I drummed my fingers on the table beside her open grimoires. Not facing the bully, I turned my eyes toward the blonde, taking in her arrogant smile. She'd gotten me to do what she wanted. She held her wand steady, and the tip glowed like hot iron. "And that's all I need to do? I can't believe you're helping me like this after all we've been through..."
The bucket-full of water and me being hit by said bucket falling off the shelf above the door. The vanishing ink pen I used on a test. The worms in my box lunch. Other things. But I was also a T.A. Some responsibilities where inescapable.
I did volunteer to help Jill.
I wanted to laugh at the "we" in that last sentence, but sighed instead. She was predictable. Very predictable. "The mnemonic, the equations, the visualization. Spot on. It balances and your wand indicates that."
"So all I have to do is say what I want to conjure?"
Predictable. I didn't grin. Instead I switched to French, hopeful. "/Tu m'emmerdes avec tes questions!/"†
She blinked. "Merde? Isn't that French for—"
With magic you really need to be specific about where to target a spell affect and what you're asking for. She'd been specific about neither.
Where your wand is pointing is the default. Her's pointed above her head.
The spell understood what she wanted enough that the closest source proved to be the horse stables. I could see it out the dorm room window. The spell mucked every stall.
A load of small round spheres crashed down around her, bouncing off her head and bounding around the room. I squealed reflexively and jumped away.
I doubled over leaning against the door, laughing despite the smell. For her part, the bully sat stunned. Her expression wanted to be a smile. She had succeeded, after all. She also knew she'd been made the fool.
Exiting out the door was the better part of valor. I grabbed the nob.
"/Amélie/," came a growl.
=-=-=-=-=
† "You're so annoying with your questions!" Literally: "You're shitting on me with your questions."
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 1: What are your writing related New Year Resolutions?
I don't really do resolutions, but let's try this: I'll actually send my work out more this year. Get serious and make a list of agents, and just go through the list.
Seria "Harry Potter", "Zmierzch" i "Igrzyska Śmierci" - to tytuły, które przychodzą mi na myśl, gdy myślę o książkach, które stały się popularne wśród młodzieży i stanowiły dobry materiał do ekranizacji, osiągając tym samym światowy sukces jako marka. Cykl HP to dla mnie absolutna legenda i ponadczasowa seria (książki, choć filmy też niezłe). "Zmierzchu" czytać i oglądać nie zamierzam. Natomiast chciałem sprawdzić "Hunger Games" i... no tak średnio bym powiedział. Ekranizacji nie widziałem, ale wierzę, że może być dobra. Książka - nie bardzo. To esencja młodzieżówki, ale w tej raczej złej formie. Choć widzę po ocenach na LC, że jestem w tym odosobniony.
Watching #MyLovelyLiar now and after the raging intensity and angst of #MeteorButterflySword it feels like things are slower, like eating warm scones instead of raging hot Thai green curry.
It is not bad, though I have to admit I am wondering what the hype is about.
Am I just jaded or something? 😆 Or do I just miss seeing people vomiting blood 🤣
A shout-out to all book lovers: This post kicks off #24books, my 2023's-best-reads-by-female-authors-advent-calendar-thread. If that's not your thing, this is your chance to mute the hashtag. All others: Welcome and let's have some fun until Christmas! Hopefully you feel inspired to give one or more of the titles a go after this. Genres will include: #litfic, #horror, #histfic, #fantasy as well as a bit of #satire and #crime. 🥰 @bookstodon#bookstodon#womenwriters#frauenlesen#books#reading
I loved SCARLET so much that I read it last night in one sitting then came to work today and grabbed another Cogman, THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY. I didn't know I needed a Scarlet Pimpernel retelling with vampires, but this novel is oodles better than it sounds! What a ripping yarn! @bookstodon#bookstodon#sff#fantasy
Anybody have recs for single-author science fiction and/or fantasy/paranormal short story collections? I'm especially interested in marginalized authors.
My faves so far:
'Nathan Burgoine's Of Echoes Born (paranormal)
Zen Cho's Spirits Abroad (fantasy/paranormal)
Iona Datt Sharma's Not For Use In Navigation (mix of science fiction and fantasy)
Do you reply to your last toot, or do you reply to the initial toot of the thread? Why? (Please reply to the thread.) Please boost for a bigger sample size..
