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Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Oh hey, that's me! This was easily one of my favorite episodes. It comes out tomorrow, I hope you enjoy!

From Tree To Book: Writing Group @fromtreetobook.bsky.social · 14h

A new episode is dropping tomorrow, February 10th! Come listen to Anna, Sam, and Eliwood talk about worldbuilding in our writing ❤️

#podcasts #writingcommunity #writingpodcast

February 9, 2026 at 9:59 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

It's Mireia & Kena's first day after being ~selected~ as the new avatars of the gods. Perhaps that's why Kena reacts so strongly to the king's talk of skeptics? 🤷‍♀️

From my upcoming book THE GODS OF ATALANTIS, Part 1 of my #Atlantis trilogy.

“Come, sa’aba, what’s the harm?” Minacaal said. “This man Qiadaan, he is a teacher who gives lectures all around Atalantis. He’s gathered something of a following in recent years, and his ideas are fascinating. Have you heard of him?”
Mireia shook her head. Kena stared silently down at his plate.
“He makes a compelling argument that the gods don’t exist at all,” Minacaal went on, “and all of the Sun Fathers and Sea Mothers in history were just ordinary humans selected to play the part based on common personality traits. He says the only reason we still cling to the story of the gods is because it gives structure to our society. Of course, I don’t agree with him. But it does make you wonder, doesn’t it?”
“I wish you hadn’t brought it up, ba’at,” Aiamin scolded him. “We’re dining with the gods, and you want to talk about a man who believes they don’t exist?”
“I’m curious to know what they think,” Minacaal argued. “Who better to ask than the gods themselves? They ought to know if they’re real or not, shouldn’t they?”
Mireia wasn’t sure what she thought. But Kena spoke, his quiet voice unexpectedly biting.
“I think Qiadaan is a charlatan,” he declared. “He likes to say shocking things for the sake of angering people, nothing more. I don’t think even he really believes what he says.”
Mireia was surprised at the vehemence of his answer. She hadn’t taken him for someone who would care passionately about defending the gods.
“I agree completely, Sun Father,” said Aiamin. “I’ve been trying to tell my ba’at the same thing for ages, but he never listens to me.”

February 9, 2026 at 2:01 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

I got a new, different keyboard!
Pros: new
Cons: different

a cartoon hamster with a question mark above its head

Alt: a cartoon hamster with a question mark above its head

media.tenor.com

February 9, 2026 at 7:17 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Alex Is Writing

@alexfromawen.bsky.social

#Febchantment Day 9

Ostensibly, a Vibrational Bender needs no ingredients but their own will and life force. I won't really get into the actions as that's tomorrow's prompt. But before the actions come, a Bender must first harness their own vibrational energies, which can be a difficult concept 1/8

Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · 1d

#Febchantment Day 9

Let's talk magical tools! What does someone need to do magic in your system? An arcane focus (e.g. wand, staff, orb)? A book of spells? A musical instrument? A bunch of obscure ingredients?

If you have magical companions, they would count here 😁

#writingcommunity #writesky

February 9, 2026 at 5:43 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

For an octopus, he sure gets around!!

Hook & Quill Press @hookandquillpress.com · 12h

We've been busy behind the scenes at Hook & Quill Press, but sometimes we can't help but wonder what Quillbert gets up to...

#whereintheworldisquillbert #hqpress

February 9, 2026 at 5:51 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Pamela Jeong

@pamelaelaela.bsky.social

A tough moment for Danbi.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #AmWriting #AmQuerying
📚💙

But in his eyes, there’s too much regret, and the old feeling comes back—like I’m waiting on a dock for a ship that doesn’t seek harbor. Its familiarity is savage, but there’s a criminal comfort in the understanding it grants me.

“But now,” I say, and I can’t help glancing at his lips before I look back into his eyes, “[REDACTED] is here. And we’re closer than ever to [REDACTED]. And the promise you made to her is wrapped up with the promise you made to save him. And you won’t break them. Because you’re you.”

Misery surges across his face. “I have to try.”

No.

But I nod. The single step I take away from him then is harder than every step I ever took to get closer.

Choose me, my heart screams.

But I say, “You have to.”

Maybe I should be angry, maybe I should quake with resentment, but I don’t. I see it now—why it always felt like he was fighting the current of the tide that drew us together.

And I understand what it means to him to honor his promise. I don’t tell him, but part of it has already become mine as well.

I will defeat [REDACTED]. I’ll do everything in my power to make this world closer to what it can be. I’ll do it because I can’t not.

I’ll do it because, maybe, I can.

