Ask Game

Over on my tumblr, I did a small ask game in which people could send in questions directly to my characters and I would answer in the character’s voice. I decided to compile what I have so far into one post over here.


@therealbrigeedarocks Asked: Hey Oscar, we know you’re pretty good at sewing but are there any other hobbies you’d like to try?

“W-well, I really like it when people watch the, um, there’s cooking shows on TV sometimes, and someday, if I could, I would wanna try to cook something all by myself. Not, um, not the ones that … some of ‘em are kinda stressful ‘cause they’re trying to win a prize, and they’re not as fun to watch…”


Anonymous asked: For Bowman: do sprites know what airplanes are? Have they seen them fly over the forest?

“We never knew what the big white birds were until Jacob told me one time. We just knew sometimes they were loud and could pull the clouds around, and that is just ridiculous and it makes way more sense that it’s humans’ fault.

Jacob also told me the fairy lights that fly so high up in the middle of the night are ‘air planes’, too, but I don’t think that’s right.”


Anonymous asked: For my BOY Jacob: do you ever just lie to bowman about random stuff about human society just because you know he can’t prove you wrong. Like “hey, you know humans have cloud factories that make and produce clouds all the time, right?” And just watch as Bowman tries to rationalize what you said.

“Oh man, all I can think of is him finding out. I’m not great at lying but like, Bowman asks a lot of questions about everything and sometimes I don’t actually know the answer. So I’ve made some stuff up sometimes. Honestly I have no idea what he will be skeptical about and what he’ll just accept, y’know? Like he knows what airplanes are now but doesn’t believe me that the lights moving in the sky at night are also airplanes.”


Anonymous asked: For the ask game! Question for Bowman and Rischa: have you ever heard Jacob casually say something fatalistic, like “kill me now” or “this makes me wanna jump off a cliff”? Because this is so casual with humans, and if one of my friends says something like this, my typical answer is “same”.

Rischa: “Wh-what? That sounds awful! Why would someone say something like that?”

Bowman: “Don’t worry, Birdie, it’s like sarcasm. I think. Some kinda human thing. Pretty sure I’ve heard him say something like ‘I guess I’ll die’. But usually he saves his jokes to try to tease me and he thinks he’s so funny when he does.”


Anonymous asked: Yo, Lord Scar Sir, have you ever had to scold Jacob for just teenage shenanigans? What’s that like?

“Ha. That giant is better behaved than some of the sprites around here, if I’m honest. I don’t have to say much if he’s wandering too close to somewhere he shouldn’t.

Some in the village are wondering if he’ll lend some of that mildness to the Leafwing boy, but I’m not holding my breath.”


Anonymous asked: Hey, Bowman, since there are Wellwood sprites who are still a bit distrustful of your giant, have you ever got into an argument/fight with someone because they called Jacob a monster or something?

“Most of us aren’t fighters in Wellwood, but some of the parents with nestlings that always want to see Jacob … they’ve scolded me a lot. As if I’m somehow the reason their nestlings are so curious about the giant that visits the village sometimes. Usually I have to fly out of the village to get away from them when they’re on that nonsense. I can’t control a whole giant any more than I can control some people being afraid of him.”

1 Year Publish-versary!

On July 9, 2018, I published my debut novel and officially got myself out there in the self-publishing world.

Bowman Leafwing is always flying himself right into trouble. In an idyllic forest haven, a young wood sprite must make his own adventures, and Bowman does so by sneaking out at night to fly in the dark. After a race with his friends is interrupted by an owl, Bowman makes a discovery that the village of Wellwood hasn’t seen in generations.

Find the print book and eBook versions on Lulu!

Announcement

I’ve been so excited to come this far that now that I’m here, I hardly know what to say. Years and years of planning and writing and editing (and repeating those steps until I wanted to pass out) have finally come to fruition.

