#WaterMeWIP
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bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat Aug 1

In #WaterMeWIP Halaat & Lama discover their magick. But I think it's their individual resilience & shared curiosity that buoy them through the aftershocks of what they've gone through, opening new possibilities for them.
sffchat.bsky.social SFFChat @sffchat.bsky.social · Aug 1
#SFFChat

Here are the August prompts!! (:

Feel free to give feedback, as I'm still working out how to do these well (e.g. more of a monthly theme, fewer/more snippets, more variety, no repeat questions, etc).
1. MC’s greatest strength 2. Genre you’re intimidated by 3. Share something positive 4. What are you writing? 5. Side character who steals the show 6. An award-winner you love 7. Snippet: Dialogue 8. What are you reading? 9. Pets in your world 10. Share something visual (moodboard, art, visual description) 11. What mysteries exist in your story or world? 12. Snippet: Trouble 13. Which SFF authors are on your fantasy Mount Rushmore? 14. Snippet: Food 15. The world ends in 24hrs--what’s your mc doing? 16. MUSIC THAT INSPIRES YOU 17. Celebrity in your world 18. TBR Check-in! 19. Comp your book to something that’s not a book! 20. Earliest SFF author your remember reading. 21. Snippet: Conflict 22. What’s your MC singing at karaoke? 23. Important Relationship in WIP 24. Ask a question of your own to #sff participants! 25. Advice to new writers! 26. Favourite poet or poem 27. Shout out a book reviewer 28. Snippet: Reprieve 29. What’s your mc doing on the beach? 30. Reading plans for September 31. Snippet: Change
August 1, 2025 at 1:29 PM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
Check-in for #HotWetPitStop! Fell behind on #WaterMeWIP tbh. Latest update is I've extended my wordcount length bc the story wants more space. What I'm working on might need more time, but I'm working hard to have a story ready to share for the #HotWetQueerSummer jam 🌈
bydhiyanah.bsky.social Dhiyanah @bydhiyanah.bsky.social · Jun 19
I'm Dhiyanah, South-Southeast Asian queer disabled artist & writer. I've worked mostly on poetry & memoir, now shifting back to fiction after a long pause.

My #HotWetQueerSummer project is a sapphic, possibly cozy fantasy novella. 🌈 #WaterMeWIP #HotWetQA #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WIP
July 18, 2025 at 8:12 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#HotWetQA
I knew I wanted to write about a water dragon & djinn-human when I joined. I also wanted to write erotica but I'm not sure if that'll happen for #WaterMeWIP. That's something I'll revisit for another story! #HotWetQueerSummer #WriteSky
monstermanor.org Monster Manor @monstermanor.org · Jun 18
Question three, what about your other ideas?
A graphic of a painting with text on it and a QR code in the bottom right corner. #hotwetqueersummer #hotwetqa welcome to the hot wet q & a! Question three - did you have any other ideas for this jam that you scrapped? Do you plan on revisiting them later?
June 19, 2025 at 3:45 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
Thank you #HotWetQueerSummer for hosting & to those who checked out my shares 💚

📚 I know I haven't updated it yet, but I'm now on itch if you wanna see if I can finish #WaterMeWIP for this jam! bydhiyanah.itch.io

🌈 More about my art (I'm looking for work!): bydhiyanah.carrd.co
June 19, 2025 at 10:04 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D21
Recently shared a snippet of #WaterMeWIP draft (I'll link it below). I thought I'll share a first draft of some character sketches made earlier this month (VERY shy about this, but here goes!). Will do proper intros later, I'm still finalizing their designs 😁 #art #OC #artists #WIP
A rough sketch of three character portraits, one long-haired femme humanoid with horns and scales smiling wide, a short-haired femme with dark eyes ans lips and pointy ears giving a side-glance frown, and a fluffy-haired non-binary character in large glasses also giving serious side-eye.
June 22, 2025 at 12:09 PM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
The actual pitch for #WaterMeWIP for comparison, just for fun:
bydhiyanah.bsky.social Dhiyanah @bydhiyanah.bsky.social · Jun 19
I'm Dhiyanah, South-Southeast Asian queer disabled artist & writer. I've worked mostly on poetry & memoir, now shifting back to fiction after a long pause.

My #HotWetQueerSummer project is a sapphic, possibly cozy fantasy novella. 🌈 #WaterMeWIP #HotWetQA #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WIP
June 23, 2025 at 10:28 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
I'm Dhiyanah, South-Southeast Asian queer disabled artist & writer. I've worked mostly on poetry & memoir, now shifting back to fiction after a long pause.

