Young Writers Society

I'm gonna try and actually get some headway on this literary ulcer of a novel, so I'll be competing as a rogue in LMS IV! (is it IV? I don't know oh god) There are So many Holes, and i want to Die.

The Worst Summary Ever, Full of Holes and ????? ? ? ? ??

Ophelia Kilitch is the epitome of other. Married to a man she doesn't love to provide financial security for her family, she spends her days pursuing an affair with her gardener, visiting her ailing father, and ignoring the stares of her husband's household staff directed at the horns sprouting from her forehead. Her 'affliction', as her mother calls it, marks Ophelia as a 'lovely'--a dwindling race of people said to have descended from the stars themselves. It isn't until Ophelia discovers a crumbling cathedral in the woods behind her husband's manor that she encounters more of her kind; lovelies who tell her she is a bad omen and an indicator of the worst of luck.

It's only when strange things begin happening in Kilitch Manor that Ophelia begins to suspect they may not be wrong. She's plagued by apocalyptic visions, strange noises in the night, and mysterious, hidden creatures in her bedroom. These all twine around a seemingly bland husband who becomes more secretive and sinister by the day, and who, Ophelia suspects, may have motives for marrying her that extend beyond charity. Above all looms a god locked away since the beginning of time, and whose return may usher in the end of it.

10/10 would read stop doing your summaries down Sachi

I have questions!

1- Are the horns newly minted, or did they exist prior to the marriage? Cause if they existed prior to the marriage then it seems a tad obvious why her husband married her, to me, unless lovelies aren't well known.

2- Any particular string of events that the bad luck starts with, or is it just after she meets others of her kind, or what?

@Rosendorn!

1. Lovelies are well known but have been dying out steadily since probably the creation of this world (Details?? I haven't the foggiest. This is a second-practically-first draft and the level of damns i have to give at this stage are limited!) His reasons for marrying her are super duper obvious to everyone, including her. There are just layers to the obviousness. Like an onion. Alex is a terrible blonde onion.

2. Nope. Nada. See above at level of damns available.

I realize this response is probably frustrating on multiple levels. The above synopsis/half-assed query/summary? does that count? is more to just give a general very vague idea of what's going on so that when I start screaming about things everyone is only partially confused instead of totally.

Honestly, my first drafts are probably a nightmare to people who aren't me, because I don't care about those kinds of details until they are viscerally important. They just aren't at this stage. Different strokes for different folks! Thanks for your thoughts!

Character List

Ophelia Kilitch: The main character. Early/Mid twenties. Tall and dark haired. She has a large pair of ram horns that begin at her forehead and curl down over her ears. Married to Alex. She deplores him. Is carrying on an affair with her gardener, who is her childhood sweetheart. Has a way of looking at you to make you evaluate all of your life choices.

Alexander Kilitch: Husband to Ophelia. Seemingly bland and boring. He smiles a lot and makes everyone uncomfortable by doing so. A terrible blonde onion. He's doing something weird in the west wing of their home, Wilderen Manor. Obsessed with roses.

Henry: The gardener of Wilderen Manor. Would probably hurt a fly, but it would distress him hugely. Can rock a pair of suspenders like nobody's business.

Ivan and Maria Ostolya: Ophelia's parents. Ivan is slowly dying because nothing makes a character's life more hellish than slowly taking away things that make them happy. Maria likes parties and to be seen at parties and throwing parties. Loves her daughter, but is very ?? ?????? ?? ? ? ? at literally everything she does. Would rather not talk about her daughter's horns.

Yuka: Guardian of the Ouroboros. WIll come at you with knives.

Charlotte: Companion to Yuka (read: LESBIANS LESBIANS LESBIANS EVERYWHERE LESBIANS!!!!). Could not come at you with knives, but will probably cry and make you feel bad for whatever it is you were about to do.

Lupine Woman: Not a damned clue but it would be cool cool cool by Ophelia if she could stop having distressing apocalyptic visions of her, thanks.

Baran: A pretty pissy god who ALSO has ram horns and who should nope right the hell back to where he came from. Will probably crawl out of the middle of the ouroboros like some sort of hellish fiend. Has been locked away in the middle of the universe since God knows when, and kind of wants to stretch his legs but literally nobody else wants him to.

Plot? Background? SPOILERS ABOUND

So essentially the concept of Lovelies (the People, not the novel) is that long ago the habitable world was created by star people, who are in turn inspired by/influenced by the zodiac. They created the world and then populated the world, and their descendants all have some sort of animal attribute. Ophelia has ram horns, Yuka has Birdish Tendencies, and Charlotte is a pig--like, an animal pig, and not as an untidy person. My original intention was to give them all some sort of power as well, and this KIND of comes through with Ophelia having some sort of earthbender-esque abilities, but whether this actually survives the draft is SLIIIIIIIM.

Going back to the star people AKA lovelies. Baran got pretty dang cranky about the world being made because he's literally an attention hog. His girl made the world, loved the world more, he murdered her, he got locked away for it because Jesus, my dude, what did you expect???