Anyone here a fan of the #DresdenFiles?
I've been thinking about what the Big Apocalypse Trilogy is going to be, and here are my thoughts:
We know the final 3 books are going to be named after the swears used in the books. Hell's Bells, Stars and Stones, and Empty Night, but we don't know what they'll be about.
I think they're going to be in the order of Hell's Bells, Empty Night, then Stars and Stones.
I am working on ridding myself of the part of my mind that has been so poisoned by "hustle-culture" and all that nonsense that leads to me being ashamed of those creative or artistic endeavors that do not end up earning any money (or have no potential for it).
Stopped me from writing for years. Kept me from indulging in story telling and even reading.
Dear #fediverse what are your strategies for dealing with such a horrid mindset?
Tiens, petite réflexion au café sur les "pouvoirs" en #fantasy et leur puissance.
Pendant longtemps j'ai été frileux, en tant qu'#auteur de romans, au sujet des capacités surnaturelles accessibles aux personnages (appelons ça magie). Sans doute à cause d'un passé bien rempli comme meneur en jeu de rôle, j'ai souvent craint que des pouvoirs trop puissants viennent "casser" mon histoire.
Quand on lit le premier chapitre de sa saga The Stormlight Archives - quand on voit un personnage disposer de tant de pouvoirs si puissants dès la première scène -, on se dit : "ce n'est pas possible, il ne peut pas tenir toute une histoire comme ça". Et en fait si, et en fait ça grimpe même bien plus haut que ça.
Tout ça pour dire que, ce matin, je bloque un peu au sujet de la conception d'un pouvoir pour un roman. J'ai été tenté d'abandonner ("trop puissant, intenable"), mais finalement je m'obstine en essayant de suivre la voie de Sanderson.
Last time I asked for #recommendation the results were amazing so here goes another: looking for chapter books for 5-8yo kiddos!
My kid doesn’t read yet but we certainly have a good time when I read them out loud. So far we’ve read the following:
Roald Dahl: Witches, James and the Giant Peach (ongoing), and Charlie and the Choco Factory (lined up)
Harry Potter’s Year One: we have two and three but I’m leaving those for later. Probably after she turns 8 or so (she’s 5 now)
The Little Prince
Genre-wise, we’ve read #Fiction and #Fantasy but anything different would also be great. I’m up for anything that could continue to nurture interest in reading, empathy, wonder, and a good moral compass.
Styl Neila Gaimana jest niepodrabialny - nie znam drugiego autora, który by go kopiował (więc pewnie po prostu mało wiem). I co prawda jakoś nigdy nie ekscytuję się, gdy przede mną jest jego książka, ale mimo wszystko zawsze jestem oczarowany po lekturze, bo ten pisarz potrafi tworzyć genialne światy, a raczej rzeczywistość. Często lepszą od bohaterów, ale za to dochodzi do tego dobra, baśniowa historia na granicy światów.
#WritingWonders 7.9 — What are you good at when it comes to writing?
People have complimented me on my dialogue.
Recently, I've switched from 3rd person to 1st person narrative. That's essentially the MC talking to the reader, which may explain why my writing feels so much more fluid and natural.
I read most everything I write aloud. It has to pass the speech test. Getting tongue-tied is a bad sign.
So...
My answer to this one is what I am doing now. Talking to the reader. What do you think? Does it work for you?
I suppose I could introduce myself... that seems to be the protocol here?
I'm Emily (she/her), a 30something professional computer-toucher, although you probably won't catch me posting programming-related stuff here often. My main hobbies include #gaming (right now i'm playing #FFXVI, #FFXIV, #HonkaiStarRail, and #GenshinImpact in various amounts), #books (mainly #scifi and #fantasy), and #knitting & #crochet. Would love to have people to follow for any of these subjects ❤️
Really I'm mostly here to vibe. I'm not exactly new to the Fediverse (I made a Mastodon account back when Elon bought the birdsite) but I am relatively new to actually trying to engage with it (and social media in general TBH, until now I've never been much of a poster!). It seems like a comfy place to hang out that the corporate places never were, so I'm looking forward to meeting all of you!