Our gazes refuse to diverge, and I wonder if this is the interlude or the closing, a change in key or the discordance of a mistake.

Inside the ballroom, the music stops.

February 9, 2026 at 12:10 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #WIPSnips 9 - Select!

From EYES SHINE SILVER IN MOONLIGHT, a werewolf romantasy detangling a cult. Isabelle has to see MLI Luke face to face with his ex, Mary Anne, a Priestess of the Lunar Mother advocating for the new Church of the Eternal One.

Seeing Mary Anne standing so close to Luke, with his long dark hair and chiseled features, Isabelle couldn't help but see them as two sides of the same beautiful coin, like statues carved solely for the pleasure of displaying peak Werewolf physiology.

“I heard you joined the Order of the Lunar Mother,” Luke said stiffly to Mary Anne. “But this isn’t … I’m sorry, that doesn’t give you clearance …”

Mary Anne laughed. “The Lunar Mother accepted sponsorship of the Eternal One and helped coordinate the building of this Temple to welcome the new order. There are more than a few of us who understand that faith is not limited. The Eternal One, journeying as they are through the stars back to us, could be an envoy for the Lunar Mother herself. I pride myself as one of a few specially selected priests to lead worship for both our Goddess Luna, as well as the Eternal One.”

February 9, 2026 at 12:17 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Ange

@gunsmile.bsky.social

I started to answer this question for TD and COTBM, but the quick and easy answer is: "Both MMCs have military training and are highly skilled at hand-to-hand combat and firearms, while neither FMC has any fighting ability whatsoever."

So let's talk about different sets of characters today. 🧵

❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️ @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Let's talk fighting styles!

How does your character fight? Do they wield weapons? Magic? Are they a brawler? Or do they have a more sophisticated fighting style?

Or are they a pacifist who would never fight?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

February 9, 2026 at 2:02 AM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #AwesomeCharacters!

In Eyes Shine Silver in Moonlight, the Werewolves don't bother with weapons - they *are* the weapons 😊 hardware would just slow them down.

In Bludeye Beach, Edie very rarely attacks anyone directly. In the first book, she punches one guy in the face (deserved).

❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️ @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Let's talk fighting styles!

How does your character fight? Do they wield weapons? Magic? Are they a brawler? Or do they have a more sophisticated fighting style?

Or are they a pacifist who would never fight?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

February 8, 2026 at 11:30 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Samantha Breaux ❄️ ☃️

@woodenvelt.bsky.social

#SundaySnips

Wren is having trouble getting to sleep.

From Thief of Death, a romantic fantasy about a priest of the dead and a thief with a heart of gold.

#WritingCommunity #Writingprompt #Wrencer #HQpress

Depending on the priest was a mistake. Letting herself get comfortable under his roof was an even bigger blunder, one Wren was watching herself make, seemingly without any ability to stop it. It was too easy sitting at the good brother’s table, listening to the silky timbre of his voice as he recounted his day; too serene nestled in his study, surrounded by the faintly dusty smell of old books and leather, basking in the sidelong smiles Spencer gifted her from time to time.

Instead of inspiring a yearning for the tidy flat over her antique shop, the time spent under Spencer’s roof cast Wren’s memories of home in a harsh and lonely light. She had her own comfortable chairs, her own books, her own cozy kitchen not so far across the blue-gray sea, newer and finer than anything she’d find in the rectory. And yet, her single armchair beside the hearth seemed suddenly bereft, one of a matched set missing its mate. That her kitchen didn’t harbor a single wobbly seat had become a dire oversight. Even her bed linens, always soft against Wren’s skin, would be lacking without the faint scent of incense clinging to the weave.

February 8, 2026 at 2:37 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #SundaySnips - Yearn!

Unfortunately I don't have the word itself, but I do have this snip from Eyes Shine Silver in Moonlight where Isabelle is yearning for something she already has, but doesn't understand or know how to keep.

He was kind. Too kind. Too gentle, and too caring. The look in his eyes after they’d kissed, the way his hands threatened to take her apart. The gentle reverence he held.

I can’t do this unless I know you’re with me.

Isabelle didn’t understand it. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just take as much as he wanted, so that she would know how to exist in a way that wouldn’t repulse him. How was she supposed to know how to be wanted, without understanding what Luke would take?

That she would be heartbroken at the end of two months was a given. She already craved too much of him, and his gentle eyes. She’d fallen asleep inches away from him, in a bed too narrow to avoid touching. She never slept in the same bed as anyone else. Not ever.

February 8, 2026 at 1:25 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#Febchantment 7

Mireia uses a crystal to break out of a room.