I’m so proud and pleased to announce that Bowman of Wellwood is now a published book! ( Lulu often runs some kind of promotion, so be sure to keep an eye out for extra discounts )

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From simple origins as a side project and something to muse about in between classwork and my other stories, Bowman and his friends have grown and developed more than I ever could have imagined. He used to be a nameless little muse, the figure I would imagine flying among the trees whenever I went on a road trip as a kid. Now, Bowman is all grown up, along with Jacob and Rischa and the rest.

I have to give credit where it’s due. I couldn’t have made it to this point without encouragement from my friends and the people I’ve written together with over the years. Thank you all so much for what you’ve done for me, @creatorofuniverses @nightmares06 @borrowedtimeandspace @bittykimmy @little-miss-maggie

Currently, the book is only available on the Lulu shop. However, I am in the process of preparing it for distribution on other sites such as Amazon and Barnes&Noble; more announcements will come when that process is complete. The next step will be to create an eBook format for those who don’t want to have a physical copy with that gorgeous cover (the artwork for which was created by Anthony Avon ).

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Anonymous Message

Thanks! 😀  It was my birthday indeed, I had a birthday on a Monday ( Bummer, I know ).

Sticking with the wood sprites, they don’t tend to have big parties or anything, but they do mark the passing of a year more or less. It’s kind of loose – they keep track of what season they were born in. Bowman Leafwing, for example, is a winter birth, while Rischa Songbird is a spring birth. So, when winter rolls around Bowman ages up one year and gets all the congratulations. His aunt might make him something nice if he’s been keeping out of trouble (or at least trying).

For general celebrations involving more of the community, they’ll tend to gather in the clearing within their clearing (a circular clearing, it is their literal fairy ring). They’ll have singing and drums and dancing, usually, and just have fun out there until it’s time to get some rest. Festivals like this tend to happen more spontaneously; they don’t do the same one every year at the same time, but rather when something noteworthy happens, they have a party and then the next day someone has to ink the story in the Archives.

Giant Sprite in Wellwood

>w>   You know I can’t resist having Bowman see a bunch of other sprites now that he’s the giant. After how vocal he is about the giants, it’s only right that he’d have to see what everything looks like from that height.

Rischa will be so surprised to see him that way, but she’ll make him let her walk on his hand. Bowman, with his teeny tiny cousin, perched on his palm like the most fragile glass figurine … he won’t have any idea what to do.

There’s no hiding from the nestlings, either. Bowman can show off his wings while the adults ponder what exactly happened to their resident dork.

Character Heights

( From this post )

I’ll just give a handful of my OCs for this one.

Bowman Leafwing: 4″
Jacob Andris: 6′ 5″
Chase Lisong: 5′ 3″
Bobby Loran: 5′ 6″
Rischa Songbird: 2.4″
Teven Silver: 3.5″
Indigo Seraf: 3.6″

Oscar: 3.25″

Elias Dawn: 6′
Eral the Arbor Pixie: 6″
Cira Dawn: 5’ 6″

Singing to Herself

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Rischa – Rainbow.

This is fairy tales canon. It features Rischa at about 14 years of age.

Reading Time: ~5-10 minutes.


The springtime always brought joy to Rischa’s heart. In part because it was her birth season and marked her growing another year old, but even more because of the joy it brought everyone else. The cold of winter melted away and brought with it warmer sunlight and longer days, which the wood sprites of Wellwood celebrated heartily.

One particularly shining spring day, the forest was full of the smell of the previous night’s rain in the soft earth. The sweet fragrance of maple was tinged with the sharp scent of grass and wildflowers, and many sprites were busy collecting fallen pine needles from the ground around the home trees.

Rischa did not plan to join them for once. Instead, she slung a loose cloth bag over her shoulder and headed out the door almost before her mother could call out a “be careful!”

Rischa knew to be careful. She’d gone out just like this many times before, after all. Bowman had been sneaking out in the middle of the night since he was fourteen. Rischa could manage some daytime flights at the same age without any issue, she was confident. She opened her dainty, leaf-colored wings and took flight with her twin braids swooping behind her as she went.

