I've been writing every day for the past month. It may not seem consecutive if you look at the dates on this blog but that's because I've written on my other blogs and sometimes I've worked on something here for a couple of days. This is the longest streak of writing that I've ever done where it didn't feel like a chore I was rushing through to get to a final result.
If depression is a terminal illness, I think it's about to get me. But I've had one dream since I was in kindergarten -- to be a writer. So, that's over forty years of hoping that I'll finally start being a writer tomorrow. Needing to be successful at it so that I can quit the job I hate and have people I'll never meet think I'm awesome.
I made an attempt last August, and I've regretted my failure every day since. And I'm not being vague because of some worry about the algorithm. I just don't have any desire to trigger any sad person who wanders through the internet and trips over this post. I plan to try again, probably as soon as the next episode takes over, but right now I'm tired and discouraged, and the worst part is that today (or yesterday, since it's 1AM) was the second day that I haven't written anything since I started writing every day.
Why is that the worst part? I think, because writing every day, even a character profile or a story idea, has helped me get into that mindset -- you know the one. The zen one. The dopamine hit that comes from winning a game of Solitaire. It's a dumb thing that didn't matter, didn't make me any money, and it wasn't impressive because no one knew I did it -- or would be impressed if they knew that I did it. But I was impressed. Because I felt like a Writer.
The thought behind writing every day is not to save me from the next job that I'd rather die than do, but that if I'd gotten into the habit of writing something small every day forty years ago or twenty years ago or two years ago, I'd have something by now. I wouldn't die without having accomplished the only selfish goal I've ever had.
But, much as it sounds like it, this isn't a pity post, to lament my stumble. I'm going to list all of the story ideas that I can think of that I've already come up with in my life. Some I've written about already on the blog, some I haven't. Some, I might come up with as I'm writing. But I'm going to record as many of them as I can until I get tired. Because I need that Solitaire win before I lay my head down so that my dog can wake me up too early to take her on a walk I don't want to go on but will probably only partially regret.
Here we go:
Ice, Queen of Summer -- Rifted Era -- Ice is royalty from Winter, the planet that ended up furthest from the sun during The Rift (see Worldbuilding page for more). Winter and Summer have had centuries? millennia? of bitter war, but the only chance at bringing the Earth back into one planet relies on an alliance. So, the princess of Winter marries the king of Summer. On their wedding day, they save each other from a terrorist attack aimed at keeping them apart. They fall in love and help bring the four mini planets back into one Earth. Her name is Ice. I forget his name.
Other notable figures from other stories. Aura (of A Thousand Auras, Britney the Dwarf Queen, and Beware the False Moon), of course. Also, The King and Nakia from Beverlee Hills Mummy and Lush from A Thousand Auras and Subs and Normies and if Darcy gets her own book, from that one too.
A Thousand Auras -- Pre-Rift, maybe partially Rifted Era? -- Aura was born to a mermaid mother but due to a genetic anomaly, she was born without gills or a tail. So, her birth mother takes her to the beach and hands her to the first stranger she can wave down. This ends up being Britney (of Britney the Dwarf Queen).
Aura has the ability to travel to different worlds. Basically, she can think of a place she'd like to visit, like a planet made entirely of candy or a universe where unicorns and pegasi are real and clouds are like trampolines that you can bounce around on. This story takes place, I think when she's sixteen, but I might start younger, like thirteen. Anyway, it occurs to her to wonder what the Auras in alternate universes are like, and that's her main adventure for this book.
Britney the Dwarf Queen -- Pre-Rift Era -- Britney is a teenager who has run away from Connecticut to California in order to make her way in the world as the first famous fashion designer for little people (Edna Mode does not count. She is short, she doesn't design exclusively for little people). This puts a halt on Britney's ambitions, and she takes the baby, Aura, back to Connecticut to raise.
