Fairytale for the lonely heart, chapter 92 waves

Eventually Anneli grew accustom to the constant rocking of the boat and the overwhelming salty scent of the sea which permeated every crevice of the boat. Anneli stood on the deck leaning against the rails staring into the sea. The deep blue waves flowed far into the horizon yet still beat against the body of the ship.

“Hey”

Anneli turned and saw Helen walk up to him. She stood beside him and looked in to the ocean together.

“Have you been avoiding Castor?”

“No, why?”

“Because Castor said you were. Did something happen yesterday?”

“No, nothing,” replied Anneli with a sigh. The eastern wind blew over them bringing the scent of a distant land.

“So,” began Helen, “why are you traveling with my brother.”

Anneli smirked,”am I in trouble?”

“Depends, did you do something?”

Anneli turned to Helen and looked into the eyes that were so similar to Castor’s. “No I didn’t. Castor promised to take me to the desert if I helped him find a rose.”

“Why do you want to go to the desert?”

“Because two magic fish told me if I go the desert I will find love.”

Helen choked stifling her laughter. “What? Really? You believed them.”

“Well yes. Besides the only reason Castor even went to find a rose is because some fortune teller said he should be king.”

“Fair enough,” said Helen with a smile and shrug of the shoulders. “But you have to admit your fortune was rather vague.”

“Yes but there was nothing much for me back home, so any hope of a better life is a good reason to leave.”

“Mn…” Helen looked at the blue infinity and the swirling uncertain sky. “He told you about that stuff did he? I mean about becoming the king and about father and Pollux.”

“Yeah. He spoke about you as well. He said he was jealous of you.”

“Really? He’s jealous?”

Anneli nodded. “Castor said he wished he was brave enough to run away himself, but he cared too much about what other people thought and wanted to prove himself.”

“He must really trust you to tell you all those things.”

“I don’t know if he trusts me,” replied Anneli. “He did not tell me anything about himself until just recently. Even then it was because he was in a really bad state.”

“Still, he never opens up to anyone, not even me.”

Anneli was silent of a moment, hesitating whether to tell Helen what he wanted to. “Helen, Castor said he does not want to be king.”

“I figured, especially after what our father tried to do and considering how Castor was treated in the past.”

“But his behavior doesn’t make any sense- why would he risk his life to get the rose and go back to your country if he did not want to become king? He could have run away to anywhere else.”

“Well… no one but Castor really knows what’s going on his head. He can be manipulative and two-face…you should be careful as well.”

“What are you two talking about?” announced Castor as he approached them. He leaned against the rails placing his hands on either side of Anneli.

“Were you talking about me?” asked Castor with a grin and then placed his chin on Anneli’s head.

“Our lives don’t revolve around you Castor,” replied Helen her words dripping with sarcasm.

Castor laughed, “does that mean you were?”

“Maybe- so you are jealous of me Castor?” asked Helen. Castor stared at Helen for a second perplexed.

“What did he tell you? What did you tell her?”

Helen laughed. “I was told that you were jealous because you wanted to run away like me.”

“Anneli why would you tell her that? I told you that in confidence,” chuckled Castor.

“How are you feeling?” asked Anneli softly.

“I’m alright. Well….not much better but I was bored in my room all alone,” muttered Castor.

“You should go back and rest, your injuries are still bad,” replied Anneli.

“Are you coming as well?”

“Not just yet.”

“What? Are you saying the sea is more interesting than I am?” whined Castor.

Anneli paused for a moment then said,”yes.”

 

Fairytale for the lonely heart, chapter 91 lulled

Castor sat on the creaking bead and stripped his clothing. The blood from his wounds had already soaked through the bandages. Castor sighed. Every movement, every breath was painful. He wanted to sleep but even lying down would be too uncomfortable. Anneli sat beside him and held Castor’s hand.

“She was quite cruel to you. She knew you were hurt but she was still rough.”

“Yeah,” chuckled Castor, “that’s just how she is.”

“You should sleep Castor,” said Anneli softly. Castor looked at their entangled hands and a warm little light flickered inside him. “Alright,” he whispered and placed his forehead against Anneli’s. Anneli was not sure how to respond but nuzzled Castor back for a while. He placed the pillow against the wall for Castor to lean on.