Not ten minutes away from the village, Rischa found exactly what she was looking for. She grinned widely and drifted downwards in a slow, graceful spiral and enjoyed the smell of the flowers wafting around her. An entire patch of wildflowers opened their faces to the dappled sunlight, all of them looking even more vibrant after the rain.

Splashes of every color greeted her eyes as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky and landed in a soft tangle on the ground. Rischa brushed her hands over the petals as she flew past them, until she landed among the happy flowers.

Underneath the cheerful heads of the flowers and ferns, many petals and leaves had fallen to the forest floor. The softest of these petals Rischa gathered up and placed in her cloth sling carefully. She rubbed her thumb over the velvety texture of each petal before stowing it away.

While she worked, Rischa began to hum to herself, her lilting voice filtering out of the flowerbed as if the flowers themselves were singing to the sun. As she passed, she brushed her hands over some of their stems, and with the smallest effort of a Prayer, a glow reached up into the flowers over her head. The flowers marked her path through them with their shining.

It was one of Rischa’s favorite passtimes. She loved being near the others in the village to feel their joy and share in their pain to help them just like she was always taught to do with her empathic gift, and yet there were times Rischa needed to be on her own. Out here, with only the flowers exuding their fragrance and their simple joy with the sun and the rain, Rischa’s mind could truly clear.

Out here, she could feel her joy on its own, uninterrupted until she needed to return again.

Keeping Warm

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Bowman – Snow.

This is Fairy Tales canon. Bowman is newly 19, and it takes place the winter after the events of Bowman of Wellwood.

Reading Time: ~5-10 minutes


The main room was cozy and warm. Candara had Prayed all morning to bring warmth coursing through their home branch, and the Earth Spirit’s magic granted them a warmer home despite the bitter cold outside. The breeze leaking through the shaded windows promised that stepping outside would require several layers.

Bowman was restless as he was every winter, but he didn’t feel like going out just yet. In the deadest part of winter, his wings twitched with shivers and the desire to fly both. Today, he remained inside with the others to avoid that chill.

Continue reading “Keeping Warm”

Rischa Songbird

I used a doll generator to make an approximation of what Rischa Songbird, Bowman’s young cousin, might look like when she’s a bit older. They didn’t have the leafy wings, so I had to kind of improvise, but there she is!

About Rischa

Rischa Songbird is the younger cousin of Bowman Leafwing. She is gifted with the Voice of the Spirit, which among my sprites means she has the closest connection with the Sprites that she can. Her connection with the Earth Spirit grants her empathy to the feelings and pains of others around her, as well as unmatched skill with healing Prayers. As she grows older, Rischa will become a well known figure in her home village of Wellwood thanks to her ability and her wisdom. She and other sprites with the Voice are the closest that they have to a religious leader.

An Appreciation for the Sun (4 of 4)

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For this prompt, I enlisted the help of @nightmares06​ for the role of Castiel. I’m not very good at writing characters that I didn’t create, but this prompt was so cute that I couldn’t just dismiss it out of hand. 

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“Every creature has its place,” Castiel said. “A hummingbird will never grow the size of a bear.” He regarded the tiny sprite with unblinking curiosity. Such a fragile creature, yet so welcoming. Humans were suspicious by nature, even of each other. Not once had Castiel managed to truly gain Dean Winchester’s confidence. Every move he made just seemed to make the hunter more wary of him.

“Are there more like you?” Castiel asked. “In other places?” He had to wonder if he should warn his brothers and sisters of these peaceful people. Angels could be heavy handed on occasion.

Rischa smiled and nodded, thinking nothing of revealing others to Castiel. She got a strong feeling that she could trust him not to bring them to harm. It could have been simple intuition, or her growing used to the readings she could get from him. It could even be the Spirit Herself telling her something about him, but Rischa trusted him.

Continue reading “An Appreciation for the Sun (4 of 4)”