As of right now, all of these stories are still in the process of being developed, so I don’t actually have anything finished that you can read. But I still felt like it would be fun to share some of the ideas I have on the backburner right now! Most of these just have [placeholder names] for now.
Tales of the Blood Starved
Anthology series of original characters set in the gothic, eldritch horror Bloodborne universe
Of all my ideas, this one is the most fleshed out. I currently have written drafts for six webcomic short stories, and I plan to work on storyboarding and character design next. I want to use these short stories as a way to explore the themes presented in Bloodborne from the perspective of different individuals experiencing the night of the hunt.
[Princess/Knight/Witch]
In the face of the kingdom’s loss of a pivotal battle and defeat on the horizon, Princess Katerina must flee with her trusted knight to a far away, long abandoned castle. But when the two find it already occupied by a powerful witch, they must find a way to get along despite their differences, and their secrets.
I originally thought of this when just brainstorming different genres that I don’t often see paired together, and thought of Slice of Life with Dark Fantasy. I thought it might be an interesting way to explore themes of hope and peace in a bleak world. Eventually it turned into a way to explore gender roles and norms and societal expectations. First I thought I’d make this into a webcomic but I think I may tell it as traditionally written but with some illustrations along the way.
Characters
Katerina – The Princess
Appearance: very long blonde hair. Brown eyes with gold highlights. Eyes are wide and expressive. Has freckles. Short and round body type. Most expressive with eyes, hands clings to clothes and hover near chest when nervous, gestures most with her arms.
Symbolism: color yellow, flowers, dress, sun
(For funzies I made a pokemon team for each character cause I’ve been playing a lot of pokemon lately and why not, right?)
Pokemon Team: fairy type
Wilmot – The Knight
Appearance: short cropped curly black hair. Greyish eyes with blue highlights. Bags under eyes. Sharp nose. Most muscle in shoulders and arms, tall and lean body type. Gestures with slight tilts of head with helmet on, small fidgeting movements with hands when nervous, generally very still and centered.
Symbolism: color blue, magpie, steel and metal, helmet and sword, moon
(For funzies I made a pokemon team for each character cause I’ve been playing a lot of pokemon lately and why not, right?)
Pokemon Team: steel type
Idalia – The Witch
Appearance: unruly wavy/curly brown hair down to her waist. Brown eyes with red highlights. Sharp gaze, her eyes are often narrowed. Gap in teeth. Most muscle in legs, pear shaped body type. She gestures with her whole body and often moves around the space, changing poses frequently and shifting her weight, never quite settled.
Symbolism: color red, rats, needle and thread, star
(For funzies I made a pokemon team for each character cause I’ve been playing a lot of pokemon lately and why not, right?)
Pokemon Team: ghost type
[Demon]
Eleanor is raised by a cult, destined to be the vessel for the demon they worship- but when the demon does take her over, it slowly begins to empathize with its host and question the cult that worships it
This story is based on a dream I had. I’m gonna end up changing bits of it, also tonally I imagine it’ll be more serious, but I plan for the beginning at least to match pretty close. I currently have a written draft for the first twenty four pages. I think of all my story ideas so far this is the one I could picture most clearly being a graphic novel.
Description of my Dream, if you wanna read
So my dream was about a cult, and it was focusing on the daughter of the cult leader who was destined to be possessed by the demon they worshipped. And every single day the cult celebrates the fact that any day now she will be possessed by the demon. And it was like. Weirdly lively like a birthday party and I think there were musical numbers too like almost steven universe vibes.
And so one day the daughter goes to bed, and she does become possessed by this demon. And the demons like ehehe sweet i did it, alright im gonna chill with these humans for a bit before revealing myself and causing chaos and whatever.
So it just goes about the next day pretending to still be the daughter, and the same thing happens as every other day, the whole cult celebrates that the daughter will be taken over by the demon. And that night the demon is like wow this is great they’re all celebrating me, wonderful. So the next day it gets up, and the same thing happens. And the same thing the next day. And the next day.