“Does it hurt?” asked Anneli, fluffing the pillow.

“Yes, but I don’t think it can hurt any less,” remarked Castor with a weak smile.

“Do you want some water Castor?”

“No, it is fine. But come sleep,” Castor outstretched his hand to Anneli who hesitated.

“Helen does not want us to sleep in the same bed,” replied Anneli.

“Just ignore her, there is only one bed.”

“But you are hurt.”

“I doubt you will hurt me more than I already am.”

Anneli did not need a lot of coxing. He had been awake for over a day and the adrenaline had diminished. His body was tired and his eyelids grew heavier. Anneli crawled into the bed and lent against Castor, nestling his head in the crook of Castor’s neck. Castor’s warmth and the sound of his beating heart lulled Anneli to sleep.

BANG BANG BANG

Anneli woke up with a jolt. He had no idea where he was or how long he was asleep.

BANG BANG BANG

The sound again thundered at the door. Half asleep Anneli crawled over Castor and hopped to the door. He slowly unlocked the door. The door flung open and Helen marched into the room. She gave the tray she was holding to Anneli and slammed the door close. Anneli placed the tray on the small table and ate one of the small purple fruits. It was sweet but somehow both fibrous and gelatinous.

Helen stomped up to Castor, “here,” she said, placing three white tablets in Castor’s palm.

“What is it?” asked Castor, drowsily inspecting the pills.

“Hey Anneli, bring some water,” growled Helen. Anneli quickly poured some water, brought the glass to the bed and handed it to Castor.

“These are just painkiller. I’ll come later to re-dress your wounds and apply some more disinfectants.”

“Thank you Helen,” replied Castor weakly and drank the medicine. Helen placed her forehead against Castor’s for a moment. Anneli’s head constricted for a moment watching them. He did not understand this dark feeling but he knew he hated it.

“Sleep a bit longer and eat something. I talked to the captain, he said we can leave tomorrow morning. Lock the door behind me please, Anneli.”

Helen stomped out of the room and Anneli locked the door behind her. Anneli climbed onto the bed but Castor was already asleep so he curled up beside him.

Fairytale for the Lonely heart, Chapter 90

Anneli was in awe of the gigantic ship that they climbed on. The long sable body glistened in the sunshine and sea spray and the bright red sails were curled up in the mast.

“This is the ship you got?” smirked Castor, “how discrete, it’s only father’s razor ship is only the shinny star of the armada.”

“Shut up Castor,” hissed Helen as she placed Anneli on the ground. “I have itching urge to throw you off the deck and let the sharks eat you.”

Castor rolled his eyes, “Well-” Anneli tugged on his sleeve and abruptly cut him off.

“Don’t Castor,” whispered Anneli, “you will only rile each other up more.” Castor looked at Anneli, and felt the clouds lift from his mind.

“Alright,” muttered Castor. He put his arm around Anneli’s shoulder and pulled him closer. He sighed again, “Hey Helen, I’m sorry for being a jerk.”

Helen turned and a giant smirk spread across his face. “What? Castor apologizing for being a smart-ass? It might rain today.”

They followed Helen inside the ship. The interior of the ship was dimly lit by yellow lamps periodically placed along narrow hallways made of crafted dark wood.

“Where are we going?” asked Castor, getting lost in the maze of hallways.

“I am taking you to your room, after that I am going to talk to the captain and tell him to take us back. He is probably going to be really suspicious since I said that we will be here for a month.”

“What are you going to say?” asked Castor.

“I am not sure. I can say, ‘something went wrong,’ or ‘there is an emergency back home’ but he will definitely be very suspicious. That is why you need to hide in your room at least until we leave port. We don’t need the sailors protesting.”

“That,” remarked Helen pointing at a nondescript door, “that is your room. It is the only one that locks from the inside for some reason. Unfortunately there is only one bed.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Alright but-” Helen looked at Castor, then Anneli, then back at Castor and then grimaced. “One second-” Helen grabbed Castor by the collar of his shirt, pulled him away from Anneli and then threw Castor against the wall.

“YOU BETTER NOT BE UP TO ANYTHING!” whispered Helen, with hiss of a venomous viper.

“What are you talking-”

“I SWEAR TO FIDIM IF YOU IN ANYWAY INAPPROPRIATE WITH INNOCENT ANNELI I WILL CUT OUT YOUR NIPPLES.”

