Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
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acturek.bsky.social
Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
@acturek.bsky.social
890 followers 860 following 3.1K posts
Writes character driven adult fantasy.
WIP: Brother’s Keeper, epic fantasy sibling story
Lives with bipolar disorder - @siegeofthespirit
Clinical Laboratory Scientist
Mountain backcountry horsewoman
Every trail’s the one true home.
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acturek.bsky.social
Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter @acturek.bsky.social · 6d
Two brothers—one accursed, one gifted—struggle with the Power of an empathic bond unseen for centuries. As Rushak seeks to escape his curse, Drisal must wield it as evil arises to threaten the world. But the prophesied Power can return only once, and the Shining One is … somebody else. #WIPPIT #F #A
Image: Mood board for Brother’s Keeper WIP: A block of seven images around a central one. Central image: white text on brown background that reads: “Born to be sacrificed: Drowned, shed, burnt and buried, a sin offering for his people. Had he been, all would be free. But he had not, and they weren't. He could never forget it. Brother’s Keeper (working title) A.C. Turek Surrounding images clockwise from center left: column of bonfire, running gray horse, green water, a hand holding a quartz crystal, a view looking up immense tree trunks, a waterfall, a view looking down on a vibrant green forest.
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
siegeofthespirit.bsky.social
The first time my Arabian mare and I crossed this little rock shelf, it was all about overcoming fear and learning trust. Ten years later it’s a simple thing … we remain strong and invincible with a bond that can never be broken. #trailhorse #trailride #HorseSky #equinetherapy #trust #overcoming
November 29, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
acturek.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #dedicate

How to fail bard training.

- Brother’s Keeper, book one of my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power.
Chalmalch had not seen his like in at least a century. He was perfect material for the vocation. Perhaps too perfect. He'd reached half-bard, and then abandoned the path, a terrible waste. Moreso, it was blasphemous to be so gifted of Maledin-Iryla and disdain to dedicate that gift to their service. Why? Fear of unworthiness? Arrogance? Or something else? Rushak's mind was not easy to steer along the narrow, convoluted trails of orthodoxy. The majority of Chalmalch's Acolytes followed those trails without doubt. And Rushak—How had he failed to place that ill-fitting name with that unforgettable face? The tortuous questions framed by thin lips, the perilous thoughts nearly voiced, and in the end locked away for another time and place. Brother's Keeper A.C. Turek
November 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
acturek.bsky.social
#AwesomeCharacters
The Sheltri and others who live along the River go by boat a lot for commerce, but mostly go on foot or ride their ath’kura. This is true pretty much everywhere (except non-Sheltri ride normal horses, wagons and carriages). There may be winged mounts showing up in the future …
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social Charlie Delta 🦊🐐 @charliedeltawrites.bsky.social · 1h
Tell me more about your #AwesomeCharacters

What methods of transportation do your characters usually use to get around?

Horses, ships (water, space, air), cars, walking, other?

Does transportation ever cause your characters difficulty?

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 30, 2025 at 12:09 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
verosthewriter.bsky.social
#WIPSnips
Seff considers her future as Drohim's protégé and a Blade of the Many in her own right ... or as an ordinary person who chose not to live a life of violence.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #writingprompt
That would be worth all the violence and fear and hardship of a Blade’s life, right? Especially since I’d be a lot better able to handle it. Drohim had re-killed three trained attackers at least twice each while I was just trying to keep two of them from killing me, and that was with Kevra getting in their way; all the mercenaries and fake guards I’d killed or knocked out the other night had basically been ambushes. If I trained up to be a real Blade of the Many, there honestly wouldn’t be much for me to fear. It would sure as hell pay better than being a squire, even if it would never make me rich. And he’d called it “a significant step up in social status.” I still remembered how I’d felt when he’d called me “young miss” two years ago; it would honestly be pretty nice if people talked to me with respect all the time. I would probably even have a squire of my own. Wow. Either that, or I would have to tell Drohim someday that I was returning the training and admiration he’d given me with a great big “Sorry, I should have told you earlier, but everything you’ve dedicated your life to is meaningless to me.” And then I would have a chance to live for another fifty years or so without anyone trying to stab me, curse me, turn me to stone, or reanimate my corpse. Hopefully.
November 29, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
nicolelsopergorden.bsky.social
Kip? Lacking focus and dedication? Acting spontaneously??? Now who would believe that... 🤣🤣🤣