My #HotWetQueerSummer project is a sapphic, possibly cozy fantasy novella. 🌈 #WaterMeWIP #HotWetQA #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WIP
A poster-like graphic with Dhiyanah's painting of sunlight streaming through palm leaves and text overlaid on it, which reads: # Hot Wet Queer Summer Meet my work in progress Halaat the water dragon meets djinn-human Lama when they find themselves in a tropical realm at the edge of Creation. Though full of uncertainties, the pair learn to embrace their new lives and all they've lived through, opening up to new possibilities together. Quiet fantasy - 10k words "Water Me" WIP @byDhiyanah @byDhiyanah.bsky.social
June 19, 2025 at 3:14 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
Oh! & they don't have to have the self-care or self-date day alone. This felt important to add. And one of the scenes I'm planning for #WaterMeWIP might actually be just this 🐉🙌🏽 #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #SFFChat #SFF
June 17, 2025 at 1:25 PM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D25
Halaat has always craved safety. Aside from choosing her own name + gender expression, she's still discovering what she likes/wants. Lama never imagined being okay anywhere.

Karya, setting of #WaterMeWIP is their first experience of somewhere they can just be 🌴
#WritingCommunity
bydhiyanah.bsky.social Dhiyanah @bydhiyanah.bsky.social · Jun 23
#SFFChat D22
My cozy fantasy #WaterMeWIP as... thriller?

Nothing is what it seems in Karya. For Halaat and Lama, the exhaustion of surviving their former worlds have left them all the more vulnerable to the sinister shifts in this turbulent realm. They have each other to turn to, or so they think.
June 25, 2025 at 12:28 PM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#HotWetQA
If all goes well (😭🤞🏽) #WaterMeWIP will be my first book! I've worked on indie + underground pubs, zines + PDF ebooks, mostly for art/collab projects. I'm excited for this :3

Sharing one of my fave poems, Homeplanet, from 2018 that found a home here: occulum.net/2018/6/30/ho... #WriteSky
June 19, 2025 at 5:05 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#HotWetQA
I write what I need to read. So much of my reality is hidden, unseen, dismissed by social constructs. I write to resist erasure. Maybe also to make up for losses.

I'm writing #WaterMeWIP as a soothing, affirming the story-universes I've carried within me, letting them come out to play.
monstermanor.org Monster Manor @monstermanor.org · Jun 18
Question two, what inspires you?
A graphic of a painting with text on it and a QR code in the bottom right corner. #hotwetqueersummer #hotwetqa welcome to the hot wet q & a! Questions 2 - what are some elements that inspired your project? What sort of things are you researching?
June 19, 2025 at 3:27 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D29
Lama would find something surprising + encouraging to say, Halaat would infuse a weighted blanket w a cooling refreshing atmosphere, Myrna would make sure there was tea + food nearby. The Watcher would pretend they were busy lol, but will show up if no one else does. #OC #WaterMeWIP
#SFFChat Daily prompts for June Created by Steve Hugh Westenra - @stevewestenra.bsky.social 1 Introduce yourself & share your mc’s ideal vacation spot! 2 Snippet Share: Pride 3 What are you reading for Pride Month? 4 What is your MC’s most cherished dream? OR What do they hope to achieve? 5 How does your antagonist relax? 6 Snippet Share: Wrath 7 What is your MC most likely to protest? 8 Your MC must attend college/university! What’s their major? 9 Snippet Share: Sloth 10 Share an MC’s major flaw(s)! 11 What’s something you consider important to good characterization? 12 What SFF work do you consider a perfect summer read? 13 Snippet Share: Greed 14 Your MC is teaching a free workshop--what’s the subject? 15 What’s something you’d like to see more of in SFF? 16 Snippet Share: Gluttony 17 Your MC & an antagonist (or rival) are on a reality dating show. What happens next? 18 What’s the weather forecast for your wip? 19 What kinds of SFF book covers tend to draw your eye? 20 Snippet Share: Lust 21 Share something visual to do with your wip & tell us about it (either an excerpt, moodboard, cover, etc!) 22 Pitch your book as though it were a different genre (E.G. If it’s romance pitch it as horror! If it’s Sci-Fi pitch it as self-help, etc!). 23 Snippet Share: Envy 24 Your antagonist can alter one thing about the past--what do they choose? 25 What does utopia look like to your MC? 26 What’s written under your characters’ yearbook photos (E.G. Most likely to succeed, etc)? 27 What are your writing goals for the season? 28 Which of your characters is most likely to rush to help during an emergency? 29 If you were struggling, what would your MC say or do to cheer you up? 30 Snippet Share: Summer
June 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D30
Snippet: Summer (going w the warm vibe here) 🌴

