spellblade: correction about Alicia

Signed-off-by: Christine Dodrill <me@christine.website>
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Cadey Ratio 2021-08-16 17:02:15 -04:00
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[If you had subscribed to my <a href="https://www.patreon.com/cadey">Patreon</a>, you could have read this <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/spellblade-plans-54727617">a week ago></a>!](conversation://Cadey/enby)
Hey, I don't normally do this kind of thing because it impacts my productivity for me to do it, but I'd like to detail out my plans for the novel I've been working on off and on for almost a year.
Hey, I don't normally do this kind of thing because it impacts my productivity
for me to do it, but I'd like to detail out my plans for the novel I've been
working on off and on for almost a year.
I've wanted to write a novel for a very long time, if only to do it and have done it and point to it on a shelf as something that I created. I have been stuck in story hell for a while, but then inspiration struck about the time that I realized I was nonbinary. Being nonbinary can be an odd thing for people that aren't used to thinking about gender that way, and I wanted to play with that idea as something the main character would live through.
I've wanted to write a novel for a very long time, if only to do it and have
done it and point to it on a shelf as something that I created. I have been
stuck in story hell for a while, but then inspiration struck about the time that
I realized I was nonbinary. Being nonbinary can be an odd thing for people that
aren't used to thinking about gender that way, and I wanted to play with that
idea as something the main character would live through.
In essence, Spellblade is a story about the main character Alicia coming out as nonbinary in a world that is very polarized by gender, in this case with the schools of spellcraft and bladecraft. Alicia is the Spellblade, or the person that stands directly in the middle of the two diametrically opposed halves (they're more of a bladecrafter than a spellcrafter, but either way very much in the middle).
In essence, Spellblade is a story about the main character Alicia coming out as
nonbinary in a world that is very polarized by gender, in this case with the
schools of spellcraft and bladecraft. Alicia is a spellblade, or a person
that stands directly in the middle of the two diametrically opposed halves
(they're more of a bladecrafter than a spellcrafter, but either way very much in
the middle).
This book is entirely a riff on gender and is a stepping stone for me to both get better at writing and to try to convey very complicated feelings and moods about being nonbinary in a very binary world. I forget who said this, but someone that was once close to me said that simple phrases can only explain simple ideas, but more complicated things require a whole novel. This is a novel in which I try to explain the feelings and moods of being nonbinary.
[Correction(2021-08-16 16:54): A previous version of this article said that
Alicia was _the_ Spellblade, not _a spellblade_. Spellblades are actually not
uncommon in the world of the book, most are really just never aware of it being
a thing or are very quiet about it due to social taboo. Many people in the book
may either be a spellblade or know one without being aware of it (many
spellcrafters certainly are, but could chalk it up to luck or cross-functional
training without thinking too much about it). My aim is to have a mostly
cerebral story about gender (without overtly mentioning gender in the book
text), not tell an epic tale like Avatar: The Last Airbender. I messed
up.](conversation://Cadey/coffee)
That being said, this book is my first novel and as such I do not expect it to be perfect, far from it in fact. I'm pretty horrible at longer form writing like this. I've been learning a lot as I go along though, and I'm certain that if I write another novel like this in the future that it will both take a lot less time to make and likely be a lot better to boot.
This book is entirely a riff on gender and is a stepping stone for me to both
get better at writing and to try to convey very complicated feelings and moods
about being nonbinary in a very binary world. I forget who said this, but
someone that was once close to me said that simple phrases can only explain
simple ideas, but more complicated things require a whole novel. This is a novel
in which I try to explain the feelings and moods of being nonbinary.
As a teaser, here's something from my local drafting folder, the first scene of the book. Enjoy!
That being said, this book is my first novel and as such I do not expect it to
be perfect, far from it in fact. I'm pretty horrible at longer form writing like
this. I've been learning a lot as I go along though, and I'm certain that if I
write another novel like this in the future that it will both take a lot less
time to make and likely be a lot better to boot.
As a teaser, here's something from my local drafting folder, the first scene of
the book. Enjoy!
---
@ -91,4 +124,4 @@ Alicia and Zekas started walking back to camp with the remnants of their teams.
Zekas laughed, "At least you didn't let that witch beat you." and he lead the
way towards the teacher's garrison.
Alicia nervously laughed back and followed suit.
Alicia nervously laughed back and followed suit.