So he's gone, his girl is gone, and the star people abandon the world to its own devices because, haha, it's a bad influence. Lovelies continue to live and flourish and as time goes on some of them are born without their Lovely attributes until the balance tips and there are more non-Lovely people than Lovely people. Don't ask me about timelines on this, please for the love of God I will start to cry.

My original take on this was that Ophelia is the first Lovely in a long time to be born with ram attributes, which is Baran's attributes, which means she is a direct descendant of him, EVEN THOUGH no one else in her family is a Lovely. So. You know. That's kind of weird.

So Ophelia has grown up like this, always knowing she's a little weird, but not particularly caring because she gets to grow up wild in a crumbling manor house by some woods and kiss a cute boy when she gets old enough, what on earth is not to like?? But then her father falls ill, and BAYUM here comes Alex Kilitch, who tells her, "Hey. Your marriage prospects aren't great, I have nothing better to do, let's get married and I'll make sure your father is taken care of."

So. You know. That's kind of weird.

Anyway this has gone on long enough. Ophelia gets married, passively makes Alex's life hell, kisses Henry a lot because YOLO, discovers a crumbling cathedral in the woods where a bird woman lives. the bird woman also tries to stab her, tells her she's bad luck and is related to Baran, stabs her AGAIN, and Ophelia goes back because this is the adrenaline rush she's been looking for? At which point she is then pushed into a seemingly endless pool and has some sort of vision with guest artist Baran and then things start to get weird, the whole thing is weird, everyone should have gone back to bed.

I was gonna post a spotify playlist but I don't have premium so it hates me SOME SORT OF PLAYLIST COMING SOON.

I am HERE FOR ALL OF THIS

Everything about this is amazing. I love learning more about the history of the Lovelies and lol "this is the adrenaline rush she's been looking for?? is amazing I adore Ophelia also every single character description.

Henry can kiss me in a garden shed anytime k thanks.

Ophelia is my favourite!! I just love how darn gutsy she is and head strong (lol). I also love looove the way you describe things in your rough outlines. A lot of stabbing. A LOT OF STABBING.

I just know this novel is going to destroy me. But when does your writing do anything else...

Thank you guys for all of your lovely comments!! I love them so much. <3

Can we all assume that this thread is going to be filled with HUGE SPOILERS??? can this serve as a spoiler alert for all time? Yes? Cool beans. Let's talk about


THE OUROBOROS

Behind Ophelia's marriage home, Wilderen Manor is a deep forest where she likes to take long walks and occasionally meet with Henry. On one of these long walks she comes across Charlotte, a fellow lovely, who in turn accidentally leads her to a crumbling cathedral in the middle of the forest.

This cathedral is the "source" of Lovelies, in the sense that when the world was created, humanity built this as a shrine/place of worship for their star patrons--the original lovelies, as it were. Over time as the lovelies became less and less the cathedral became more decrepit and abandoned. Still, it has a guardian--Yuka.

So technically it isn't the cathedral itself that Yuka is guarding, but rather something IN the cathedral: The Ouroboros, which is a pond? I guess? with an island/statue in the center of a woman whose features are hidden by moss. The pool circles around and around, kind of like an endlessly flowing river, or like a whirlpool with no dip in the center? I dunno.

The ouroboros has magical properties that I haven't quite pinned down yet, but on Ophelia's second visit to the cathedral Charlotte "unlocks" her (IDK) and pushes her in, where she sinks down and down and, not AT the bottom because, lmao, there is no bottom, but when she is VERY deep down, she is granted a vision of Baran, who Yuka has called Ophelia's father. Metaphorical? Actual? Who knows! Not me! But anyway, that brings us to


BARAN

Ah, Baran. A ram Lovely (Aries, and it makes me SO SAD i'm not an Aries, but I can't deny the Aesthetic), whose horns twist into some sort of twisted crown because Haha, how could I not? Anyway, dude is sitting in a cage in the middle of the universe, being guarded by something ALSO called the Ouroboros, and I think this one is much more literal in that it's a giant snake circling him while devouring its own tail. Cool cool coolcoolcool.

So he's been locked away for committing lovely-cide, but he's been slowly chipping away over the years to reach certain people and exert his influence--namely over Alex, Ophelia's husband. He promises Alex power (what kind of power? Alex doesn't ask, the idiot) in exchange for setting him free, and together they'll recreate and rule the universe, and blah blah BLAH God Alex you tool.

So anyway, it's for this reason that Alex marries Ophelia, because she is somehow key to unlocking Baran's cage. The "Somehow" is important. I know point A and point C but point B is currently flipping me the middle finger. Oh well, I'll figure it out. The point of the matter is that Alex wants Ophelia close by, so he can figure out how to unlock Baran's cage. He's been told how to get something called an "ouroboros egg", and also has some sort of skeletal bone creature in his office, and they might or might not be related, but either way neither of them are probably good vibes??


Playlist! I'm a sucker for playlists, and Lovelies playlist is currently at 204 songs, which I will... not be linking here lmao. Here are my current top five!

WEEK 1 SUBMISSION! Starting in at Chapter 6, word count at 578 words:

'obligingly creakless' is my new favourite phrase.

I'm so so happy you're doing LMS!!

LMS Week two submission, 640 words, part of chapter 8/9