The spell she does here (Deconstruction) isn't all that impressive itself...

What's impressive is that this is her 1st time using a crystal, with no training, & she does it intuitively without the "correct" incantation 👀
#Atlantis

The wall itself, she suddenly thought, was like the sea: not a single object, but a mass of infinitely small droplets that could be scattered and evaporated like water.
That was all the whole world was, she saw. Every tree and rock and wave and building and person. Just uncountable clusters of droplets bumping against droplets, that could all be broken down and reshaped however she pleased. And beyond this world—beyond the walls of reality—there were other worlds, all made of droplets, all only droplets themselves in a vast sea of universes.
And through it all, there was a current that flowed—a bloodstream. It was the same current now running between her body and that crystal. It was a snaking river that threaded the worlds together like beads on a string. It wove and sang and gusted through all the spaces between the droplets, and Mireia was the sail that could catch it.
The energy was pulsing through her body, circulating through her veins.
“There is no wall,” she declared, and her voice sounded low and strange, as if it belonged to someone else. “It’s only droplets. There is no wall! It’s only droplets!”
A small light sparked to life inside the crystal.
“What does she think she’s doing?” Xa’aba cried again.
“I don’t believe it,” murmured Icozoue.
Mireia pushed their voices out of her head, focusing just on the feeling of the crystal and the idea of dissolving the wall into the droplets it was. Her words became a chant, growing louder with each repetition.
“There is no wall it’s only droplets! Break it down to nothing! Do as I say! THERE IS NO WALL IT’S ONLY DROPLETS!”
The crystal seemed to vibrate in her hand, boiling over with energy. And an instant later, the wall before her rippled like the surface of a pool. It rippled again—it thrashed, it quaked—then the stones shattered into trembling particles, which all evaporated into empty air.
And just like that, there was no wall.
The water went gushing out through the opening, taking Mireia and the fish with it.

February 7, 2026 at 12:45 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #pretendpanel

I don't directly reference real world politics, but the influence on my writing is pretty clear in the antagonists and a lot of the core themes.

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 3d

I'm breaking the rule of not bringing up politics, #pretendpanel! Still, I think it's important to think about it in our writing.

February 7th: How much has real world politics had an impact on your writing, or do you avoid that like the plague?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

#pretendpanel
a daily prompt tag hosted by @hiriadunning.com
February 7th: How much has real world politics had an impact on your writing, or do you avoid that like the plague?
Please support your fellow #pretentpanel posters with replies, likes and reposts
New #pretendpanel questions every Friday and Saturday. Hop in any time!

February 7, 2026 at 3:27 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Ange

@gunsmile.bsky.social

#pretendpanel While I avoid anything related to real world politicians and events, politics at large inevitably creeps into my work. The antagonist’s actions in COTBM are directly inspired by the current US presidency, for example. In TD, the corruption of political leaders is a more subtle detail.

Hiria Dunning @hiriadunning.com · 3d

I'm breaking the rule of not bringing up politics, #pretendpanel! Still, I think it's important to think about it in our writing.

February 7th: How much has real world politics had an impact on your writing, or do you avoid that like the plague?

#WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #WritingPrompts

February 7, 2026 at 2:42 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Walker Harris

@walkerharris.net

Ugh, this is tough. I have a few that are major spoilers. I suppose I'll go with this which spoils a shocking moment but it's from very early and is the Inciting Incident. So if this was a movie, it'd likely be in the trailer. Read or scroll by as you like.🤷

CW: Brief mention of gore

#Febchantment

Screenshot of a work-in-progress manuscript.

Movement behind the Betrayer Queen caught Digs’s attention. The Grand Vizier turned his staff sideways and raised a knee.
Her mother screamed, “No!!!”
The sudden intensity of the moment slowed time to a crawl. As the Grand Vizier swung the staff towards his knee seemingly to snap it, Digs turned and was shocked at the look of unrestrained terror on her mother’s face as she ran forward, her hands moving to generate a spell.
Digs had no idea what was happening but instinctively pulled Pyntal to her in order to wrap herself around her new gnome friend, shielding her.
Faster than she knew possible, her mother’s eyes darted across them as the crack of wood built into an ear-splitting roar— and then vanished as reality was yanked away.
Digs finished pulling Pyntal against her and saw all five of the other Liberty Children were here with her, floating in an empty gray expanse.
“What the fuck?” Luzz yelled.
Shimmering gold energy surrounded Pyntal as she desperately grabbed onto Digs’s arm trying not to float away. “What’s happening?”
Digs replied, “My mom banished us! We’re in a—”
They were yanked back to reality into a scene nothing like the one they left. The cries of anguish were the first sensation to break through. This was followed by the sight of gore from broken and torn apart bodies surrounding them.

