Sketching Up Aelin And Rowan From The Latest Book From The “Throne Of Glass” Series By Sarah J.

ACOMAF: Quotes/Scenes [4/6]:

“I tried to get my traitorous lungs to draw air so I could voice the word. No—no.

But I didn’t have to say it.

Thunder cracked behind me, as if two boulders had been hurled against each other.

People screamed, falling back, a few vanishing outright as darkness erupted.

I whirled, and through the night drifting away like smoke on a wind, I found Rhysand straightening the lapels of his black jacket.

“Hello, Feyre darling,” he purred.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. Not when Rhysand liked to make a spectacle of everything. And found pissing off Tamlin to be an art form.

But there he was.

Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court, now stood beside me, darkness leaking from him like ink in water.

He angled his head, his blue-black hair shifting with the movement. Those violet eyes sparkled in the golden faelight as they fixed on Tamlin, as he held up a hand to where Tamlin and Lucien and their sentries had their swords half-drawn, sizing up how to get me out of the way, how to bring him down—

But at the lift of that hand, they froze.” - A Court of Mist and Fury

Cardan and Jude from The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

So these are some of my favourites pieces of line art I’ve done recently. These are for a colouring competition I am now running! As I said before I have no time to produce any art work for the next two months so this is how I’m compensating!

So the rules: - Pick one of these drawings and colour it. Do whatever you want, change who the characters are, or keep who they are supposed to be (I’ll leave a list at the end of the post). Make it lineless, keep the lines, fix them up - I know I can be messy. - when you are finished, tag me and also tag it with #mevdee - Enter as many times as you want!

DEADLINE: 24TH APRIL (my birthday)

Prizes: Myself and my dear friends will be judging the drawings and choosing two winners. First prize is a full colour (or whatever style you want) commission with up to 3 characters. Second prize is a flat colour commision of 1 character. These can be OCs or fanart.

Hope you guys enjoy this! I’m excited anyway cause I’m definitely not the best with colour and will love to see what you do with them!

List of characters: Kaz and Inej, Elide and Lorcan, Parvati and Lavender, Aelin and Rowan, Sam and Celaena, Dorian and Manon, Feyre and Rhysand, Amren and Feyre, Will and Lyra, Feyre and Rhysand.

✅ Done! I still have a few things to do before I print the test version but all in all it’s finished! Characters belong to Sarah J Maas!

Death and Evie from The Arcana Chronicles <3

I’m finally up to speed after reading Arcana Rising! I think I put off carrying on with this series after finishing Dead of Winter because of how GOD DAMN HEART BROKEN I WAS.

DEATH </3

I really enjoy Arcana Chronicles EVEN IF IT (REALLY) FRUSTRATES THE HELL OUT OF ME. Death is the sweetest of cinnamon rolls and I love him so AND PLEASE DON’T DO IT, KRESLEY COLE. I’m just here for Death.

Jude Duarte and Cardan Greenbriar from Holly Black’s novels The Wicked King And The Cruel Prince.

Writing Female Fighters

The Heroine Must. Fight.

Today's female protagonists cannot sit on the side crying and breaking down or whimpering as the battle ensues.

Readers want to see autonomous female fighters who can at least defense themselves with courage and adequate skill.

Not all women are the same, but the heroine should get her butt moving.

Less Muscle, but More Flexibilty

The average woman is shorter than the average man, which makes it more difficult to wield a long sword or slam something down on the opponent's head.

A woman who works out can plausibly be stronger than a male couch potato, but if her male counterpart works out as much as her, the man is going to be much stronger.

On the other hand, the center of gravity in a woman's body is lower than a man's which makes it harder to knock her off her feet.

She is also more flexible, which gives her advantage in grappling fights, making use of complex landscapes, or deflecting blows.

A woman's small size can also be an advantage if her opponent has only ever trained with male opponents. His big hands might not get a good grip on her slender limbs.

In historical fiction, giving your heroine good muscule build can be tricky as exercise was generally considered harmful for women, with some exceptions for horseriding any maybe archery at best.

In such cases, make your heroine an accomplished dancer or an eager horsewoman, or the only girl whose father considered to be son replacement and thus, gave her a boy's education.

Women of lower classes who couldn't afford to be fashionably weak will be plausibly stronger, perhaps even more than an idle gentleman.

More Room for Negotiation, but Prolonged Ruthlessness

In the Suspense part of your fight scene, females are more likely to negotiate and talk more, strategically trying to descalate the situation rather than attacking on a momentary impulse.

Generally, women are less aggressive than men and remain level-headed longer than her male counterparts, opting for non-violent methods first before using force.

Exceptions apply if she is trying to protect her children (or someone who she cares for as a child). Mothers can be tigresses.

A female pre-fight conversation may be: "If you had not done so-and-so and betrayed me with so-and-so, we could have been good friends as I thought we would be." "What do you mean? It was in fact you who brought bad blood between us. I can still hear you laughing with so-and-so, taunting me, purposefully making me look bad -" "But that was so long ago! If you want me to say sorry about something so insignificant, you should have just said so: I'm sorry. There. Satisfied?" "Ha! I can't believe you say that so easily. You still don't get it, do you?" "Who's being petty and unreasonable now?"

