#TBRuary Day 13 The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan I read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series over a decade ago now, but with the new tv show and people talking about it again I am wondering about digging into the world a little further and seeing if it’s still fun.

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! Prysena Village is so isolated with itself and the Woods that any of the old origin myths of the world have been scattered over time. Even their own history is little more than whispers and muttered stories. Stories that the Elders are careful to mould as needed.

#Febchantment Day 13 Part of the price of the magic system being accessed by connecting to sources means that abusing them has severe consequences. For example, the Strangers’ control over nature and unnaturalness has come with a large price given their refusal to cede to nature in turn.

A trip across treetops for today’s #WIPSnips. Una’s distinctly out of her depth and up much too high as she attempts to navigate the very tops of the Woods. #WriteSky

Happy #Febchantment Day 12 While there’s no mastery as such. However The Queen That Is and Was is considered the most powerful being by most for two reasons. When an Heir is chosen it’s for their raw potential to connect to the Woods. Once Heir they’re taught secrets to take that power further.

#TBRuary Day 12 Godkiller by Hannah Kaner Been meaning to pick up this book for a while, I really love the cover and am just intrigued by what little I know of the story.

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! Yes, although it’s a little more complicated than that. For those who die in the Woods, they join with the Spirits. In doing so they blend with the others and become less distinct. Less of an individual. Less of a person. For everyone else? Well who knows…

Today’s #WIPSnips is almost about a lack of defence when put honestly. Una attempts to brace herself for the unknown, but unfortunately some things just can’t be defended from. #WriteSky

#TBRuary Day 11 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo It’s been on my TBR since forever, and I’ve always been curious about it but somehow it just ends up on the back of the list. I’ll try and get round to it sometime in the next few months… #booksky

Hi #FebruaryWorldbuilders! Definitely yes. A big part of the deal making side of things with the Strangers is that consent is needed for them to work. Prophecies, in my world, only really form around large events and portray a chance for a specific outcome. Generally one the teller wants.

I’m having to substitute in vibrating here for today’s #WIPSnips. This passage is towards the end of the book so I’ve kept it short to keep spoilers to a minimum.

#Febchantment Day 11 My magic system isn’t super rigid so there is not a defined boundary as such. There are upper limits for what most Strangers can do on their own, but there are some like the Queen That Is and Was, her Heir and members of the Lyveri that can drawn on more power than most.

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! Yes, but I would say that they are very very rare. There are only a handful of beings that could see into the future with any kind of accuracy. The Spirits have some kind of precognition but that’s more to do with not being as tethered to time then proper foresight.

#Febchantment Day 10 Depends on the magic. Sometimes there is chanting, or runes are carved into the earth and sometimes it just takes dedicated thought. Essentially the more powerful the magic the more visual or obvious it is that the individual is drawing upon it. With limited exceptions.

Have a nice descriptive part for today’s #WIPSnips. Not a lot to say about it except that even the water in the Woods is very peculiar. #WriteSky

#TBRuary Day 10 I’m going to take the easy way out and go with a fantasy book. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson At this point I feel like I’m just listing all the nerd/reading work that I’ve never got around to 😂

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! The Ethereal can be accessed, although its nature means it’s less that someone goes to it and more that the Spirits draw you into it. If done correctly this would mean appealing to the Spirits for passage and communion but Una stumbles into it more… messily…

#TBRuary Day 9 Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey I’ve been meaning to get into this series since finishing the Expanse tv show, I just haven’t found a time to get around to it yet

For today’s #WIPSnips Una’s getting a little bit of a different perspective on the Strangers. Reckoning with the Strangers as intelligent beings as well as being the things of nightmares is a lot for her to reckon with. #WriteSky

#Febchantment Day 9 Mostly all that’s needed to work magic is the power, will and knowledge to do so with whatever source they are using. However there are artefacts that have been imbued with power to do stronger workings without needing a ritual. The Horn that Una gains is one such artefact.

Hello #FebruaryWorldbuilders! The Ethereal, home to the Spirits, is an entirely nonphysical realm. No physical matter exists in this place, so for corporeal creatures it can drive them to madness. And in a realm entirely under the Spirits’ power, you would be at their mercy to escape again.

Happy #Febchantment Day 8 Most magics in my world have sources. The Dark is the main one, although how it came to lay claim to the Woods is a mystery. Otherwise a lot of the magics come from the Spirits and connecting to them. Although again much of their nature is veiled for even the Strangers.

#TBRuary Day 8 The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mister Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson If nothing else I want to get to reading this for the sheer amount of time that song from that one Arthur episode has been stuck in my head.

“Do you have any ID with you today?”

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! There is a river that runs through the Woods and ends outside of them in a large lake. For Prysena Village, it is one of the main sources of food and reliable water for the village. Una in particular fishes from it and spent much of her childhood on its shores.

#TBRuary Day 7 What Moves the Dead by T Kingfisher Ages are a little unclear here, but since I’m v far from any kind of retirement I do think this counts! After watching the Fall of the House of Usher a friend recommended me this as an adaptation with a twist and I am very curious about it!

