Fish Out of Water

Summary & Mood Board

Thank You so much for stopping by and checking out my story.
If all this drivel is annoying for you, go ahead and skip it and hit the prologue.
This story will begin its round on May 22nd, 2022

Fish Out of Water is what I would consider a Folklore, Paranormal, Coming-of-Age Young Adult story. It's going to be short 50ish thousand words. My first drafts usually are. So this story is going to be posted in its first draft form mostly because I'm revising other stories right now and I needed something fun to work on. Revising can sometimes get overwhelming for me because I psyche myself out and think

"Trash the whole thing. Rewrite it all. It's all garbage!"

But I feel the best when I'm writing my first draft and this is giving me that fun first draft feeling.
Feel free to leave comments on plot holes, things that are confusing or that you find off.
The first three chapters of this will be posted on May 22nd
and the posting schedule will be Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. May- July (maybe August)
The Prologue and some mood moods are already posted all in this chapter.

Trigger Warnings:

Mentions of abuse, neglect, bullying, and depression.

Scenes are not explicitly written but mentioned and retold with little detail. If you are sensitive to these topics please read with caution. I will put a mentioned at the beginning of the chapter all the warnings above except for the depression as it is an underlying issue woven into Dakota's experience and is not a major theme in the book but is prevalent as a reaction to being torn away from what is familiar and thrown into new scary circumstances.

Fish Out of Water was originally a short story and won the (insert contest here) in its first format but I felt I could expand on it and make it into something more.

This story was mostly inspired by that in-between feeling you get when you're a mix and you are not considering(in my case) white enough to be white but not Mexican enough to be fully accepted there either. For my mixed kids who grew up in cultural purgatory, sorry you went through that. I know it sucks and not just because you were excluded from things but for the mental toll it takes on you as a child to be told where you should go because of genetics you had no control over. I wanted a bit of a magical element in my story and I love the stories of Selkies and mermaids and so that part was that simple. I was feeling aquatic and I thought this would be a good summer story and it has taken the place of what was going to be my next story which is a paranormal New Adult romance which will release.... maybe in the Fall now since it's written and just needs a tone of revising. I used my planned revising time to write this story instead.

Summary:

Dakota Keyes had their life set out on a vague map but it was meant to be on land even if they didn't have everything lined up just yet. They wanted to go to college in New York. It didn't matter which one they just wanted to live out their cliche New York dream with their best friend and go to college and figure stuff out from there but sprouting gills the summer before Senior year and having to move to across the world to a nowhere town in Ireland one semester before graduation ruined their plans. Dakota is halfway between the saltwater in their veins and the human blood that had been dominant up until now.

One-third Selkie, one-t0hird Mer-being, and half-human. Dakota thought that all they had to worry about hiding was the webbing between their fingers and toes but now they had gills that won't close, their skin so dry they have to slather it with lotion and a call to the ocean they are trying their hardest to keep from answering. Other than being split between worlds their best friend is still back home in New Jersey and Dakota is sure something is wrong but their friend won't say. Struggling to keep their hold on their human half and prying to whatever god a mixed fish should prey to they need to get their seal skin or grow a tail to be able to fully transition between land and sea. More than likely though half breeds like them get stuck in the middle. Tails with no gills or unable to transform back and forth. Half breeds were at the mercy of their genetics.

Dakota couldn't care less if they can't be in the ocean full time they wanted to be landbound. That was what they had been planning but the call of the ocean is intense and a few new fishy friends might convince them being ocean-bound wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen.

Stuck between three parts of their whole Dakota is more confused than ever about where they fit and where their genetics will put them.

Dakota Keyes is Non-Binary and their gender has no weight in the story so they will only be referred to as they/them and their sex will not be mentioned. If that is an issue for you, you may leave. as for my fellow NBs, welcome. Representation is important and I strive to sprinkle it into my writing. I think it's also important for stories to be told with LGBTQIA characters without it being their whole personality. I think they need to be in stories naturally just like in life. Being Ace/Aro/NB/Gay/Bi/Trans/Gender Fluid, etc... should be represented without it always being a political statement. the idea is to normalize it and not have to fight a battle every time someone "outside of the box" is mentioned. I hope you enjoy my story because I can't wait to share it.

P.S

If you have a mermaid tale or something set in the ocean (including pirates) feel free to share. I'm feeling ocean-y lately with summer right around the corner.