Zena Bates-Zellers
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zbzwrites.bsky.social
Zena Bates-Zellers
@zbzwrites.bsky.social
Cat mom, wife, writer of super queer magic schools, TTRPG player, reader... Disabled, ND, queer. Any/all pronouns ❤️
#QueerPrompts
I can't think of any specific acts of kindness, but most of my queer characters (let's be real, they're pretty much all queer lol) are kind people. But Captain Artemis Long, a polyam trans man with who lives in their hometown, takes a lot of trans people in the community under his wing
#QueerPrompts November 13: Trans Awareness Week & World Kindness Day: Act(s) of kindness or kind trans/queer character(s) in your story?
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 PM
#QueerPrompts

Oh Éd was a little nightmare 😆 With good reason, but still. They definitely had a rebellious childhood, at least until they were adopted

Letti, on the other hand, was a perfect little angel. She was definitely a good influence on Éd lol
November 12, 2025 at 10:57 AM
#QueerPrompts
There's something they call the "endless war" because it lasted over a hundred years. The cohort (mafia) that have covertly run North America split up because of a dispute over a woman. Now, the country is split along the Mississippi River, and wizards who cross it are often killed
#QueerPrompts November 11: Veteran's Day: War or family feud in story?
November 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
#QueerPrompts

-The Sunbearer Trials (and Celestial Monsters) by Aiden Thomas
-House in the Cerulean Sea (and Somewhere Beyond the Sea) by TJ Klune
-The Wicked Bargain (and The Diablo's Curse) by Gabe Cole Novoa
-Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee
-and Between Sun and Shadows by Laura Genn (coming 2026!)
#QueerPrompts November 10: National Young Readers Week Begins: Any queer-positive book recs for kids/teens?
November 10, 2025 at 11:53 AM
#QueerPrompts
Whoops I'm behind again 😅

This scene takes place just after Letti and Éd get engaged ❤️
November 10, 2025 at 11:45 AM
#QueerPrompts
Oh gods, like a two? I mean there's hope in the end but my characters are trying to catch a criminal that has enforcers (cops) and the dean of the university covering up for him so figuring out a way to circumvent the dirty enforcers is... Something 😅
#QueerPrompts November 6: On a scale of 1 to 10, how hopeful is your story?
November 6, 2025 at 1:10 PM
#QueerPrompts
Éd is definitely Drinking Coffee in A Burning Building Stressed but they hide it, uh, relatively well lol. Letti is pretty stressed, too, but her stress comes later in the story than Éd's
November 6, 2025 at 1:04 PM
#QueerPrompts
I mean, there are a few, but I think my favorite is how shifters came about. It happened various ways in different cultures but most were blessed by gods or goddesses (all of which exist). The Olean (type of shifter) were blessed by an ancient goddess in Gaul before it was France
#QueerPrompts November 4: Any in-world legends of how your story's world came to be?
November 6, 2025 at 12:58 PM
#QueerPrompts
I chose to make queerness somewhat accepted but not 100% because I wanted to show a kind of juxtaposition between "normal" society and the parts of society that are less accepted (like werewolves and other shifters) and how they treat fellow "othered" people. It's also like 1968 lol
#QueerPrompts November 3: Why you chose or didn't choose queer acceptance in your story's world
November 5, 2025 at 2:07 AM
#QueerPrompts
Idk if this counts but several of my trans/queer characters become parents after their main story. In fact, the first time I "met" my main characters was a short story I wrote where they were adopting three additional kids who were orphaned. The whole novel kinda sprung up around that
#QueerPrompts November 2: Transgender Parent Day: Trans/queer parent(s) in story?
November 5, 2025 at 2:01 AM
#QueerPrompts
I'm a bit late, sorry 😅 I'm Zena (all pronouns), a queer, disabled, ND writer, wife, and cat mom

My WIP is about a nonbinary shapeshifter and their adoptive werewolf family. Werewolves in the book are based on wild wolves tho so only the antagonist is obsessed with the dominance stuff
#QueerPrompts November 1: Introduce yourself & your WIP/story/book
November 4, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Reposted by Zena Bates-Zellers
Really pleased to be part of this Itch bundle of trans fiction for Trans Awareness Month. $35 is a steal for work by some really wonderful authors, so make sure you check it out before it ends.

itch.io/b/3352/trans...

