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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙

@avahollowwrites.bsky.social

54 followers 45 following 220 posts

Writer, Librarian, in the rain🦢🐥🐣⛈️ dark fantasy 🧵artbyisla linktr.ee/islaiswriting

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Mar 30

The #EditorsGuide to my New Adult dark fantasy

🚢 Gilded-age ghost ship
🔪Trapped with her murderer
🔥 Steamy romance
✨ Elite society secrets
☠️ Ghosts, gods, and monsters

Editors, please contact @jenissamichelle if you want The Crossing in your inbox!

The crossing an editor’s guide by Ava hollow, represented by Jenissa Graham at Bookends literary agency

Comps: hidden occult world of ninth house by Leigh Bardugo and atmospheric, creeping horror of from below by Darcy Coates

When Evelyn finds herself upon a shore riddled with bones and no memory of how she got there, a luxury ship named the Auratus appears out of thin air to offer her travel.

But as warnings from the staff and strange occurrences at night continue to plague the ship, Evelyn realizes that life on the Auratus isn’t what it seems. The welcome ceremony for new First Class passengers is promised to alleviate all Evelyn’s concerns, but a sudden memory reveals that Evelyn isn’t just any traveler—she’s dead, and the Auratus is really a ghost ship carrying her to the afterlife.

As fragments of her memory continue to return, Evelyn finds out that her death was no tragic accident, and the latest newcomer sharing the journey with her is not only her fiancé but her murderer.

Tropes and themes: Enemies to lovers
Self-sacrifice & redemption
Class & inequality
Summoning evil with dark rituals
Secret societies
An ominous prophecy
The mad matriarch
There is no escape
A secret code
The truth may get you killed
Can my sins ever be forgiven?

Vibes: Gilded Age luxury
Finery, flattery, and flat-out lies
Eternal servitude is always on the table
A mysterious ship brimming with danger
Aren’t you curious what the servants are up to?

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

I think #UnhingedPit suits me. I’m posting all at once since my toddler overlords would never allow… what’s it called? Free time.

Astronaut about to shoot another. Wait is this the Titanic meets Haunting of Hill House? Always has been

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

All right, one more for you art lovers out there #UnhingedPit

Two lovers dancing in a ballroom as water rises and a ghost watches

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

Hate to toot my own book’s horn, but… #UnhingedPit Hard to beat a horror romantasy, amiright? 👻🚢💕

Buzz saying to woody: death and smut. Death and smut everywhere

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

Another high-quality drawing #UnhingedPit Lovers but also ghosts but also a sinking ship but also lovers 💕👻🚢

Two stick figures kissing by a porthole with a ghost watching

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

#UnhingedPit please (Brooklyn accent) It’s got horror, it’s got ghosts, it’s got lovers that used to hate each other but now need each other to survive 💕👻💕

Bernie saying I am once again asking you to read my ghost ship romantasy book. It’s terrifying and I put my heart and soul into it

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 15d

My very beautiful last minute #UnhingedPit submission #A #romantasy #OS (art commissions open btw)

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Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · 25d

A cute ghost flees to the autumn woods. I’m fully ready for Halloween, can you tell? 🍁🎃👻 #gouacheillustration #childrensillustration

A little ghost runs to the woods on an autumn day with ominous birds and mountains in the distance

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Sep 7

Oh to be a little lighthouse on the sea, silent, peaceful, and proud #gouacheart

Illustration of a starry sky, a gold moon, and a lighthouse on dark rocks

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Aug 28

It was a sweet, simple life. To be relied upon is to be trusted and loved 🐑🐏

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Aug 28

It reminds me of all the early, cold morning at my grandparents’ ranch when we would go take care of the cows. Fox would blanket the grass and the morning sun lit it like an aurora. Then peeking black heads with curious, wide ears would watch as we come with food

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Aug 28

A mini-review of a book I finished back in February: Counting Sheep. It’s a quiet, sweet sort of work like trudging through a field in winter. A crunch of gravel underfoot and mist billowing at the mouth on a crisp morning. Sad and soft and dreary in a bittersweet sort of way🐑🐏

Cover of book: Counting Sheep by Axel Linden

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Aug 28

One of my hobby dreams is to have the chance to learn scrimshaw (sustainably), but even if it’s not on whale bone, I love to imitate the textures of historical illustrations ✍🏻 #OracleWIP map

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · Jun 19

If you found a thousand butterflies living in the walls of your grandmother’s rundown antique shop, would you be worried? Melissa isn’t!

Read about her disturbing discovery in my new short story: The Fluttering 🦋

Page of her website with a blue butterfly.
The Fluttering
Melissa returned to her grandmother's antique shop in an attempt to find something of value before it's taken by the bank, but instead she uncovers a powerful curse, an unspoken agreement, and a disturbing secret kept for generations.

“The Fluttering” asks: if the circumstances were right, would you sacrifice your own family?

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 26

I’ve never drawn a map for one of my books before, and this mayyyy be my new obsession 😍 #fantasymap

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 22

I know early edits are supposed to be chaotic and messy, but I feel like I’m barely making any progress 😭 It’ll be fine, I just feel like I’m struggling to get a handle on #OracleWIP

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 21

A doodle for the everlasting #StarlitBog graphic novel that I will finish eventually. I have the whole thing sketched out, surely that counts for something??

A girl dreaming in front of a starry window

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 16

Would I save time by ✨not✨ bedazzling every frame? Sure, but at what cost? At what cost 🧐
#whimsy #StarlitBog #gnwip

A graphic novel page with the frames decorate with flowers and stars

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 11

This one’s slowly coming together 💕 More ink and color to come 🎨 ✨

Sketch of a boy in an art gallery and a dragon following him

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 10

I finished writing a southern gothic short story about what happens when a generation decides their wealth and power is more important than the future of their children. No idea where I got the Inspo for that lol ✨🦋☠️ #PortfoliOasis

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 8

I finished my first reread on April 28. The next step with #OracleWIP is to make a list of areas that need to be expanded/trimmed, themes to focus on, and how I want to develop certain relationships 🌌 And a list of *universal issues to look at

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 8

This isn’t the time to rewrite (unless it’s a quick fix that helps with clarity). This is the time to throw everything out there. I also make notes that will affect the entire book with *asterisks so I can find them later.

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 8

My first step is to do a reread. I put summaries at the beginning of each section and have everything labeled with headings in Google docs for easy navigation. Then I add [comments] throughout. These can be thoughts, issues, notes - whatever I’ll need to edit later

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 8

I finished the zero draft of #OracleWIP on March 26 (woo!!), so for the first time ever I’m going to actually attempt to document my #editingprocess from start to finish. Maybe it’ll be helpful or even somewhat interesting to someone out there in the digital void✨

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 2

I’m *finally* getting around to updating my website with some writing things. You can read my liminal-spaces-inspired horror story “Containment” there now! :D

Just make sure to read it with the lights on 👀

Ava is ✨rep’d!✨💖💜💙 @avahollowwrites.bsky.social · May 1

My short story, “Containment” was performed on the subscriber portion @NosleepPodcast this week! It was really awesome to hear it read aloud with all the voices and sound effects :D

Containment written by Ava Hollow on the NoSleep Podcast S22E20