every morning, depending on how potent it is.

However illusionary potions are expensive and heavily regulated by specialised organisations because of how dangerous they can be (think wanted criminals changing their appearance, organisations spreading terror via large scale illusions, etc). They could be prescribed though, but it's very rare unfortunately.

(longer answer here)

So it's not possible for humans on Earth to literally shapeshift. However, there are several realms, and Earth is the weakest out of the known ones, magic-wise. That means that if magical creatures that don't belong to Earth tried to get here, their magic would be nerfed by a lot.

On other realms with higher magic 'density' there live creatures with three, four, and more affinities. So take Air, Dark, and Void and you got yourself a shapeshifter. Humans are much more flexible in that way 'cause they're not restricted to specific affinity combos, while for example shapeshifters or phoenixes are. So humans native to these other realms are by default much stronger than the ones on Earth.

There's ways to reach these realms and people from Earth have done it before; but only those with specific affinity combinations can even attempt to. A mage that reaches a realm with higher magic density can have another Awakening where they unlock one or two more affinities, though they're limited to that realm. So humans native to these other realms are by default much stronger than the ones on Earth.

It's said that some people have been able to capture shapeshifters and make shapeshifting mixtures out of them, and believe me when I say that governments have been going crazy trying to stop the elite from acquiring them (and to steal them for themselves) if it's true.

tysm for giving me the opportunity to talk abt this lmao

And since people were doin Soul Jam Light designs I figured I'd do some for Common Beasts.

Duty, Reason, Civility, Productivity and Unity

Idk about everybody else, when I think ANCIENT EMBODYMENT OF AN IDEA my brain does go to Animals and stuff like that. I also attempted to do an alliteration thing (as seen with the Duty Dragon and the Reason Ram) but gave up.