I Finished the First Draft of The Haunted Sketchbook

 

On July 11th, I completed the first draft of The Haunted Sketchbook, I had worked on it long before Camp NaNoWriMo--for a couple months in fact. 17,000 words was about the right amount of words to get me to finish the first draft (which ended about 40,000 words in total).

                                                                              Synopsis-

Genre: Gothic | Historical Fiction 

The Haunted Sketchbook is set in two time periods. 

In the past, an artist by the name of Ferdinand Diggory is experiencing a haunting. He discovers that his sketchbook is cursed; whenever he draws in it, it will twist the sketch into something monstrous, and something he didn't draw. 

In the present, Edith Porter is trying to discover whether the haunting was truly real-- she wants to discover the truth, but will her curiosity lead her into more danger than it's worth?

                    What's Next for The Haunted Sketchbook? 

I am currently working on characters in preparation for the 2nd draft. I want to make sure that I know the characters well, as I did with the second draft of Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass, which helped move the story forward and also create new discoveries along the way. 

I have recently been doing what is called a "character sketch" for some of the characters in the story. Basically, the writer lays out traits of the characters and then describes them in different perspectives (third, first, and second person). That's what I did for Ferdinand Diggory, and it highlighted an aspect of the character I had not seen before. I am going to do the same for Edith and even Cecile, as this technique helped me discover in the past what I had missed with Felix Moore--what elements of his character were being overlooked. 

I am also thinking about the backstory that Ferdinand has and what the ghost and other mysterious figures motives are. Even if the reader does not know their true motives, it is important to the characters to figure it out, so their actions seem clear. 

I also hope to research 18th century England. My knowledge of the 18th century mostly comes from American history, so I want to expand that knowledge to England when writing this story. As I noted in my Camp NaNoWriMo post about the novel, it takes place in two different time periods. (That is Edith's telling of it is set in the Victorian era, and Ferdinand's in the 18th century). 

I am going to be writing the second draft soon, so these are all things to look out for. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're a writer, how do you develop your characters? If not, who are your favorite characters in Gothic fiction? 

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #10

Hello everyone, 

I've been busy and not able to post. But, I've been working on my digital art and I wanted to share some of the pieces I made, along with some much less recent artwork. 

I've been doing a digital art course, and this was one of the drawings I ended up doing of my character Matilda. I plan to do this style more in the future. 

I decided to do a black and white drawing of Ophelia. I like how it turned out. 

 

A character sheet for Cheetah Girl. It was fun to draw her for it. 

This is Marigold. I'm currently working on concept artwork for Arisias's story, and this was one of the drawings for it. 

This is the water snake woman who appears in Arisias's story. 

A drawing of Ferdinand. This is close to how I imagine him appearing, and I like how it turned out

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which drawing is your favorite? 

-Quinley

Announcing My July 2023 Project: The Haunted Sketchbook

 Greetings Adventurers, 

It's July's Camp NaNoWriMo, and I have a new project that I am working on. I am hoping to get a first draft done of this novel, sometime this summer. 

Synopsis

Genre: Gothic | Historical Fiction 

The Haunted Sketchbook is set in two time periods. 

In the past, an artist by the name of Ferdinand Diggory is experiencing a haunting. He discovers that his sketchbook is cursed; whenever he draws in it, it will twist the sketch into something monstrous, and something he didn't draw. 

In the present, Edith Porter is trying to discover whether the haunting was truly real-- she wants to discover the truth, but will her curiosity lead her into more danger than it's worth? 

The Tellers of the Tale 

There are other characters as well, including the ghost. However, for now I will introduce the two main characters. The other characters will be introduced later (though some, like Cecile, you have already met).

                                     Ferdinand Diggory 

            Ferdinand Diggory is a (formerly) respected artist from the 18th century. He paints portraits and genre paintings. He is currently dealing with a haunting, one that resides in his sketchbook, and he wants to figure out why the ghost is haunting him. 

                                         Edith Porter 

Edith is an art collector from the 19th century. She likes exploring mysteries of artists who died under mysterious circumstances and finds Ferdinand Diggory's story to be particularly fascinating. She wants to uncover if what happened to him was truly a haunting or something else entirely. 

              Playlist  

Here's a playlist of songs that remind me of The Haunted Sketchbook. If you don't have a Spotify account, here is the YouTube version. 

    

       Goals For This Camp 

My goal is to get a first draft done. I have the plot planned out for it, so I want to get the story written. 

My goal for this camp is to write 17,000 words. I hope that I can get a first draft done, so I can then work on refining the story in the second draft. 

I feel as if I know both main characters well, so I am looking forward to seeing where they take me on this journey through their story. So far, this project has caused me to research several things about the 18th century and the Victorian Era. In particular I did some research about different types of artwork and art collecting in those periods. 

 The Haunted Sketchbook (like Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass) came into being from a nightmare. A nightmare I had after my surgery inspired inspired key elements of the novel--the actual haunting and Cecile's being an actor. 

Edith as a character came later. She has some interesting thoughts of her own which I hope she shares. She is figuring out the mystery of what happened to Ferdinand. But she also has goals outside of him, since she is an art collector and he isn't the only artist she is interested in. At the moment Ferdinand is an artist that she is extensively researching.

Anyway, those are my plans for camp. If you're doing Camp NaNoWriMo, I hope you have a good time too. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Are you doing anything fun this July? What do you like most about my novel? 

