This NaNoWriMo is a bit different since I am working on two different projects. (I divided up my goal equally to focus on both.) I am going to focus on The Heist of Dorian Gray in this post. I made a blog post about the other project, here.
The title of this novel is a work in progress, and it might end up changing to The Crimes of Dorian Gray eventually. I haven't decided yet, though.
Synopsis:
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy (with gothic elements) | Crime/Caper Series: The first book in the Dorian Gray trilogy
In an alternate universe where Dorian Gray went into hiding after the terrible deed of murder and ended up living in to modern day...
Dorian's potrait is on display in the Art Institute of Chicago, showing his sin and age to all the world. Because of this, he desires get his painting back, and enlists the help of some outcasts to help him steal it back.
But this proves to be more of a challenge than Dorian Gray believed it would be, and his past comes back to bite him. Will he ever get his painting back? Or will it constantly be out of reach?
Main Characters:
This is an ensemble based story, so throughout the serial there will be stories focusing on different characters' perspectives. I am still designing the characters' appearances and only know what three of them look like right now (the first three in the listing below). You can view these three characters' profiles (which go more in depth) here.
Dorian Gray-- a man who wished to stay young forever, which resulted in becoming immortal (also immoral, but that's another matter). He currently goes under the alias of "Damien Gray," who is Dorian Gray's descendent, in hopes this will get the rest of the group to trust him. However, he fears they will find out about his immorality.
Ivy Hughes-- An art forger/restorer. She currently resides in Chicago, and does replicas of impressionist paintings for her job. However, she does have a mysterious past, which Dorian managed to uncover in order to get her to work with him.
Reed Hayward-- He could be called a "wizard," but he much prefers the term "painter with magic" or "magical artist." All his magic is art based. He has distorted and false memories of his past. And he believes Dorian may know the secret of who he is.
Adeline "Ava"-- - She is a hacker. In her free time, she makes online video games. Her most recent creation is "Giggly Ghouls," a cute ghost game she made for her niece. However, she uses her skills for other purposes as well, such as hacking into security systems and stealing information.
Alfred-- Alfred is a rival of Dorian's. He is a con artist who does spirit reading on the side to earn extra money. He is skilled in reading people, and likes using tarot cards and doing card tricks.
Goals this NaNoWriMo:
My goal is to get more of the first draft done, even if I don't finish all of it this month. The Heist of Dorian Gray started out as a screenplay which then I decided worked better as a serial novel. (I am glad that I chose to change.) Compared to my previous style of drafting which is just to write as much as I can, I am trying to write well and descriptively especially since I was inspired by real-world art.
And since I divided my goal into two projects which both complement each other. My goal is to make progress on both. Since The Haunted Sketchbook is on its second draft, I'll be reworking some things like creating a satisfying ending. For The Heist of Dorian Gray,I want to figure out how to write what I'm calling "a novel that reads like a short story collection." In some ways it is similar to a TV show being in serial novel format. I am planning to publish it in a way that is like the original Picture of Dorian Gray which was serialized in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine before publication in book form.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favorite books, and I am happy that I finally found a way to write about the characters from it in a way that isn't retelling. I had wanted to spend more time with them but not follow the plot of the original.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you're doing NaNowWrimo this November, what are you working on?
I thought I should let you, the readers, know I recently did an interview with Elena Denver over at her new blog, Life is a Beautiful Ride. If you would like to check out my interview with her, you can do so here.
But back to this post. Once again, thank you to everyone for sending in questions for the second part of the Q&A. And for those who participated in NaNoWrimo this year, I hope you had a good NaNoWrimo!
Even though I will post a synopsis for those who don't know what my novel is about, I do suggest checking out this post about it. It will give you more info about my novel, The Mystery of the Body Thief, as it is the most up to date post about it.
Synopsis-
Genre: Fantasy | Murder Mystery Series: The 1st 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.
How My Writing Went this NaNoWrimo-
So, my rewriting and editing went pretty well during this NaNoWrimo. I felt as if I made some progress on the story, and though I am far from being done with the second draft, it feels very good to have a part of it done. During this month, I worked partly on my novel in order to get more of it written, and in the second part of the month, I worked on writing a play for a contest. I usually focus on one project per month, but this month I decided to divide my focus. Since I'm not done with the play, I plan to continue working on it into December.
In terms of world-building, I began working on the clothes of the officers in the police department...
Ever since I figured out what the healers'/priests' clothes look like, I have been thinking about designing the clothes for the officers in the Dragon's Province Police Department. I have been thinking about what different officers in different positions wear. Currently, I am using Hero Forge to get the general idea of what they look like. In the future, I do intend to draw them, but I find things like these help. I had also been thinking about modifying the design of the uniform on the left, because I realize how impractical that skirt would be in situations like running after a criminal. Also, I was thinking about making it look a bit more like Tauriel's outfit from The Hobbit,design-wise.
So, I decided to brainstorm some more and came up with a new design. Here is the modified version of the outfit from the left. It's still not the end product, but it is getting closer:
I have also decided that different color schemes in the uniform designate status of the officers. Officers have different positions, which are shown by the color of clothes that they wear (among other things).
At one point during this NaNoWrimo, my computer crashed, so, it made it very difficult to write.During that period, I spent a lot of time writing on paper and repeatedly using a prompt a writing teacher of mine had given me. At the time, I was struggling to rewrite a scene that I wanted to add more depth to.
I've also found that writing on paper allows you to be a bit more social with people while you're writing. While I like sitting behind a computer to write (because it doesn't make my hand tired), I feel writing on paper while sitting around a table and talking can also be nice. You can talk about your story sometimes while writing your story or just intermittently engage in conversation.