February 7, 2026 at 2:32 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #Febchantment day 7

Most of the magic in ESSiM is in the abilities of the creatures involved. Weres are highly prized fighters for a reason, and Luke is seeing for the first time why Isabelle has the reputation she does.
(And Luke gets even more down bad for her than he already was.)

Isabelle had completed the same training he had. He knew this, logically. But she was smaller than most of the Warriors Luke knew, and her face and body both had a soft, roundness to them. It was somehow still shocking to see how she spun from the first robed figure, effortlessly grabbing a second by the arm, then throwing him into a third. The fourth raised his crowbar. She didn’t bother getting out of the way, only moving so that he hit her shoulder instead of her head. She then grabbed his arm and snapped the bone.
Luke thought he understood what it meant to move with preternatural grace, to accept the power and speed of the wolf. Were all GraveHowl Lunars like this?
No. This wasn’t GraveHowl. This was Isabelle Kettle. Unclaimed, Warrior class. Luke was out of his depth with her. She wasn’t in the same league; she was untouchable.
He wanted to see her do that again.

February 7, 2026 at 2:40 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Isaac X Isaac

@isaacxisaac.bsky.social

I thought I was gonna turn up something from the major plot event that occurs on Jan 6 for today's #WIPSnips, but it turns out the only place I actually used the word "sixth" is here.

SPEAKING OF SABLE.

“Hell,” said Alexander, who had backed cautiously toward her alley during the volley. “How many guns do you have?”
“No man will ever know. And you,” and here was another, pointing at his chest now, “will die if you come any closer.”
“No!” came a small voice behind her. And out popped the link-boy, eyes wide. “Not those two. They defended me.”
“Ah, good. You’re all right, so.” Still, she lifted yet another, a sixth or seventh or some other absurd ordinal of flintlock, to point at Hunt, who had tried to scramble forward to rescue his friend. “Give us your purse, then.”

February 6, 2026 at 2:43 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

The monarchs of Atalantis are debating whether something might be wrong with the kaana crystals. It's probably fine 🙂

Btw there's a whole story about the 6th Sea Mother/Sun Father I want to write some day!

From my upcoming book THE GODS OF ATALANTIS.

“Who made these claims?” Minacaal argued. “These are nothing but baseless rumors. One person hears whispers that the crystals are lagging, then he becomes paranoid and imagines his own crystals are taking a few extra seconds to recharge. But it’s all in peoples’ heads.”
“What if it’s not, though?” the Western King said. “Even a lag of a few seconds could cause trouble for our tools and vehicles.”
“And suppose this effect spreads, whatever it is?” suggested the Plains Queen’s husband. “Suppose it grows more severe over time? The crystals might one day stop holding energy altogether. It has happened before.”
Minacaal scoffed. “Thousands of years ago.”
“Wait, the crystals once stopped working?” Mireia asked.
“I think he means the story of Raa Ataxa and Mu’u Maliit?” said Kena, looking to the man for confirmation. “When the Na’aqals were cursed for using the crystals against each other?”
“Ata, the tale of the sixth Mu’u and Raa,” the queen’s husband said. “To punish the people for their cruelty, the gods removed the power of the crystals from Atalantis, and they were only restored again when Mu’u Maliit and Raa Ataxa found one another.”
“A myth, nothing more,” Minacaal protested. “There’s no proof that the kaana crystals ever truly lost their power.”

February 6, 2026 at 10:15 AM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #AwesomeCharacters!

Manny, in book 1 Bludeye Beach: definitely always wants to be doing someone 😎

(Heehee thanks for the typo, Charlie! ❤️❤️)

❄️Charlie (Chelizabeth) Delta ☃️ @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 4d

Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

How does your character handle boredom/idleness?

Do they enjoy a lazy day doing nothing? Do they need it, sometimes? Or do they always want to be doing someone, and idleness makes them restless and unsettled?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts

February 5, 2026 at 11:09 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Isaac X Isaac

@isaacxisaac.bsky.social

OK now we get into the real #Febchantment yaps

Only some people can bend reality like the swashbucklers. It has to do with temperament and psychological ability.

The chief is actually imagination—the ability to see slim possibilities, portals out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary. +

Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · 5d

#Febchantment Day 5

Tell us about who can wield magic in your world!

Is it available to everyone, or only a special few? Is it a gift you're born with, or a skill you can learn? Is the knowledge gatekept in some way?

