I Finished the First Draft of The Mystery of the Body Thief!

 

I just finished The Mystery of the Body Thief's First Draft!! 

I had four different attempts in writing this series, before I came to one that actually worked. The previous attempts were: The Case of Confusion, The Mystery of the Stolen Crown, The Race Against Time and The Mystery of the Phantom of Dragonspire Court.

When I wrote The Mystery of the Body Thief I intended it at first to be the fifth book, but because the other books didn't end up working, it ended up being the first book. The Mystery of the Body Thief had the strongest plot and a coherent one, as well.  I believe this is the first successful mystery book I have ever written. However, in the first draft I sort of forgot to world-build, because I was much more focused on the mystery. So, just like any first story, it's not perfect. It can be improved through editing, rewriting, and world-building. (Which I will talk more about later, in this post).

During this NaNoWrimo,  I made the word count goal pretty high at first because I thought it would take a while to reach the end of the story. I ended up lowering the goal a bit, because otherwise I would have been forcing the story to go on for longer than it needed to be, and at that point I may have been just pouring out unneeded words. 

 Now onto what the story is about: 

                                               (Images from wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Red_hair_in_art#/media/File:William_Strang_portrait_Cynthia_1917.jpg, 

Drawn to Writing , and Pexels and Pixabay). 

                               Synopsis

Genres: Fantasy | Murder Mystery with a bit of Adventure. Series: It is the first book in the Lady Annabelle Mystery Series. 

Horatio wakes up from being in a coma, but he doesn't remember anything that happened before he fell into unconsciousness. All that he remembers is a name, "Annabelle!" 

Also... Detective Inspector Time finds himself having to solve a case without Lady Annabelle.
Murders have been happening throughout many different kingdoms, and no one knows who exactly is behind it all. 

Go here and here to read the two other posts I made about this novel.   

                   Music for the world      

 

You can also listen to it here. 

Since I made a playlist/soundtrack of music I listened to while writing my story, I thought I would post the playlist. This is where I get some of the inspiration for the world that I am at the moment working on, and that will show up in my future posts. 😉

What's Next for The Mystery of the Body Thief? 

I'm going to be working on the second draft, which is mainly going to be focused on world-building as the first draft was more focused on the plot, than the world itself. And because of that I intend to share some of my world-building process in a new series for this blog, A Look Into a World. It will be focusing on how the society works, the religions of the world work, and how the magic works. (Though in this world the magic and the religions are tied closely together, because the gods give people magic). 

Also I gave two of my character's powers recently. I need to figure out more clearly what they actually do, and what gods they are connected to. (Basically who they'd be a devotee to). I also need to figure out Vonivera's powers, I know a little about them like she can turn invisible but I don't know much else. Vonivera was born with her powers, instead becoming a devotee to a god or goddess, while the other two characters have powers given to them from gods and goddesses. I also have a sorceresses character who I vaguely know the powers of, but I need to figure them out. 

I also need to get to know the other main characters, as I seemed to be more in Annabelle's and Horatio's heads, than anyone else's. So I want to get to know them better, I already know at least one of them well at this point and that is Annabelle's father Lord Oberon. But everyone else I hope to know better through second drafting. 

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What type of magic system(s) do you have in your Fantasy world(s)? And in First drafting did you ever forget to world-build? 

-Quinley 

The Tag that Must Not Be Named

Hi everyone,
I was tagged by Briana at No End of Books, thank you so much for tagging me.

Anyway here is the tag:

What book has been on your shelf the longest?

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-J-R-Tolkien/dp/054792822X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518308819&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hobbit ) 

Probably The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien, I have loved it for a really long time...I have always and will always love Bilbo Baggins, and his sword Sting. 


What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?

I am currently reading... 

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Study-Scarlet-Arthur-Conan-Doyle/dp/1977901573/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518547275&sr=1-1&keywords=a+study+in+scarlet&dpID=51CfHBPqhVL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch) 

I have been reading Sherlock Holmes lately, so I thought I would read his first ever case!:) 




My last read was... 

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Will-Mystery-William-Shakespeare/dp/1416986618/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518545824&sr=8-2&keywords=wicked+will) 

Wicked Will is a historical fiction murder mystery. It was really good, and had a lot of references to Shakespeare's plays (And there was also a young Benjamin Franklin murder mystery, which was good too.) 

A book I am planning to read next....

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Expectations-Penguin-Classics-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B002XHNMIU/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518547541&sr=1-11&keywords=great+expectations+by+charles+dickens ) 

I really liked this cover of Great Expectations. I am definitely excited to start reading this book (because I read an abridged version that did not have much detail.)