From Poe's arc of The Atlas Brothers Break the Multiverse

#WIPSnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #AmWriting
“Ok,” Marisol panted through her smile. “You’re a good dancer, Kip. You’d probably win competitions, if you entered.” He waved her words away as he gulped down a bottle of water. “I don’t have the dedication for competitions, like I said. I just do it for fun. That’s what matters the most anyway – dance should be fun.” “Dance is fun,” Marisol agreed. “Even in competitions.” “It’s all the practice for one specific choreographed dance that would do me in,” Kip said with a laugh. “I don’t do the same dance twice. It loses its appeal.” “Spontaneous dancer, are you?” “Every bone in my body is spontaneous,” he agreed with a grin. “And the muscles doubly so.”
November 29, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
midnightrose838.bsky.social
#WIPSnips I went with "commit" & still no instances in both books of Lawcket's WIP, so we get a tragic line from my blood-mage WIP.

It was his vulnerability– his humanity that had caused him to commit the wrong which stained his soul with a crime blacker than the hells.
November 29, 2025 at 9:30 PM
acturek.bsky.social
A little #betweentheears slice of today’s adventure riding my Arabian mare Zil in Sand Canyon! A very brief #edgy spot along a cliff but what a view of red cliffs and stunning green piñon-juniper #forest. #trailhorse #trailride #colorado #arabianhorse #trail #Saturday #HorseSky
November 29, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
tinaduncan.bsky.social
#WIPSnips - dedicate.

The mystic discuss going to the old prison fort, to help some of the others that are held there.
It had been a place dedicated to the binding of mystic for the King’s army in days gone by. And likely was once more. For almost all mystic, it was the place was where their parents, and the generations before them, had been forced into giving their oaths. Those who had survived had either refused, or been unable to elaborate on what had happened to them there, but that, in itself, was enough to instil fear in the mere mention of the place.
November 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
heathenking.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #Writesky #WritingCommunity
That's what this takes, full dedication. Because I have to get it out of me, like trying to expel poison from my blood. It's somewhere inside, it's the feeling somewhere inside, and the only thing that makes it subside is putting the paint to the canvas.
The air from the mask tastes stale, the taste of aluminum. If I take the mask off, I'm endangered. It takes a lot of energy to move from the bedroom to the studio, to haul that fucking tank behind me all the way, but I manage to do it every day. And I'll keep doing it until the end of me. That's what this takes, full dedication. Because I have to get it out of me, like trying to expel poison from my blood. It's somewhere inside, it's the feeling somewhere inside, and the only thing that makes it subside is putting the paint to the canvas.
November 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
professoremily.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #amwriting #writingcommunity #writers #writesky

Fewer hits than I expected tbh!

This place seems nice. Certainly no one could get up to any creepy scary murdery type stuff here!

From Book 2 of my #Atlantis trilogy. Featuring a bonus zigzag for yesterday's prompt 😂
Though the name of this city had been forgotten, the purpose of the temple was not. It had once been dedicated to Ada’atzer, the God of Wrath, who had enjoyed a large following in ages past but had become obscure in this current era of feeble softness. No doubt it was Ada’atzer’s demands for fresh blood that had eventually driven his devotees away to kinder gods. But these cultists had no interest in kinder gods. They were only interested in the Sea Mother—the true Sea Mother. Mu’u, the Goddess of Tempests and Unrelenting Terrors. She who had given birth to Atalantis, and would one day take it back into herself. Surrounding the central pedestal, eleven stone circles were carved into the marble floor, blank on the inside but circumscribed by strings of glyphs. From each circle, drainage canals stained with ancient blood ran in zigzagging paths toward the center.
November 29, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
lynnpeyo.bsky.social
#Whistpr #Murmuration
#Vss365 #matters
#WipSnips #dedicate
#poetry

