E.C. Alice

This advice is going to change my life.

All images are royalty free, found on Pixaby. They’re arranged in a montage, featuring: 1. An ominous cloud of blue smoke. 2. A log on fire. 3. Half of a deer skull resting in a tree bough. 4. A shrouded woman with four lines of vertical writing tattooed on her upper back, half a mandala over her spine. 5. A hand slowly drawing a dagger from a sheath. 6. A bloody hand holding a white rose, its petals smeared with red. 7. A murder of crows gazing over a forest bathed in green light. 8. A dark forest with an uncomfortable yellow glow. 9. Closeup on the silhouette of a man and a woman, their foreheads pressed together. It seems intimate, though the contrast with the surrounding horror is stark. 10. A number of shadowy hands pressed against a sheet, as though trapped. The central shadow pressing into the sheet could be a head, or something else. 11. A lone wolf standing against a vivid sunset, the sky almost entirely magenta. Superimposed on the montage is a quote, "Are you one of those who dance for our deaths?"

#DVParty - Day 6

He’s an abomination that shouldn’t exist, bursting with vengeful power that can’t be contained. She’s the daughter of his enemy, raised to slay him. But he’s not what she thought. And soon she doesn’t know whether she should kill the monster, or destroy it all by his side.
#WIP #DF

“I know he isn’t harmless. I can feel the careful blunt of his nails against my forearms, their points carefully filed every day since Lia was born. (I miss them, but I can never tell him that.) He still has that intense, wolfish gaze. I know he would do unspeakable things for me, if only I asked. But I like the quiet of our lives. I can tell he does too. So, I expect the danger in him will lay dormant, docile even, for as long as she and I are safe.”

#WIPSnips - October 7

The word today is “safe.” Small quote from Kalliope in “A Spell for a Raven’s Wing.”

#romantasy #AmQuerying #AmWriting

A super happy accident for the cover pictures. And isn’t it?? Curses is criminally underrated, I couldn’t believe it’s not in the artist’s top 10

This is absolutely gorgeous

A screenshot of a short Spotify playlist with a big green play button, set across a black background. Tracks top to bottom: “Curses” by acloudyskye “Complete Collapse - Acoustic” by Sleeping with Sirens “Lighthouse” by Iamthemorning, Mariusz Duda “Null Moon” by Akira Yamaoka “salva nos II” by Yuki Kajiura “L.L.I.B.” by Sal3m, NOVELISTS, Amael Durand “Cascade” by Satron Paint Samuel, Drew Gooden “Follow You” by Bring Me the Horizon “No Mercy” by DeathbyRomy

#DVParty - Day 5

Novel as a playlist.

Highly recommend them all, but specifically “Curses” by acloudyskye. Two years ago I heard it, listened about 200 times, and got this story in my head about a familiar who falls for an imprisoned witch. Thus, Raven’s Wing was born.

#DF #R #ND #MH

🙈 thank you!! Crossing fingers I can get it out there someday

(Originally sent to me by a beta-reader, ty Chris) Four panels, from top left to right, bottom left to right: 1. A bushy-haired young man speaks to a very cut marshmallow-like man with a pleasant emoji-like smile, asking him, “Wow! How did you get like that?” 2. The cut man gives a look of :D, and says “Every time Kalliope looks at me…” 3. He raises one finger. “I do *one* push-up.” 4. The bushy-haired man stares back with a much more nervous :D. “Jesus Christ.”

#DVParty Day 4

Some may call it obsessive, and so does Emerentius but he’s in too deep.

#NA #F #R

Text against a black background, two corners decorated by haunting branches of bluish-gray leaves. From the top, it reads: “An agent’s guide to,” “A Spell for a Raven’s Wing,” “New Adult Gothic Romantasy,” “101k words.”