Don't forget to read & interact with others! 😁
#writingcommunity #writesky

February 5, 2026 at 6:52 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

Good afternoon #writingcommunity (or whatever time of day it is for you 😆)

Have a little snippet from my upcoming book THE GODS OF ATALANTIS, Part 1 of my #Atlantis trilogy 🌊☀️

#writers #writesky #hqpress

BOOK SNIPPET WRITTEN IN YELLOW TEXT ON A WAVY PURPLE & BLUE BACKGROUND:
---

Mireia didn’t want to be a goddess. She wanted a lot of things in life—she wanted to have exciting adventures, to see as much of the world as she could. She wanted to have a thrilling romance, to get married, to have children. She wanted to do something that would be remembered forever. She wanted to leave her mark.

But she didn’t want to be a goddess.

Perhaps she should just pretend she couldn’t do it. She could put on a show of trying to catch one, but deliberately fail. The strangers would never know better.

And yet ...

What if it’s me?

- From THE GODS OF ATALANTIS: BOOK ONE by Emily Klotz

February 5, 2026 at 6:53 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Alex Is Writing

@alexfromawen.bsky.social

#Febchantment Day 5

In the Braelon Sovereignty, only those perceived to be women are allowed to practice Bending, & men prohibited. This is based on your sex assigned at birth, so undoubtedly there are afab men who have been trained, & a subplot of the story involves the FMC teaching her amab
1/5

Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · 5d

#Febchantment Day 5

Tell us about who can wield magic in your world!

Is it available to everyone, or only a special few? Is it a gift you're born with, or a skill you can learn? Is the knowledge gatekept in some way?

Don't forget to read & interact with others! 😁
#writingcommunity #writesky

February 5, 2026 at 1:43 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#Febchantment 5

#Atlantis: Anyone could potentially learn to wield kaana crystals, though it comes more easily to some than others. However, the clergy gatekeep both access & education, with very strict laws about who's allowed to use crystals and how much training they're allowed to have.🧵1/6

Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · 5d

#Febchantment Day 5

Tell us about who can wield magic in your world!

Is it available to everyone, or only a special few? Is it a gift you're born with, or a skill you can learn? Is the knowledge gatekept in some way?

Don't forget to read & interact with others! 😁
#writingcommunity #writesky

February 5, 2026 at 1:45 PM

Eliwood S. Gheist

@eliwoodsgheist.com

Happy #Febchantment 5!

In the world of ESSiM, most creatures have some sort of innate ability or power. As for actually "casting" magic, that's mostly going to be in the domain of the Fae and Humans* (caveat: we're in undeveloped territory here, friends, and I may change my mind 😂) (1/7)

Prof Emily @professoremily.bsky.social · 5d

#Febchantment Day 5

Tell us about who can wield magic in your world!

Is it available to everyone, or only a special few? Is it a gift you're born with, or a skill you can learn? Is the knowledge gatekept in some way?

Don't forget to read & interact with others! 😁
#writingcommunity #writesky

February 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM

Reposted by Eliwood S. Gheist

Prof Emily

@professoremily.bsky.social

#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

The boys find a dead hallway 👀

(They're like 11-12yo here btw)

From #Tenement, my dystopian mystery about people living in an infinite building.

A pause—a quick breath—and I pushed the door inward in a rapid jerking motion. It slammed open, bashing against the wall, and all three of us jumped back as if something might leap out of the dark and grab us. Jon let out a high-pitched yelp.
But there were no creepy figures lurking on the other side, no shadowy hands reaching out to grab us. It was just an empty hallway, apparently ordinary except for the fact that there was no light at all—not even the dim glow that the bulbs gave off after Night Bell. Some lightbulbs were strung along the ceiling, but they’d all gone completely dead. And the air, too, tasted stale and stagnant as it came spilling out through the open doorway.
Kazuo snickered at Jon. “What was that? You sounded like a girl.”
“Shut up! You jumped too.”
“But I didn’t squeal.”
I took a cautious step toward the doorway, peering down the dark hall as far as I could. It was impossible to tell how long it was, since the light from Dead Sevens only managed to penetrate a few paces into the darkness. Dust particles swirled heavily in and out of the light. The floor was wood, like the rest of the Tenement; the walls, as far as I could see, seemed to be covered in the same peeling floral wallpaper that was plastered around every other hallway. An old dust-caked still-life painting was just barely visible on one of the near walls.
“Hey.” Kazuo punched my arm. “Dare you to go in.”

February 5, 2026 at 12:16 PM

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