Zena Bates-Zellers

#QueerPrompts
Casually reappearing after dropping off the face of the earth lol

Yeah, probably at least 90% of the characters in the story are students lol. It's set at a magic university so most characters are students or teachers

#QueerPrompts
I can't think of any specific acts of kindness, but most of my queer characters (let's be real, they're pretty much all queer lol) are kind people. But Captain Artemis Long, a polyam trans man with who lives in their hometown, takes a lot of trans people in the community under his wing

#QueerPrompts

Oh Éd was a little nightmare 😆 With good reason, but still. They definitely had a rebellious childhood, at least until they were adopted

Letti, on the other hand, was a perfect little angel. She was definitely a good influence on Éd lol

#QueerPrompts
There's something they call the "endless war" because it lasted over a hundred years. The cohort (mafia) that have covertly run North America split up because of a dispute over a woman. Now, the country is split along the Mississippi River, and wizards who cross it are often killed

#QueerPrompts

-The Sunbearer Trials (and Celestial Monsters) by Aiden Thomas
-House in the Cerulean Sea (and Somewhere Beyond the Sea) by TJ Klune
-The Wicked Bargain (and The Diablo's Curse) by Gabe Cole Novoa
-Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
-and Between Sun and Shadows by Laura Genn (coming 2026!)

#QueerPrompts
Whoops I'm behind again 😅

This scene takes place just after Letti and Éd get engaged ❤️

#QueerPrompts
Oh gods, like a two? I mean there's hope in the end but my characters are trying to catch a criminal that has enforcers (cops) and the dean of the university covering up for him so figuring out a way to circumvent the dirty enforcers is... Something 😅

#QueerPrompts
Éd is definitely Drinking Coffee in A Burning Building Stressed but they hide it, uh, relatively well lol. Letti is pretty stressed, too, but her stress comes later in the story than Éd's

#QueerPrompts
I mean, there are a few, but I think my favorite is how shifters came about. It happened various ways in different cultures but most were blessed by gods or goddesses (all of which exist). The Olean (type of shifter) were blessed by an ancient goddess in Gaul before it was France

#QueerPrompts
I chose to make queerness somewhat accepted but not 100% because I wanted to show a kind of juxtaposition between "normal" society and the parts of society that are less accepted (like werewolves and other shifters) and how they treat fellow "othered" people. It's also like 1968 lol

#QueerPrompts
Idk if this counts but several of my trans/queer characters become parents after their main story. In fact, the first time I "met" my main characters was a short story I wrote where they were adopting three additional kids who were orphaned. The whole novel kinda sprung up around that

#QueerPrompts
I'm a bit late, sorry 😅 I'm Zena (all pronouns), a queer, disabled, ND writer, wife, and cat mom

My WIP is about a nonbinary shapeshifter and their adoptive werewolf family. Werewolves in the book are based on wild wolves tho so only the antagonist is obsessed with the dominance stuff

Title: Trans People Take on the World, Nov 1-15 in Itchio 32 Book covers, background a sunset photo by Elise Carlson. The Strangers Sanctuary, S.E. Robertson What Lies Within, Issy Waldon Synthetic Sea, Franklyn S. Newton Non-Player Character, Veo Corva A Life in Too Many Margins, S.E. Thomson Like Salt and Whi Sky, Merlina Garance A Memory of Blood and Magic, K.N. Brindle My Personal Trainer Cracked My Egg, Fern V. Bedek Enemies to Enemies, Ash Kreider The Poison Fruits, E.M. Haegar The Thread That Binds, Cedar McCloud The Wings of Ashtaroth, Steve Hugh Westenra The Elysium Proposal, A.E. Bross Structural Integrity, Tabitha O'Connell Songs of Broken Bells, Lilly Lockwood Echo Sight, Cian Verath The Uncontinented Stars, Haden Cross Between You, Me and the Moonlit Sea, Linn Silver Secondhand Origin Storie, Lee Brontide Blood On The Snow, Finn McLellan Manipulators War, Elise Carlson Powder & Feathers, Johannes T. Evans Our Simulated Selves, Nikki Null All Roads Lead to This, Kay Claire 1000Lotuses, Lotuscarp.com First Rose, Jake Vanguard A Demon to Save Me, H.S. Kallinger Dragons Soul, J.F.R. Coates Garden of Rotten Roses, Nicole Hidalgo Name Her Holy, Aubrey Ennis Baker Thief, Claudie Arsenault Illusory, M.X. Misfits

Really pleased to be part of this Itch bundle of trans fiction for Trans Awareness Month. $35 is a steal for work by some really wonderful authors, so make sure you check it out before it ends.

itch.io/b/3352/trans...

