Young Writers Society

---

A Prince arrives in Sersarume—
The herald of his kingdom’s doom
When love is found, and love is lost,
With truthful self the one great cost.

Princessence is the story of how a prince was born a princess, his resulting quest to claim his rightful form, and the consequences thereof.



Behind the Scenes

The Story Behind The Story
The Dramatis Personae, in Order of Appearance
The Relevant Geography and Off-Screen Events of Import
On the Purposes and Uses of This Thread
The Canon Orientations (To Date)



The Story Proper

Act 1 - The Queen
Act 2 - The Princess
Act 3 - The Prince(ss)
Act 4 - The Prince
Act 5 - The Foreign Prince
Act 6 - The Seer and the Witch

Oh my god I wanted this for the name alone, but the description makes me want it even more.

Good luck!!

Thanks. I'm going to need a lot more than luck though lol.

The Story Behind The Story

I first got the idea for Princessence in July-August of 2015. As I usually do with my ideas, I jotted it down in a notebook and proceeded to not think about it so that I could focus on my then-project at the time, Princess Emmaline (working title). Except that didn't work. And so Princess Emmaline wound up on the back-burner while Princessence stole away all my attentions for research and worldbuilding.

There was a lot of research involved due to the Prince(ss) experiencing gender dysphoria, something I've never personally experienced, and I'm still not sure I've researched enough, but after more than a year of research as of Janurary 2017, I figured I'd probably never write the story if my metric for starting it was "felt like I'd done enough research", so I planned on signing up for Round 3 of LMS.

Then life happened.

So now here we are, ready to go for Round 4 of LMS, and despite continuing my research on what it's like to experience gender dysphoria in the time since, I still don't feel like I've done enough research to write the Prince(ss) as authentically as possible, but we are well past the two-year mark of planning, and Princessence is looking to be one of those stories that you have to just sit down and write before you're ready to write it, otherwise it will never get written, and this is a story that I feel needs to be written.

Princessence will also be one of my most thoroughly planned stories in a very long time, and even then, most of that planning is worldbuilding and a very general outline of major events and overarching plot structure. There's a lot more about this story that I don't know than do, so be prepared for project updates to mainly consist of *screaming, all the screaming, so much screaming* as I blunder through this first attempt at a draft.

It's going to be a wild ride. Probably more for me than for you.

The Dramatis Personae, in Order of Appearance

The Queen
Though not a native of Sersarume, the Queen has come to love the country with all her heart and strives to rule her people wisely and fairly. Never one to do things by half, she will do whatever she must to ensure that Sersarume’s, as well as her children’s, future is fortuitous in the years to come.

But all things come at a cost, and even the best of insurances may one day fail.

The King
Born to rule Sersarume by virtue of being the only child of the previous King and Queen, the King has lead a privileged life free from all want. While he does strive to fulfill his duties and be a good king to his people, the King has a hard time discerning the difference between his own needs and wants, much less the needs and wants of others.

The King relies heavily on the counsel of his advisors, among which the Queen is paramount, though not even the best counsel can stand in the way of the King’s Will.

The Seer
A native of Sersarume, the Seer has served the royal court for most of her life. And while her prophecies are not always well-received, there has never been any doubt that the Seer wishes for the prosperity of her homeland.

Until now.

The Advisor
Bodyguard and confidante of the Queen since her childhood, the Advisor dutifully carries out her lady’s wishes. Sometimes this involves fetching additional thread for her lady’s embroidery; other times, this involves treating with dangerous forces of the unnatural on her lady’s behalf.

The Lady in Waiting
A lady of noble birth and part of the Queen’s retinue, she is renowned for her beauty. The Lady’s family, while once among the greatest of the noble houses, has fallen upon unfortunate times, with the Lady’s marriage being key to restoring her family’s fortunes.

The King of Ayira
The Queen’s younger brother and ruler of her homeland of Ayira, he provides his sister with assistance locating the Witch on multiple occasions.

The Witch
Hailing from the distant lands of Wark’al’sam’mor, the Witch is possessed of incredible power and makes her home in the dangerous wildness of The Wastes. She has countless connections among those who practice magic, regardless of its form, and spends much of her time studying the unknown that is her anomalous home.

It is a solitary life, however, and the Witch happily welcomes whatever company happens to find their way to her humble abode.

The Twin Princesses of Sersarume

Headstrong and confident, the elder of the Twin Princesses has no plans to relinquish her throne to any man—even if he is her husband. She is not averse to sharing the throne, however, and has gladly shared the privileges (as well as the burdens) of rulership with her younger twin. Now that she is of an age to marry, the elder of the Twin Princesses seeks a husband who will care for her people as his own while acknowledging the Twin Princesses as his equals.

It’s not her fault all the candidates thus far have been so unreasonable.

