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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦

@nossumusstellae.bsky.social

45 followers 19 following 160 posts

Writer & visual artist- Proud queer/LGBTQIA 🏳️‍🌈 *Drink tea. Be loud. Have opinions.* Author of The Starsinger Chronicles My Carrd: ellamurphy.carrd.co Querying Archive of Memory *Empty profile/AI content/scam/bot/nsfw/something just feels off to me= block*

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 17d

#AgentGuide for Archive of Memory Anthology (52k word, two short story collection)
*The stories: Guardian and Nightfall
*Fantasy + Contemporary / Literary Fiction
*Asexual female main characters
*YA / New Adult

Website for more details: archiveofmemory.carrd.co

#queerwriter #queerbooks 🌈📚♠️

An Agent’s Guide
Guardian - Persephone Kœrá Nightfall - Jaye Avenheart
Archive of Memory
By Ella Murphy
Background: Two images divided by a torn edge. Top, foggy forest. Bottom, a bridge in New York

The Pitch:
Presenting: The Archive of Memory anthology. The stories of two very different, and complex women.
Take a ride through New York on Jaye's vintage 1969 Honda motorcycle.
Walk with Persephone through the Spirit-haunted woods Hunters call home.
A tale of childhood trauma, the path to overcome and move on. A single moment can spark a journey – for teen Jaye Avenheart, that moment arrives in a dark, dingy bar on the edge of a knife. Years later, everyone in the New York Underground MMA knows her name. Her hard-hitting style, opponents she leaves bloodied in the cage, the signature swirls up her arms. Few know the story behind the ink. The painful past she is desperately running from. Nightfall is that story.
Guardian is the tale of a young woman who is chosen to serve the Fates as their Keeper of Story. She serves faithfully for many years, until she is ordered to remove the thread of the person she has fallen in love with - and ends up defying the Fates by not complying. Consequences ensue. Persephone finds herself paired with a young hunter named Bishop and is given another task... one she must complete or die trying.

Comparisons and Themes
Guardian: compare to The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. Journal entries and mysterious records. A Quest forged by Fate that must be followed
Nightfall: compare to The Outsiders by SE Hinton. Everything changes on a knife’s edge. They cycle of violence and teenage rebellion.
Themes/features: unexpected connections; multiple points of view; choices made, consequences suffered; family is complicated; coming of age / escaping the past; love, hope, and perseverance; asexual experience.

Opening lines
Nightfall
“Jayne Aiden, get yer arse to the table, now!”
My father’s voice blasts up the stairs to my room. He always uses my full name when angry, which
tends to be all the time. I burrow further into my comforter, turning up the volume on my Walkman so I
don’t have to hear him. Hard to do when the headphones don’t really cover your ears all the way.
Guardian
To understand, you have to go back. Way back, to before the beginning, and even before that.
To the time before there was time.
The Fates contemplate the new world, separate from it yet commanding. They formulate the first stories. Simple ones, at first. Basic things. An ocean that longs for knowledge. The conflict between a crab and a fish. When time emerges and begins to flow, the stories evolve. They are no longer simple bards, but multi-year epics spanning several lives and places. Some last decades, all woven into the larger narrative that is the world.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 2d

Forced to serve the Fates. Tasked to observe, remove stray threads in the world’s story.
Persephone never intended to fall in love. Never wanted to defy Fate.
When given a difficult choice, she follows her heart – and must survive the consequences.
Archive of Memory: GUARDIAN
#F #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 2d

A grungy bar. Unruly bikers. Blood spilled by the edge of a knife.
Jaye thinks her life is over, doomed to wear cuffs & sit behind prison bars. Cursed to be her father’s daughter.
What she does not know is her story was never meant to end here.
Archive of Memory: NIGHTFALL
#CON #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 2d

In a single moment, a life can change - or an entire timeline can vanish. On the sharp edge of a knife; in the snapping of Fate's thread.

The past is always a complicated thing. Open the book. Reveal the secrets.

Archive of Memory: Guardian & Nightfall. 52k words.
#CON #F #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 2d

On the edge of a knife, everything changes.
Jaye thinks her life is over behind prison bars. Her journey has just begun.
♠️complex family relationships
♠️visceral fight scenes
♠️unapologetically butch MC
♠️from early teens to adulthood
Archive of Memory: NIGHTFALL
#CON #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 2d

A single choice can change the world. Or destroy an entire timeline.
Persephone did not expect falling in love to cause so many repercussions.
📜partially inspired by Greek myth
📜multi POV
📜told in journal excerpts
📜supernatural elements
Archive of Memory: GUARDIAN
#F #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

Defy the Fates. Uncover a painful past.
A young woman pulled from her life and forced into servitude. Another running from the trauma in her past.
📚multi POV 📚choices made, consequences ensue
Archive of Memory: Guardian & Nightfall.
52k words
#CON #F #A #YA #LGBT #DVPit

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

using firefox on linux - everything seems to be working just fine for me :) (I hope it gets fixed for you!)