Hello fellow poets 🐉
Hope you’re having a day filled with inspirations. Here’s my piece for today.
The murmurations of sensations rushing through my nervous system bursting, to my exasperation from the pores of my skin dedicated to shattering the resolve within my eyes flutter my heart stutters all those matters that I’ve been trying so hard to hide flushed into the open with one single stride You placed yourself in my back, breath in my neck, hand at my throat and and you know as well as I that this is what they call ‘in check’ I don’t dare breathe I cannot move all that I do — entirely up to you “Get out of my dreams,” I say you laugh “Oh you know that I will stay.”
November 29, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
siegeofthespirit.bsky.social
The deconstruction of a mind

From Siege of the Spirit

#WIPSnips #dedication #fantasy #darkfantasy #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
MU'ATEM He knew it was his dissolving self-control that taunted him, barriers of self-protection falling from his psyche like a crumbling fortress, but there was no stopping the collapse, or its effect. Memories flooded him: his childhood DEDICATION ceremony and Frasca, a filly, nipping at his shirt; Lara laughing, her hair flashing in the sun; Teryl at the harpstrings; emeralds and blood; a flaming felara and villages burning; Drisal's lips against his forehead; and then the memories turned into something else. The harpstrings sliced Teryl's fingers off. The fires advanced until the whole Forest was immolated and shaped like his own body consumed within and without by dru'ach, and there was soon no telling what was a memory and what was a corruption in his mind. Siege of the Spirit
November 29, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
m-walshwrites.com
#amwriting #WIPsnips #WritingCommunity #WriteSky
Although Lock wasn’t raised to follow the Fallen Gods, he always admired the religion’s places of worship. Smaller towns and villages made do with humbler chapels, but it was in the city one might find the grand cathedrals with their spires and buttresses. Some temples were dedicated to individual gods, but the big ones represented all. They’d be adorned with symbols and statues, usually in some dynamic pose, and it all seemed so visceral and epic in a way the more meditative and introspective Shining Silver was not. Deschain Cathedral was no different. While waiting for the Everett Council to reach their decision, Lock and Troa stepped outside for air, and upon exiting the Town Hall, his eye was immediately drawn to the great edifice across Wilkes Square. It rivaled the keeps and fortresses of high lords, and loomed over them like a mountain.
November 29, 2025 at 5:00 PM
acturek.bsky.social
#WIPSnips #fantasy #WritingCommunity #WriteSky #dedicate

How to fail bard training.

- Brother’s Keeper, book one of my fantasy WIP about two brothers bound by a misunderstood power.
Chalmalch had not seen his like in at least a century. He was perfect material for the vocation. Perhaps too perfect. He'd reached half-bard, and then abandoned the path, a terrible waste. Moreso, it was blasphemous to be so gifted of Maledin-Iryla and disdain to dedicate that gift to their service. Why? Fear of unworthiness? Arrogance? Or something else? Rushak's mind was not easy to steer along the narrow, convoluted trails of orthodoxy. The majority of Chalmalch's Acolytes followed those trails without doubt. And Rushak—How had he failed to place that ill-fitting name with that unforgettable face? The tortuous questions framed by thin lips, the perilous thoughts nearly voiced, and in the end locked away for another time and place. Brother's Keeper A.C. Turek
November 29, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
racthoh.bsky.social
#WIPSnips Zigzag. Didn't think I had this one and didn't bother looking this morning. Oops.

