Author James C Struck
banner
curioussnowflake.bsky.social
Author James C Struck
@curioussnowflake.bsky.social
He/They/Him/Them
Author of The Curious Snowflake: A Parable, available now! https://bit.ly/3PMYmkR
Preorder Children of Dusk here: https://a.co/d/brmahZN
Musician, parent, #poly, #leftist, #queer, overall big geek.
JamesCStruck.com
#WIPSnips for 11/12: shirt

High school gym class sucks under the best of circumstances. When you’ve got burn scars like Tim, however, it’s a very special kind of hell.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
November 12, 2025 at 1:30 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/11: burger

Here, our MC Tim has to contend with explaining to his nosy, suburban realtor mom about Vee and Gideon, without, ya know, letting her know they’re magic wielders from another dimension who’ve recruited him to save the world. No biggie. 🤣

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy
November 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/10: local

Weaving works much MUCH better in the Duskrealms than it does in our world because not enough people here believe in magic. Here, Kieran uses science to explain how belief and consciousness directly affect reality.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
November 10, 2025 at 12:15 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/8: picture

One of the signs a person is a potential Weaver is the ability to understand the language the Opacaroi call Housetongue. Here, Tim gets to hear it for the first time.

Side note, I think “Taruch vo ma ne’anta ye” would be great on a merch shirt.

#WriteSky
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
#WIPSnips for 11/8: little

Tim’s father Victor is an institutionalized paranoid schizophrenic. Most of the time his medications keep the illness in check, but here, unfortunately, Tim gets to see his dad at his worst.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
November 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/7: movement

When he was 7, Tim almost died in a fire, and he has never talked to anyone about it, until now.

This scene was the culmination of the most difficult and most rewarding writing I have ever done. It took me a month to get through it.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy
November 7, 2025 at 12:57 PM
I am trying to use the Clock App as a self promotion and sales app for Children of Dusk, but I need to get to 1k followers before I am allowed to post shop links.

Well I must be doing something right, because I went from 500 followers on 11/1 to almost 850 today! 🥳

#WriteSky #IndieAuthor
November 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/5: trail

Vee and Gideon Melan are fraternal twins, and facially they look a great deal alike: long oval faces with dark eyes and hair and prominent noses. Physically, however, they couldn’t be more different.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
November 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
#WIPSnips for 11/4: steel

In ancient days, the founders of the Opacaroi created seven magical spears, the Aigloi, and gifted them to the leaders of the seven Great Houses. Among other things, an Aiglos amplifies a Weaver’s magical abilities.

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #queerwriters
November 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
ARC READER TIME!!!!

Children of Dusk launches 6 weeks from today! 😱 I am now taking applications for ARC readers! The plan is to send out copies around the 15th of this month to give plenty of time. If you’re interested, comment below.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #ARCReaders
November 4, 2025 at 4:22 AM
#WIPSnips for 11/1: ancestor

Tim knows his new friends as Vee and Gideon Melan, just a couple of punk rock ne’er do well teenagers. The truth is quite a bit more dramatic.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
November 1, 2025 at 6:20 PM
#WIPSnips for Halloween! 🎃 Monster

Tim’s father has schizophrenia, and in the current day he is institutionalized. In this flashback to Tim’s childhood, he tries to tell then-seven-year-old Tim what his disease is like.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 31, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Yay, one I can do! 🤣 #WIPSnips for 10/30: spell

A Denier is a member of the Duskers who leaves their society and gives up magic completely. Is Tim’s father one? You’ll have to read it and find out!

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 30, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Where are my #ARCReaders?

Applications for ARC readers for Children of Dusk start Nov 1st! The rules are simple: you get a FREE digital copy of my book early, and you leave me an honest review as close to launch day (12/15) as possible. Comment if you’re interested!

#IndieAuthor #WriteSky
October 27, 2025 at 9:45 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/27 🎃, how about a whispery screech instead of a bloodcurdling howl?

For reference, vrolachi are shadow-demons, normally deadly but these are sent to capture Tim, not kill.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #SpookySeason
October 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/24: complete rather than total

Here, Tim gets to experience magical healing for the first time, after getting pretty badly roughed up by some bullies.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 24, 2025 at 5:25 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/23, the best I can do is a hill. 🤣

Vee and Gideon are exiles on a mission; find a potential Weaver and they can return to Dusker society. So needless to say, they’re pretty excited when they find Tim.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 23, 2025 at 4:25 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/23: charge

One of the first fighting techniques Duskers learn is to create a “combat weave”, a way to magically enhance one’s strength and agility. Here, Tim puts one to good use when some possessed jocks try to kidnap his mom.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/22: second

Trigger Warning: bullying. The event that activated Tim’s latent magical abilities also gave a bully named Kyle Petersen a sprained ankle. Now Kyle and his friends want payback and Tim is very outnumbered.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 21, 2025 at 8:44 PM
I’ve been working on some merch ideas for the launch of Children of Dusk, what do you think of these? The first one is a phrase that means “because you understand me”, the second is the Elemental Compass.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 21, 2025 at 4:45 AM
#WIPSnips for 10/20: field

The magic system in Children of Dusk, called Weaving, involved drawing in elemental energies from the world and combining them for different effects. Here, our MC gets a tutorial. Second image is of the symbol on Vee’s necklace.

#WriteSky #UrbanFantasy #QueerWriters
October 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/19: Trial

Well, this is kind of a spoiler if you had the context of the rest of the book, but I think out of context it’s fine. And it’s the only time Trial shows up in the whole manuscript 🤣

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #QueerWriters
October 19, 2025 at 4:46 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/18: dodge

This may be my favorite bit of dialogue between Tim and his mom.

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #QueerWriters
October 18, 2025 at 5:36 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/17: lounge instead of loaf

When you almost die from a fire as a kid, fireplaces can make you a trifle uncomfortable, as does talking about how you got those scars in the first place.

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #QueerWriters
October 17, 2025 at 10:05 PM
#WIPSnips for 10/15: care

One of the surest signs that someone is a potential Weaver is the ability to instinctively understand the language Duskers call Housetongue. Here, Tim gets to hear it for the first time.

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #QueerWriters
October 15, 2025 at 11:54 PM