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #8

                    

 Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7. 

Greetings adventurers. 

I have a lot of new drawings to share, so I thought it was time for another drawing post. I plan to do a Using Polls to Make Art post soon, also. 

                                                    

This was the first drawing I ever drew of the god of time. I like how it turned out. 

                                        

                                            

A still life drawing I did of a candle for an art class. 

I had a lot of fun figuring out how to draw the reflective surface. 

Here's a photo of candle that I was using as a reference. 

This is a drawing of Oberon, Arisias's father. I like how his hair and clothes turned out. 

Someone on NaNoWriMo suggested that I draw the Phantom from The Phantom of the Opera (the musical). So, here is my drawing of him. 

I thought I would draw Fiáina without the prosthetic arm. And I like how it turned out. 

So I drew her prosthetic arm wrong in previous drawings (in the February Faces Challenge and another post). But I got it right in the first drawing I ever drew of her. It's supposed to be her entire arm, not only hand and wrist. But I blame that on reading myths about the Norse god Tyr, who also lost a limb but instead of an arm, he lost his hand. That made me get confused when drawing Fiáina. 

These eyes, like the candle drawing, were also done for an art class, and I like how they turned out. They were fun to shade. 

Finally, here is a drawing I did of Ferdinand and Cecile from The Haunted Sketchbook. This was difficult to draw, but I like how it turned out. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which drawing is your favorite? Do you like to draw still life drawings?

-Quinley 

My Art from The February Faces Challenge (2023) | Part Two

If you haven't seen it already, here is part one. 

I realize I've been thrown off my usual posting schedule, but that is because I have had a lot of things going on in my life. So, the time that I was absent from both my blogs was dealing with those things. Now that I am back, I should say that I have posts planned that aren't drawing related. I plan to do a book tag, as well as posts related to my novels, songwriting, and acting soon. While I normally would not do two drawing posts in a row, this was one post I had fully written, edited, and planned. So, I felt as if I should post it. 

I will also be responding to comments from previous posts. I loved reading everyone's comments, they truly made my day during such stressful times. And thank you to Anno for the shout out. 💚

But let's get to the post: 

 Here is the official (optional) prompt list: 

Day #10 Your Idol, I drew Dr. Crusher played by Gates McFadden from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Gates McFadden was the one who inspired me to be an actor, so I decided I should draw her for this prompt. 

Day #11 Silhouette, I was a little more creative with this prompt. I wanted to draw the Wax Witch from my novel, Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass, but not only a shadow/outline of her. So, I drew her silhouette behind her.

Day #12 Facial Hair, I drew Gimli from Lord of the Rings for practice. I don't usually draw bearded characters so this was fun to draw.

 

Day #13 Furious,  I drew Cheetah Girl from my super hero story for this one. I wanted to make her look as if she was furious. This is different, because I often draw her looking calm or thoughtful. 

Day #14 Freckles, I drew Elm, one of my dryad characters. I decided since Valentine's Day was the day I drew it, that I would give her Valentine's Day accessories. 

Day #15 Delighted, I drew Sebastian for this one. I have not drawn him a lot, so I wanted to draw him looking happy.

Day #16 in profile, I drew Fiáina talking to a dragon. Since dragons used to live in Dragons' Province (where the story takes place), I thought it would make sense for her to talk to one. 

Day #17 poorly, Ferdinand Diggory from The Haunted Sketchbook is feeling his worst here (due to sleep deprivation, nightmares, and ghosts). 

Day #18 Your Current Mood, I best describe this mood as "a million different emotions are going through your head and you're trying to process all of them, while keeping a straight face." So of course, I drew D.I. Elyerin Time experiencing this. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? Are you a fan of Lord of the Rings or Star Trek?

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #7

                                                  Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4, #5 and #6. 

Greetings everyone, 

I figured it was time for another drawing post. I have a lot of new drawings to share. 

Let's begin: 

This is The Mother of the Elements, the mother of the gods from this post.

I had not drawn her before, and her design took me a while to figure out. I like how her dress turned out, and I decided give her a different body type than the other gods. 

I figured it was time to update Detective Inspector Time's profile photo. In the original drawing, I had made his hair the wrong length, and it didn't fit the current version of him. 

Fiáina and Mother of the Element doing each other's hair. This pose was tricky to draw, but I enjoyed drawing it. 

A drawing of Ferdinand Diggory from the Haunted Sketchbook. This is the first time I've drawn the character, and I like how his appearance turned out.

You will be hearing more about his story soon... 

 

Fiáina's hair changes depending on the season. Since she is the goddess of nature, I thought it made sense for her hair to change during the seasons. The idea came from this drawing I did of her in the past: 

I was uncertain when I first created her, whether I wanted her hair to be red or brown. I wasn't sure I'd make her have red hair again, but then someone suggested I should have her hair change based on the seasons. So, that is what ended up happening. 

This is what Fiáina's hair looks like in the winter.  I wanted her to have icicle-like hair for the winter. She wears an evergreen dress during the winter seasons, rather than a leaf one. 

A drawing of my dog, Toto. I'm almost done with the children's book about him. I thought I would draw this quick sketch, as a sort of "I'm almost there, yay!" celebration. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which drawing is your favorite? What's your favorite season?

-Quinley