#booksky #QueerWriters
November 4, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Hi #Writevember 👋

I'm Zena or Z (all pronouns), a queer, disabled, ND writer, wife, and cat mom. My WIP is about a nonbinary shapeshifter and their adoptive werewolf family. I'm hoping to add 30k to my novel, but I'm counting other docs towards the #NovNov goal

Cat tax 👇 this is Casper 🤍
November 2, 2025 at 11:46 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
I finally have a link to share! My short story was published in the Splendor anthology this week. Read Éd and Letti's first meeting, when an orphaned Éd is adopted by their new family and learns about their fated mate. There are tons of other fantastic stories, too!

a.co/d/0BmnQjY
November 1, 2025 at 12:04 AM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
Definitely tricky 😅 I've been *really* struggling with this pain flare-up and the weather change. Chronic pain is such BS 🫠

There were some treats tho! My short story was published on Tuesday! 🎉 And I've been having tons of fun playing the Starfall TTRPG and reading Starfall books!
#LGBTQWriteAThon October 30:

We're at the end! How did your month go? Was it a treat, or tricky?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters
October 30, 2025 at 2:04 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
Well, Éd does try to keep their investigation a secret for a bit, but I feel like their skeletons are more literal? Unprocessed grief is a big motivator for them

Letti is sunshine, rainbows, and anxiety all rolled into a human 😆 She's a pretty open book. And she does love books lol
#LGBTQWriteAThon October 29:

Does your MC have any skeletons in the closet? Secrets they don't want getting out?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters
October 29, 2025 at 4:30 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
Okay, I have no idea what bugbears are 😅 but going off context clues from other replies...

There's someone attacking people on campus and both the enforcers and the dean of the university are doing everything they can to cover it up. People are scared but unsure if they should be
#LGBTQWriteAThon October 28:

Are there any bugbears (objects of dread, sources of fear) in your WIP?

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters
October 28, 2025 at 11:35 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
This week's goals:
-Finish writing at least one chapter
-Maybe go through my outline yet again 😅 Preptober and all that lol
-Work on my proofreading course
-Keep up with self-care
-Enjoy my Starfall (TTRPG) sessions
-Finish reading the Skyblossom novella
-Make my wife smile ❤️
October 27, 2025 at 10:30 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
One of my favorite characters is Letti and Éd's cousin, PJ. He has a crush on Lucha, a lion shifter. Lucha has a crush on him. The poor boys are hopeless but I love them so much ❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
October 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
It's been another absolutely horrible pain week, I'm having an awful flare-up, but I accomplished most of my goals this week so I'll take it 🤷 I also signed up for two November writing challenges so we'll see how that goes lol. Fingers crossed this flare ends like, tomorrow 😩🤞
October 25, 2025 at 11:22 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
I still don't have a link to share (hopefully Tuesday! 🤞)

But I did want to say that my post yesterday was a trick. My TTRPG character stole Cookie the wyvern. She's mentioned in my lovely friend Lily Seabrooke's novel Spellbound! It's releasing chapter by chapter on her patreon 👇
October 25, 2025 at 1:31 AM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
AITA for uhh, borrowing a wyvern?

I (18nb) borrowed a wyvern (no clue how old she is) and we became friends so now we go on adventures together sometimes. She enjoys death drops and is a *huge* fan of racing. Anyone. For any reason. But the enforcers keep saying I stole her 😕 AITA?
#LGBTQWriteAThon October 23:

AITA - Trick edition - write an AITA up and let others guess if it's a trick or really happens in your story!

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters
October 24, 2025 at 1:12 AM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
Ooh, probably their school uniforms...which I have been considering changing so I'm not gonna detail them lol.
Aside from that... Probably some kind of band t-shirt and jeans for Éd, and a flowy hippie outfit for Letti - bell-bottoms, big sleeves, whole thing. And her glasses, maybe
#LGBTQWriteAThon October 22:

Tell us what would be included in a costume kit for your characters!

#writesky #queerwriters #writers #lgbtqwriters
October 22, 2025 at 7:25 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon
This week's goals:
-Finish at least one chapter
-Finish editing my outline
-Work on my proofreading course
-Keep up with self-care
-Enjoy my Starfall (TTRPG) sessions ✨
-Read the Skyblossom (Starfall) novella (coming out November 1st 👀)
-Make my wife smile 💖
October 20, 2025 at 1:27 PM
#LGBTQWriteAThon

Mickey bumps my shoulder. “You good, sis?” Away from home, his face is a comfort—papa’s eyes, mama’s hair color, even though it’s styled in his silly Elvis updo.

“Yeah,” I nod, probably too quickly.

Those familiar eyes scrutinize me, narrowing to wrinkled slits. “Okay..."
October 19, 2025 at 10:32 PM