“What?”

“I WILL CUT YOU-” Helen whispered then shoved Castor again in his wounded shoulder and trudged down the hallway.

“Are you alright?” asked Anneli.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go wait in the room.”

 

 

 

Fairytale for the lonely heart, Chapter 89 a seed

Anneli hurried behind Castor and Helen through the market towards the port.

“How did you get a ship? Father must have found out.”

“It was fine, Pollux helped and-”

Castor almost choked on the scoff that Helen’s statement summoned to his mouth.

“What? Did Pollux suddenly materialize a conscious or did Araliya browbeat it into him.”

“Step off Castor, Pollux was really upset when he heard about what happened to you.”

“Well it is a bit late now. It would have been great if he cared enough when the court snubbed me or when he was clearly aware that father was out to get me. I have no gratitude for someone who only helped after the fact to only sooth their own guilt.”

“He is our brother he-”

“We don’t choose our siblings Helen. He did not help you when you left for the desert, he did not help Clytemnestra when she wanted to be a priestess, it was only mother and I who helped you. Pollux did nothing but chastise us and silently follow father despite he himself almost starting a war when he eloped.”

Unable to effectively and sharply rebuke Castor, Helen scoffed. The air around them was thick and heavy. Anneli feared any stray spark could be catastrophic.

“You,” growled Helen, turning to Anneli.

“Y-y-yes?”

“What is you name?”

“Anneli.” Helen scooped up Anneli in her arms. Strangely embarrassed Anneli curled into a ball, trying to make himself smaller.

“What are you doing?” snapped Castor. Helen shot him a dirty look and turned away.

“So Anneli, don’t you think Castor is kind of a jerk? ”

“I don’t think so,” replied Anneli, meekly glancing at Castor. Castor ignored them, trying to give Helen the satisfaction of a reaction.

“Really? I think he is really selfish and rather hypocritical and manipulative. Even though he promises to help you he often does not keep his word and even when he makes good on his promises he always has ulterior motives. He is always smiling and charming but he is actually cunning and will use any means necessary to get what he wants.”

Anneli looked at Castor who did not meet his eye, instead choosing to look forward with a scowl across his face and anger in his eyes. With that a seed of doubt was planted firmly in Anneli’s mind. For the first time he was questioning his blind faith in Castor.

Writing LGBT+ characters

There is terrible lack of diversity and even when there is diversity it is often not done well. Just having a LGBT+ character for the sake of having a LGBT+ character can sometimes be worse than not having any at all. Being gay is not a personality trait! Being gay can something that defines a character but it should not be the only thing that defines a character. Sexuality defines you as a person because society defines you by your sexuality. When you are writing a LGBT+ character you need to be aware of how their society thinks of or treats LGBT+ people. Especially if your character is in a contemporary story the climate they live will shape their behavior.

A few things to think about when writing about LGBT+ characters.

1. How does the society in your story treat or think of LGBT+ character? Do they treat lesbians and gay men differently? Do they treat trans men and trans women differently? What does your society think about queer people, non-binary, pansexual, polysexual, asexual etc.
2. Everyone is a little bias and close-minded. Even if your main character (queer or not) will have their own biases. No one is perfect because most biases are unconscious and are ingrained in us. Your character working through their own hang ups can be part of their journey. There are gay men who are sexist, trans people who are racist and bisexuals who are homophobic. Be aware of your own biases because they do translate into your story.
3. Is your character openly LGBT+ and to who? A character can be open about their gender and sexuality to their friends but not to their work, family, school etc.
4. How are they treated because of their gender/sexuality?
5. Avoid stereotypes. This can be difficult to avoid because there are people who behave like the stereotype and their are people who do not. Sometimes I feel that writers will have stereo-typically gay character but have them only as sidekicks and or background characters.
6. Sometimes you just cannot relate. If you are heterosexual and cis gender you just cannot relate to LGBT+ characters. You do not know how they feel or how they behave. LGBT+ people have to think a lot more about things straight do not have to bother with.
7. Not having LGBT+ characters does not make your story homophobic/transphobic. Having LGBT+ character does not make your story not homophobic/transphobic.