The younger of the Twin Princesses prefers to spend her free time reading, sewing, or tending to her private garden. Where her sister is happiest trading barbed statements over the Council table or blows on the practice field, the younger of the Twin Princesses takes quiet pride in efficiently managing the kingdom’s paperwork and heading public works projects.

The endless succession of suitors makes it difficult to focus on her duties, however...

The Foreign Prince
As the youngest of seven in a minor house, the Foreign Prince was never destined to rule anything more than his own household—a fate he was content with. But with The Collapse ravaging the ranks of the nobility and thrusting his brother into the role of Nalimun’s king, the fate of his entire people now rests heavily on the Foreign Prince’s shoulders as he seeks a new kingdom willing to wholly unite with his own.

If he could only arrange a marriage between his brother and one of the Twin Princesses of Sersarume, perhaps his long search would finally be over.

The Foreign King
As the sixth-born of seven in a minor house, the Foreign King was destined to be nothing more than a minor noble at best. But when The Collapse killed the entire Royal Family and the majority of the major nobles, the sixth-born son found himself in the position of King of Nalimun due to being the most closely-related survivor to the previous King.

Acutely aware of how undeserving he is to be king, the Foreign King strives to fulfill his duties to their fullest and serve his people to the best of his abilities in this time of crisis.

The Crown Prince
His birth symbolizes the union as equals of Nalimun and Sersarume.

The Relevant Geography

Sersarume
The kingdom in which the majority of the tale unfolds. A land of constant rain.

The Wastes
A vast wasteland of acidic mud and stagnant water, home to rare and dangerous flora and fauna. The few things that inhabit The Wastes are either strongly magical or magically strong.

The Seer and Witch live on the outskirts, just beyond the border of Sersarume.

Nalimun
Ancestral home of the Foreign King, Foreign Prince, and their people. An underground country beneath The Wastes that became uninhabitable after The Collapse. The majority of Nalimund possess and work magic.

Wark’al’sam’mor
A far distant country to Sersarume, located on the opposite side of The Wastes, and homeland of the Witch.

Ayira
Known also as the Land of Eternal Snows, Ayira is a country perched upon a plateau to the north of Sersarume. Homeland of the Queen and ruled by her younger brother.


Off-Screen Events of Import

The Collapse
A great upheaval of the land that split The Wastes into two from Sersarume to Wark’al’sam’mor and destroyed the caverns of Nalimun. While the countries surrounding The Wastes were not terribly affected, Nalimun’s population was devastated, with the death toll including the previous king, queen, their children, and many others of the nobility.

On the Purposes and Uses of This Thread

Because my writing process is essentially:

Step 1: vomit words all over the place
Step 2: review the vomit
Step 3: make an outline of the vomit as it is
Step 4: revise the outline
Step 5: revise the vomit into a proper First Draft based on the outline
Step 6: post the First Draft in the Publishing Center
Step 7: PROFIT

I'll be using this thread to post the word vomit in all its sickening glory.

If you want to read and comment on the grossness, feel free to do so, at your own risk. I will not be held responsible for any bleeding from the eyes, mental images which cannot be unseen, or brain-breaking syntaxes you may encounter.

You can also ask questions about things that catch your fancy in the story, or that occur outside the scope of it. I may not have an answer before I read your questions, but I'll definitely have answers after. ;P

Act 1 - The Queen

Week 1 (1155)
Week 2 (1036)
Week 3 (1033)
Week 4 (1034)
Week 5 (1222)
Week 6 (1031)
Week 7 (1088)

Daaaayyyyuuuummmmm, love this so much. Many intriguing elements you have here. Queen and her shadow are likeable characters, and their relationship is wonderful. So I'm guessing we're waiting for the arrival of the prince(ss)? Can't wait!

I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.

We'll be following along with Yisa for a while yet, up to when the twins are born, because her decisions and actions are really important to how the Prophecy plays out, among other things.

Hopefully she stays likeable, or at least sympathetic, with all the things she'll be doing. She's my favorite.

The Canon Orientations (To Date)

The Queen = Heteromantic Asexual
The Advisor = Aromantic Asexual
The King = Homoromantic Heterosexual
The Seer = Homoromantic Asexual
The Witch = Aromantic Pansexual
The Princess = Aromantic Heterosexual
The Prince(ss) = it's complicated okay, but definitely not aromantic or heterosexual
The Foreign Prince = Biromantic Bisexual
The Foreign King = Biromantic Heterosexual

Why your prose is so good, I can't even. Like. The feels, man. The intensity. The sudden desire to have the king dead (he's so eww I mean like wth). Yisa handles that perfectly, though I want her to hurt him a bit in return.

Can't wait for the next part!

From this point on, I'll be posting my weekly LMS progress on my blog where the permissions are easier to control because I am hoping to get Princessence published after I complete it.

This thread will still be used to organize and announce things, as well as field questions and discussions.