A male pre-fight conversation will be shorter: "Who's the coward now?" "You're wrong." "Prove it." "Bastard."

Compared to men, it will take more time for a woman's fight hormones (adrenaline, neurotransmitters and such) to kick in.

She would be slower to engage initially, throwing reluctant punches and thinking, but she'll grow more and more violent and lose all rational thought and compassion, and once she's in full flow, may not stop even when her opponent begs for mercy.

When writing a male-female duo, you can show him going for the first blow while she observes and strategizes first. When he's past his peak and panting, she is flying about left and right. Later when the tension wears off and she becomes wobbly and teary, she can rely on him to have recovered faster and distract other teammates so that they won't see her cry.

Plausible Skills and Backstory

In many cultures and time periods, the general attitude of society towards girls is that they have no place in fist fights or martial arts, unlike how it is encouraged for boys of the same age. So if your heroine has physical prowess that surpasses typical 'fitness' or is hidden, build a backstory of how she's obtained it.

For modern heroines, it can be as simple as signing her up for martial arts classes or yearly membership at the local gym. For historical fiction or girls with strict 'feminine' upbringing, it can be trickier.

It can be related to profession: maybe she was an erotic wrestler, catfighter, or an assasin who thought killing was more honorable than prostitution. They may have dabbles with it for a short time and is now trying to hide their past from their respectable employer or fiance.

It can be family backstory: Perhaps her mother was an accomplished martial artist or she had to fend for younger siblings on the streets from an early age. Maybe she was the only girl in a family of many boys who refused to be the punching bag.

Inexperienced Female Fighters

A woman with no fighting experience or training is likely to resort to one of these on instinct:

Try to talk herself out of the situation, attempting to persuade or negotiate for her life.

Grab something to use as a weapon. This instinct seems to be stronger for women than it is in men.

Use her hands to try and break free, or kick (often wth little success)

Pull hair

Scratch.

In a serious fight, pulling hair and scratching won't be helpful, except when the police come to find her body, they would find the opponent's DNA under her fingernails.

Plausible Weapons and Clothing

All of the above applies to scenes where both parties have no weapons, or has the bare minimum (like one dagger each).

Weapons are equalizers, and if your heroine is pointing a gun at her opponent she will definitely NOT hesitate to be the one to shoot first.

When giving your female character a weapon, choose one she can plausibly use. It would take an unusually brawny woman to wield a great medieval longsword.

For historical fiction, give your heroine something she'll plausibly own. Swords and firearm were a no-go for women, but archery was borderline acceptable.

For clothing starters, you definitely CAN NOT dress her in a tight miniskirt and chainmail bra with long, flowy hair and multiple silver chockers. Unless she's trying to seduce her way into her opponent's bedroom, and he has a chainmail bra fetish.

A practical heroine will have her thighs covered, preferably with leather but at least with fabric, since a lot of blood flows through the thighs and a slash would be critical.

She'll keep her hair tied, tucked under a helmet, braided back, etc. so that it won't impede her vision.

She'll support her breasts with a strong sport bra. In a historical eprioid, she'll either tie her breasts tight with a fabric bandage or support them with some kind of leather corset.

Invent a female version of male fighter clothing of the time you are writing about if it doesn't exist.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

I need this so bad!!

Here’s a giveaway for any Holly Black fans! I have an ARC of her latest title THE WICKED KING (THE CRUEL PRINCE #2), up for grabs, coming out on January 8th, 2019!

Summary: After the jaw-dropping revelation that Oak is the heir to Faerie, Jude must keep her younger brother safe. To do so, she has bound the wicked king, Cardan, to her, and made herself the power behind the throne. Navigating the constantly shifting political alliances of Faerie would be difficult enough if Cardan were easy to control. But he does everything in his power to humiliate and undermine her even as his fascination with her remains undiminished.When it becomes all too clear that someone close to Jude means to betray her, threatening her own life and the lives of everyone she loves, Jude must uncover the traitor and fight her own complicated feelings for Cardan to maintain control as a mortal in a Faerie world.

This is International!

Simply like or reblog this post to enter (though really, try not to spam your followers too much…)

You don’t have to be following me to enter, but you must be willing to give me your address and have your ask box open.

This giveaway ends on Saturday, September 8th at midnight EST.

If you win, your ask box must be open so that I can contact you. You will then have 48 hours to reply, or I will pick another winner.

Winners will be chosen at random.

Good Luck! And feel free to drop me an ask if you have further questions!

I knew I saw that dress somewhere before!

Look at that! She wears the dress from @charliebowater magnificent drawing!

🤯 Frat House Rebels 💻

How long did this drawing take?

Yes.

Character/s by: Sarah J. Maas @Therealsjmaas

Book series: Crescent City