Do

1. Do research. Talk to LGBT+ people about your character or simply about their experiences.
2. Do add LGBT+ characters if you want to, even  if you are not LGBT+ yourself.
3. Do add different LGBT+ characters. Not just gay, lesbians and bisexuals. Add trans people, queer people, asexual people, poly-sexual people, demisexual, intersex, non-binary, gender fluid etc.

Do not

1. Do not make your character stereotype but do not pretend they do not exist.
2. Do not make their gender/sexuality their entire personality.
3. Do not add LGBT+ characters simply to add diversity.
4. Do add LGBT+ characters to simply kill them off (or try not to). It is a morbid cliche at this point.
5. Do not make them magic because of their gender/sexuality. Sometimes writers can try too hard and make their LGBT+ character so amazing they are not realistic and are basically magic.

Adding LGBT+ characters are great! Their is a severe lack of them and many people are starving for them. Although I think sometimes people tend to like character who are not that great simply because they are desperate for any LGBT+ character (me included). I think people tend to forget how important media can be in influencing your perception of LGBT+ people as well as to come to term with their own sexuality/gender.

Fairytale for the lonely heart, Chapter 87 The rescue

The shouting voices became louder and louder. A young soldier ran back to the room, looking disheartened and stressed. “S-sir, we have a problem,” he stuttered.

“What’s going on?” whispered one of the soldiers to another. The middle aged soldier, with medals pined to the breast of his uniform stood up from his chair and shut his book with a clap.

“What is the commotion?” asked the older soldier.

“Well, you see there is this person. They are making a fuss and we can’t seem to calm them down.”

The older man sighed, “really now.”

The thundering sound of heavy boots reverberated through the building as the mysterious person came closer. Castor on the other hand was thoroughly amused and if the soldiers had been nicer to him he may have attempted not two show his pleasure at that distress. A figure in a long dark coat appeared in the door way, with a large hood obscuring their face.

“By Fidim Castor! Why did you go and get yourself arrested?” proclaimed the figure in a booming voice.

“HELEN?”

The figure removed their hood and standing in the doorway was the most beautiful woman any of the soldiers had ever seen. Many of them gasped only now realizing that the loud and violent person was in fact a woman.

“Helen, what are you doing here? HOW did you get here?”

All the soldiers stared at Helen as if she were manna from heaven and they were starving in the desert. They were entranced by her deep dark eyes and glistening umber skin…..

“Castor, that is not important. What did you do to get arrested? And HOW did you get all these injuries?”

……until she spoke and they were swiftly snapped back to reality. They remembered that she had forcefully entered a military building. They remembered that she was loud, violent and rude but those eyes were a snare they did not want to escape.

“What did he do to get arrested?” asked Helen turning to the soldier who was still holding Castor by the shoulder.

“What- I um… uh-”

“What’s wrong are you having a fit?”

“No Helen. You seem to have forgotten that the sight of you knocks Muktaba out of the heads of lesser men.”

“What?” said the soldier furiously glaring at Castor and tightening his grip.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” replied Castor to his captor, “Muktaba is a god of wisdom and learning. One says ‘Muktaba has been knocked out of ones head’ if one is acting like a complete dumb ass.”

“Castor please stop angering the local military, we don’t want this to escalate into a international conflict. Though these men probably have as much influence in international politics as a termite in a chess game.”

“He was fighting in public,” said a voice in the room.

“Who was what now?” asked Helen who was only half-paying attention.

“That was why he was arrested,” said the older soldier and punctuating his sentence with a cough for good measure.

“Oh,” remarked Helen. “How much is his fine? I can pay it now.”

“It is not that simple,” said the soldier, “this is the second time he got arrested so he needs to have a judge look over his case.”

“Alright, what did he do the first time?” asked Helen nearing the end of her patience.

“He was in possession of a large amount of money and a magic jeweled knife. Items thought to have been stolen by him,” replied the soldier.

Helen sighed loudly exasperated and rolled her eyes, “Castor- how did you get arrested for stealing your own things?”

“I don’t Helen! The people here are mad and they won’t listen to a word I say!”

Helen turned to the older soldier and pointed to Castor, “you know he is a prince right? I don’t know if you WANT to be the people arrested the future king of Apophis. You know the Fidiom are known to be vengeful and bloodthirsty. Do you really want to insight the wrath of the people blessed by the gods?”