Text against a black background, two corners decorated by haunting branches of bluish-gray leaves. It reads: “PITCH: In the blood-stained forest, there’s Thalia: a young woman banished to a cabin for an unspeakable crime. In the walled city, there is Emerentius: a young man suppressing unnatural instincts, and the shadows that seek to sabotage him. As their lives unfold, Emerentius falls in love with Kalliope, refusing to care that this royal beauty may be using him—while Thalia’s pet raven suddenly transforms, revealed to be a man of a hunted race she’s forbidden to touch. What seems to be a story of parallel lives shatters under weight of the truth: that Thalia is the child of Emerentius and Kalliope, and the murderer of them both.”

Text and images against a black background, two corners decorated by haunting branches of bluish-gray leaves. At the top, it reads, “Comps, Tropes, & Themes.” Beneath is the cover art for five media titles, which make a crown over these lines of text (explaining the tropes and themes): Coming of age / Forbidden love / “I can make him worse” / Corrupting magic / Generational trauma / Soulbonding. The titles, in clockwise order from the bottom left: “Shinsekai Yori - From the New World,” which features five anime teens in their bright school uniforms standing against and atop a brilliant blue sky, a short-haired schoolgirl reaching a friendly hand towards the viewer. “Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë” the classic novel with a dark teal cover of a grim house set on a treacherous hill, framed by spindly tree branches. “Mushi-Shi,” the manga cover featuring a man with short white hair in a long green coat traversing a dense, well-lit Japanese forest. “Grendel, by John Gardner,” has the titular Grendel, a thin bear-like monster, howling at the heavens as he stands profile to a murky yellow sky and desolate brown earth. “Fruits Basket - Season 1,” has the main characters standing on a staircase leading up to a bamboo fence around a traditional Japanese home. Closest to the home is a tall, blonde delinquent girl in a school uniform, a shorter girl with a long black braid in the same uniform, beside a man with short dark hair wearing a traditional yukata, looking out over the staircase. Closer to the base are two young men in school uniforms, the one with dark hair leaning closer towards the girl before them, and the one with brilliant orange hair leaning back, standoffish. The central focus is a friendly-looking girl with long brown hair, two yellow ribbons woven into it, who holds her book bag in one hand and faces the viewer with a brilliant, optimistic smile.

Text against a black background, two corners decorated by haunting branches of bluish-gray leaves. It reads: “EXCERPT: The brush of fingertips across my cheek startled me from my spiraling. He’d reached for me, curious touch like the ruffle of his feathers. My sights snapped to him, finding myself transfixed by those eyes, which watched me in a way I’d never been watched before. I felt I would be consumed by the intensity of it, even as it bathed me in warmth. All the things that had been whispered to me about shifters, throughout my life, weaved around me then. Barbaric. Bestial. To allow them to live was not only perverse, but dangerous. Yet, I couldn’t apply those things to how he looked at me then. Consuming though it was, his touch was gentle. I wasn’t afraid. Still silent, he bent down to me, nose brushing past my temple into my hair, where my raven had once nestled from my shoulder. The sensation was so familiar, I couldn’t help but close my eyes. New, though, was the heat of breath across the fine hairs of my neck. “Yours,” he whispered.”

My attempt at an #AgentsGuide for my #gothic #romantasy, A Spell for a Raven’s Wing.

#AmWriting #AmQuerying #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Thanks so much!! I’ve been overthinking this line for forever. Menace is definitely the intention

A dark forest cast in deep blue, superimposed by text: “They came in the night, the elves, in their white robes of retribution.” Creative Commons image by Roman Schurte

#DVParty Day 3

Opening Lines for “A Spell for a Raven’s Wing”

#NA #DF #R #F #ND

I’ve got it bad, so I decided cPTSD ADHD girlies should have (more) grimdark fairytale romances 🙂‍↕️

Art by my wonderful friend Lily Azith (@sidhekatsoup.bsky.social) The portrait features a pale elven woman with long silvery hair, blue eyes, and dark red lips, against a blue backdrop swirling with shadowy patterns.