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

#DVParty

When doing research, we often think reading articles or visiting places or zooming around StreetView.

With my WIP "The Reflections Saga", the most valuable help comes from a Newfoundlander friend.

You can learn so much from the people who live in the places you are writing.

Thank you <3

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

#DVParty

Get to know Zachary Doran: main character of The Reflections Saga, my WIP

📁Narrative voice like a Noir Detective Novel
📁Solves problems by talking
📁Bisexual and everyone knows it
📁Loves his 1982 Corvette almost as much as he loves his husband
📁Longs for the 80's (If you couldn't tell)

Sketch of Zachary Doran by the author. Zachary is dressed in a casual suit and button shirt, the jacket open, a pair of sunglasses hooked onto one of the buttons of his half-unbuttoned shirt. He his looking over his right shoulder at a mirror. His curly hair is short and messy, a shadow of stubble on his jaw. The mirror is not reflecting Zachary, but instead contains the image of Jaye Avenheart. A bit of the back of her leather jacket is visible in the cracked surface.
Watermark over the image reads: Ella Murphy. Nos Sumus Stellae. The Reflections Saga, main character Zachary Doran.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

*takes notes* Will look into it, thank you!

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

I shall pass your message along ;) They were a great help for getting Jaye's NF accent right in Nightfall - I wanted to write her words they way she says them, & it was tricky at times to make it authentic & understandable. (I watched Republic of Doyle so many times for uh... research reasons XD)

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

Such a beautiful dialect, truly. <3 (And a beautiful province!) I had so much fun learning about all the colourful sayings and nuances - also thankful I have a reader from Newfoundland to help me out!

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 3d

#DVParty

Current WIP: The Reflections Saga
Jaye Avenheart's story is not over yet. 👀

🪞Sequel to Nightfall
🪞Expect Newfoundland English and a lot of it (also a fair amount of Scottish Gaelic)
🪞Family secrets and the fallout
🪞Unexpected love
🪞Tagline: "There are shadows in every reflection"

Teaser for The Reflections Saga. Tagine: Her story is not over yet.
A sketch of Jaye's bright blue eyes with torn edges is below the tagline text. She is looking off to the side.
Below the sketch is the following:
Zachary Doran has it all. A husband, two kids, a successful Private Investigation agency with his father Eamon, and an awesome 1982 Corvette. His peaceful life in St John's Newfoundland is shattered when a woman named Jaye Avenheart arrives from New York, seeking to hire the Dorans for a case. A case that throws a secret Zachary's father has kept for nearly 40 years into the light...
The Reflections Saga. A reworking of the original Reflections story collection. Coming soon.

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 4d

#DVParty

Archive of Memory: Guardian playlist

A surprising mix of punk and alt rock/orchestral

(Guardian is a fantasy borrowing from Greek/Pagan myths told in journal excerpts)

Guardian Playlist
Conjure One featuring Kristy Thirsk - Ghost
Fall Out Boy - My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light 'em up)
Papa Roach - Even If It Kills Me
Starset - Icarus - Trials
Cyroshell - Trigger

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 4d

#DVParty

The Archive of Memory: Nightfall playlist

Classic 90's / early 2000's vibes (with a sprinkling of 2010's and beyond)

A chalk-board like image with the list of songs in the Nightfall Playlist.
Songs are as follows:
James Blake - Retrograde
Ruelle - Carry You
typo.s - Look At Me Now
Tracy Chapman - Give Me One Reason
Evanescence - Whispers
Demi Lovato - Still Alive
Papa Roach - Born For Greatness
Ruelle - Fire Meets Fate
Bishop Briggs - White Flag
Sinéad O'Connor - No Man's Woman
Joan Jett - Crimson and Clover
Portishead - Glory Box

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 5d

#DVParty

Have some memes for Archive of Memory: Nightfall

On the edge of a knife, a life will change

♠️complex family relationships
♠️visceral fight scenes
♠️unapologetically butch MC
♠️she's broken but we love her
♠️from early teens to adulthood