“He wasn’t lying about being a Prince?” sputtered the older soldier.

“Your gods gave you ears and brains. Why not use them?”

“Let him go,” said the older soldier.

“But what if she is lying as well? They might be accomplices,” argued the soldier not letting go of Castor’s shoulder.

“Well,” said Helen reaching into the pocket of her coat, “I, unlike my brother, actually brought proof of my identity.” From within her pocket Helen too out a gold disk with a delicate geometric emblem etched on it. “This is my emblem. You see the lion, that means I am part of the royal family of Pyropolis.”

The soldiers came closer and stared at the golden disk.

“I can’t believe they let you take that out of the palace,” said Castor just as shocked to see Helen’s seal.

“Well, I would not say they ‘let’ me take it. But I needed some proof of who I was and they won’t mind me borrowing it.”

The older soldier sighed, “let him go,” he repeated. This time the soldier quickly withdrew his hand and stepped back.

“Where are my things?” demanded Castor and a soldier scurried away to get Castor’s belongings. Castor walked over to Helen with a goofy smile. “Thank you for saving me udade.”

“I’m just glad you are alright,” replied Helen, gripping Castor’s forearm affectionately.

Fairytale for the lonely heart, Chapter 86 The interrogation

Castor was lead to a dimly to a room filled with soldiers and instructed to sit on an uncomfortable stool. A middle aged solider holding a book and pen sat on a chair in front of him and slowly opened up his book. Castor noticed the other soldiers glancing at him from the side of their eyes. The older soldier had several medals pinned on the breast of his uniform. Castor was unfamiliar with ranks in the Saxon army but suspected he must be a Colonel or have some other equivalent rank. The soldier cleared his throat to get Castors attention.

“So-”

“So?” replied Castor.

“What is your name?”

“Castor.”

“Full name.”

“Oh right…. Castor Atsu Al-Malik,”

“That’s quite a name.”

“Yes- they are all from different countries.”

“Where are you from?”

“Pyropolis, Apophis.”

“Sorry- what?”

“Er…Pyropolis is the city and Apophis is the country.”

“You’re far from home is see.”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing here? In this country?”

“Traveling.”

“For what reason are you traveling?”

“Can’t one just travel for traveling sake and to see the world?” replied Castor with an awkward laugh.

“One can, but I feel like that is not your reason for traveling.”

“Um… well I don’t know if you will believe me even if I tell you the truth.”

“Does this truth have anything to do with the brawl you got into earlier.”

“Yes…actually-”

“Then the truth.”

“Well… I am a prince,”

“Is that so?” remarked the soldier making notes in his book. Castor was agitated with the hint of sarcasm the soldier spoke with.

“Yes. So the fortune teller claimed that I should be the next king and not my older brother. This was very upsetting to my father so he sent me on a “quest” to get a rose in bloom from his country. However..er… that was a ruse to… uh… have me killed to get me out of the way. So right before we reached the land I jumped out of the boat and swam to land. Then we walked through an obviously haunted swamp, climbed a mountain and got a rose branch. Rode with a group of caravan for over a week during which the caravans where attacked by bandits who I fought. I stopped them but they left with a broken rib. Then we arrived here to get a boat to take us back Pyropolis but them got ambushed by Pyropolis soldier who, I assume were ordered by my father to kill me.”

“Who is we?”

“Sorry?”

“You said ‘we’, who is your travel companion.”

“I…er… don’t have one. I just misspoke.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes…?”

“The other men had your brawl with, who stabbed you- we let them go.”

“Why?”

“Well, for fighting in public it is only a four crown fine and they paid their fine and left.”

“If I pay the fine will you let me go as well?”

“Under normal circumstances I would but-”

“But?”

“Unlike them this is not the first time you got in trouble. A few weeks ago we received a report from a village not to far from here about a foreigner with a magic knife who threatened to attack them, resisted arrest. This man was your approximate height and approximate skin tone.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. Once is an accident twice is criminal offence.”

“But that time I did not even do anything. They just assumed that I was a thief and a smuggler because I am a foreigner.”

“Well it was suspicious. You were traveling with a lot of money and very expensive decadent knife. A well-to-do man, like you claim to be would not be traveling alone. You had neither guards or entourage.”

“I did have guards but they were conspiring to kill me.”

