New Website

Hello, readers of Mapping Out a Sky,

I've decided to move to a more professional author website and archive Mapping Out a Sky. All posts from this blog will remain, but any new updates will be posted at:

Amanda Grace Shu | Author Website

Arkady Revealed

Image description: A digitally-painted portrait of Arkady, a dark-haired, light-skinned young man in a black garment, with golden light reflected onto the left side of his face and golden flames behind him. Art by Amanda Grace Shu.

The 2018-2019 academic year is over, meaning more time for me to devote to my various literary projects, and to this blog, so here's another excerpt from my novel-in-progress, The Shapeshifter Prince!

Previously: Arkady's mother, King Thyld, visited him in his wilderness hideaway to try to convince him to return to the royal court and succeed her as king, following a prophecy that she would die before springtime.

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!

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context: Nostalgia Edition (2008-2011)

It's the beginning of the school year, which means more work for your resident college student and, unfortunately, less time and energy spent on new writing to entertain all you folks here at Mapping Out a Sky. But before I disappear into the mists of academia, here's another round of intriguing and amusing excerpts—this time from various works of mine written years and years ago! Keep an eye out for:

• Preteens snarking about how much "smarter" they are than adults!
• Grown adults snarking about how much smarter they are than other adults!
• The author snarking about the state of the education system!
• Fanfiction! Bonus points if you can guess the fandom.
• Random exclamations!
• Women snarking about the utter incompetence of men and running away with each other!

That's right, it's time for...

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context:

Nostalgia Edition

(2008-2011)

The Cover Project

Hello, readers! I know it's been a while - have I seriously not posted anything since May? - but I thought I'd show you a different side of my skill set today: namely, graphic design.

With the help of Adobe Photoshop and access to a wealth of Creative Commons licensed images, I've made a few mock-up covers for writing projects of mine. The first two covers are for projects I am no longer working on, but I loved designing them and couldn't leave them out.

So, without further ado, I give you the results of The Cover Project!

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context: February, March, and April 2017

Hello, readers! Time for another series of (hopefully) intriguing and/or amusing excerpts from pieces I've been working on—also known as Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context!

There are considerably fewer excerpts this time around, despite combining three months of writing progress. What can I say? My life is busy and my muse fickle. Sorry.

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context:

February, March, and April 2017 Edition

Introducing the Character Directory

Ladies, gentlemen, and non-binary folk, please allow me to introduce you to a brand-new feature of this website: the Character Directory!

Yes, now whenever you hear me go on and on about a character about whom you know absolutely nothing, just head over to the Character Directory page and click on the character's name to get a detailed profile—or, for those pressed for time, a 140-character summary of their personality, Twitter-style.

Alas, previous few of the detailed profiles are actually complete, but I will continue to work on them, because apparently writing about my characters in purely theoretical terms is more appealing than actually working on my novel.

Here's a quick example of a completed profile, for a certain Arkady fe Normonne:

ARKADY 

Full name: Princess Arkadya Magati fa Normonne Prince Arkady Magati fe Normonne 

Age: 20

Gender: Male (Transgender) 

Appearance: 5'5" with pale skin, thin build, and long limbs and fingers. Dark brown/black hair cropped military-style. Dark eyes with epicanthic folds. Small, straight nose typical of fe Normonne ancestry. Small, bound breasts, the left of which has a scar under it. Muscled back and calloused fingers from archery. 

In 140 Characters: Shapeshifter, earth mage, trans man, and reluctant heir to the throne. Tries to avoid politics by running away to forest. Bad decision-maker. 

In More Than 140 Characters: Arkady is the only child and heir of King Mathylde of Kevarya. Because of his gender identity, his relationship with his mother—and with the entire royal court—is fraught with political tension. Introverted and guarded, Arkady does not trust easily and never has. He is fiercely intelligent with a deep hunger for knowledge and an observant eye, but beneath his quiet exterior lies an insecure and emotionally sensitive young man. Although he comes across as antisocial, Arkady is quite empathetic, especially in matters concerning the oppressed. He hates binaries, especially of gender, and has a personalized idea of masculinity to which he ascribes, entirely separate from society's definition of masculinity. To Arkady, gender is an individual creed, and a creed which he takes seriously. If you try to strip him of his identity or take away his freedom to be himself, hell hath no fury like Arkady fe Normonne.

Sound exciting? Well then, head on over and read more!

Valentines

Ah, Valentine's Day. A day to celebrate love in all its different forms. Though, come to think of it, Saint Valentine is also the patron saint of beekeeping, epilepsy, and the plague... and I'm sick in bed this Valentine's Day. Thank you ever so much, Saint Valentine. I'd better not have the actual plague.

Anyway, here are some... unique valentines my characters have sent and received this year.

To Willow Quince, from everyone's favorite bisexual scythe-and-swordswoman:

To a certain Creatrix, from Paris's most dangerous wannabe goddess:

To Sebastian Antonyve, from the Highest Adviser of Kevarya:

To Silias Longwood, from a notorious pyromaniacal rebel leader:

To Morian Redfern, from the resident drunken Scotsman:

And finally, to Geneviève Sondheim, from a brilliant neurologist who's a bit too morally gray for comfort:

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context: January 2017

Hello, dear readers!

Those who know me in real life may already know that I've been working on a massive update to this website. This is not that update. This is, instead, random excerpts from projects I've been working on (Kevarya, the Danse Macabre/Crossfire universe, and an interactive game called Villains), some of which have been previously posted on my Tumblr, to some praise from random strangers on the Internet:

Image description: Three screenshots of Tumblr post tags, reading: "#[three shocked emojis] #are you ever like #in suspense #because #[four shocked emojis]," "#I CAN'T STOP QUOTING THIS #AND IT'S YOUR FAULT," and "#a what now #grigory wht are you doing #GRIGORY IS ANNOYED I'M LIVEBLOGGING HIS INTERROGATION #*screams* #i'm really worried about grigory tbh," followed by an anonymous comment, "lol I love your dialogue. good job man," and the author's reply: "I keep trying to write these serious, emotional scenes and all my characters want to do is snark at each other. I love them so much."

Welcome to Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context. I hope to make this a monthly series, so you have not seen the last of these amusing glimpses into the lives of my characters.

Disclaimer: These excerpts come from works of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events are probably just a coincidence.

Things I've Written, Entirely Out of Context:

January 2017 Edition

Prophecy

Foreground digital painting of character i-Aten Elena drawn © Amanda Grace Shu 2016. Background image source credit to Frank Vincentz via Wikimedia Commons.

It's time to introduce you to a new character in the Kevarya Universe, one completely unrelated to the Royal Family with which A Winter's Ball was so concerned. Their name is i-Aten Elena, or just Elena, and they provide the first hint of magic at play.

Now a note about Elena. Elena is what's known as genderfluid, a term which may trip up some people. Genderfluidity, according to Genderfluid Support, can be defined as "the feeling of fluidity within your gender identity; feeling a different gender as time passes or as situations change; not restricted to any number of genders." Elena uses singular they pronouns (they/them/theirs). Is this grammatically correct? Yes, of course it is. The singular "they" was even named the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year in 2015. Pronouns have changed from plural to singular before, and since language itself is constantly changing, the idea of what is grammatically correct is rather, shall we say... fluid. Like gender. Or, for example, the nature of Time Itself.

Speaking of which...

Prophecy