Victoria St.Michael

🎨 Day 3 🎨

Today's WC: 1,354
Total WC so far: 12,466

In today's snippet, Colby wrestles with a decision and a moral conundrum.

DAY 3: WHAT REP IS IN YOUR PROJECT?
Colby, like most of my MCs is bi! There are other bi characters as well. Colby's best friend Theo is pan, and our enigmatic love interest Lincoln is gay as hell. We also have ace and enby characters!

Also, as usual, neurodivergent rep 🖤

🎨 Day 1 & 2 🎨

Yes, ya girl is starting yet another new WIP (shhh) and doing NaNo for the very first time! My goal is to post one new snippet every day and reach 50k words by the end of the month.

I'll also be following along with the LGBTQWriMo prompts! Since I didn't post yesterday, here are the prompts for day 1 & 2:

DAY 1: INTRODUCE YOUR PROJECT
Investigative journalist Colby Riggs lives for the high of chasing the next big story. When he left his job in New York, he was chasing that sense of excitement, of danger. An irresistible, intangible, unscratchable itch.

But with a sick father & a growing stack of unpaid medical bills to contend with, freelancing isn't as glamorous as Colby hoped... until he receives a phone call & a mysterious invitation to New Orleans.

Enter his new employer, Lincoln Dallaire. Sure, he's handsome & mysterious with a keen eye for surrealism, but he's arrogant, self-absorbed, obscenely wealthy & bursting with baggage.

Oh, and he may or may not be an international art thief about to embark on what could arguably be the biggest heist in history... And he wants Colby to document the whole thing.

Now that's a story.

Never before has a journalist had such unprecedented access to a crime of this magnitude, in real time. But is Colby willing to risk a prison sentence, not to mention his journalistic integrity, chasing a story?

He quickly learns that, when it comes to Lincoln Dallaire, there isn't much he wouldn't do.

DAY 2: BOOK 'COVER'
I don't have a cover for this yet, so have a moodboard instead!

TOTAL WC SO FAR: 11,112

It's happening, I'm doing the thing. My first time (officially) doing NaNoWriMo! Wish me luck!

| wound

Another tiny snippet from my "good for her" revenge horror short, Blood Moon. Also it has sapphic werewolves, so. 😇 I will hopefully have some news about this project very soon, keep your fingers crossed for me! 🤞

Huge thanks once again to Tyler Battaglia for keeping Saturdark up and running for us every week! We 🖤 you!

| claw

CW: gore 🩸

I told y'all I was making an attempt at body horror! Here's a snippet of how it's going so far. It's a "good for her" revenge story with q***r urban werewolves. So.

Thanks to the one and only for keeping this awesome event up and running every week! We appreciate you!

Enjoy 😌

---

ALT TEXT:
These puny men think they know what power feels like, the Wolf says with a deep, rumbling chuckle. Let’s show them just how wrong they are.

I lunge.

My snout closes around the first man’s neck as I tackle him to the ground. My razor-sharp fangs sink into his flesh like butter, blood spurting from the wound as I rip his trachea from his throat. He’s trying to scream—the folds of his vocal chords flap uselessly in the exposed air—but his efforts produce nothing but a weak gurgle as I slash at his face and chest with my deadly claws. The screams of his companions fill the air, but I take my time.

Because no one will come. No one ever comes.

"𝑴𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐-𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈—𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒖𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔; 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚 𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔! 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍, 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕?"

She won the poll by a single vote, so for this week's (supporting character edition) we have our weird & wonderful ace queen Sofia Davis! ✨

Sofia is super sweet, quirky and a lot of fun. She loves bugs, great music, overalls & fun jewelery, hanging out with the band at the recording studio and learning to cook with Jamie. She was brought into the group by her bestie River; she owns the photo studio he frequents.

Fun fact: Sofia is autistic-coded! But it's never explicitly mentioned because sadly this is the 90s, and dx rates were only around 1 in 500 back then... even lower for women. (sigh)

I'll be submitting a short story to this fab contest! Wish me luck!

Quagmire Magazine - Quagmire's SECOND Short Fiction Contest TO OUR WRITERS:  At Quagmire, as a writer-first magazine, we’re going to be doing things a little bit different. Our goal, first and foremost, will always be to make our writers the most money and receive the most eyes on their work as possible.  We want YOU getting published in print AND online...