#CON #LF #YA #A #LGBT ♠️🌈📚

Car swerving into off-ramp meme
Sign above road points straight and right. The straight arrow is labeled "actually dealing with trauma". The arrow pointing to the right says "punching people instead". Underneath, a car labeled "Jaye", the name of the main character in Nightfall, is swerving to the right, implying that Jaye would rather fight others in the MMA cage than talk about her past.

the if I had a trophy meme from The Fairly OddParents.
1st image: animated man in dress shirt pointing at dusty pedestal in a gallery like space. The text reads "Kit: this is where I would put my champion trophy if I had won"
2nd image: the animated man is angry and is screaming. Text reads "Curse you Jaye Avenheart" in reference to the main character of Nightfall, to whom Kit loses an important fight.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 5d

#DVParty
Have some memes for Archive of Memory: Guardian

A single choice can change the world. Or destroy an entire timeline.

📜partially inspired by Greek myth
📜multi POV
📜told in journal excerpts
📜supernatural elements
📜... 1st draft was almost entirely handwritten

#F #YA #A #LGBT ♠️🌈📚

The train crashing into school bus meme.
1st image: Bus with the words "The Fates' plans to destroy the Nephilim" over it rests on a set of train tracks with a train approaching it.
2nd image: The train crashes into the school bus. Text across the front of the train reads "Persephone falling in love."

Shocked Pikachu meme
The text reads:
Fates - kill your love
Persephone - No
Fates - shocked Pikachu face image

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

#WriterCheckIn
Doing DVPit promo at the moment!
Focusing on revisions to the Nightfall sequel Reflections. Never made so many drafts for a story ever. Sixth one in 10 yrs. Yes, I wrote the prequel after the original story.

Advice: Read aloud spooky stories when voice is hoarse. Adds atmosphere >:)

Elise (they/them)🇦🇺 @eliseswritings.bsky.social · 6d

October #WriterCheckIn

What are we working on/ hoping to achieve this month writers/ #authors?

#Writing #WritingCommunity

Background image: two sprigs of leaves frame left, ink well dip pens frame bottom, sheet of paper centred with text;

#WriterCheckIn (October)

Which wip is your focus?
Research/ draft/ edit/ publish/ promo goals?

Any writerly/ authorly learnings to share?

Participating in any writer/ author; events,
cons, competitions or pitch parties?

Hosted by:@eliseswritings.bsky.social

Photo Credit: Kelly Sikkema

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

#DVParty
Guardian: from Ch 1

As Keeper, I was tasked with recording the Nephilim, aiding the Fates in eliminating them.
Restoring and pruning the story to the original vision, or so they believed. Changing even part of a single thread can undo untold millions of others.
I did not do my duty.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

#DVParty
Nightfall: Prologue

“Jayne Aiden, get yer arse to the table, now!”
My father’s voice blasts up the stairs to my room. He always uses my full name when angry, which tends to be all the time. I burrow further into my comforter, turning up the volume on my Walkman so I don’t have to hear him.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

#DVParty

Archive of Memory - Guardian: opening lines

To understand, you have to go back. Way back, to before the beginning, and even before that.
To the time before there was time.
The Fates contemplate the new world, separate from it yet commanding.

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

thank you :)

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 6d

#DVParty

Archive of Memory - Nightfall: opening lines of Ch 1

The bar is dark, as most are. The main room set so far back from the entrance, there are no windows.
Shadows lurk in every corner. Half-burnt bulbs hanging above round tables that have been chipped away at by time and smashed bottles.

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Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 7d

🥂 cheers to that! :D

Ella Murphy (she/they) 🏳️‍🌈 🇨🇦 @nossumusstellae.bsky.social · 7d

#DVParty

Get to know Jaye Avenheart: MC of Nightfall

♠️Irish-Newfoundlander, grew up in New York City
♠️Solves problems with her fists
♠️Unapologetic butch ace lesbian
♠️Family is... complicated
♠️Trusts no-one
♠️Loves her vintage '69 Honda CB750 a little too much
♠️She's broken but we love her

Black and white pencil sketch of Jaye Avenheart, main character of Nightfall and The Reflections Saga. Jaye is sitting on the seat of her vintage 1969 Honda CB750 motorcycle, wearing a leather jacket, simple buttoned shirt and jeans. Her arms are slightly crossed, a bit of the tattoo up her arms visible on both wrists. Her dark hair is cut short, the front swept upwards in a faux hawk style. Her gaze is directed at the viewer. A black feather earring dangles from her left ear. Her face is square-ish and androgynous. The rear fender/light, part of the rear wheel, part of the side, and seat of the vintage Honda are visible. A watermark across the image reads: Ella Murphy, Nos Sumus Stellae; Nightfall & Reflections main character, Jaye Avenheart.

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