NyxMaren
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nyxmaren.bsky.social
NyxMaren
@nyxmaren.bsky.social
Neither man nor woman, but a force of nature. Great Value Baba Yaga. (Avatar and banner both by Dakota Curry)
Ayo: "Local Journalist engages in tryst with demon from Beyond the Veil" (Ayo's a monsterfucker)

Jamil: "Jericho's Juggernaut? The Secret Pay for Play Behind New Essex's Star Striker" (Tobias Jericho approached him after practice, and later donated a LOT of money to his football club)
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

A reporter from a scandal magazine has been secretly following your characters around.

What shocking headlines could they publish about them?

Did they have to take their actions out of context to get there?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 27, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Ayo and Jamil both treat nature with the kind of reverence that only comes from surviving something that reminds you how small you really are. Their joint experience surviving a cataclysmic sandstorm before the age of 10 has both of them quite unwilling to go for a second round.
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

How does your character feel about nature?

Do they like the outdoors? Have good survival skills?

Or do they prefer the comforts and amenities of a city?

Some combination of both?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 26, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Ayo wears hijab, so we don't really see their hair. In substitution of discussing that, Ayo prefers to wear single-color scarves to cover their hair.

Jamil, in the tradition of soccer players the world over, keeps his hair short during the season. He lets it grow out on the off-season though.
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Here's an appearance one that I don't think we've talked about yet: What does your character's hair look like?

Do they have hair? Long or short? What color? How do they usually wear it? Is it important to them?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 24, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Ayo and Jamil both grew up in a cramped refugee camp. One grew up to be a superhero, the other a soccer player. Physical touch is a necessity for both, and neither shies away from it.

Cassandra, on the other hand, is much more aloof, preferring to keep physical touch to professional gestures.
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

How does your character feel about physical touch?

Are they fans of a handshake, hug, pat on the back, etc?

Do they prefer to keep their distance?

Does it matter how close they are to the other person?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 22, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Ayo -- Samosas. Easy to make, everyone likes fried food, and usually low on allergens.

Jamil -- a premade charcuterie board: meat and cheese and crackers and he doesn't care how poor the quality is.

Cassandra -- if she has time, a homemade pasta of some sort. If she doesn't, cocktail shrimp
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

It is character potluck day! Everyone is gathering for a meal!

What is your character bringing? Do they have a favorite dish/something they make in a pinch?

Bringing ice or crudité is also acceptable!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 20, 2025 at 11:25 PM
#SFFChat Q4: Excerpt time!

This comes from the most recent chapter in HOMEBOUND. Here we see Jamil, Ayo's childhood bully-turned-friend, expressing his own understanding of a defining, traumatic incident they both shared through the lens of Ayo's gender and faith. I'll let the text say the rest.
November 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
#SFFChat Q3: shoutout!

I just finished Time to Orbit: Unknown -- The Javelin Project by Derin Edala. Idk Edala's gender status, but the main character Aspen Greaves is nonbinary, and there's some other interesting gender stuff going on the book, like with the Friends.
#SFFChat Q3: Shout out a trans writer or artist whose work you admire (or a trans character from a trans author's work!).
November 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
#SFFChat Q2: trans status

In both HOMEBOUND and GRAY MATTERS, trans people are fully recognized outside of small pockets, usually cultural enclaves. That doesn't stop some individuals from being awful about it, but in large part the transphobes are shunned, not the trans people.
#SFFChat Q2: What is the status of trans and gender nonconforming people in your world? If you haven’t thought about it yet, use this moment to reflect!
November 20, 2025 at 6:20 PM
#SFFChat Q1: my trans characters!

The MC of HOMEBOUND, Ayo Saeed, is nonbinary! And the secondary protagonist of GRAY MATTERS, Gray, is a trans woman!

Ayo is a dedicated journalist and hobbyist tinkerer who literally cannot stop themself from helping others, even at great personal cost.
#SFFChat Q1: For the Trans Day of Remembrance, share a trans* (including nonbinary, Two-Spirit, or otherwise gender nonconforming) character from your work, OR, if you have none, share how one of your characters engages with gender!
November 20, 2025 at 6:17 PM
#SFFChat (yes I know I'm late to it but it's TDR and I'm trans with trans characters so DEAL)

Hi! I'm M. Nyx, and I write SFF/horror! Obsidian Games has a bit of a stranglehold on my writing inspiration. The frank moral discussions of KOTOR II, the dilemmas of the Pillars of Eternity series...
#SFFChat is here!

Intro: Tell us about yourself & share a videogame that’s influenced you! Or, if no games have influenced you, share a less-discussed form of inspiration!
November 20, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Watching the CDC go from THE authority on infectious disease, not just in the US but practically globally, to a cesspool of misinformation and finally sliding into outright vaccine denialism and conspiracy theorizing in my adult life has been...fucking awful.
November 20, 2025 at 7:16 AM
HOMEBOUND features a the Veiled, a group of extradimensional refugees fleeing eldritch nightmares that rendered their home uninhabitable. They also just so happen to look like monsters to humans (though it's pretty gauche to deny the humanity of the Veiled, many call them "monster" or "demon")
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Are your characters human?