🖤 Riley and Corbin! 🖤

Original character art by Safaerie Art 🥰 As usual Fei has absolutely hit it out of the park. Give her a follow and if you're looking for some custom artwork I would highly recommend her!

My favourite part is that she added blank speech bubbles so I can make them say stuff. (If Riley asked Corbin if he'd still love him if he was a worm, he'd definitely take the question 1000% seriously!)

My somewhat lazy contribution to this week because I'm sick (boooo!) and have no energy. 😭

Anyway. The prompt is "temperature." Enjoy!

ALT TEXT:
He cleared his throat and stood, leading River across the hall to the washroom. “Sit,” he instructed, closing the toilet lid and gesturing toward it. River sat without a word. Jamie ran cool water, testing the temperature, then held River’s hand under the flow. He hissed softly again, but didn’t complain as the stream of water ran red. Jamie looked sideways at River through his eyelashes; his alabaster skin was somehow paler than usual, almost grey, like he’d seen a ghost.

//🌶️ CW: Spice, mention of blood in 1st paragraph 🌶️//

PROMPT: grab/grope

A longer snippet for my lil crowd on Instagram because I'm in a good mood today despite having a nasty cold 🥰🖤 Enjoy some Jamie/River shenanigans.

"𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝒀𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒃𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒔𝒐 𝒂𝒎 𝑰. 𝑾𝒆'𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒉. 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒃𝒊𝒏, 𝒕𝒐𝒐, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏'𝒕."

✨ It's and I'm reposting the original character moodboards for my 90s rock band WIP! ✨

Poll results are in from Instagram and unsurprisingly they were unanimous 😂 I don't blame y'all. So this week we're getting to know our favorite gloomy boi: River Gray!

River is Corbin's younger brother (27 y/o). While Corbin was born in the U.S., River was born in Bordeaux, France--where their mother, Camille, was raised. They moved back to America when River was three.

Like Corbin, River grew up under the thumb of their wealthy but abusive parents. After Corbin was disowned, the pressure to someday take over the family business fell on River---whether he wanted it to or not.

River may be a touch more emotionally intelligent than his brother, but he still has a lot of trauma to work through. (You'd be the same way if the only person who ever had your back ran away from home, left you behind at 13 and built a new life with a new family, replacing you with the most annoying, obnoxious, insufferable hazel-eyed idiot you've ever met.)

River loves rainy nights, poetry, The Smiths & classic lit. He spends his time brooding, babysitting Corbin, smoking w**d, journaling, chilling at the photo studio with his eccentric friend and fellow photographer, Sofia, and avoiding Jamie (the aforementioned hazel-eyed idiot).

Yup, it's all very complicated. But River is a complicated guy, what can I say?

| animal

Some Riley/Corbin drama from my 90s rock band WIP for your Saturday reading pleasure 👀🖤 I decided to go with "wild" (still on theme, okay!?) because all the snippets I had for "animal" were too spoiler-y.

As always, huge thank you to Tyler for keeping this awesome event going every week!

---

ALT TEXT:
“Riley.” Corbin was begging shamelessly now, his dark eyes wild and panicked. He stood frozen in place, raking his gaze repeatedly across Riley’s face, like if he stared long enough his expression might change. “Please, just—”

“F**k. You.” Riley’s shaking hands clutched the ice bucket with white knuckles. “Don’t talk to me. I can’t—I can’t even stand to look at your fu***ng face right now.”

He was trembling with barely-concealed rage. River knew that rage like the back of his hand, the raw, blistering kind that could only be born from love. The kind of rage you feel when someone you trust rips your heart from your chest and grinds it to dust under their heel. He could see it simmering in Riley’s eyes along with his tears, threatening to spill over.

Corbin fell to his knees on the flagstone walkway. His breathing was ragged, his chest heaving. “I fu**ed up. I’m sorry. I fu**ed up.”

CW: spice // 'tis thursday, friendos 👀🌶️

Prompt for this week is NECK/THROAT. I keep saying I'm going to keep Poppy and Tallie out of my snippets but I just love them sm! like... ✨women✨ ya know!? 😍

There's nothing more 90s than making out in a phone booth. Are phone booths even a thing anymore?! I don't remember the last time I've seen one. Anyway.

"𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝑨𝑺𝑺𝑰𝑶𝑵, 𝑻𝒂𝒍! 𝑰'𝒎 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒆'𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒅'𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒔. 𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆, 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒆. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒕? 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚? 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒘𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆."

