The Long-Awaited Post About My WIP In Editing

Hey y’all!!

Well, here we are. A week away from being done with Camp NaNo. *sniff* This is the last post for April! Can you guys believe it? Saaaaaad.

Actually, haha nope. I’m not sad 😀 This is my last week of school. I’m. So. Ready. If anyone tries to tell you that homeschooling doesn’t have benefits, you just tell them that you get done the last week of April.

Anywho, a few weeks back, some of you may remember me telling you guys about my collab with one of my good friends, Kiki, from a couple weeks ago. That was a post about my almost completely drafted novel, Brietta Of Skylas. (*runs like a mad woman to hit my word count for today*)

But y’all, back in late February/the entirety of March/and two days of April, I wrote this amazing little novelette!! It’s undergoing editing currently (***AND MIGHT BE SELF PUBLISHED IDK I HAVEN’T DECIDED YET***), but I thought I’d give you lovelies a sneak peek into my mind and the heart of this story.

(If you haven’t seen the post yet, I would recommend going and reading for two reasons. One, you would understand this type of post, and two, you’d get to learn about BoS!! How awesome is that!)

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First off: THE EVER-IMPORTANT SYNOPSIS.

“I leapt to my feet. I stumbled, but then gained balance. I had to run away from my family. From my home, the village of Talfryn. I had to leave the only place I had ever known.”

For six years, Blaidd has been living with wolves in the Teithio Forest. Hiding both from his past and the shadowed men that murdered his family, he has attempted to forget everything that is connected to anything that hurts. But one day, he accidentally reunites with someone he used to know who desperately needs his help. Pain resurfaces quickly and Blaidd is then faced with a question. Will he return to Talfryn to save his friend’s dying sister, or will he stay hidden from all oppressing memories of his past life?

*dramatic gasp* bum bum bum…

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You wanna know what happens right? GOOD. Ima elaborate a tad on this for y’all so you can see a bit of a fleshed out idea of what this thing is.

The Wolf Of Talfryn is placed in a fictional world I created (Which I just realized doesn’t have a name… shoot… gotta go work on that….) and is centered around a (who I think is a) super epic dude named Blaidd. Like most of the characters I create, he has some pretty tragic emotional scarring from his past. When he was thirteen, mysterious men came and killed his parents and younger sister before his eyes. He runs away into Teithio Forest, confused and hurting from all he lost. Completely unrelated to the title and unforeseen to you readers, he gets kind of adopted by a pack of wolves (woah. what. that was off book, man…) and essentially decides “ya know what I have nowhere else might as well stay and push away all thought and hurt of my past life out of the picture.”

Well as y’all probably know, that does not work. Especially when it involves, ya know, emotional trauma. Not to spoil the plot or anything, but *SPOILER* apparently you can’t run away from your problems. (whaaaaaaaaaaaaat) His old friend, Lagun, from the village of Talfryn, shows up with an urgent request: his sister is in trouble with the leaders of the village, and needs Blaidd to come and help him save her.

Blaidd is then posed with an internal question. He has worked so hard on “forgetting”  all that hurt. Should he go try to save his childhood friends?

The Wolf Of Talfryn is a story of overcoming your past mistakes, moving on, and the power of friendship.

(Inner-Madeleine would like to inform you that that last sentence is super cliche but she can’t think of a better way to describe it.)

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I found the inspiration for this cute ‘lil novelette when I saw a post on one of my YWW friends stream about her “Daily Dialogue Prompt Contest”. I was a little late, being she had posted it in November and it was late February when I saw it, but I decided to ask if it was still going. She said it was, and I immediately spun into action. I had had an idea for a while that was starting to gain traction and I decided to go on that.

The idea had started when I listened to a song by The Arcadian Wild entitled “Wolves of the Revolution”. The lyrics caught me almost instantly and the melody was eerily enthralling. My head created a character immediately and within a day or two, I had breathed life into my MC, Blaidd. I’ll touch a bit more on this song in a bit.

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And now a little bit about the MC.

Blaidd means “wolf” in Welsh. He likes to keep to himself and probably won’t let you know about problems he’s facing.  He ran away into the Teithio forest six years prior to the story’s beginning, and never wants to go back. His past haunts him more than he wants to admit. Blaidd would get riled up easily if someone were to mention going back. But they won’t. Because he lives alone. Defensive as heck; secretly loves nature; finds beauty in the world around him. This is probably because he has spent six years in a forest… 

*apologizes to Blaidd for all I put him through*

Cariad means “love” in Welsh. She is very very sweet, but will become very very aggressive of someone dares to ask her to sacrifice her morals or puts someone she loves at risk. She will stand for what she believes in and will encourage others to do the same. Cariad will trust others to the point of fault and is willing to lead others to the goal that they believe in. She is most definitely the Princess Leia of her time. She is also the love interest….. 😉

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HERE IT IS. MY FAVORITE PART. THE MUSIC. *dances around*

Okay so obviously, I mentioned “Wolves of the Revolution” before, because that has been essentially the main theme of The Wolf Of Talfryn. But now I’m going to talk a bit more about it. (And encourage you to go listen to it, because I think you will understand more of this storyline if you do.)

There was blood in the air; I was on all fours

Screaming life isn’t fair; break down these walls

As the marksmen hit their mark

And their cloaks of justice are only cloaks afterall

This is the first verse of the song, and I match it with the first little segment of my book. Blaidd’s past is horrific and tragic, and he tries so hard to forget. To block it out. He’s trying to toughen himself up and ignore the fact that if he ignores it anymore, he will break. This song reflects Blaidd’s inner struggle to let go of what happened years ago.

The second song I used with The Wolf Of Talfryn was “Arrow” by Taylor Berrett. And y’all y’all y’all, if you want a super flail-y ship, here you go. Here is my book. This is the song for Blairiadd. (whoo ship name) But for now, let’s delve into the meaning I’ve used from this song.

So run home when the cold is comin’,

Hold close cause the pain is runnin’,

But these hands aren’t enough to pull you through.

You can’t fire with a broken arrow,

The field’s long and the target’s narrow,

I can’t love you the way you want me to.

*cries*

This is possibly my most favorite ship that I’ve ever created. They are each equally broken and in need of someone to stand by them and push them on. There are some major things I’m leaving out because of spoilers here, but at the end, Blaidd decides that, even though he loves Cariad, all he needs, after what he just faced, is space. I WANT TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING BUT ALAS I CAN’T. Anyways, this is the ship song 😀

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Well this concludes the post!! I will most definitely update you on all that happens with The Wolf Of Talfryn! Thank you for your support!! (Especially my best friend, who would repeatedly text me and tell me to “DO THE TWOT” before she even knew what it meant 🙂 Thanks, Octopus ❤ )

Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine

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Tell me about y’alls WIPs in the comments!!