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@shes-allison.bsky.social

Writing a college-based story meant including Halloween was a must. 🎃 Here's some snippets from my new adult WIP featuring
🧹 last minute costume shopping
👽 a costume inspired by my sister
🍬 flirting over candy

The Halloween section was clearly ransacked by other students from the college and children from the city. I gingerly step around costume accessories strewn on the floor to get to the racks of adult costumes. I thumb through them.

“Remy,” Ambrose says. He holds up a Harley Quinn costume. I shake my head.

“What about this?” Naomi holds up a sexy nun dress.

“Hilarious,” I deadpan. I might have to buy a white sheet and dress as a ghost.

“Remy,” Elisa shouts.

She waves from the hallway to the bedrooms, the headband with two little balls standing up from it bouncing. Her makeup shimmers in the light, just like her silver long sleeve shirt and short skirt. I apologize to everyone I bump into trying to get to her.

“There’s some quieter spots back here,” she says as she leads us into one of the bedrooms. “Have you seen Nessa?”

We shake our heads.

“Matching costumes and we aren’t even at the same party,” she grumbles.

Everyone else is talking too, but they’re discussing the movie. “What’s your favorite candy?” I ask quietly.

“Almond Joy.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I didn’t grab any of those. I hate coconut.”

I pull the candy out from my pocket and hold my cupped hands in front of him. He takes a small bag of M&Ms.

“You consume a lot of sugar,” he says.

“Tis the season.” I open a Reese’s.

“That’s your favorite?” he asks. I nod. “A basic but good choice.”

“I live for your approval,” I joke. He laughs, and my cheeks heat.

October 31, 2025 at 4:23 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Anne with an E Season 3 Episode 3 still hits if anyone was wondering. (I wasn’t. I knew I’d cry for 45 minutes.)

October 28, 2025 at 2:26 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Ren Faire, my beloved

A group of people mostly in renaissance festival costumes.

October 26, 2025 at 3:55 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

My life’s been taken over by Interview with the Vampire, which means my daily recaps with my husband now include tidbits like “and they turned a five year old into a vampire to save their failing marriage.”

October 22, 2025 at 4:29 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Without a doubt, the 2D Restaurant in Chicago is one of the coolest places in the city ✏️ @stalbergwrites.bsky.social

October 19, 2025 at 5:24 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

The best I have is field from the very first page of The Axis of You and Me 🎥 💙 🏳️‍🌈 #WIPSnips #queerying

Shooting a war drama isn’t for the faint of heart. I smear the mud around my mouth, trying to leave it intact but also trying to avoid swallowing it. I bounce on my feet, ready to run. My boots slip a bit in the mess on the wide open field.
“Action.”
I run forward, rifle bouncing against my back. The saucer helmet shakes around my head and falls off. I throw myself to the ground to roll into the trench. Two other guys tumble into me. Out of the view of the camera, we laugh and try to catch our breath. Further down the trench, one of the stunt guys leaps in and lands on a mat. Another falls in as if stumbling from a gunshot.
“Cut.”
Another actor offers me a hand to pull me to my feet. One by one, we take the ladder out of the trench into air filled with smoke from the gunfire.
“That was it, boys,” someone shouts from behind the cameras and monitors. We ran that five times, I think.
Someone hands me my lost helmet. “Thanks.”

September 19, 2025 at 9:06 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Not a single "Thanks. It has pockets" scene in this whole manuscript. #WIPSnips

When we stop to wait for the elevator, he leans his head against the wall. I take my phone from my pocket and take a photo of him, and then I take another when he flips me off.

September 13, 2025 at 3:50 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Hi I forgot my personal social medias existed for a month, so it's time for a little reintroduction!

libra ☀️, virgo 🌙, taurus ⬆️
🌈 queer
🖋️ querying my first romance novel
📓 drafting two other novels
🐈‍⬛ cat mom
📽️ movies obsessed
✨ Swiftie
🏀 new WNBA fan
💻 social media editor at Knee Brace Press

September 12, 2025 at 9:01 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

post four characters you identify with 👀

The cover of Love Off the Record by Samantha Markus

August 14, 2025 at 4:13 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Spike that ball like a volleyball 😍😍😍

Steve Jones @stevejones20.bsky.social · Aug 14

What a block from Saniya Rivers.