Text in the alt.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky
I recognized the building Anor and I approached. It was within sight of where the ritual had taken place. The magnificent marble structure was surrounded by oaks with an undisturbed moat zigzagging between them. A single stone bridge led into a garden filled with columns depicting the Seven watching over the forests of Anthor. We entered the hall and into a windowed corridor with a single path leading further in. Anor and I walked side by side down the ruby carpeted path. There was complete silence as our footsteps were hushed by the rug below our feet. We elves were naturally quiet, but even our own movements could not escape our keen sense.
November 29, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
saranadosfiction.com
#WIPSnips | dedicate

And back to the scene from Silver in the Ashes that we were in at the start of the week - Archer and Sabbat in the bathroom at the Hall, waiting for the bath to finish running

( saranadosfiction.com/2023/12/29/s... )
“Be goin’ a lot faster if y’weren’t fuckin’ *watchin’* me,” the assassin muttered, still fighting with his waistcoat. “Ain’t a fuckin’ spectator sport.” *I’m watching you because I’m halfway terrified that if I look away you’ll stop breathing.* But he wasn’t going to say that, and Sabbat was making it quite clear that he didn’t need – or, more importantly – *want* any help with what he was currently doing. “My apologies. There’s not much space in here, but I can-“ “Said y’could stop watchin’ me. Din’t say y’had t’move.” Which was hair-splitting of the worst kind, but then, in the condition he was currently in, he’d earned the damn right to split hairs. “Would you prefer it if I sat here and read?” “Don’t care what you fuckin’ do, so long as it ain’t starin’ at me when I’m tryin’ t’concentrate. Jus’… stay there.” *And that, I suppose, is as much as I’m likely to get out of him on the topic.* He shifted position, moving to sit with his back against the tub, and cracked open one of the books he’d picked up from the other room: a not particularly well-written history of the city that he’d brought along mostly because it had a chapter dedicated to artefacts found in archaeological excavations when the university was being built which might, if they were ridiculously lucky, give them at least a little more information on the likely provenance of the box. *At least the prose is bad enough to be somewhat amusing, I suppose, since that’s likely the only use we’re going to get out of this.*
November 29, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
sagecollins.bsky.social
Lilia facing hard choices & learning hard truths

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
From The Magic in Our Bones 🦴🤥
Black text, green background, “dedicate” highlighted pink "We're not losing Nico," croaks Melody. "N-No. Not if we can help it. I just thought that what she's saying... Would you keep Nico if it means allowing other spirits to come in?" "Nico's not opening any rift. None of this is his fault. He didn't ask to die and he didn't ask to be brought back. Jayden's the one who wants to use necromancy. If we stop him, Nico goes back to just being one skeleton and those spirits can pound on the door all they want." My voice must have risen because it's Dahlia who answers me. "And how do you propose you stop this necromancer? Now that he's sunk his teeth in, he's sure to dedicate himself to the goal of using his true magic. It's only your father's own weakness in the area that stopped him from diving deeper into it." I whip my head towards her. "That's a lie!" She shakes her head, sadly. "I'm sorry, but it's not. A necromancer, once tasting that power, always strives for more, and your father was no exception. When the Council took him, he had assembled quite a collection of necromancy instructions from the spirit he'd contacted in the past, and from the notes he had made, he had failed to replicate them, but not for lack of trying. It was for his own protection--as well as the town's--that we offered the punishments. Strip him of his power, and the temptation wouldn't arise again. Keep him locked up, and he would be unable to try spells he wasn't equipped to perform. Exile him and remove his access to the rift. We can offer two of the three for him and Jayden, now. But I suspect you're running out of time to stop them from opening the rift."
November 29, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
jimthevampire.bsky.social
A museum that nobody would visit.

#WIPSnips
#WriteSky
#WritingCommunity
#WritingPrompts
#SciFiWriters
#sff
November 29, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
smoking-gnu.bsky.social
G'morning #WIPSnips. Tired. Here's a part when the future TLC partners discuss language barriers and how to solve them going forward.
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
“I may have to just do the translating at the meeting,” I conclude. “Why is that?” Rondu asks, and he sounds keenly interested in what I’ll reply by the way he focused in on me specifically. “Well, they don’t have these translation nanites-“ “Molecsynths,” Driona supplies helpfully. “Yeah, those, since they don’t have them, they’re not going to understand anything you say, even if you do them. Someone’s going to have to do the talky-understandy bits between us. Seems like it should be me,” I say confidently, and I feel a lot more secure in that I’ve already determined a role for myself in all of this. “That will not be necessary. I’ve been dedicating a portion of my computing capabilities to learning your language, English, and I can make a device that will suffice in translation for Driona at the meeting,” Rondu says, also matching Driona’s helpful tone. For some reason this causes an irrational wave of irritation to wash through me. “Well… fine! As long as we’re not demanding stabbing them in the head to inject those things then and there. That would send a very bad message!” “Yes, I thought the same,” Driona comments.
November 29, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
jangoeswriting.bsky.social
A military inspection …

From ‘Reign, Dear’.

