Tag Archives: Original Work: Amarasha

WIP Wednesday #5

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Time to Read:

4–6 minutes

WIPs

What can I say about August? Well, I sure didn’t play DRAMAtical Murder and I didn’t finish Peach Blossom Debt, but at least I have started a draft for the latter!

In terms of writing, I have mostly worked on… Well, I think that might be quite obvious, as I’ve started serialising the author’s fic The Amnesia Tonic. I haven’t worked on much else in the past two weeks.

I have, however, expanded on the medical worldbuilding of Zuladiar while writing The Amnesia Tonic and it’s frankly been pretty interesting. Trying to create a medical practice that fits the place, culture and time isn’t the easiest but it’s honestly quite fun and at times disturbing to look into ancient medical practices.

I then have to mix in actual magic into this, which gives it a bit of a different flavour, but I try to keep it pretty down to earth since the magical alternate timeline I have for The Universe doesn’t include miraculous healing… for the most part. I can’t just shove the idea to the side, since there are miracles that are claimed to have happened, so I’m leaving room open for actually writing about such miracles.

I have also worked on an article for the Wiki about materials used in Zuladiar and for what, further considered how their cities are constructed (as in literal construction) and other such matters.

Something I’ve done a lot is look at Instagram of people doing art. Seems a little odd, perhaps, but it gives me motivation to work on art. I have worked on a self-portrait among other things, but I still need to finish it. I’ll do it Soon (TM). I like looking at the reels with watercolour and linework. I also follow a few artists who use alcohol markers. These are some of my favourite tools I used when I still primarily worked with traditional tools. It’s also what I primarily want to imitate when I work digitally. Maybe not so much linework, but markers and watercolours.

Finally, since I caught up on Nomads and Empires in the past few weeks, so I went on to listen to The History of China. It’s rather interesting, though it also is relatively unimportant to my writing. I just thought I’d mention that, since even if only indirectly, Chinese history does affect the stories I’ve set on the Eurasian Steppe.

WIP Quote

“Captain,” a man’s voice near Çetžak spoke up. There was a pause before the man repeated, “Captain?” The man coughed quietly and called out again. “Captain Züčan?”

With a jolt, Çetžak realised, he was the one addressed, and he turned to see Židad, still looking older than he remembered the man had been last time he saw him, standing a respectful distance away from him. He held his hand behind his back and looked at the scene, scanning the environment with his eyes.

“Yes, Židad, what is it?” He paused. “No, is it ‘Lieutenant’ now?”

“You still call me by name at this age, Captain,” Židad helpfully explained. “That has never changed, even after you left the Ažamür Cavalry at sixteen.”

Çetžak was left stunned by the revelation he had left the Cavalry when he was sixteen. He vaguely recalled his šüssad had mentioned that Çetžak might be transferred to a different military unit to improve his skill and rise in ranks, but he hadn’t got the sense that he was supposed to leave the Cavalry altogether, and that it was at a somewhat older age.

He opened his mouth, then closed it, at a loss for words.

From “The Amnesia Tonic” Chapter 5

Behind the Scenes

This past month has essentially plagued me and my partner with preparations for the kids going back to school. It’s just been quite a lot.

I did have a birthday, though, and Mini and my partner came over to spend time with me, and that was it for the celebration. I did get to talk to my godmothers as they called from Finland and it’s honestly one of the few things I look forward to when my birthday comes around since I don’t have that many people who speak Finnish around me.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve got so much on my mind and too many balls to juggle, but I’ve noticed that I’m bad at getting anything done unless I explicitly write it down into a list and check each thing off. As soon as I stop, I get really bad at accomplishing anything because I focus on everything thrown at me instead or just get overwhelmed.

So I’ve been writing down the tasks that need to be done in my thought journal. Even if I don’t constantly look at it, that really allows me to focus on the important matters for the day. It also helps with my mental health, which in turn makes things easier to deal with in general.