If not, tell me a little about what they are!

If so, are there any non-human species they interact with regularly? Tell me a bit about them and the type of relationship they have!

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 19, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Life advice: Arshia and only Arshia, and I can probably tell you what she'd say.

Technical advice: Ayo or Caterina, depending on the item in question.

Health advice: Jamil

Never under any circumstances: Clyde, Gray
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Which of your characters would you turn to for advice?

Does it matter what the advice was on? Relationships? Money? Career? Other?

Is there anyone who's advice you would always do the exact opposite of?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 19, 2025 at 1:20 AM
Ayo, from HOMEBOUND, can swim in a pinch, but their weak lungs and childhood in a desert make them wary of deep water. They LOVE a hot shower, though, especially because it's a rare time when they're actually medically advised to remove the mask that helps them breathe.
Greetings, #NovemberWorldbuilders! Let's talk about your MC today. What is their relationship with water like? Do they know how to swim? Have they ever caught a fish? Or is it just something that gets in the way during their long journey? Maybe they've never *seen* a body of water so big
November 18, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Lmao, just about everyone in HOMEBOUND disagrees with Ayo about something. It doesn't help that their primary mode of conversation is Socratic, which gets frustrating very quickly.

The big disagreements though are over Ayo's self-sacrificing behavior.
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Let's do another side character day! Do you have any characters who disagree with your protagonist?

What do they disagree about?

Does your side character have a point or are they being foolish? A bit of both?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 17, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Ayo - routinely fails to account for the stress their (selfless and heroic) actions put on others

Caterina - claims to be cynical, isn't. Also probably puts too much faith in Gray, who always manages to mess things up and force Cat to come to her rescue.
What's the biggest flaw in your main character? #WritingPrompt
November 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
As usual, HOMEBOUND first, then GRAY MATTERS

Ayo is the kind of person who doesn't intentionally keep secrets, they just won't think something is relevant. The exception to this is in their investigations, whereub discretion is important both to avoid tipping off powerful people and...
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

How does your character feel about secrets?

Do they have many? Do they trust anyone with them?

Are they good at keeping them for others? Do they try to find out secrets being kept from them, or leave it alone?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 AM
To tempt the characters of HOMEBOUND:

Ayo - nothing gets Ayo moving like a damsel in distress. Put someone in danger, and it truly doesn't matter what's in the way, they will find a path to helping

Jamil - this is the guy who proudly declared he'd be the "best patient ever." Just make it a contest
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What tempts your character?

If you had to convince them to do something they didn't really want to do, like getting a dog to take a bath using cheese, what would you use?

Would it be cheese?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 17, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by NyxMaren
For fuck’s sake.
November 15, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Ooh, this one gets to the *pathos*.

Starting with HOMEBOUND

Ayo abhors all forms of coercion and views promises as a form of self-coercion. As such they go out of their way *not* to make them, but does their best not to break their word unless it's *really* important.
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

Honor or results?

If it came down to it would your character choose to maintain their honor, or would they break their oath/promise/the rules to accomplish their goal?

How would they feel about it?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 14, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Caterina: hurting her or her friends, even if she'd never admit to either to your face

Gray: scratching Ship or saying bigoted things about vampires
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What makes your character angry?

Are there specific people, circumstances, actions, or words that cause them to lose their temper?

What does losing their temper tend to look like?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 14, 2025 at 5:08 AM
#SFFChat Q3: measuring time

In GRAY MATTERS, years are counted "since Unification," referring to the formation of the Galactic Union. Though various cultural groups use their own metrics, there's a "standard time" that's used mostly as a filter to translate across cultural boundaries.
#SFFChat Q3: How is time kept or measured in your world? If time is the same way as for us, how does magic or technology influence it?
November 14, 2025 at 1:02 AM
#SFFChat Q3: intensity

Timing tends to be super important in my stories, so not just for the intense scenes. I don't really *picture* it so much as *know* it.
#SFFChat Q2: When you write, do you tend to have a clear picture of the time of day for particularly intense scenes?
November 14, 2025 at 12:59 AM
#SFFChat Q1: features of day/night

GRAY MATTERS takes place largely in space, aboard orbital stations. They use a daylight/nightlight system to simulate natural day cycles for whatever species is most prevalent in that segment (or some other criteria, depending on politics)
#SFFChat Q1: What unique features of day, night, or time exist in your world? OR, how do people in your world think about these concepts (maybe they're sacred, etc)?
November 14, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Hey #SFFChat! I'm M. Nyx, and I would be a horrid liar if I didn't say my favorite time of day was the absolute dead of night, when I get all my actual writing done.

My bets readers love getting 3 am update texts I promise
#SFFChat Intro: Introduce yourself and share your favourite time of day (night, day, evening, morning--lunch!). Be as general or specific as you like. (:
November 14, 2025 at 12:55 AM