✨ It's and I'm reposting the original moodboards for my 90s rock band WIP! ✨

By popular demand (thank you to everyone who voted in the poll!) we're starting with our former rich kid turned family disappointment/bi king/drummer: Corbin Gray!

Corbin is 29 years old, a textbook Scorpio, with major unaddressed trauma and amazing hair. He's into hard rock, motorcycles, partying a little too hard and generally just being a reckless, impulsive force of chaos. The ladies (and a certain rhythm guitarist) love him, the tabloids love to hate him. You'll never find Corbin without his trademark leather jacket, black eyeliner & chipped black nail polish.

He grew up a few hours outside Seattle with his best friends Jamie and Chrissy and his... well... his 'something,' Riley. He's still figuring that part out, okay!? 🖕

His parents (AKA the two people Corbin hates most in the world) own a multi-billion dollar holding company, which would be great if they gave even a single f*CK about their kids. Corbin in particular. He ran away from home at 15 and moved in with Jamie, and if you asked Corbin, he'd say Jamie's parents were his real parents all along. Jamie's mother, Priya, says the same.

In 1989 Corbin, Jamie, Chrissy and Riley moved to Seattle to become badass famous rockstars, where they met Tallie & eventually Poppy.

It's all looking pretty good honestly, until his estranged younger brother River, a walking reminder of everything Corbin worked so hard to leave behind, shows up on their doorstep with his camera and a suitcase 👀

| leave

// CW: mention of blood //

---

ALT TEXT:
When Jamie and Corbin were twelve, they took a blood oath in Jamie’s backyard. The ritual would make them ‘blood brothers,’ Corbin had claimed. They pilfered one of his father’s expensive knives from the block in the kitchen and sliced into their palms, gripping each other’s bleeding hands and watching as blood dripped into the grass between them.

“We have to promise to never leave each other,” Corbin said very seriously. “Ever. And no one will ever come between us. Not even a girl. Not even if she’s super hot.”

Jamie was starting to feel a little dizzy, but it was important to Corbin, so he didn’t complain. Not once. Jamie knew he needed the reassurance—needed to make it a big production. Corbin worried a lot about being left behind, especially by Jamie. He wasn’t exactly used to the people he cared about sticking around for him.

“And we’ll always stand by each other. No matter what," Jamie added.

Corbin smiled. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

// CW: slight spice //

Did someone say !? 😏

Submission for featuring my favourite enemies to lovers/grumpy sunshine duo, Jamie and River! They're perfect 😭🖤 Denial is a 'River' in Egypt, am I right? Sigh.

---

ALT TEXT:
Jamie laughed brightly. “Fair enough. See you on the bus, then?”

“Unfortunately.” The word didn’t come out with nearly as much animosity as River wanted it to.

He pulled his Docs back onto his feet and looked down at Jamie, his unwilling lips tugging up in a half-smile. He was trying desperately not to think about how beautiful he looked right now, smiling up at him in the dark. Of course, that only sharpened his focus. There wasn’t a force on earth that could tear River’s eyes away from Jamie’s ridiculous lopsided grin, his hazel eyes, hazy and sated, lids heavy behind his glasses. His hair, still damp with sweat, was a tangled, gorgeous, just-fu**ed mess. Fu***ng hell, River thought, forcing his legs to carry him another step away from the bed.

Jamie winked at him, his expression infuriatingly smug. “Looking forward to it.”

| drown

ALT TEXT:
River’s breath hitched. “Corbin, come on.”
He’s wasted, he’s not himself, River tried to tell himself. But his silent words of affirmation were drowned out by a deafening crash inside his own mind, as the foundation of the rudimentary house of trust he and Corbin had started to build together crumbled to dust. Its beams and plaster crashed down around him, rotted from the inside out. Something in him snapped. All at once, thirteen years of resentment turned River to pure ice.

| cold/hot

I know I said I was trying to keep Tallie out of my snippets but this sweet lil moment in the recording studio was just too cute to pass up with this prompt. 🥹 We love a supportive queen!

More character moodboards, because I felt like it! All the 90s vibes!

Introducing ✨the boys✨

Jamie: Pansexual sunshine king ☀️👑 don't tell the others, but he's my favourite. 50% bass machine, 50% himbo. Chef of the house, favorite karaoke song is Waterloo by Abba. ADHD-coded relentless optimist. Also he's in love with his best friend's younger brother.