August 14, 2025 at 1:19 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

#WIPSnips of my cute characters on their first date 💚

In the middle of the assortment of one-story shops, a house with multiple stories towers above them all. The white paint is a little worn and chipped, but the lights inside glow warmly. Above the door is a sign that reads “the books make the home” in cursive.

“We should each buy a book for ourselves and one for the other person,” I say as he holds the door open for me. Inside, it smells like lavender and paper, better than any candle.

“Split up and meet upstairs in 15 minutes?” he proposes.

“Only 15 minutes?” I stare up at him, unimpressed. “In a bookstore?”

“Time starts now.” He turns to the right to go into what had probably been a living room, so I turn left.

August 12, 2025 at 4:52 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸 last book you read: Wicked Beauty by Katee Robert
🔸 your current read: drafts from @stalbergwrites.bsky.social and @nicolezelniker.bsky.social
🔸 last book added to your TBR: The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim
🔸 next read: Deep Wizardy by Diane Duane

Michelle Franklin│Legends and Lectures @michellefranklin.bsky.social · Aug 9

Bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸 last book you read: The Fable vol.2
🔸 your current read: The Fable vol.3
🔸 last book added to your tbr: The Full Moon Coffee Shop
🔸 next read: Tenmaku no Jyadugaru

quote with yours! #booksky #books

Indie Book Spotlight @bookspotlight.bsky.social · Aug 9

bookish checkpoint 🕯️

🔸 last book you read: Insatiable. Missed Steps. Belladonna.
🔸 your current read: A Simple Mistake. Forever Night. The End of the Rainbow. Perils of the Past.
🔸 last book added to your tbr: Protocol of Valor.
🔸 next read: Foxglove. The Scour.

quote with yours! #booksky #books

August 9, 2025 at 1:50 PM

Reposted by Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

your pal finn

@attorneytrash.bsky.social

disgraced actor formerly known as America's Boyfriend VS. serial reality TV villain. three weeks, three fan conventions, and a whole lot of antics.

❤️romcom (com heavy)
📺celebrity hijinks
😈characters behaving badly
🌈mlm enemies to lovers
#questpit #W #R #LGBT

an illustration of two boys, pictured from the shoulders up. One is blonde with an annoyed expression, the other is dark haired and grinning, making a peace sign with one hand and poking the blonde's cheek with the other. below, superimposed over a smartphone, are the words THE VILLAIN EDIT (attorneytrash)

At twenty-six, Max Reilly is already ex a lot of things. Ex-star of Affinity, the TV drama he led for three seasons. Ex-fiancé of Holly Aveline, his costar, who hasn’t spoken to him since the scandal that tanked his career. And ex-darling of the show’s fan base, who went from love letters to death threats faster than the speed of cable.
Most of all, Max is exhausted. The last thing he wants is to be back in the public eye. But when offered a deal to get out of his contract for good, it’s hard to resist—even if the catch is a pre-season publicity tour with Affinity’s current cast. Even if that means weeks on the road with not only his former castmates, but also the show’s newest cast member: Nico Mariani, a scandal-happy reality TV transplant known for exclusively playing villains.
It’s only a few weeks. A few weeks facing crowds of people who actively hate him, of being hounded by gossip columnists, of being trapped on-and-offstage with Nico, who Max can’t shake to save his life.
Because as it turns out, Nico has his own deal with the producers—and soon angry fans and nosy reporters will be the least of Max’s problems.

EXCERPT:
Nico’s first thought on seeing Max Reilly in the flesh had been, damn, this dude’s tall.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected. Rory Harper, maybe, that archetypal boy-next-door who’d bit the dust at the end of Affinity season three. There was this one publicity still of him—white t-shirt, jeans, flannel tied around the waist, artistically placed smudges of grease—that was pinned to the vision boards of church-and-chevy girls nationwide. Oh my god, so dreamy, fuck me in a hayloft, etc.
Max Reilly was a very different creature. Nico had him cataloged in one go. Indoorsy, sleepy eyes, hair unfortunately cut with the roots grown in. Skittish. Bad posture. Cargo pants (seriously). He didn’t dress like America’s Boyfriend, or anyone’s boyfriend, honestly, if we were being totally honest here, if we were being candid. He was, to put it nicely, nothing to write in your diary about.
Tall, though, damn. And those freckles. But that was the devil talking.