What book did everyone like, but you hated?
Even though I love Percy Jackson now, I did not like it (at all)  before I decided to read it. At first I thought that everyone was getting the wrong idea about Greek Mythology. But when I decided to read the book I loved it. 


What book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

It's not books necessarily, it's often a series for me. I try to read the series but then I get distracted by other books, and instead read them. It's mostly with book series that have really long books (such as the Heroes of Olympus, etc.) 

What book are you saving for retirement?

Umm...I don't think I could save a book for retirement (I would probably read it before I was retired.) 
but...I am saving a book for next Camp NaNoWrimo:

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Murder-Most-Unladylike-Mystery/dp/0141369728/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1518546932&sr=8-3&keywords=murder+most+unladylike) 

Even though it is technically a holiday murder mystery, and I had put the series down for awhile to read some other books, also I want to read a murder mystery while I am writing the story (not at same time of course.) And I think this would be good to read.

Last page: read it first, or wait ’til the end?

Wait till the end, I like to be able to experience the action at the same pace as the characters do. 

Acknowledgement: waste of paper and ink, or interesting aside?

Well... I do think it could be needed (especially in historical fiction books.) 


Which book character would you switch places with?

Do you mean switch bodies with? or switch places? Anyway I will answer for both... 
Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables 
Prince Caspian (or Lucy) from  The Chronicles of Narnia 
Sherlock Holmes (or Irene Adler) from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Annabeth Chase (or Rachel Dare.) from Percy Jackson 
Arwen (or Eowyn)  from Lord of The Rings. 
Benjamin Franklin from The Secret of The Sealed Room. 
William Shakespeare from Wicked Will. 
Hobbes (or maybe even Calvin) from Calvin & Hobbes 
This isn't all the characters that I would switch places (or bodies) with...but it as many as I could fit into a post. 


Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (Place, time, person?)

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Trilogy-Fellowship-Matched/dp/B00CO2MXM0/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519505984&sr=1-7&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+trilogy+book+set&dpID=41y4MYTQj6L&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch) 

It reminds me of an event that happened to me last summer. 

Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way
I have often gotten books from people, but I can't really name one at the moment. 


Have you ever given a book away for a special reason to a special person?

I don't believe have done that before. However, I have given people copies of a certain book, that I had read and I think they would enjoy reading. 

Which book has been with you most places?

                                               Calvin & Hobbes 

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Essential-Calvin-Hobbes-Treasury/dp/0836218051/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518548336&sr=8-2&keywords=calvin+and+hobbes ) 

Even though I have read the comics a million times they still make me laugh. 


Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad later?

High school? Just school in general there was an awful book that I don't know why they read to us, 

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Teacher-Black-Lagoon-Mike-Thaler/dp/0545065224/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518548537&sr=1-1&keywords=the+teacher+from+the+black+lagoon+books) 

I will never like this book.


Used or brand new?

Both!:) But I love giving used books a second chance.

Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?

I have no idea who Dan Brown is!:) 

Have you ever seen a movie you liked more than the book?

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Inkheart-Widescreen-Iain-Softley/dp/B00267OB9Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518548867&sr=1-1&keywords=inkheart+movie&dpID=51AfsFS67RL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch) 

Personally I like the movie Inkheart compared to the book (The movie has a happier ending than the book) 
and even though it left out some details that the book had I like it. 

Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks included?
Umm...I have actually never gotten hungry while reading (because I am eating while reading sometimes.) Though if the character is eating something like cake or popcorn I might get a little hungry.


Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?

My family, they always have good book advice. 

Is there a book out of your comfort zone (e.g., outside your usual reading genre) that you ended up loving?

(Image from Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/Washington-Irvings-Stories-Illustrated-Library/dp/0448420740/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1518549093&sr=1-7&keywords=the+legend+of+sleepy+hollow+by+washington+irving ) 

Besides Percy Jackson, There was another book that I ended up loving. It was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. I did not like scary stories or ghost stories at the time, but when I read it I loved it. 

I tag: 

Jane Maree at Her Author site and Maiden of the Misty Mountains 

Emma at Drawn to Writing 

Anna at A world Through Her Heart 

Gray Marie at Writing is Life 

And anyone who wants to do it.

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What are some of your favorite books? Who is one of the characters you would switch places or bodies with? 

Love,
Quinley

P.S. For the other people who have tagged me, I am still working on the tags I just haven't gotten around to posting them...yet!:)