R.M. Grant

🛑CW: pain and injury description 🛑

Daud adjusts to his new burns.

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

A moodboard consisting of 9 images. They're outlined in black. The background is of a grey ocean. Two images are quotes of black text on a grey background. They read "I have the sea foam in my veins, I understand the language of the waves" and "The sea and I are long time lovers" A foggy seaside shack, with an abandoned boat leaning against it. A hand reaching through murky water. On a piece of grey paper is a sketch of a compass in black ink. A pile of grey fish. On dark blue waves, with a dark blue sky and seagulls flying around it, is a fishing boat. A view of a grey ocean through a porthole.

THE LIGHTHOUSE + BLOOD IN THE BAYOU

Callum Point, a queer transman moves to a dead-end fishing town only to find it full of semi-mad townsfolk, monstrous fish, and an ever-present fog that whispers to him.

#QuestPit #Q #A #H

He was Daud, and he survived. He was Daud, and he would avenge his people. He was Daud, and. SAINTFIRE (the text is accompanied by a hand holding a flame) She would claim the moon as her own. She would wrench it down from the heavens if she had to. Soon, she knew, the moonless girl would have a name.

POPPY WAR x STARVING SAINTS
set in the tumult of a reimagined Reconquista
🔥trans + plus-sized protagonists
🔥sacrifice-based magic system
🔥enemies to rivals to lovers
🔥found family forged in ruin
🔥heartwrenching twists

#QuestPit #Q #A #DF #LGBT #own

“She makes death taste like chocolate.” Picture of a girl in a white dress in a dark lake with her arm over her chest and white roses over her torso. “Grave of flowers by Dua Ceren Ay”

Grave of Flowers by Dua Ceren Ay Opening Lines: Every sane person knows better than to paint their walls eggshell white, but electric blue? That had to be a crime. Like whoever decided on the color scheme of this place was avoiding the topic altogether; yes, we were all crazy in here, and yes, we all knew they wanted to avoid the clichés. So, no straitjackets, no padded rooms, no dull hospital gowns, just rooms and rooms and rooms of color until we bored ourselves to sleep or knocked ourselves out from the overstimulation. We had Kelsie the high schooler folks who had become regulars around here liked to call Iron Fist—to thank for that demonstration. It was just that the windows didn't open from the bottom, everything had a soft edge or lock, and the nurses had a way of always smiling at us as if we birthed their children. It was the little things that poked me. So it was even more ridiculous that the early morning hour made the place seem... peaceful.

Comps. A Flicker in The Dark by Stacy Willingham: past repeats itself, small town, investigation. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig: Depressed MC, Magical Realism, Healing and new beginnings. Anxious people by Fredrik Backman: dysfunctional group of friends, social isolation, hope

Tropes: found family, unreliable narrator, treasure hunt/investigation, lost memories, small town. Themes: second coming-of-age, feminism, identity, overcoming trauma, friendship

On an island quietly haunted by ghosts of grieving women, a depressed chocolatier teams up with five strangers—with scars of their own—to find their killer. Of the six, only five are really alive.

Spirited Away x Shutter Island

#QuestPit #W #A #F #T #PR

A trans assassin who wanted to be a knight. A sorceress who wanted to be a princess.

⚔️He will do whatever it takes to avenge his people
🩸To protect herself, she must sacrifice others

Together they will burn angels and kings

#QuestPit #Q #A #DF #LGBT #own

A different WIP today; a short story I've been tinkering on for years but am finally attempting to finish and submit.

Today's word appears in the very first paragraph... That feels auspicious.

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #amquerying

Doing #questpit Wednesday, finishing some edits to my first seven chapters, & sending a few more queries 🙏

A series of quotes: - i want to write daud/thahira fanfic so bad it makes me look stupid - OUGH - THAHIRAA - THIS SECTION HAUNTS ME AND I AM OBSESSED WITH THE POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS - CHILLS. WHAT [redacted] SAID. GOOD ENDING LINE. - Oh Thahira you will always be famous - day #37 of daud on the brain - this whole scene is just so crazy. Obsessed - rosemary i ate it, i ate your book. i liked it so much i ate it - the fact im so agonized should be a compliment to you

Some of my favorite beta reader feedback so far on my #darkfantasy Saintfire
#writingcommunity #amquerying

A sword-saint's guide to SAINTFIRE: an adult dark fantasy complete at 125,000 words. "They were forged by cruelty... Now they'll set the world alight."

PITCH: "Vengeance is the only prayer they have left." When a tormented former concubine trained in dark magic and a scarred trans swordsman are forced to fight side by side in a gladiatorial arena, their shared hunger for revenge ignites something far greater than themselves: a fire that could burn angels, kings, and their own humanity alike.

COMPS: The Starving Saints by Cailtin Starling: Twisted queer love, horrific sacrifices, monstrous villains, and esoteric fantasy. The Poppy War by RF Kuang: Dark bildungsroman, grim setting, and philosophical interrogations of magic The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw: Trans and queer protagonists, found family, tragic ends, and blood-soaked imagery

SNEAK PEAK: "Very well. How does one free the soul?" This question, Thahira had thought, was the simplest. Death, of course. Death frees the soul. For a time. Every faith around the world agreed that there was life beyond death. The shaman and scholars of Mircalla believed in the churning moon-wheel of reincarnation. The heretics of the west believed in a conquered heaven, ruled by a long dead man—absurd. Both systems, every system, simply rearranged the deceased from one system of control to another. Even death was not freeing, she realized. It was merely the shuffling of feet. So. How does one free the soul? “By shoveling so much divinity inside oneself that you cannot help but rise, like a balloon filled with fire,” she said. “By capturing so many gods within your stomach that your soul is made divine itself.” So that the maggot can become the fly. Madra’s eyes shone brighter, as if the oblong moon burned from inside each of her twin pupils. Moonlight, silver and blue, reflected off of her teeth from the water beside. “Well, then, my girl. How do you capture a hidden god?” Thahira barked out a single laugh. “Isn’t it obvious?” she asked. “You eat it.”