#WiPSnips
He looked at the soldiers, warily, all of them stood as ramrod stiff as Jurumy, but not quite as stiffly as Couthly who, it appeared, had the ability to look arrow straight at all times while looking ready to burst into a frenzy of calm, dedicated attiring. Nervous, taking it one step at a time, Boulder moved along the line of soldiers, noting their armour, picking a bit of lint from one man’s shoulder, who then looked to Jurumy as though the wrath of the gods were about to descend upon him. At the end of the line, Boulder paused, looking back.
November 29, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
rachels-memories.bsky.social
#WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts #WIPSnips #traumamakesdrama

No ‘dedicate’ — how about ‘commit’?
[from The Ribbon Gift]
Cheers, you old curmudgeon, Well, what a fine mess I've made. Apparently, I still have a talent for it. This is not how it was supposed to go at all - completely off the rails, as they say (do they still say that?). I feel. ... different. So different you might not even recognize me. Perhaps I'm ready to be deposited in St. Oswalds. Perhaps Narci has had quite enough, at last, and will commit me herself. Draco is still dragging about, like a ghost of the manor. Scorpius, well - Scorpius is quite taken with the young Potter. I hear them, sometimes, in Scorpius' room (my grandson is untalented in concealment charms, and sometimes just plain lazy, or distracted, which is understandable - the boy is *distracting* He just leans in, comes at me, surrenders to everything, and everything he imagines I might do, which is, well... What I mean to say is that he takes it all, every soft feeling I have for him, every hard feeling. And he just lets me in and shows me *everything.*
November 29, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
kleighdiaz.bsky.social
#WIPSnips | dedicate vibes ✨

Making these kiddos dedicated to each other through it all.

(Context: Lennie escaped a scary situation. Luckily, Micah will always be her safe harbor. ☺️)

From my post-apocalyptic #WIP w/ a misfit trio of kids.

#WritingCommunity #WriteSky #amwriting
Writing snippet: She stared absently at him—the familiar depths of his eyes, the warmth of his skin, concern catching in every taut line etched into his brow—but she couldn't quiet her panicked breaths. “Damn. C’mere,” he said, pulling her close. “It's okay.” He gripped tighter as she collapsed into his arms. “It’s okay. You're safe.”
November 29, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
tarasgeir.bsky.social
More vibes for today’s #WIPSnips. Cailo wonders if he should change his focus from guilt to hope. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
November 29, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
caucasiansuasion.bsky.social
A short passage I wrote using today's #WIPSnips as inspiration.... not sure how it will fit into the overall storyline but it was a great writing exercise 🙂
#AsFastAsDarkness #Romantasy #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
November 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Reposted by Amanda Turek💎HorsebackWriter
charliedeltawrites.bsky.social
November 29th – dedicate

#AnthropomorphicNovel, today!

You can tell things are dire when people are looking to Ray for guidance.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompts
“This surprises you? Perhaps you think that we all have a plan at this moment and are just waiting to enact it?” Maksim chuckled. “No. A plan is what we need. I know you have one. I can see it in your eyes.” “Maksim, I don’t really…” “Relax, Ray. I won’t ask what it is, yet. You and James will keep your secrets as long as you have to. You always do. But if there is something I can do to help, say the word.” I swallowed hard. Maksim was a good agent. Smart, dedicated, cool under pressure. And he was scared now. He needed me to have a plan because he needed someone to have a plan. So, no pressure, then. But maybe it would be better for morale if I didn’t dissuade him. “There is something I need to know.” I considered my wording carefully. It would make him feel better to think I had something planned, unless he realized that said plan was insane. That would only make things worse.
November 29, 2025 at 11:19 AM