“So you claim…”

“I claim nothing! It’s the truth!” cried Castor in frustration. Silence followed his outburst and all the soldiers in the room stared at Castor.

“Yes. Well, we unfortunately cannot simply take your word for it.”

“How am I supposed to prove myself?”

“Um.. yes. Do you want to know what I think?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you are lying.”

“Lying about what?”

“Everything. You story about being a condemned prince is fine and all for a fairytale but things like that don’t really happen. I think that you are a thief. I think you were traveling with you rich master who you killed and robbed. The money you carry and the knife you wield were both stolen from him. I think the men who attack you, are your old masters guards trying to catch their master’s killer.”

“Why? What in the wide world makes you think that is more logical than what I said.”

“Well, that is what the Apophis soldiers said and unlike you they have their identification and paper in order. So, Castor- what is the truth?”

“What I said is the truth! I am the prince! They were trying to kill me!”

The old soldier sighed, “Son, I cannot help you if you do not tell the truth.”

“I am telling the truth.”

The old soldier turned and called a younger soldier to take Castor back to his cell.

“Wait!” shouted Castor as he was being pulled up from the stool. “What is going to happen to me now?”

“Since you have two incidents you will be presented before  judge who will decide what to do with you. The Apophis soldiers wanted you to be given to their custody and I would recommend that the judge when you see them.

“If you do that they are going to kill me!” shouted Castor as he was being pulled out of the room.

A loud crashing sound from outside reverberated. Everyone was quiet, even Castor. Everyone turned to look at the door. Another loud thudding sound was heard. Shouting of loud but unclear voice followed. Two of the soldiers got up and went to find out what the commotion was. More shouting of more voices.

Fairytale for the Lonely Heart, Chapter 84 Caged

The Saxon soldiers roughly grabbed Castor but the arm and dragged him to a crumbling stone building along with the other three Pyropolis soldiers. Thankfully they were placed in separate cells however all his possessions, including his knife and all his money was confiscated. The cell his was placed in was a small room with a iron door and a tiny window with iron bars. It was dark, damp and over all very unpleasant. He sat on the lone bench in the room and let himself wallow in self-pity. He ignored the pain of his injuries and let them bleed and wondered if bleeding to death would be simpler. After being left alone for what felt like an hour a Saxon soldier unlocked the heavy door and entered the room followed by a short old man. The old man opened his large bag full all kinds of bandages and bottles.

“Take of you shirt,” instructed the man.

Castor who had this point had pretty much given up on everything slowly took of his shirt unfazed by his bleeding wounds or fractured ribs. He felt numb, everything felt numb. He had lost everything, he felt hopeless. Anneli was gone now, taking the rose with him. His money and knife was taken away and Castor had very little expectation of getting it back. After Castor disrobed the old man cleaned his wounds with water and alcohol and stitched up the stab wound in his abdomen. The stab wound in his back was not as deep so the old man simply dressed it with iodide and a gauze after cleaning it.

“This bruise?” asked the old man.

“That is from before, I cracked a rib.”

“Do you get into fight often?” chuckled the old man.

“Admittedly, far more than I liked.”

“You speak Saxon very well.”

“Thank you.”

The soldier standing at the edge of the room coughed, suggesting the old man be faster and to stop chatting.

“Sorry, I must go treat the others.” The old man nodded his head and repacked his bag.

“Thank you,” said Castor politely. The soldier and the old man left the cell, locking the door behind him. Castor re-wore his torn and blood soaked shirt but did not bother to button it up. Before a he could once again sink into sadness a small voice came from the window.

“Castor,” said a soft whispering voice. Castor turned and saw Anneli’s face pressed against the bars of the window.

“Anneli!” Castor’s heart tried to leap out of his chest, his chest filled with butterflies and he could once again see in color.

“Anneli! What are you doing here?”

“I followed you here. Are you alright?”

“More or less.How are you doing Anneli?”

“I’m fine. The rose plant id also fine. I did not let go of it!” said Anneli proudly but Castor could not care less about the plant right now. “What are you going to do now Castor?”

“I don’t know, but I will figure it out. You should just focus on staying safe until then.”

“What about your knife?”

“They took it away but I don’t think I can fight my way out of this situation. It will just make things worse. I will try and talk to them and hope they listen to me.”

“Will that work?”