I've shared this snippet before, but I'm too tired to make a new one. Plus it's from one of my fave scenes, & you get to check it out if you missed it before 😁 #WaterMeWIP
A text-based graphic with Dhiyanah's art in the background. The colors are mostly green and turquoise. The main text is a snippet from Dhiyanah's novella in progress. It reads: Halaat giggled a little to herself, feeling buoyed by the beauty she can create. Soon after she had reached the realm of Karya, she found out she could bring the warmth from the surface into the water and her living quarters, and likewise bring the cool refreshing calm of the waters up to the surface by expanding and contracting the spaces between her dragon scales. Halaat loved the warmth. It felt like home, despite being nothing like what her former home could offer her. She later found out that if she released the surface's atmosphere underwater in the lake, nearby flora and fauna would illuminate in a series or colors unique to each species. She was intrigued by this, but not as mucj as she was by her discovery of books.
June 30, 2025 at 11:55 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D27
To not give up on my goal of completing #WaterMeWIP for the #HotWetQueerSummer jam. I'm having trouble completing writing projects, but there are stories I need to tell. & I hope to share this one with the world before the end of this year 🌴 #WritingCommunity #SFF #WriteSky
#SFFChat Daily prompts for June Created by Steve Hugh Westenra - @stevewestenra.bsky.social 1 Introduce yourself & share your mc’s ideal vacation spot! 2 Snippet Share: Pride 3 What are you reading for Pride Month? 4 What is your MC’s most cherished dream? OR What do they hope to achieve? 5 How does your antagonist relax? 6 Snippet Share: Wrath 7 What is your MC most likely to protest? 8 Your MC must attend college/university! What’s their major? 9 Snippet Share: Sloth 10 Share an MC’s major flaw(s)! 11 What’s something you consider important to good characterization? 12 What SFF work do you consider a perfect summer read? 13 Snippet Share: Greed 14 Your MC is teaching a free workshop--what’s the subject? 15 What’s something you’d like to see more of in SFF? 16 Snippet Share: Gluttony 17 Your MC & an antagonist (or rival) are on a reality dating show. What happens next? 18 What’s the weather forecast for your wip? 19 What kinds of SFF book covers tend to draw your eye? 20 Snippet Share: Lust 21 Share something visual to do with your wip & tell us about it (either an excerpt, moodboard, cover, etc!) 22 Pitch your book as though it were a different genre (E.G. If it’s romance pitch it as horror! If it’s Sci-Fi pitch it as self-help, etc!). 23 Snippet Share: Envy 24 Your antagonist can alter one thing about the past--what do they choose? 25 What does utopia look like to your MC? 26 What’s written under your characters’ yearbook photos (E.G. Most likely to succeed, etc)? 27 What are your writing goals for the season? 28 Which of your characters is most likely to rush to help during an emergency? 29 If you were struggling, what would your MC say or do to cheer you up? 30 Snippet Share: Summer
June 27, 2025 at 10:16 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#HotWetQA
Alright, I'm back & ready to share a #WaterMeWIP snippet.

It's a very lukewarm kinda wet, heh, but I hope it works as an intro to this cutiepie water dragon 🐉📚
#HotWetQueerSummer #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #WIP #fantasy #dragon #books
A text-based graphic with Dhiyanah's art in the background. The colors are mostly green and turquoise. The main text is a snippet from Dhiyanah's novella in progress. It reads: Halaat giggled a little to herself, feeling buoyed by the beauty she can create. Soon after she had reached the realm of Karya, she found out she could bring the warmth from the surface into the water and her living quarters, and likewise bring the cool refreshing calm of the waters up to the surface by expanding and contracting the spaces between her dragon scales. Halaat loved the warmth. It felt like home, despite being nothing like what her former home could offer her. She later found out that if she released the surface's atmosphere underwater in the lake, nearby flora and fauna would illuminate in a series or colors unique to each species. She was intrigued by this, but not as mucj as she was by her discovery of books.
June 19, 2025 at 9:59 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat Q4
Layers of creation in this snippet from #WaterMeWIP which I'm writing for the #HotWetQueerSummer jam!

