u/Imaginary_Ease_7851

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Chapter here:

Okay this is a second chapter from this POV. I don't think you need to have read the first one to get the gist. This is primarily a political fantasy with some satirical elements, told through four POVs. So there are references to some things not explained in the text, but I don't think to the extent that the whole won't make sense. I'll leave links to previous chapters here, just in case.

calliopes first chapter. (not the link for this post. Just the first chapter she is in)

ch. 1

ch.3

Ch. 4

Ch. 5

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Chapter here.

No need to have read any other chapters. This is the first POV chapter for this character, a child at the bottom of the totem pole. This book has four POV characters whose lives collide and intersect when an Emperor is poisoned. Not historical fiction. Not high prose. General feedback welcome.

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This chapter

Second POV chapter from this character. Essentially, it's a general with an alcohol problem that survived an ambush in the first chapter and is going to see his brother about it. This story relied heavily on caricaturish tropes, at least in the early chapters. This is also a set-up chapter. There are also some politics in this. Trigger warning. This MC's first chapter is here:

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Story here.

No need to have read previous chapters. There's four POVs in this old MS, so while some things from the first chapter tie into what's happening here, the MC here isn't aware of them. This MS is a little all over the place genre-wise. Kind of a tongue-in-cheek political/mystery fantasy. Not high literature. Just looking mostly at thing like pacing and character, tension etc.

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story here.

This is a second chapter of a story retired around 2019. It's multiple POV, so you don't need to have read the first chapter for any context for this. It functions as a first chapter for this character. My current WIP is giving me issues, so I've just blown the dust off this one because it's more light-hearted and easier wrangle. Posting for fun as I revisit it a bit.

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chapter link

I'm stuck with my current project so was looking for a change of pace and pulled out a MS I abandoned 6 or 7 years ago. It's just been sitting there so I decided to post it. I loved the story in y head, but loved the execution a lot less and the structural issues meant it never made it past a second draft. But here it is, have at it, piranhas (joke. That's a joke. Mods don't come at me.)

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This is chapter 7. Hold on. Bear with me as to why I'm posting this. I need more perspectives about something specific. This chapter, more than any other, I used a stronger and more consistent period-centric register. Most of everything else has been relatively modern. I need to know if readers think this is better, or if the language creates too much of a barrier and trips people up too much.

Yes, the number of names brought is going to be confusing and I'm braced for pushback on other things. All feedback is welcome. For context leading into this scene:

This world is set in 18th century North Yorkshire. The village is rural and isolated. Witchcraft is condemned. However, girls in this world commonly have certain preternatural gifts, something called the lure. These are mostly small things, like hyper acute hearing. As teens, they tend to form circles and sneak onto the moors or other hidden areas to attempt combine lure into greater magical feats than they can typically do alone (called esbats). The girls are extremely secretive about this, but it's hard to really keep a secret in such a tiny village.While adults may somewhat turn a blind eye to this, any event that sparks social contagion and panic, often snowballs into accusations of witchcraft and trial. This chapter centers the protagonist, Marcella, her sister Rose, and their circle in this event.

story link here

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Story Link Here.

(edit: I forgot to add the d**n link again. Every. Single. Time)

Yes, I know it's a fourth chapter and at this point it's probably better to find beta readers. But bear with me. You know how tricky the whole beta reader thing is and the crits here are better.

Premise: in an 18th century rural coastal village, girls often have uncanny and preternatural abilities the call the lure. But when three men are murdered and dismembered, fear over witchcraft lands an ensemble group of five girls, known for having lure, and making it stronger in secret rituals called esbats, in the crosshairs of a witch trial.

Story is told through the lens of Marcella, retrospectively explaining events to specific person years after.

Sorry for the lore dump but it's the fourth chapter and I don't expect anyone to go back and read the others:

This chapter follows on events in Chapter 3, where Marcella and her older sister Rose are being taken to a smokehouse to be held with other girls after the murders.

Some things are going to get a bit lost because a lot isn't explicitly stated. Briefly: Rose can affect what people feel, Marcella can hear almost everything (with certain constraints), Alice can make somebody believe something (not necessarily for long) if she says it, Kitty can slip through tiny gaps and become very hard to see (not invisible, your eyes just don't register her properly), and Ruth has a gift for finding missing things. (Might change Ruth's name after this because it's phonetically similar to Rose.

Okay, that's it.

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This a third chapter, but please don't be put off. Basically, chapter 1 establishes a world set in a coastal village in 1700s. Witchcraft is still a capital offense (kind of) but girls are born with little preternatural/uncanny gifts known as the Lure. Chapter 1 sets up the narrator, Marcella, who is deeply emotionally enmeshed with her sister, Rose.

Chapter two ends with the girls returning from the moors to find that their village, Aldhaven is in a state. 3 men have been murdered, one of them a boy that Rose may have had been involved with.

Link Here

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I hesitated to put something up so long, but I need to move on from this chapter. It's a literary crossover with a dark gothic fantasy. The story is told retrospectively from an older version of the protagonist, Marcella, so at times she addresses the reader directly. It's part of a frame story that relates to her testimony over what happened.

Link Here

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This is a second chapter. Don't worry, I don't think anybody has to read chapter one to be able to follow. Basically, it's a rural 18th century type setting, where are girls are born with certain preternatural abilities called the lure, in an era where witch craft can still have catastrophic consequences. Any feedback is welcome. Link here

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1321 Edit. I just realized I didn't make this document accessible when I posted. Sorry. This part of a literary Gothic fantasy. A new first chapter so you don't have to have read anything prior. It's a story told retrospectively, first person, so if the tone feels older than sixteen, it's because the narrator is older and the older voice leaks through. It's a was a little rushed, so not as clean as it could be.

Link here

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Hey. This chapter 1, minus the frame story. A few notes: this is a literary gothic style fantasy. There is a frame story. The narrator is a much older Marcella writing to a Mr. Talbot to explain what happened when she was 16. I left the frame out of this chapter; it's in my first post with my prologue. Link here

[1283] Sorry. New here had some issues. Here is the link to opening via Google docs to keep the formatting. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HkSZQKfMuw5NM5GEuuyetxFMet3UWZAbVna7Nv5Mpjk/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.lf52t4xgpnbl