Except for my cat. She’s such a pain because she’s loud and sounds like a wailing baby. Someone give me a cat that isn’t possessed by the ghost of a crying infant. *sob*

Currently…

Reading

  • Peach Blossom Debt
  • Case File Compendium vol 1
  • Case File Compendium (JJWXC)
  • The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol 1
  • Remnants of Filth vol 1
  • Case Files of Jeweler Richard vol 1
  • Hello, I am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion vol 1
  • Magi (VIZ Manga)
  • My Special One (VIZ Manga)
  • Komi Can’t Communicate (VIZ Manga)
  • Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 1 (Re-read)
  • Golden Terrace vol 2 (Re-read)
  • A lot of fan translations
  • No webcomics

Watching

  • Ouran High School Host Club
  • Tiger and Bunny
  • Dead Boy Detectives
  • Ojamajo Doremi

Playing

  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Persona 5
  • DRAMAtical Murder
  • Boyfriend Dungeon

Recently dropped

 N/A

Recently finished

N/A

WIP Wednesday #4

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Time to Read:

3–5 minutes


I’ve seem to be able to somehow manage this things with WIP updates. Now I’ll just need more reviews too…

WIPs

ln the month of July, I ended up doing less than I had planned. I did finish writing an article for my Wiki for the world of Blood of Destinies Rewritten. I am still working on some related articles to that.

But I’d say I’ve been more researching this time around that I’ve done writing. In particular, I’ve listened to the Nomads and Empires Podcast, which is about the history of the Eurasian Steppe. It’s been really interesting and cover a lot of my own background research that I’ve done for BoDR, but it’s nice to get some things I’ve missed, as most of my BoDR research falls into the two or three centuries leading up to the 11th century, since it’s only been a brief dive into the earlier history to be able to work with the alternate history timeline. The podcast isn’t frequently updated, so it’s obviously not exactly my source material, but it does offer me some insight into material I could look into later as well, if I’d like. It also does work quite well for me to listen to for my future work on Amarasha, since that one is set before BoDR and still on the Steppe.

I did ask on this blog’s Twitter account what to focus on in August and the result was DRAMAtical Murder, so, at the time I’m writing this post (on the first), I’ll try to finish Peach Blossom Debt in the next few days. If I’m lucky, by the time this actually posts, I’ve at the very least written the review even if it’s still not up.

WIP Quote

Nükiž is primarily known as the Deity of the Sun, and was according to the creation myth the first deity hatched from the primordial bird Žuktük’s eggs, creating the sun to shine light and warmth in the void.

Nükiž’s domain, other than the sun, is primarily that of knowledge and wisdom of various forms, and is the patron deity of anyone from scholars and writers to diviners and oracles, but is also a deity of unity and community.

Many of the Fubaž consider Nükiž essential and will worship and bring offerings to the deity a few times a year. They also consider a name given by Nükiž as more accurate a guide, so for the Sun Year of a child’s life, they will usually seek out a temple of Nükiž and the diviners there. Nükiž’s main temple is found in the Imperial Capital in the centra-western region, where the Holy Fire burns.

From the “Fubaž Deities” Page

Behind the Scenes

There’s not much to say. My birthday is on the ninth, and in less than two weeks the kids are going back to school. That means I’ll see my man more often again, which is going to be nice. It also mean there’s a lot of focus on preparing Mini for starting grade 1 and for him to get used to things. We’re lucky to have an understanding teacher, who offered to meet with us and Mini the week before school, so, you know, lots of stuff going on.

In addition to that I’ve struggled with IBS at the end of July and I sprained my left ring finger and wrist, while my right wrist suffered subluxations, as well. Makes writing a bit difficult and I can’t wroke on art for a few days, but I think that by the end of this week, i should be pretty good for getting back to things properly.

For my birthday, it’s all about Final Fantasy XIV which my man wants me to play, and which I’m kind of dying to return to. I look forward to playing it again once i got a sub, and I’m really happy my hubby enjoys at least one game of one of my favourite game series.