#DVParty Day 2

Meet Thalia Echetheir, she’s…
💙 ADHD-coded
💙 Throwing a blanket on a naked bird boy in a panic
💙 An avid gardener, won’t grow anything red, on account of the memories she won’t think about
🤍 Don’t think about it, don’t think about it
💙 Always smiling

#NA #PR #DF #ND

A mood board for part one of the novel. The top left image is a cropped picture of a young woman with long silvery-blonde hair, in a peasant top wrapped in red strips, her eyes obscured. The top right image is a photo of a woven basket in a green field, its contents an open book set atop a few colorful apples. The center image is of a woman’s arm surrounded by levitating stones, superimposed by the text, “Sorry would never be enough.” The bottom image features a table strewn with bottles of dried herbs, a large orb of rose quartz set atop a candlestick, and a lone candle among the bottles casting off warm light. Artwork is not mine, all rights belong to their respective owners. No AI images (as far as I’m aware).

A mood board for part two of the novel. The top left image is of a full moon against a dark blue sky, framed by dark branches the viewer is looking up through. The top right image features the hands of a fighter wrapping cloth around his hand. The center image is of a Victorian library of black wood and dark red curtains and couches, a fire glowing in the hearth. Superimposed text reads, “I would burn this city if it would keep you with me.” The bottom picture is of the feet of a wolf lowering to rest in snow, the whole image cast in a cerulean gleam. Artwork is not mine, all rights belong to their respective owners. No AI images (as far as I’m aware).

The novel is a generational story told in two parts, exploring two sets of star-crossed lovers in a society where magic is used to persecute. #DVParty

The elves have always hunted shifters, a race that will destroy the world. That’s what Thalia was told, long before her exile began. Yet when her pet raven is revealed to be one of these hunted people, her growing affection for him makes her question the unquestionable.
 
#NA #DF #PR #MH #ND #preDIV

Thank you! That’s the plan; I’m still figuring out how to trim it to the BlueSky word count, but hopefully should have another version up later today.

Thalia’s magic killed her parents. Her prison: a cabin in the woods. There she tries to atone for the unforgivable by tending to wildlife—until the day she wakes to find the raven in her care is now a young man, standing by the fire, confused by his own hands.

‪#NA #DF #PR #MH #ND #preDV

Going to be participating in a pitching contest, please forgive the sudden volume of similar posts.

#booksky #writingcommunity

If you can’t spare a room, fill a pillar.

#booksky #books #design #writingcommunity

Main character energy is OUT, this summer we’re bringing NPC energy. We’re posted up at the bar dropping lore and suggesting side quests. We’re leaning casually near a locked door and saying “I don’t think you have the key for that” when someone tries the handle. We’re staring at a tree.

Trying to branch out into newer reads, #booksky can you recommend your favorite paranormal romance/romantasy books from the last few years?

A collage of images from across the internet (none owned by me, found from the unfortunately creditless pit that is Pinterest, if you own one of the images and wish it removed or credited, please reach out). From the top moving from left to right: 1) A bright woodland cottage covered in greenery and flowers. 2) A pale young woman curled into herself in a flowery, ethereal field, features obscured 3) A violet raven looks left. 4) A quill is laid across a ripped journal, surrounded by various writing tools, Victorian trinkets, and a low-burning candle. 5) A hand held out over a grimoire, symbols held in the air beneath his palm.

Seeking representation for a 100k YA Romantasy exploring complex trauma, prejudice, and healing. Also featuring:

🖤Forbidden love
🏡 Cottagecore (but cursed)
🕊️Mysterious shapeshifters
🗡️Family secrets
🪄Elemental magic

#wip #romantasy

This one, from 1974, echoes strongly.

Gorgeous prose.

Embarking on a new YA WIP, full of dread and excitement.

I still have the hellscape app, and I open it sometimes to see the trashfire, but there’s nothing more peaceful than scrolling Bluesky. Best app.

Unbelievably adorable