#booksky #QueerWriters

Thank you so much! Best of luck to you this month, too!

Thanks! I hope your writing goes great this month, too!

Hi #Writevember 👋

I'm Zena or Z (all pronouns), a queer, disabled, ND writer, wife, and cat mom. My WIP is about a nonbinary shapeshifter and their adoptive werewolf family. I'm hoping to add 30k to my novel, but I'm counting other docs towards the #NovNov goal

Cat tax 👇 this is Casper 🤍

#LGBTQWriteAThon
I finally have a link to share! My short story was published in the Splendor anthology this week. Read Éd and Letti's first meeting, when an orphaned Éd is adopted by their new family and learns about their fated mate. There are tons of other fantastic stories, too!

a.co/d/0BmnQjY

#LGBTQWriteAThon
Definitely tricky 😅 I've been *really* struggling with this pain flare-up and the weather change. Chronic pain is such BS 🫠

There were some treats tho! My short story was published on Tuesday! 🎉 And I've been having tons of fun playing the Starfall TTRPG and reading Starfall books!

#LGBTQWriteAThon
Well, Éd does try to keep their investigation a secret for a bit, but I feel like their skeletons are more literal? Unprocessed grief is a big motivator for them

Letti is sunshine, rainbows, and anxiety all rolled into a human 😆 She's a pretty open book. And she does love books lol

#LGBTQWriteAThon
Okay, I have no idea what bugbears are 😅 but going off context clues from other replies...

There's someone attacking people on campus and both the enforcers and the dean of the university are doing everything they can to cover it up. People are scared but unsure if they should be

Thank you! And yeah, I only decided to try a November challenge a few days ago so this last week, I'm just trying to fit in what I can lol. Hope your preptober goes well!

#LGBTQWriteAThon
This week's goals:
-Finish writing at least one chapter
-Maybe go through my outline yet again 😅 Preptober and all that lol
-Work on my proofreading course
-Keep up with self-care
-Enjoy my Starfall (TTRPG) sessions
-Finish reading the Skyblossom novella
-Make my wife smile ❤️

#LGBTQWriteAThon
One of my favorite characters is Letti and Éd's cousin, PJ. He has a crush on Lucha, a lion shifter. Lucha has a crush on him. The poor boys are hopeless but I love them so much ❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

#LGBTQWriteAThon
It's been another absolutely horrible pain week, I'm having an awful flare-up, but I accomplished most of my goals this week so I'll take it 🤷 I also signed up for two November writing challenges so we'll see how that goes lol. Fingers crossed this flare ends like, tomorrow 😩🤞

#LGBTQWriteAThon
I still don't have a link to share (hopefully Tuesday! 🤞)

But I did want to say that my post yesterday was a trick. My TTRPG character stole Cookie the wyvern. She's mentioned in my lovely friend Lily Seabrooke's novel Spellbound! It's releasing chapter by chapter on her patreon 👇

#LGBTQWriteAThon
AITA for uhh, borrowing a wyvern?

I (18nb) borrowed a wyvern (no clue how old she is) and we became friends so now we go on adventures together sometimes. She enjoys death drops and is a *huge* fan of racing. Anyone. For any reason. But the enforcers keep saying I stole her 😕 AITA?

Migraine demon, I like that 😆 I'm stealing it lol. I hope you feel better!

I can't believe I forgot to add their wands and probably a sword for each of them 😆

#LGBTQWriteAThon
Ooh, probably their school uniforms...which I have been considering changing so I'm not gonna detail them lol.
Aside from that... Probably some kind of band t-shirt and jeans for Éd, and a flowy hippie outfit for Letti - bell-bottoms, big sleeves, whole thing. And her glasses, maybe

#LGBTQWriteAThon
This week's goals:
-Finish at least one chapter
-Finish editing my outline
-Work on my proofreading course
-Keep up with self-care
-Enjoy my Starfall (TTRPG) sessions ✨
-Read the Skyblossom (Starfall) novella (coming out November 1st 👀)
-Make my wife smile 💖