Shapeshifter

Image description: a raven in flight, its tail and wing feathers dissolving into black smoke,
lit from behind by a large, yellow-tinted full moon. Image from Pixabay.

I think it's high time for another excerpt from my novel-in-progress, don't you agree?

This passage comes from the very beginning of the book, featuring Arkady (as usual) and Thyld. We've seen some of Arkady's relationship with his mother and the beginning of his search for transformation magic... Now it's time for these two aspects of his identity to come into direct conflict.

Enjoy!

Shapeshifter

Kevarya: Kevaryese Language

Image description: a pair of eyeglasses resting on and magnifying a handwritten alphabet in medieval-style calligraphy.

I'm a bit of a language nerd. (If you know me in real life, you're probably rolling your eyes and calling that an understatement.) And now, like J.R.R. Tolkien before me, I have combined my passion for languages with my passion for fantasy worldbuilding and writing to create a fantasy language of my very own! And now you lovely readers get to experience firsthand how deep the rabbit hole goes. Here's a page full of information on the structure of this fictional language that only I know!

Skip to the "Common Phrases" section if you just want to learn some cool made-up words without getting bogged down in linguistics jargon.

Ver ath Kevarya allai!

Cross-posted to WorldAnvil on 9/1/18.

KEVARYESE LANGUAGE

Kevarya: An Introduction to the Kingdom

Image description: a cross-section of the map of the Kevarya Universe. 
Design and photo edit by Amanda Grace Shu.

I'm back! Yes, after a long and arduous journey through Camp Nanowrimo (total wordcount: 55,447), I have returned with the greater part of a novel and some new worldbuilding information. So who's excited to hear me ramble about the history of a country that doesn't exist?

Anyone?

Well, I'm excited, anyway...

An Introduction to
THE KINGDOM OF KEVARYA

Him

Image description: statue of a mother holding her infant child. The child's hand is pressed to the mother's cheek.

This is a story I started working on three years ago. Since then, it has gone through a number of revisions and rejections, and ultimately I decided to let it be as is while expanding on the characters and world in what would become the Kevarya Universe and The Shapeshifter Prince, my project for the upcoming Camp Nanowrimo. Some details have changed since I wrote it; for example, Arkady's name meaning and how he acquires it is very different in this story than in The Man Who Is Revealed. Still, the emotional truth of Him remains an essential part of both Arkady and Thyld's character development.

Content warning for misgendering, transphobia, and attempted suicide.

Him

Confluence & Ode to My Muscles

Image description: A young woman seen from behind, clutching the top of her head. The muscles of her back are strained and ridges of her spine visible. From Pixabay.

I'm taking a break from Kevarya this week to showcase some recently rediscovered poetry from 2015. It's somewhat hard to believe that three years have passed since I wrote these, but in a way, it makes sense, since they had started to fade from my memory.

Both poems deal with the relationship between mind and body, exploring both the positive and negative sides of physical awareness. Confluence contains references to characters you may recognize from other posts, while Ode to My Muscles deals with a topic I've rarely touched upon here: my experience as a disabled person.

So, without further ado, here's...

Confluence &

Ode to My Muscles

The Man Who Is Revealed

Image description: A digitally-painted portrait of Arkady, a dark-haired, light-skinned young man in a black cloak, with a mysterious golden flame in the background. Art by Amanda Grace Shu.

I recently came to the realization that I have posted incredibly little about Arkady fe Normonne, given that he is the primary protagonist of my novel. He has appeared as a secondary character in other excerpts I've posted, but nothing from his own point of view.

That ends today. In honor of pride month, I present you with a short coming-out scene, narrated by Arkady (twelve years old when this takes place) and featuring Sebastian, whom you may remember from A Winter's Ball. Enjoy!

The Man Who Is Revealed

Kevarya: Tales from the Family Tree

Image description: a four-generation family tree showing the genealogy of the main characters in my Kevarya Universe.

If the world of fiction has taught me anything, it's that every high fantasy universe needs a cool fantasy map and an extensive genealogy of its big, screwed-up royal family. Since Kevarya is, at its heart, all about a big, screwed-up royal family, here is my attempt at a family tree, along with some entertaining anecdotes about various members who will likely have no impact on the actual plot of the novel.

Now, without further ado, here's...

Tales from the Family Tree

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context: Academia Edition (2017-18)

It's time for another...

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context:

Academia Edition

(2017-18 Term)

A.K.A. all the times my personal writing style may have influenced my academic writing style a little too much, to the chagrin and occasional amusement of my professors. In this essay I will discuss:

• Misapplied science!
• Conspiracy theories about children's books!
• Shade thrown at literary characters!
• Puns!
• Memes!
• Whiny Heterosexual Men™ called out on their nonsense!
• And, as is to be expected, a great deal of sarcasm!

Kevarya: An Introduction to Magic

Image description: a silhouette of a raven in flight, magically vanishing into smoke, with a background of swirling nebulae and stars. Photo edit by Amanda Grace Shu.

Last week I promised you all some magic, so here's a look at the magic system of the Kevarya Universe. What happens when a powerful metaphysical force, unbound by the laws of nature, develops a mind of its own? Find out in An Introduction to Magic.

Kevarya: Updated Maps (Interactive!)

School is out for the summer, which hopefully means more content on a more regular basis for you, my wonderful readers!

It should surprise no one that I love worldbuilding, so when I discovered WorldAnvil, I was delighted to find a platform that would allow me to share all the pointless miscellaneous details of my fictional universe with the world! One particularly exciting tool I discovered was an interactive map feature which allows you to upload images and add tags to it, much like Google Maps, to give brief descriptions of the major cities and landmarks. Thrilled, I updated the maps I had put together in Photoshop over a year ago (really? it's been a year?), and annotated away.

Here are the results, along with the non-interactive new map designs.

The Northern Continent: Interactive Version Here

 The Southern Continent: Interactive Version Here

Thanks again to WorldAnvil. Any Kevarya-related article or piece of writing I post here will also be cross-posted there. Next up: a look at magic and mages in the Kevarya Universe. What happens when metaphysical energy gains a mind of its own?

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context: Nostalgia Edition (2011-2015)

It's time for another...

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context:

Nostalgia Edition

(2011-2015)

This time featuring:

• Bad puns!
• Badass ladies!
• Gratuitous pop culture references and/or literary allusions!
• NaNoWriMo inside jokes!
• Snarky one-liners!
• Snarky narrators!
• And characters being unusually self-aware and pointing out flaws in the narrative! Because they will never pass up an opportunity to make fun of their author.

Also, a significant portion of these excerpts come from a roleplay written with collaborators Len, Katrina, and Rebecca, so be sure to appreciate their contributions!