Happy #Febchantment Day 7! Have a peak at a particularly nasty enchantment in this snippet, one that could be incredibly deadly for Una should she not break herself from it quickly…

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! On the edges of the Halls of the Rae’teromh is a hedge maze. Its sections shift and move whenever they’re not looked at. They glow with an eerie blue light. The thick brambles are sharp and tearing if pushed against and are dense enough to keep their prey inside.

#TBRuary Day 6 As an Ace today’s prompt is light work not gonna lie 😂 But I’ve gotta go with Evocation by S T Gibson. The blurb makes it sound delightfully messy and the cover is just soooo pretty.

Happy #Febchantment Day 6 I think the magic, and my story as a whole, was heavily inspired by fairytales. There’s just something simple and yet unknowable in the magic and forces within fairytales that appealed to me. Also the nastier versions of the fae do have some similarities to the Strangers.

Yeah there are few enough uses of the words sixth in my work that you are seeing my prologue again for today’s #WIPSnips. I’d say sorry but I’m not particularly 😂 #WriteSky

Another little bit from my prologue for today’s #WIPSnips. It’s funny what small things can change the direction dictated by years of tradition. Funnier still when nobody else sees it coming. #WriteSky

#TBRuary Day 5! The Black Tides of Heaven by Neon Yang. Honestly this one was a recommendation by a friend of mine that I have shamefully not gotten to yet. But I’ve heard great things about this author and I’m really looking forward to digging into this one!

Happy #Febchantment Day 5 Magical workings are the tool of Strangers and other odd beings that reside in the Woods. The villagers who live outside have little understanding of the Woods’ magic as they had only seen it in the scars of those few who survived it. But perhaps Una can change that…

#TBRuary Day 4 The Iliad. I only got around to reading the Odyssey in the last year (got a copy for my birthday) and am interested in reading more “original” versions of Greek myths.

Today’s #WIPSnips comes during a vulnerable moment where Una finds herself at the mercy of the Strangers’ magics. And all too aware of her lack of options to combat it. #WriteSky

Happy #Febchantment Day 4 The Dark is more than just simple darkness in the Woods. It is something ancient, powerful and reaching. It enshrouds the Woods and obscures any natural light from above from breaking through its canopy. It can also be drawn upon by any foolish enough to try.

A quick little snippet for today’s #WIPSnips. This is a moment of respite for Una, if still a peculiar one due to her surroundings.

Happy #Febchantment Day 3! My answer is two fold. There are spoken magics: deals, names that give and take power, etc. And there are connection magics, wielded through connecting to another being, the Spirits or the Woods. These two can be combined using runes, but it is very, very dangerous.

#TBRuary Day 3 Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker. I’ve been meaning to read more on the horror side of things and this gory ghost story caught my eye. Just a matter of being in the right mood to really dig into this one.

Hey #FebruaryWorldbuilders! That’s an interesting question. The story mostly takes place across a village and the Woods it borders. But the Woods don’t obey the normal rules and it’s uncertain how deep they go. There are also less physical planes that Una stumbles into that have no space at all…

Don’t have a perish for today’s #WIPSnips, but there is plenty of death and dying to choose from. Today’s snippet exists in the aftermath of a near death experience, but Una is mostly recovered at this point, if not exhausted by it. #WriteSky

#TBRuary Day 2 I really enjoyed The Spear That Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez. The story telling devices and shifts in perspective were very engaging and helped move the tale along through its various acts.

Happy #Febchantment Day 2! Definitely a soft magic system. There are means of manipulating and working magics, but it is very much based on intent and connection to the different forces in the Woods. While there are definitely things magic can’t do, the exact lines of that are left blurred.

I don’t have anything “zeal” in my WIP, so passion will have to do. Today’s #WIPSnips is a bittersweet reunion. An old friend is found, but all is not how it once was, for either of them. #WriteSky

Hiya #FebruaryWorldbuilders! Honestly, no. The communities in my story, both within the Woods and in Prysena Village are so isolated that there isn’t information held by either on the world at large. Also, I honestly hadn’t sat down to think of one yet 😂

Happy #TBRuary everyone! I’m Jess Slaven and I mainly read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi. My TBR is huge but I don’t know the exact number tbh. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett should get more love. Later this year I’m releasing my first book: Aiding in Abomination so keep an eye out for that.

Hi, happy to start day 1 of #Febchantment! I’m Jess, and magic in my WIP is somewhat unknowable at least to my protagonist Una. Magics, like much in the Dark of the Woods are obscured and entirely Strange, at least to humans. For its inhabitants however, magics are more a matter of connection.

Hey #JanuaryWorldbuilders! I’m quite straightforward in this. I have one big planning document that I keep all my world building bits and pieces in. This includes important locations, character bios and also the approximate story structure. I add to it as I go and it is pretty gigantic now 😂

Hey #JanuaryWorldbuilders! Bioluminescence has been a big one. How it looks, what early thoughts about it were, honestly I kinda fell down a rabbit hole with it. Fun fact scientists think it evolved in the earth’s ancient oceans 100s of millions of years ago. Which is just the coolest.