Halaat discovers her magick/creativity. The name/word Karya, in South & SoutheastAsian languages influenced by Sanskrit, has a meaning/use in my locale that translates to "creation."
A text-based graphic with Dhiyanah's art in the background. The colors are mostly green and turquoise. The main text is a snippet from Dhiyanah's novella in progress. It reads: Halaat giggled a little to herself, feeling buoyed by the beauty she can create. Soon after she had reached the realm of Karya, she found out she could bring the warmth from the surface into the water and her living quarters, and likewise bring the cool refreshing calm of the waters up to the surface by expanding and contracting the spaces between her dragon scales. Halaat loved the warmth. It felt like home, despite being nothing like what her former home could offer her. She later found out that if she released the surface's atmosphere underwater in the lake, nearby flora and fauna would illuminate in a series or colors unique to each species. She was intrigued by this, but not as mucj as she was by her discovery of books.
June 20, 2025 at 12:18 PM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D18:
It's dry season in tropical-leaning Karya, a realm that exists at the edge of Creation, the setting for #WaterMeWIP which I'm working on for the #HotWetQueerSummer jam.

Dry season in mostly-hot lands can be brutal. It's more chill in Karya tho, bc no/little pollution (:
#SFFChat Daily prompts for June Created by Steve Hugh Westenra - @stevewestenra.bsky.social 1 Introduce yourself & share your mc’s ideal vacation spot! 2 Snippet Share: Pride 3 What are you reading for Pride Month? 4 What is your MC’s most cherished dream? OR What do they hope to achieve? 5 How does your antagonist relax? 6 Snippet Share: Wrath 7 What is your MC most likely to protest? 8 Your MC must attend college/university! What’s their major? 9 Snippet Share: Sloth 10 Share an MC’s major flaw(s)! 11 What’s something you consider important to good characterization? 12 What SFF work do you consider a perfect summer read? 13 Snippet Share: Greed 14 Your MC is teaching a free workshop--what’s the subject? 15 What’s something you’d like to see more of in SFF? 16 Snippet Share: Gluttony 17 Your MC & an antagonist (or rival) are on a reality dating show. What happens next? 18 What’s the weather forecast for your wip? 19 What kinds of SFF book covers tend to draw your eye? 20 Snippet Share: Lust 21 Share something visual to do with your wip & tell us about it (either an excerpt, moodboard, cover, etc!) 22 Pitch your book as though it were a different genre (E.G. If it’s romance pitch it as horror! If it’s Sci-Fi pitch it as self-help, etc!). 23 Snippet Share: Envy 24 Your antagonist can alter one thing about the past--what do they choose? 25 What does utopia look like to your MC? 26 What’s written under your characters’ yearbook photos (E.G. Most likely to succeed, etc)? 27 What are your writing goals for the season? 28 Which of your characters is most likely to rush to help during an emergency? 29 If you were struggling, what would your MC say or do to cheer you up? 30 Snippet Share: Summer
June 19, 2025 at 11:34 AM
bydhiyanah.bsky.social
#SFFChat D22
My cozy fantasy #WaterMeWIP as... thriller?

Nothing is what it seems in Karya. For Halaat and Lama, the exhaustion of surviving their former worlds have left them all the more vulnerable to the sinister shifts in this turbulent realm. They have each other to turn to, or so they think.
#SFFChat Daily prompts for June Created by Steve Hugh Westenra - @stevewestenra.bsky.social 1 Introduce yourself & share your mc’s ideal vacation spot! 2 Snippet Share: Pride 3 What are you reading for Pride Month? 4 What is your MC’s most cherished dream? OR What do they hope to achieve? 5 How does your antagonist relax? 6 Snippet Share: Wrath 7 What is your MC most likely to protest? 8 Your MC must attend college/university! What’s their major? 9 Snippet Share: Sloth 10 Share an MC’s major flaw(s)! 11 What’s something you consider important to good characterization? 12 What SFF work do you consider a perfect summer read? 13 Snippet Share: Greed 14 Your MC is teaching a free workshop--what’s the subject? 15 What’s something you’d like to see more of in SFF? 16 Snippet Share: Gluttony 17 Your MC & an antagonist (or rival) are on a reality dating show. What happens next? 18 What’s the weather forecast for your wip? 19 What kinds of SFF book covers tend to draw your eye? 20 Snippet Share: Lust 21 Share something visual to do with your wip & tell us about it (either an excerpt, moodboard, cover, etc!) 22 Pitch your book as though it were a different genre (E.G. If it’s romance pitch it as horror! If it’s Sci-Fi pitch it as self-help, etc!). 23 Snippet Share: Envy 24 Your antagonist can alter one thing about the past--what do they choose? 25 What does utopia look like to your MC? 26 What’s written under your characters’ yearbook photos (E.G. Most likely to succeed, etc)? 27 What are your writing goals for the season? 28 Which of your characters is most likely to rush to help during an emergency? 29 If you were struggling, what would your MC say or do to cheer you up? 30 Snippet Share: Summer
June 23, 2025 at 10:26 AM