“Hopefully.”

“What about the other men who attacked you?”

“Some of them got caught as well and some get away. They are probably going to tell the Saxon soldiers that I am a criminal and try to get me executed. Oh- don’t make that face Anneli.”

Castor’s heart ached seeing Anneli’s sad eyes. “I’ll be fine Anneli.” Castor stroked Anneli through the iron bars.

“What should I do?” asked Anneli. Castor had no words, he could neither think nor speak words at this moment. A part of him wanted to cry but that would upset Anneli. A part of him wanted to use his lightning and turn the whole building to ash but would not solve anything. A part of him want to shout and punch and make a fuss but he knew he should not. He looked at Anneli who was as desperate to save Castor as he had tried so long ago the last time he had gotten caught. Castor knew if he misspoke Anneli might try and break him out even if in reality could do nothing.

“I will be fine Anneli, just try to stay safe.”

The sound of the iron door unlocking echoed through the small room.

“Go now Anneli!” whispered Castor.

“But Castor-”

“Go now!”

The door swung open. “Who are you talking to?” demanded the Saxon soldier in a loud booming voice.

“No one, I was just talking to myself.”

Fidiom Myths :Part 1 The beginning

In the beginning there was only the eternal sea Zala which spread across all of eternity. From the center of Zala the great snake Fidim emerged. Fidim had left an emptiness in Zala which drained the eternal sea creating a funnel. This funnel caused everything around it to spin. The spinning made Fidim dizzy so he shed his skin to remove the toxins. The toxic discarded split into two creating Charodis and Pikros. Charodis is time and matter and takes the form of the eternal bull. Pikros is virtue and power and takes the form of the perpetual fish, who dies and is reborn every thousand years. Charodis and Pikros despite being siblings would fight constantly about who is more powerful and important. Fidim annoyed by their bickering swallowed them both whole. To finally decide who was better Charodis and Pikros had a contest to see who could create more wonderful things. Charodis broke off a piece of his horn created and the earth, the moon, the sun, and all eight other planets. Pikros created light, music, and language using his scales. All this commotion gave Fidim is stomach ache so he spat out Charodis, Pikros and all of their creations. Charodis and Pikros demanded Fidim to decide who between them was better. Fidim using a drop of venom from his fangs created a hundred thousand stars, nebular, galaxies and planetary bodies. Then from a tear Fidim created love, fear, anger, surprise, happiness, sadness, jealousy, curiosity, knowledge, wisdom, bravery, loyalty, honesty, lies, warmth, cold and anxiety. Fidim told Charodis and Pikros that both of them had lost. Fidim then breathed over what had been made and created life in the planetary bodies and cursed them with the emotions and sensations that he and Pikros created. Fidim punished Charodis and Pikros by forcing them to now take care of the life that had been created because of them. Soon Charodis and Pikros were overwhelmed as there were too many lives on too many planets so they decided make the new gods.

Writing an outline

Everyone has a different approach to writing stories, some just get down to writing and other make a detailed plan before even tying a letter. Personally, my approach falls somewhere in between.

Method 1 

1. Write a list of key events, characters, foreshadowing, plot points etc…

Is that all you need? Then you are done.

Method 2

1. Write Character profiles
2. Write a key events and plot points
3. Order events and separate into chapters and arcs
4. Fill in the details, backstories, subplots and connecting events
5. Order everything again
6. Write a timeline of events and figure out how long they take and how they overlap
7. Write a summary with a lot of detail

Method 3

1. Write summary. Start from the beginning and write to the end in order. Write what feels natural and flows best.
2. Read what you have written
3. Re-write the summary
4. Repeat step 2 and 3 until you are satisfied

Did you get stuck? Write something to get to the next event even if it is silly or contrived and come back to it later and change it in the re-write.

Method 4

1. Start writing

Yeah, sometimes just writing works too. Did you get stuck? Write something, anything and come back to it during editing. Hey, if you wanted to be organized you would have chosen a different method and started with a game plan.

Method 5

Do whatever you want. It is your story do what works for you!

 

I use method 3 because I think it creates some organisation but is very dynamic and the least stressful. I also end up adding the most random stuff to the story which end up being my favorite parts. I have recently been writing the outline for a new story which ends with an abrupt alien invasion. I do not know where it came from but it just fit.