![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Swords.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>My own sword collection, bankai Zangetsu (Bleach), and Nenekirimaru (Nurarihyon no Mago).<\/p><\/div>\n
Summary:<\/h2>\n
Post 9-11 New York City is becoming overrun with spirits of the dead and the unsettled. The more their numbers, the stronger they become. It’s up to a rag-tag group of high school delinquents to cleanse the city.<\/p>\n
I centred the story around a fish-out-of-water Japanese exchange student and his uncle–his teacher\/guardian, sent to NYC to deal with the supernatural threats bringing the city to its knees. Throughout the story, the MC (the name Subaru stuck and I can’t get rid of it) has to navigate school life in a foreign country while keeping his ‘side-job’ under wraps. But it turns out he’s not the only teenage exorcist in the city. Subaru and the other teenage exorcists do not become fast friends; in fact, neither can stand the other for more than a few minutes at a time until situations call for them to put their ‘teenage problems’ aside and work as a team.<\/p>\n
I wanted to keep to the notion surrounding the burden of relationships, which CLAMP showcased in the X universe; how love for your family or another person can mask pain and sadness, and how those two elements can turn into one’s downfall. This work is darker than The Rose Cross Academy and targets an older crowd of teen-to-young-adult readers.<\/p>\n
Excerpt:<\/h2>\n
\u201cPaper!\u201d Subaru thrust a black permanent marker before him as if the object had become a magic wand. \u201cI need paper!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m soaked and I lost my backpack, ESL! I don\u2019t have any goddamn paper!\u201d Zach yelled back.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney! Do you have any money?\u201d<\/p>\n
Zach rooted through a pocket and came back with a crumpled one dollar bill. \u201cWhat the hell are you gonna do with\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Subaru swiped the bill and hunched over before scribbling down the length of the note.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure that\u2019s a federal offense, exchange student! Unless you’ve got holy water in that pen of yours–\u201d<\/p>\n
A roar cut him off and shook the streets, sending both boys diving to the wet pavement. In the darkness of the city, a deeper shade moved through the alley, large as a bear or perhaps larger.<\/p>\n
Subaru scrambled to hands and knees and presented his one dollar bill as if the coiffed representation of George Washington had become a dangerous weapon. Scribbled down the President’s face were several kanji glistening against the wet paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cDistract it! I have an idea!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDistract it?\u201d Zach\u2019s mouth flopped open several times. \u201cW-with what! My charming good looks!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you can call animals, I\u2019ve seen you do it with the crows around school.\u201d Subaru grabbed a handful of Zach\u2019s shirt and pulled him to his feet. The other teen spun to face him, eyes wide, mouth agape, but Subaru held him back with a finger ordering him to be silent. \u201cWorry about how I know later. Right now, we\u2019re both going to die if we don\u2019t do something!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And now . . .<\/h2>\n
I’m hopping back into writing, which isn’t as easy as I thought it would be after my forced break. My day job is also crankin’ up the crazy-busy factor, so I’m having to do some tactile time management. But the best thing about being an Indie writer is I make my own rules and I follow my own timelines. I’m a rebel! But this rebel does have a cause.<\/p>\n
Stay healthy everyone! The alternative sucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’m getting back into the swing of things! My pneumonia has officially been expunged, I’m slowly getting back my stamina, and I’m getting the urge to write again. Which means I can finally pick up my WIP series again. The next in my list is another YA novel which may or may not become a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[64],"tags":[65,15],"class_list":["post-602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wip-hell","tag-wip","tag-writing","post-preview"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6odz9-9I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":570,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/wip-hell\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":0},"title":"WIP Hell","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"June 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0If I'm a horder, I'm a work in progress (WIP) horder. I write a lot. Like . . . a LOT. I'm always coming up with ideas in my head, wherever and whenever. I'd say 70% of what I write will never see the light of day, and I'm fine\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Works In Progress"","block_context":{"text":"Works In Progress","link":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/category\/works-in-progress\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/NotebookInSunlight-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":580,"url":"https:\/\/www.rissarenae.com\/blog\/2018\/06\/wip-japanese-ghost-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":602,"position":1},"title":"WIP – Japanese Ghost Story","author":"Rissa Renae","date":"June 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"My first post in my WIP Hell series will be my least developed story: a Japanese-style ghost story set in the countryside of the Chuubu (west-central) area of Japan. It's unnamed as of yet. 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