First, as usual, I want to link to the source of the prompt for this story, and yes, it’s from the same one I’ve been using: Writing-Prompt-S from tumblr.

Secondly, for this one I did the same thing I mentioned a few days ago. I wanted to leave the world building be the “scar on the wall.” I threw in some details here and there, hoping that it would create enough world building without hampering the characters.

My real challenge was in writing some description. One of the things that I hate about some authors is just how much they love to spend time describing female characters as if they were some weird art to be appreciated. I guess you can call that the man-gaze or whatever. Personally, I call it bad POV writing. So instead, I just focused on trying to have a close third person with Minerva, and just have her talk about things as she would.

On to the fun facts. For some reason, I kept writing Victoria instead of Minerva. I have no clue why. To make it even stranger, Minerva is actually a character I have on another story, so you could argue this is in canon with something completely different (a novel project that I’m still developing). She was one of the “Rosencraft” twins, and they are supposed to be this pair who find a book of ancient magic that turns the concept of magic on its head in that other story. The whole idea is that they entail more of a “Lovecraftian” style of supernatural rather than the more fantasy setting I have in that story.

So I should have an idea of that character, and yet I called her Victoria. Even as I was posting this, I had to do a double check for the name, and it popped once. Can’t believe it, seriously.

As a complete side note, I also wanted to mention the music because I’ve been using it for several stories. And oh god, I cannot thank Archive enough for existing. Their music is some of the best music for writing and in general. Up to this date, I have all of their albums, and they help me create mood in stories. I know this one probably doesn’t have the “Archive” mood, but I did write Minerva storming into the castle to the song “Controlling Crowds.” It just kinda fits so well.

Of course, there’s other bands and music out there. I mean, for covers, Kyle Landry is amazing on youtube. I’d even say check it out for not-writing-purposes. He’s amazing.

And I can’t avoid mentioning Archive’s genre in general. Trip hop was one of the best things that I found on the internet ten years ago. Since then, they’ve inspired countless of stories, and it’s been there as I write, so I feel like I must evangelize that genre.

But anyway. Hopefully this is not too much blabbering from me. Till the next time,

Sincerely,
-e