Currently…

Reading

  • Peach Blossom Debt
  • Remnants of Filth vol 1
  • Case Files of Jeweler Richard vol 1
  • Case File Compendium vol 1
  • Case File Compendium (JJWXC)
  • The Husky and His White Cat Shizun vol 1
  • Hello, I am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion vol 1
  • Magi (VIZ Manga)
  • My Special One (VIZ Manga)
  • Komi Can’t Communicate (VIZ Manga)
  • Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 1 (Re-read)
  • Golden Terrace vol 2 (Re-read)
  • A lot of fan translations
  • No webcomics

Watching

  • Ouran High School Host Club
  • Tiger and Bunny
  • Dead Boy Detectives
  • Ojamajo Doremi

Playing

  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Persona 5
  • DRAMAtical Murder
  • Boyfriend Dungeon

Recently dropped

 N/A

Recently finished

N/A

WIP Wednesday #2

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Time to Read:

5–7 minutes

I’m back with another WIP update, I suppose. This time, there’s perhaps not too much to share, however. But let’s jump right in.

WIPs

Last time, I wrote about Amarasha which I was working on at the time. I’ve spent most of my time sick in bed, so I’m still working on the research for that. I’m not quite feeling it though, so I might just move on to the next thing on my list. It just says “Amnesia AU”, but it’s an author fic with Çetžak and Prince U’il in which Çetžak has consumed a potion that has made him forget everything that happened from… I think he was sixteen. I haven’t worked on it for a good minute, so I’ve forgotten. It’s in the canon universe, unlike Haunted, so that could be fun. Perhaps I should add the potion to World Anvil too, in case people are curious about it later. Let me know if I should write a WA entry on that.

However, I have worked on a different Çetžak and Prince U’il author fic. I haven’t named it yet, and I rewrote most of it. It’s a tragic one. If someone would like to read it, poke me. I plan on posting it soon, but it hasn’t been edited yet. I wrote the original around the time I wrote Haunted. Or a while afterwards. But that means the original that I rewrote is over a year old. It wasn’t bad though; I just felt it needed some fleshing out, and that fleshing out ended up doubling its length, more or less. It’s a short story of around 2k words.

Finally, I have also been dabbling in yet another project that popped up. This one I want to be very RPG-like in its story pattern, even if there are no visible system or levelling mechanics. It’s there in the background. I’ve been plotting out the story a bit, trying to have something like a quest that starts kinda simple and then snowballs into something larger. I’ll also make an attempt at writing a harem for this, I think. For reasons. There are reasons for everything. I work in a very different way with this one because of the mechanics. But I guess the mechanics have minimal similarities with another story I have, which uses a system and is more in the unlimited flow genre than a single adventure.

WIP Quote

The sun is about to set when Çetžak passes the outer vicinity of one of the ministry buildings. It has already been a full hour since he last saw more than fellow guards, and it’s likely been about half of that since he met another patrol. Nights are very calm in the Imperial City, as long as nothing happens to His Imperial Majesty or one of the Imperial Highnesses.
Yet it’s at this time of day, during the final rays of day, that he catches the subtle movement of fabric fluttering in the breeze at the corner of his eyes.

—from the untitled author fic

Behind the Scenes

I’m still drinking peppermint tea. Now it’s mostly because I’m sick and spend the time in bed. But when I feel up for it and get up to do things, I mostly watch stuff. I spent one day rewatching half of Ouran High School Host Club, and I think it’s a shame I don’t have a review from way back when I first watched it. I might review it soon and give my thoughts on this almost classic shoujo anime.

I’ve also spent a lot of time on YouTube, and while doing so I’ve been crocheting. Ie, I haven’t really needed to check the screen. I would have listened to podcasts or audiobooks, but my phone was out of space forever, so I couldn’t even install anything, even when I tried to make more space on it.

That issue has been resolved now. My phone is from 2019, so it’s been with me for some years. My hubby and I basically looked into a phone I could hold more comfortably than many other models, and I ordered myself a lavender Sony Xperia 10 V. I haven’t used a Sony in a while, but I did some years ago. A black small thing. Not that great, as far as I remember, but it worked. In this case, the reviews of the phone honestly said very little. I saw complaints about it being too narrow, for instance, and for me, that’s just a bonus.