And eventually the demon’s like huh maybe this is…actually kinda fucked up. Like this girl had to celebrate the day she would no longer be herself and would be possessed, day after day. She constantly had to live with this reminder she was just a tool for this cult. A tool for me to take over.
And right as this demon was starting to consider just how messed up this whole thing is, I woke up. My dream ended there, but now i really wanna do something with that like the idea of a demon learning about humanity and empathy by living out the life of this daughter it was bound to possess and seeing what her life was like in this cult.
Characters
Eleanor (she/her) – Daughter
A young girl around 14-17 yrs old. Skinny and pale with freckles, brown hair and green eyes. Mousy features. A small gap in her teeth and ears that stick out. Distant eyes. When the Demon takes over, her green eyes are brighter and have a white oval in the center. She’s destined to become the vessel for the demon the cult worships. At the beginning of the story she seems hollow, but eventually the Demon finds a journal from her hidden away. It documents her mental journey through her life. How first she starts out proud that she’s the chosen one who will provide the vessel for the Demon. Eventually though, as the months and years go by, she begins to wonder why it hasn’t possessed her yet. Was she not worthy? She begins to doubt if she really is the chosen one. She wonders if her doubting is what makes her unworthy. She prays harder and tries harder each day, but nothing works. Eventually she falls into a depressive episode, keeping a happy face for her mothers sake, even though she knows now that she’s not worthy. She wonders what her mother will do when her mother realizes she isn’t worthy. Her entries have become less and less frequent. Towards the end of the entries, she wonders what the point of keeping the journal at all is. Every day has become the same for her. She vaguely remembers what her life used to be like before all this. She remembers living in the countryside. She remembers a bit about her father. She doesn’t remember enough to miss him, but she does wonder how things may have gone differently, if her mother hadn’t taken her away.
Mother (she/her) – Leader of the Cult
Leader of the cult. Called Mother by everyone. Has prepped and groomed her daughter to be possessed by a demon from a young age. Thinks of herself as a virgin mary figure, and her daughter as a jesus / antichrist figure. Outwardly very kind and all smiles but in reality very cunning and strict. She frequently searches her daughters room. She always has her eye on her daughter.
Mulgorauth (it/its) – The Demon
Finally possesses the girl. The Demon is conniving and sneaky. At first it just wants to observe this cult and what it’s like, what they’ve built for it. At first it’s pleased at the worship. It decides to lie low for a while longer. But soon it realizes each day is the exact same, day after day. It’s confused why they just replay this same day over and over. When the Demon searches the girls room, curious about this ‘perfect boring vessel’, it eventually finds her diary, which had been carefully hidden from her mother. The journal begins by talking about how guilty she feels for starting a new journal. Her mother found the last few ones and she was punished for it. But she finds she can’t stop herself from wanting to write. She’s hidden it extra carefully this time. The demon is curious, and each night begins to read a bit more of each page. As it learns more about the daughters life, it begins to question things.
[Selkies]
After a lighthouse keeper named Enid rescues what she thinks is an injured seal pup, she has to learn to juggle tempering a young selkie’s fascination with humans and the selkie’s overprotective mother.
I just had an idea for a cute slice of life story of a lighthouse keeper helping a selkie raise her hyperactive kid.
Characters
Enid (she/her) – Human Lighthouse Keeper
Hair is pulled back and kept out of the way with a hat. Wears coveralls or torn and patched jeans. Big work boots and a shirt with rolled up sleeves. Scars on face and hands. Has some tattoos. Tall, buff build. Husband died a long time ago in a ship caught in a storm. They had a good relationship, she hasn’t remarried.
Nerys (she/her) – Overprotective Selkie Mom
Starts out incredibly distrustful and fearful of humans, but over time the lighthouse keeper earns her trust. Trying to parent her hyperactive kid.
Wynne (she/her) – Selkie pup
Going on her little mermaid fascinated by humans arc after being rescued by the lighthouse keeper. She’s afraid to go back to the ocean- as scary as being on land is, at least there’s not sharks. Thinks if she can pass as a human, she’ll be safe.