Seeking Long-Term Writing Buddies/Critique Partners for Fantasy (broadly)
Kestra Pingree
Hello!
I’m looking for a couple long-term writing buddies/critique partners to exchange weekly chapters with. (Exchanging entire manuscripts is fine, too, but weekly check-ins would be nice!) Discord is my preferred way to communicate, though email works as well.
I write primarily fantasy but have three ongoing projects that are paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy/sci-fi respectively.
The paranormal romance project consists of 20-25k standalones that revolve around a small town and the shifters who live there. These are meant to be cozy, feel-good stories, but they do deal with some heavy topics at times. They are mild spice; intimate scenes aren’t explicit, but they don’t necessarily fade to black.
I don't have a proper tagline/summary for the urban fantasy project yet, but the protagonist is a psychometrist and selkie who, after feeling like an outsider her whole life, is brought deeper into the paranormal world when a couple of monsters move into town. It will be an episodic series in that each book will have a self-contained primary plot, but the protagonist and her found family will grow and change as the series progresses.
Here's the blurb for the first book in my fantasy/sci-fi:
Rimn is an empath cursed with the
ability to feel every emotion around her. Captured by the ruthless slaver Gris,
she dreams of the Cloud—a fabled utopia in the sky where she believes she can
find peace.
Enduring torment and isolation, Rimn's hope is rekindled when Squall, a daring
desert-dweller, infiltrates Gris’s fortress and offers her a chance at freedom.
But escaping Gris's clutches is only the beginning. As Rimn joins Squall's
people, she becomes entangled in their fight against Gris, facing new challenges
and discovering unexpected allies.
Determined to reach the Cloud, Rimn’s journey is fraught with peril and hope as
she navigates a broken world on the path toward redemption and a new beginning.
If you think we’d be a good match, I’d be happy to exchange some chapters. Let’s become better writers together!
My email is kes...@kestrapingree.com
I’ll also list a few stories that describe my tastes and influences:
The Unwind Dystology and Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman
The Raven Cycle and The Dreamer Trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater
Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness
Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo
All for the Game by Nora Sakavic
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Nier:Automata (game and books and anime)
Omori (game)
Hunter x Hunter (anime)
Monster by Naoki Urasawa
Solo Leveling (anime)
To Your Eternity by Yoshitoki Ouima
Sheik Nao
I'd love to be weekly Critique Partners if it sounds like we'd work well together! Discord works great and I write Queer Urban Fantasy.
Summary:
Marcos has just turned 16, when he moves to a whole other continent to train as an Ordinator, a protector. All he really wants is to prove himself, make his family proud. But the more he sees, the more he's forced to question everything he's been taught. Meeting another boy who's really talented at making his life harder doesn't help, especially when he might have a point.
A few things that influenced me:
The Legend of Korra
Twilight Princess
The Hunger Games
Iseult Merlin
I'd also be really interested in this, if we work well - I think weekly check-ins is such a good idea to stay on track / motivated.
I write mostly fantasy, and sometimes dystopia.
Summary of my current WIP:
Ida wants nothing more than to be her mother’s ordinary daughter, despite the feathers growing from her skin. It has been sixteen years since the creatures of the Rotting Forest stole through an open window and took her mother’s real baby, leaving Ida there instead. But when the death of a teacher turns the town's fear to accusation, Ida worries that she is more wild-thing than girl, and turns to the Rotting Forest for answers. Here, Ida must learn the rules of a cruel new world, where unbreakable bargains are sealed with stitches and a new mother awaits her return.
My tastes and influences include:
Maggie Stiefvater - specifically the Scorpio Races
Diana Wynne Jones - the Chrestomanci series
Terry Pratchett - The Tiffany Aching series
Neal Shusterman - Unwind Series
Frances Hardinge - Cuckoo Song, Unraveller
My email is: iseult...@gmail.com
Feel free to shoot me a message if you think we'd work - I am UK based though so it could be tricky with timings depending on where everyone is.
Iseult