August 6, 2025 at 4:03 AM

Reposted by Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

Allison Stalberg

@stalbergwrites.bsky.social

HEIDI'S HOUSE OF RESCUED FAMILIARS

🐊Louisiana setting
🏳️‍🌈Trans and ace rep
👁️‍🗨️Multiple POVs
👨‍👧‍👧Found family
🐈a n i m a l s
🚜Redneck wizards
🌷Healing is the hardest part
📚Community politics
🐅Tiger King inspired villain
🪄 m a g i c
🐸Toad hoarders
🦎Reptile conventions

#Q #A #F #S #Questpit

Moodboard with the following images:
- Swamp at night
- Window looking out at barn
- Trailer park
- Herb book
- Girl holding a coyote
- A field with a church
- A black cat on a chair
- A rearview mirror
- A dirt road by a field
- A crow about to land on a woman in black
- A hand in swamp water
- Spanish moss hanging from a tree
- Bloodied hands
- Candles on an altar

In the decaying community of Lombar County, Louisiana, most witches and wizards (the Folk) live in trailers, RVs, or rundown motels. They party in New Orleans, worship evil gods, get addicted to love potions, and make memes about fire spells gone wrong. However, there are little places that try to do some good, like Heidi’s House.

Told from the point of view of three staff members in a nonprofit familiar rescue.

Southern Gothic themes meets Urban Fantasy: Decay, community, and classism.

Asexual and transgender representation.

August 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

I'm currently querying my first novel, THE AXIS OF YOU AND ME, a dual POV, queer romance. 🏳️‍🌈💕📚

(Shout out to everyone with their gorgeous pitches that inspired me to make one of my own)

#Q #A #R #questpit

A duotone photo of photographers with flashing lights. Text reads, The Axis of You and Me.

Pitch

Avi Davies dreams of Oscars, and he’s stayed closeted and isolated in the interest of achieving his dreams. Aidan Kelly, a father in a polyamorous marriage, doesn’t know he’s bisexual until Avi, and what starts as a normal work fling isn’t just a fling anymore. The path to their own movie-worthy happy ending isn’t as straightforward as following a script.

For the
Taylor Jenkins Reid fans
2010s Tumblr users
parasocial chronically online
queers
Casey McQuiston fans
celeb gossip lovers

Snippet

“I didn’t know you knew who I was.”

As if I could forget him. As if he wasn’t on my tv all the time. As if his face wasn’t plastered all over the Tube in posters for his latest show on the West End. His face isn’t quite so delicate anymore, but I like it more than ever.

“Oh, I knew who you were, Aidan Kelly.” I cock my head to the side. “You looked a little different out of a military uniform, but you’re still pretty.”

August 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

If you want

🏳️‍🌈 Queer romance
💟 Polyamory rep
👀 Complicated people making bad decisions
💚 Characters in their 30s
📸 Celebrity and fandom
‼️ Dual POV
📚 Alternating timelines
✨ A winding road to a HEA

You’ll love THE AXIS OF YOU AND ME

#Q #A #R #questpit

August 6, 2025 at 7:12 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Characters being cute 💚 #WIP

He quickly looks both ways before he pulls me into the street, breaking into a run.

“My drink,” I shriek as I try to keep up. I bump into him after we jump onto the other sidewalk, giggling a little.

July 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

(Whoops missed a day) From my #WIP, tentatively titled Paper Bags and Plastic Hearts

I chickened out earlier, too off-balance from his attention before class. Now waiting makes it worse, the two of us nearly chest to chest in front of the door, much closer than he was hours ago.

“Do you have Halloween plans?” I ask. We are friends. Friends ask friends to do things together.

July 30, 2025 at 10:47 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

“I’ll put on more coffee,” she says.

“I love you.”

From the project I’m currently querying ✨

MidnightRose Artist @midnightrose838.bsky.social · Jul 26

#WritingCommunity #WritingQ
Something made me have to ask, what is the 1st instance of "I love you" in your book?

“Mommy, I love you.”
He stepped over to her and hugged her as high as his little arms reached.
(For my WIP, Healing's Whisper)

July 29, 2025 at 3:36 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Bones but not gross #WIP

After moving in with them, I did a big chop. I had reliable access to haircuts and I took advantage of it. But now, with the hair trailing down to my collarbones, I think there’s freedom and control in that too.

July 28, 2025 at 9:40 PM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

Can you hear the people sing?

July 21, 2025 at 1:38 AM

Allison Araya DeBusk ✨

@shes-allison.bsky.social

I like drawing from my college experience writing this story, but I did leave out the part of the real experience in which we had to talk a guy we knew out of drunk driving home in a Jimmy Johns.