S Farren

Six days. Okay. You know what, I’ve met some good cats in that time.

The thing is I’m really bad with keeping up to date on social media. Surely my last post was a mere five minutes ago, right.

The seemingly impossible task of changing a character’s role in the narrative vs realising that writing is a collection of smaller ideas all weaved together & a few sentences here and there will fix the problem.

All four of them end up in the Thisian palace through different circumstances: Finley is a groundskeeper, Alexandria a princess, Luna was taken from her home as a child because of her skill as a witch and made to serve the royal family, and Rydal is a knight with a visiting foreign delegation.

Here’s the main four from Asterion! Finley, Alexandria, Luna, and Rydal. All she/her, save Rydal, they/them. Art by @laceandsilk.bsky.social!

This is Meredith, or Merry. Her favourite thing in the world is when I sit on the sofa and get my laptop out. She paces excitedly until I put down a blanket for her, then she’ll spend all day at my side. It’s the perfect spot to cuddle and watch the birds in the garden from.

This is the most important part of my writing set-up…

(Yeah, some people hate Rowan, but that’s because she’s a necromancer. The lesbian thing is fine.)

(For anyone unfamiliar with my writing, I do write about some heavy topics—grief, trauma, emotional/physical abuse, disability, imperialism, and so on. I do *not* write about sexual violence. My trans and lesbian characters do not face persecution for those aspects of their identities.)

[ Asterion ] Book One, Chapter One Chapter One

Anyway.

samfarren.substack.com/p/asterion-b...

It’s funny talking about the characters like this—minimal spoilers, describing them only as they are at the start of book one, chapter one. The trilogy is so nearly done! 82/93 chapters! A lot has changed and so many new faces have joined the fray.

Then we have Luna, the royal witch and the only person Alexandria truly loves; Sir Kiln, the woman who last slayed the labyrinthine beast and is no longer on Alexandria’s good side; and Rydal, a foreign knight who cares only for their duty to their god—and cats.

Not to mention, Finley is willing to tell the Princess to stop being rude and make her apologise. That’s something new.

Princess Alexandria truly thought she’d lost everything, but then a groundskeeper who happened to be a foil saved her from a malfunctioning crystal. Really, what’s a stolen throne compared to a dead wife?

Her life changed irrevocably when her throne was taken from her by her father on his deathbed. All the plans she had fell to nothing. Her cousin became Queen, continuing Thisia’s legacy—crystals carefully rationed out in exchange for control of foreign territories.

Princess Alexandria is a curt, demanding sort of person, who speaks very bluntly and is used to having her way. She’s rude. She’s also doing all she can to end her kingdom’s history of imperialism and make amends to the nations around them. She doesn’t think adults should have best friends.

(If you’ve read Brackish, foils originated in the first draft of that book. Eos and Tanen were both foils, which was why spirits didn’t hold any power over them. Ultimately, I cut out witches and foils both from that world for something more grounded.)

Finley lives in a very different world from her peers. She lights candles to see by and builds up fires for warmth. It’s an isolating existence - who would want to live with someone who causes all your lights to turn off and the AC to fail? - but she’s got good people around her.

In this world, magic is akin to electricity; witches craft crystals that can be used for lighting, heating, cooling, healing, illusions, and so on. It’s these crystals that have given the kingdom the story takes place in its power, and these crystals which flicker and fade around Finley.

Finley is a foil. There are witches, people who can create, use, and benefit from magic; the majority of the population who can benefit from magic; and foils who can neither create, use, nor benefit from magic and completely mute its effects with their mere presence.

At its heart, it is a story about a palace groundskeeper dealing with the death of her wife, and a princess who was denied her throne. It’s also about a very literal labyrinthine beast that lives beneath the palace. And imperialism.

I could describe all my books as “slow-paced, character driven,” but with this trilogy I’ve really honed in on what I like writing. Sometimes the rule of cool is looking at KH2 and going “I want some of that,” sometimes it’s disabled lesbians sitting down and talking. This is both—

I actually wanna talk about Asterion for a bit. It’s a project that’s been around in some form or another for about four years, and it uses lots of bits and pieces from other books that didn’t quite make it. Big fan of never wasting any ideas and recycling them into new stories.

The best thing about writing a book is that after years of work, rough drafts and rewrites and endless edits and publishing, you get to start on a NEW book.

[ Asterion ] Book One, Chapter One Chapter One

samfarren.substack.com/p/asterion-b...

The trilogy starts here!

[ Asterion ] Book Two, Chapter Four Chapter Four

samfarren.substack.com/p/asterion-b...

Latest chapter of Asterion! Book two, chapter four—meaning there are thirty-five chapters uploaded and ready to read.

Hi there, I only tend to check AO3 once every few weeks! I’ve just gone through all my recent comments and I’d love for you to translate this. :)

My final round of edits tends to take the form of a battered proof. How did I read this a dozen times and not notice it said “withing” instead of “within”? The typo-fairies keep getting hold of the document.

Worst part of writing is how easy it is to give a character a would instead of a wound.

Dyskrasias is about the intimacy of the self and I’ll be honest. It’s not intentionally homoerotic but I can’t deny the homoeroticism IS there. I’m just a simple lesbian at the end of the day!