In any case, at the time of writing, I’ve spent the past few hours playing with my new phone, getting it set up, and all that.

Another thing I could mention is that I received my order with three books. I ordered it when Case File Compendium Vol 1 came out, so on February 13. I got so incredibly emotional about the release of that book; you will never understand. But aside from that one, I also got The Husky and His White Cat Shizun Vol 4 and Peach Blossom Debt. So now those are on my backlog too. I started reading Peach Blossom Debt, but I also have Remnants of Filth Vol 1 that I’m reading, so I can’t say which of the two I’ll end up reviewing first.

I can also update that I now have 81 granny squares for Mini’s blanket. I have finished all 25 squares in red, and have 4 green ones, 7 navy ones and 8 pink ones before I hit 100. Mini asked for light blue and yellow to be added as the next two colours I work with after I finish the ones I have, so I’m looking forward to getting to 150 squares, not gonna lie.

Oh, I can share that I had a laugh at how Bilibili Comics took days before it shut down the servers, which meant some stories got updated after the platform should have been taken down. Additionally, there was a notification days after saying goodbye. I feel like Bilibili Comics really clowned themselves, but this is also the level I expected of them. I have some comics stored on my old phone that I’ll read before I possibly get rid of the app. But I might not, since it’s on a phone I won’t use as much.

Currently…

Reading

  • Peach Blossom Debt
  • Remnants of Filth vol 1
  • Case files of Jeweler Richard vol 1
  • Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 1 (Re-read)
  • Golden Terrace vol 2 (Re-read)
  • A lot of fan translations
  • No webcomics

Watching

  • Ouran High School Host Club

Playing

  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Persona 5
  • DRAMAtical Murder

Recently dropped

Too many to list due to Bilibili Comics’ shutdown.

Recently finished

N/A

WIP Wednesday #1

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I was thinking of at least trying to share updates with you all from time to time. These WIP updates will focus on my own writing, naturally, but I’ll also share what I’m currently reading, playing, or watching at the time of writing. That’s what I’m most likely to review in the near future, after all.

There might be other things I share, like behind-the-scenes bits and pieces. Or pictures of Daisy, the cat.

WIPs

I ended 2023 bad and started 2024 worse, so there wasn’t much writing for me for a long time. Because I lost my groove, I also felt like I had no idea what to work on. Sure, I wrote a bit on this thing here and that thing there, but it wasn’t like I truly vibed with anything.

To solve this issue, as it started to frustrate me to no end, I decided to just list all my projects, including fics, and work my way through from A to Z (or Ö, actually, the last letter in the Swedish alphabet) and see what I vibed with. My main issue is never whether I have inspiration, but rather what I’m inspired by, so I just need to find the right project.

The thing is, I ended up listing 72 projects. I determined that a project was something that was relatively stand-alone. For instance, When the World Falls, I’ll be Safe from the Wrath of God, or WWFSFG, comes in 8 arcs, and while they’re not entirely standalone at all, they’re at least separated to some degree. Meanwhile, an arc in Blood of Destinies Rewritten, or BoDR, isn’t standalone in any way. I could maybe argue that Part 2 of BoDR is its own project, but as I’m not writing more than random scenes in that one for now, I just put all of BoDR into one entry. Every year in Beyond the Horizon, or BtH, was also separated from one another because I work with it in years so it’s the most logical solution.

In any case, they ended up on 72 projects, and I was like, “Oh, no wonder I can’t choose. I’m almost literally working on a hundred things.”

So my WIPs this time are at the top of the list.

First, I worked on a fanfic, which I write anonymously, for a few days, testing the waters. I wrote a lot on it last year but lost steam when the summer holidays came around. I didn’t get back to it because, by the time I wanted to, I needed to read through the almost 100k words I’ve posted on that fic. That was an undertaking I wasn’t ready for, while also dealing with Mini’s school and other matters. Then came the cold season, and I was struck by illness.

So I’ve read a bit of it to revisit it, but I didn’t vibe with it. It’s not what I need to work on right now. I’ll get back to it later, though. I really love the fic and the world I’ve built for it. It had a bunch of references to the original work, which the readers of the fic seem to think is as fun as I do.