Turns out, the baby is magic. Aura takes Britney to a world where Dora the Explorer is real, and Britney quickly realizes that stories are Aura's trigger. Since Aura is a baby, Britney has to keep the baby from anything that might trigger her sense of wonder. And we follow Britney as she navigates the raising of a very special baby, her love life, and her dreams.
This might be a story that takes a few books to write. That, or I'll be speeding through the early years. The story that the title comes from is one day, Aura is exposed to the idea of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. She's intrigued by the idea of little people working together in a mine and living together and being musical and she takes her mother to that world. Britney ends up becoming queen there, for a time.
Beverlee Hills Mummy -- Pre-Rift Era -- Nakia, a retainer sacrifice from ancient Egypt was ripped from the Afterlife, waking up in her old body. The King had returned to the living, and that meant she had, too. It's her mission to track him down and rescue him from whatever trouble he's gotten himself into so that they can return to the Afterlife. Her search for him takes her millennia, and brings her to modern day Beverlee Hills, where her bandages aren't really questioned. She fits in with the locals, let's say. Her story revolves around what it means to be human and learning how to trust when betrayal is pretty much inevitable. When she finds The King, that's not the end of her journey. He refuses to return to the Afterlife. He likes the Life too much. He suggests that she make the best of it. And she does. But she doesn't forgive him for a long, long time.
Both Nakia and The King are huge players in bringing the world back together after The Rift and they are minor, but notable characters in Beware the False Moon.
Beware the False Moon -- Mended Era -- Jane is a prophecy baby. She was born at the right time and place to fit a prophecy that says she's going to save the world from an evil king. She grows up on a small farm just outside a village that celebrates her, her whole life, for saving the world, even though she hasn't done it yet. There's even a statue of her in the center of town, and as she grows up, Jane expects to resemble that statue, any day now.
When the time comes to set out on her prophesied quest, a long-lost half-brother comes to town and claims that the prophecy is about him, not her. She is relieved because that sense of heroism has never kicked in, and according to the moon, it's time. But, the prophecy isn't called The False Moon Prophecy for no reason, and it turns out Jane IS the hero.
She sets out on her quest with a team of villagers and friends. Her best friend is a shape-shifting unicorn named Bear (who is really Aura with amnesia that happened when she helped mend The Rift). As the quest goes on and Jane completes all of the tasks the prophecy foretold, she starts to feel like a hero, and maybe it goes to her head a bit.
But, she was right the whole time. The prophecy was written by The King (of Beverlee Hills Mummy), kind of as a joke. Like, when everything in the prophecy that he made up actually happened, it'd be time for him to return to the Afterlife. It's actually Nakia (the MC of Beverlee Hills Mummy) who figures it out. She doesn't break it to Jane particularly gently, but Jane, a bit high on her own supply, doesn't believe Nakia and continues on.
The big reveal that The King isn't evil (just kind of an asshole) and that the prophecy was a work of imagination BUT that The King IS ready to return to the Afterlife, and he wants Jane to dismantle him -- well, this is a bit of a shock to Jane. She finds that she can't do it, and Bear has to do it. As the story has gone on, Bear has been regaining his memory as Aura, although remembering it as stories. Seeing The King again makes her realize that she's Aura. She helps The King return to the Afterlife and then she goes into a complete identity crisis and just kind of poofs into nothing, herself.
The sequel, which I haven't named yet, is an exploration of Jane's identity crisis, grief over missing Bear, and getting to know her half-brother. I think her agoraphobic mother joins her halfway through. When Aura comes back, she joins Jane's quest group as a stranger. She's a little hurt that Jane never mentions Bear. Also, that Jane doesn't seem to like Aura. I think at some point, Aura tells her story, the same way that Bear used to tell stories, and Jane figures out that Aura is Bear and they both cry and hug and Aura says she's not Bear but that she is, and she ends up with the name Beaura, which is fucking adorable.
Okay, that was only five stories, but it's late/early so I'm going to bed. I DID get that Solitaire feeling, so I'm going to bed in a better mood. If I'm not feeling creative again tomorrow, I'll just come and list more stories.
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