River: The grumpy to Jamie's sunshine 🌧️ Also the aforementioned younger brother to Corbin. Slut for The Smiths and thunderstorms. Photographer, resident sad boi, bookworm, honorary band member, pothead, reluctant babysitter. Moody, angsty top with a lot of big feelings. Basically he's a bundle of trauma, but he's doing his best 🖤

Corbin: Jamie's best friend, River's big brother. Drummer, bad boy rockstar vibes🤘 Reckless & impulsive, but his heart is in the right place. Basically chaos in human form. Also full of angst and trauma, but likes to pretend he isn't. The only authority he recognizes is Riley. Insert bisexual flag here.

Riley: Rhythm guitar 🎸 Quiet & sweet until you p**s him off. Bookworm, former group home kid, chronic pain king, dad rock savant, simp for Corbin. And he actually knows how to read sheet music. Constantly picking up Corbin's misplaced sticks & putting them in places he knows he'll find them. Corbin has no idea. Professional cardigan wearer.

| magic

They say "never go back to what broke you," but someone forgot to give poor Posy the memo. Another snippet from my new(ish) WIP, because I had nothing else that fit the theme!

prompt this week is "cozy/comfort."

I love this one! We all have that one person who gives us that instant feeling of comfort when everything seems to be going wrong. For River, whether he wants to admit it or not, that person is Jamie. They're so damn cute!



---

ALT TEXT

Text on a soft blue background that reads as follows:
River said nothing. He stood and walked headlong into Jamie, tipping his head forward against the solid warmth of his chest. Right now, he needed safety. He needed sunshine. Everything else would have to take a backseat, at least for now.

Jamie hesitated for only a moment before he wound his arms loosely around River’s waist. “Hey,” he murmured. “What happened? What’s going on?” He sounded perfectly sober, for which River was grateful. He needed Jamie here, fully present. Selfishly, he needed someone he cared about who wasn’t a fu***ng addict.

“Your ankle,” River said into Jamie’s t-shirt. “It looks worse.” The familiar aroma of mint and eucalyptus washed over him, numbing his tired senses.

“It’s whatever,” Jamie replied dismissively.

River nuzzled against his collarbone, wishing he could absorb the deep, comforting rumble in Jamie’s chest as he spoke, wishing he could bury himself inside it and never emerge. But instead, he pulled back and looked up into Jamie’s hazel eyes, wide with concern behind his glasses, letting them anchor him to the ground. They were mostly green, really, with flecks of brilliant golden brown. They reminded River of the earth, of the dense patches of woods dotting the French countryside where he and Corbin used to hike with Andi and Mari as kids.

“Something’s up,” Jamie whispered. “Tell me.”

It's time for and this week we get a rare Tallie POV! The prompt is "storm" and in this case it applies in more ways than one. 😭

Have I finished drafting this novel yet? Absolutely I haven't. Is it because I hate making bad things happen to my characters and left all those scenes to the very end? Absolutely it is. It hurts, okay!?

I just started this WIP and I'm not gonna lie, I don't even know what it is yet. But it works for today's !

Prompt is "bed."

I was away this weekend so I missed and 😭 But better late than never I guess??

I somehow found a fanfic snippet that includes both prompts: "hollow" and "book." Just casual cousin things, y'know.

Alexa, play Family Line by Conan Gray 😬

Don't forget you can download my novella, Elaine's Gift, for 40% off this month! Use code JULYHOLIDAY at checkout.

🔥Beat the heat with sizzling deals! ☀️📚 Enjoy a cool 40% off on the hottest summer reads! Use code JULYHOLIDAY at checkout. Visit us at: https://ninestarpress.com/ 🌈📘

It's ! I guess this kind of counts as mellow? It was the most mellow thing I had, alright!?

Prompt: Warm/cozy

Some pure, unadulterated fluff for your weekend reading pleasure!

I desperately needed a break from writing depressing scenes in the actual novel so I wrote this short story as a sort of companion piece for it, or an introduction to my WIP. Just a few hundred words of my grumpy/sunshine boys being silly and gay, AKA Jamie gives River an impromptu bass lesson. 🖤🌈

Vic's Short Stories Vol.4: Bass Lessons — Victoria St. Michael AN: This is a cute lil one-shot companion piece that goes with the novel I'm working on. Literally just pure unadulterated fluff, my bo...

Sometimes I go back and read this scene from Call Me By Your Name just to feel something 😭

Writers, readers and nerds: find me on Threads for your daily dose of stupid book thoughts and opinions ✨