The next is called Amarasha. It’s a spiritual prequel to BoDR, and we can even consider that very literal. It’s a story about Amarasha, a girl living a nomadic life in the 3rd or 4th century. She ends up having a bit of an adventure, I guess, learns magic, organises a school or magic, and 7 or 8 centuries later, the military in the BoDR setting uses that magic. There’s essentially no other link between them aside from both happening on the Steppe.

This one is in the “draft random scenes that pop into my mind while I research and also worldbuilding so much” stage. That essentially means I’m just drafting it as I go along. I have a general idea of the direction I want to go with it.

Additionally, I had a couple of days when I was just inspired to write an alternative encounter between two characters, so I wrote a 7k-word piece. What brought that random moment of inspiration on, I can’t say, but I can say I don’t feel that interested in working on said project at the time.

WIP Quote

Amarasha herself remained behind on the expanse of grassland, with her back toward the formations of rock that shielded the tents from many of the natural phenomena. Her gaze followed the stripe of blue that reflected the Sky. It divided the earth while moving back and forth, like the tail of a dragon leaving a trail in its pursuits.

The wind cried along the nearby mountains, the gods sending a gust of cold air to play with Amarasha’s braid. The girl closed her eyes, letting the wind encircle her until it died out again to brush along the grass on the steppe. She had sent Shirgal to see the elder of the tribe, a man whose wusdash had been a great shaman whose soul now could only be found among the great celestials.

Most in her tribe followed the great elder, learning his ways of the world. Amarasha had no knack for it.

She watched the dragon trail splitting the ground as it roared. Where that dragon may have gone now, she would never know and she also didn’t wonder. She turned around, leaving the roaring river and the howls of the mountains behind.

The place where Shirgal had meditated wasn’t far from the tents of her tribe. They were moving toward the land of the sunset to reach the sacred mountains of gods and celestials, to pray to the Sky to bless the Earth.

⸺from “Amarasha”

Behind the Scenes

Recently, I’ve mostly been drinking peppermint tea. I usually drink that a lot, only second to ginger tea. But from time to time I’ll end up drinking more peppermint tea. I also ran out of cacao powder, so I had to give up chocolate while writing. which increased my tea intake. Chocolate is definitely my year-round go-to for writing beverages.

It’s also my drink of choice while crocheting. I started on a blanket for my and my husband’s bedroom. Mini wanted me to work on his blanket though, so I had to switch to crocheting green granny squares. The one for me and my husband is about 3 metres wide. It’s just a very simple crochet project going back and forth. I’m not sure how large Mini’s will be, but I need at least 225 granny squares in different colours. I have 11 green ones, 16 navy ones and 13 pink ones, meaning I have a minimum of 185 more granny squares to make.

Speaking of Mini, he’s been playing Kingdom Hearts recently. It’s interesting to see him learn how to play an RPG like that. He can read English really well, but he does get a little frustrated with the video sequences, which I find a little amusing. He learns very quickly and likes exploring Destiny Islands, though, so he does have a lot of fun with it.

I’ve also recently listened to a lot of music from the 2010s, but I just switched to mostly listening to mandopop. I was not prepared when the opening of Heaven Official’s Blessing season 1 started playing. A fact about me is that throughout the first season, I would sob through the opening after holding my breath. So I was watching the first few minutes through my tears, and then I watched the episodes again, sobbing over the opening again, but not as hard. I think I’ve been conditioned to just burst into tears as soon as I hear it because of that.

Currently…

Reading

  • Remnants of Filth vol 1
  • Case files of Jeweler Richard vol 1
  • Heaven Official’s Blessing vol 1 (Re-read)
  • Golden Terrace vol 2 (Re-read)
  • A lot of fan translations
  • A lot of webcomics

Watching

N/A

Playing

  • Tales of Zestiria
  • Persona 5
  • DRAMAtical Murder

Recently dropped

  • Film: Marry My Dead Body

Not-so-recently finished

  • Guardian vol 1