#AgentsGuide to SAINTFIRE, an adult dark fantasy inspired by Berserk, Poppy War, Starving Saints, and The Salt Grows Heavy.

Blood-stained action. Plus-sized, morally-gray witch x sweetheart, scarred transmasc knight turned assassin. Enemies to doomed lovers. Lots more!

#GhostPit #A #C #F

A 3x3 grid of images including: - two bloody, clawed hands - a sandy medieval alleyway - a burning hand - ominous red stained glass - two hands embracing - a full moon mirrored over water - a body with a burning head underwater - candles - a black haired woman in repose

SAINTFIRE

🔥 Sacrifice-based magic system
🔥 Struggling against fate
🔥 #ownvoices plus-sized + trans MCs
🔥 Enemies to rivals to doomed lovers
🔥 "only one bed in the gladiatorial cell"
🔥 Reconquista inspired setting
🔥 Found family
🔥 Vampire aes

#GhostPit #A #DF #querying

Absolutely -- I'll DM you!

"but yeah like. exceptionally well written, great characters, enjoyed it to pieces, ending felt like watching a loved one get splattered by a freight train"

Got some feedback from a beta reader who just finished Saintfire.... Oops? 🤭 I warned her it had a tragic ending!

#writingcommunity #amquerying

🛑 CW: severe burns mention 🛑

Archbishop Marcellon investigates Daud as a potential candidate for recruitment while he tends to his sweeping and tidying.

#WipSnips #WritingCommunity #DarkFantasy

Thahira
🚩: Spiteful, catty, mean for fun
✅: FIERCELY loyal, will absolutely kill for you

Daud
🚩: Super religious in an unaware way
✅: Sweetest most chivalrous most devoted man you'll ever meet

#writingcommunity #ghostpit #amquerying

🛑 CW: nudity, burn mention 🛑

Daud recalls his first encounter with the Witch's Manikin, a costumed, heretical knight

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity

At the same time, "taking reflection" is similar to something like taking communion. Intentionally and privately viewing your reflection is seen as a holy act to clear the mind

#amquerying #writingcommunity #darkfantasy

#OctoberWorldbuilders 28:

In the west, sharing a reflection with someone is the same as sharing nudity. Fountains are made to froth, metal is forged covered in grit, windows stained or non-existent, all to make reflections harder to encounter by accident

Saintfire has not one but two gender-affirming-magic sex scenes (top and bottom ""surgery""). Now I just need to find my audience LOL
#queerwriters #amquerying

In Saintfire, Thahira's weapon is her breath made magic through sacrifice.

Daud's is a sword, though he goes through three: The first is humble and hand-forged, the second the glass sword of a desert assassin, and the third the legendary crystal blade of a saint.

#amquerying

🛑 CW: animal and people violent death 🛑

When confronted with horrific violence, Thahira is reminded of a blood-curdling memory.

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#OctoberWorldbuilders Day 27:
Saintfire is about (among other things) finding community / love after trauma, and the difficulties and joys and sheer importance of that experience. I hope my readers hug their best friends after they put the book down.
#writingcommunity #amquerying

P.S.: his inspiration came from the question "what if Killua Zoldyck didn't escape his family until he was much older and even more jaded?" Iykyk

He's remarkably funny, affable, and kind for what he's lived through, and acts as the biggest ally to my MCs throughout their gravest challenges

I... love him a lot. Very dear character to me!

Caeus was the King's assassin until the job broke him, and he willingly spent six years as a prisoner in the royal fighting pits

Throughout the second half of the book, he learns (or relearns?) that he's more than a broken weapon when he joins the MC's found family

#writingcommunity #amquerying

25. Oh! I love this prompt. Gnosticism (esp valentinian) is a MASSIVE influence on the philosophy, religion, and magic of this book.
26. I did my best to be historically accurate to 12th-13th century Spain (and Gujarat India, for Thahira's 'backstory')
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24. Extremely dark and intentionally troubling, but with a silver throughline of humanity, mortality, friendship, love... I've always called it a found family story, but family sometimes means confronting the darkness inside of others

23. "Aoudegar was a city unlike anything Daud had ever laid eyes on. Red stone walls, tiled with geometric patterns, stretched over the hills of Rodan... The buildings at the top of the hill had been walled and then—like a child outgrowing his hose—spilled out only to be walled again, and again."

21 cont. In the city, many people might be crammed into one house or people may have individual rooms, depending on wealth level. Architecture and culture is very 12th-13th century Spanish
22. See my friend's beautiful art here: bsky.app/profile/film...

20. The infrastructure was carved out by slaves during the Meridian occupation, and then repurposed after the Liberation
21. In the country, people live in family homes. Orphans might be squeezed in where they fit (e.g. Daud sleeps in a pigeon loft).

17. Food comes from farms surrounding hamlets and cities. Aoudegar, the capital, has been besieged so many times that its people have converted most rooftops into gardens
18. Wind and water powered mills (and beasts of burden) are the closest to automation in the setting
19. Aqueducts