Project StarFire: Starting Something New

Starting a new project always comes with a lot of emotions. And that is because stories are little personal miniatures of ourselves that we carve onto the page and then reshape over and over again. Writing is often one space where I can fully express myself without fear of judgment. This is why Project Starfire is so important to me. I want to tell a story about an older woman without self agency. She lives her life for others and if she wants to survive she needs to learn to live for herself. Add in a magical empire on the brink of collapse and a handsome monk that is up to no good, you have a project that has been brewing in my head for nearly a year.

Project Starfire was initially my submission to Magic in the Melanin: A Black Fantasy Anthology, but while drafting, I quickly learned that this wanted to be a much longer story (that 7k story limit wasn’t going to cut it). I immediately fell in love with the characters, the emotion-led plot and the atmospheric gothic vibes of the world. I am incredibly excited to finally do this tale justice. Novella it is then. Fingers crossed its stays relatively small.

Now for my plans:

1. Let readers see me draft a story from start to finish
2. Commission some beautiful character art
3. Publish Project Starfire winter 2025

This is not going to be an easy story to write. So much of my personal life experience is going onto the page. The FMC isn’t a strong magically gifted assassin tasked to save the world. This is a very intimate tale about a married woman who is deeply unhappy but shoves that down to make sure everyone around her is happy. So that brings me to some early content warnings. Because I would like to share the entire process of writing this book with you, it’s only fair that I warn you this isn’t a lighthearted story (even though I try to balance some of the darkness with humor and moments of levity) and some of the contents can be triggering to some.

Early content warnings:

• War
• Famine
• Mentions of child death
• Emotional abuse from a family member
• Body dysmorphia
• Some moderate violence
• Course language
• Colonization

These warnings will be posted again when I open the draft up for readers to give those interested in seeing me shape this story a fair shake. But though some of the themes and conversations are dark, there is hope. So much of it that the FMC is brimming with brightness in a world that wants to steal her light.

On the page, I can untangle the mess of thoughts in my head, give shape to feelings I struggle to say out loud, and explore parts of myself I might not even understand yet. It’s where I process the world around me, but also where I come to understand who I am. Each word I write carries a piece of me—my memories, my dreams, my doubts—and that makes the act of writing feel like an intimate conversation with my truest self. Project Starfire is so close to my heart because there is so much truth stitched into the page.

If you want to be part of that journey, stick around by signing up for my blog to be get notified when Starfire chapters drop. Here is the quick, messy synopsis:

Every morning (unnamed character) must climb the mountain to the dead gods’ temple in hopes of ridding herself of perpetual misfortune, but when her luck binds with a slick-talking monk she has only three moon spans to unravel their fates before they are bound by final blood.