It also allows you to be a bit more thoughtful with what you're writing. Often when I am typing, I feel like I am not thinking about every single word as I am writing it.
(My writing and The Six of Cups).
The prompt I used, that my teacher gave me, was using Tarot cards to get inspiration. At the beginning of NaNoWrimo, I had used them to figure out which scene to write. But during the time without my computer I decided to use it to add more depth to a scene: in particular, what a character should be thinking of. I ended up getting Six of Cups, which means nostalgia and happy memories. The card really helped me add depth to the scene (which, without spoiling my novel, I can say was about losing someone you loved).
Q&A
Now here is the second part of the Q&A!
If you see any of these [] on a question, that is because I edited it, in order to make it make sense in the post. (Except for Maya's question. That one I didn't edit).
Like Greg [in the previous post], the "murders happening in multiple kingdoms" premise intrigues me. I assume that you meant different worlds (like human world, elf world, fairy world, etc.)...or did you literally mean "kingdoms"? I know the right word for "worlds" would be "realms", but it still got me wondering.
This is fairly complicated to explain, so I will do my best in describing it.
There are realms outside the world of the story, and elves and fairies come from these. Elves are somewhat related to fairies, but they are less ethereal, because they are trapped in the physical realm whereas fairies can shift back and forth between the physical and nonphysical. (To outsiders they appear to turn invisible, but in truth they are actually in another dimension.)
In contrast to elves and fairies, humans, dwarves, and dragons (among other beings too) are believed to have originated in the world where the story takes place. Over the centuries some elves began mixing and living amongst humans (which is the reason why the elves and humans believe in the same gods and goddesses), whereas the fairies tended to distance themselves from humans and other "earthly" beings.
So, there are still elves, fairies, and otherworldly beings that live in different realms in the world of the story, but most of the murders take place in the "earthly" realm.
Question from Anonymous:
What is the weather like in these kingdoms? Is there a connection between our world and theirs? Is it distant in time or place or planet or dimension?
Dragon's Province (the kingdom the characters are in most of the time) goes through all the four seasons. However, there are kingdoms that don't have four seasons and tend to stay either warm or cold most of the time.
As to whether there is a connection to our world, it isn't an older version of our world (unlike Tolkien's Lord of the Rings), though in the first draft of the story it was...kind of that. (I wanted an excuse to quote Shakespeare.) But in its current state, I would describe it as being another realm or planet. Because it is a whole different world from where we are, the politics, the religion, literature, and everything that comes out of it is very different.
How does Lady Annabelle look like? Are you going to draw a picture of her?
My drawings of Annabelle from 2017 to 2021.
I have actually been drawing Annabelle since 2016, because that was when my first attempt at writing the series started. (But the drawings of her start appearing on my blog in 2017.)If you look in the archives of my blog, there are a lot of drawings of her.
I've also dressed up as her...
Me posing as Annabelle (for the profile photo you see on the sidebar).
I've also made some avatars of her using this Lord of the Rings doll maker, which unfortunately doesn't work anymore because Flash got removed from browsers:
Because I've shown you what she looks like, her appearance is pretty self explanatory, but I'll describe it anyway. Annabelle has red hair that is a little bit past shoulder length, brown eyes, pale skin, and a beauty mark on her left cheek.
What are some difficulties you've faced (character-wise or plot-wise) while writing your book?
I think writing in the third person has been difficult for me. I don't intend to change to first person because I feel it wouldn't work for this particular story, and I feel I need to get better at writing in third person.
I have been facing two other difficulties in writing. The first is giving each of the characters in the story a unique voice. So far I am succeeding in that, but I worry about the reader blending the characters together if they sound too similar.
And the second difficulty is the fact that I don't have names for the types of spells in the world and for the gods and goddesses in the pantheon. This will be changed in later drafting partly because this isn't the last draft. But still it is a bit frustrating to have to put stuff down like "fire spell" or "earth goddess" if I do not know what the names of the spells or goddesses are.
Approximately how long have you taken to write your book (and where are you now as of NaNo 21?) [ps. it's been really fun reading about your book so far!]
(This is because I tend to come up book ideas a year before and take the time to plot before I write).
I finished writing the first draft on November 5th 2020 and have been working on the second draft since sometime in 2021. (I believe I began rewriting before Camp NaNoWrimo.)
As for NaNoWrimo 2021, as of right now I have gotten to my word count goal. 😃
Question from Anonymous:
How many kingdoms are there? What lies beyond their borders I wonder??
At the moment, I am still working on the geography of the kingdoms in The Lady Annabelle Mystery Series.I plan to make a map for it eventually; I can't give an exact answer right now but I will have one in the future.
There are multiple continents in the world, which are each divided up into kingdoms. But the kingdoms in this story are in a single, large continent (which can be traveled across by horseback, carriage, etc.).
(Image from Wiki Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_Henri_-_The_Reader_in_the_Forest_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
As for what are beyond some kingdoms' borders. Often (but not always) forests form the border of a kingdom. These forests are usually full of untamed mystical creatures: some are gentle, but others are dangerous.
Once I create a map for the different kingdoms in The Lady Annabelle Mystery Series, I will do a follow-up post about it.
Questions from Don:
Does Annabelle as a detective use Sherlock Holmes techniques to solve crimes?
While Sherlock Holmes is an awesome detective (and I'm sure she shares some (unintentional) similarities with him), Annabelle has her own ways of solving crimes.
However, there are two similarities in their practice of solving crimes. They both use deduction and disguises.
Will [Annabelle] and Horatio be more than friends?
It is possible that they were more than friends. I cannot answer (for spoiler-related reasons) whether in the future they will be more than friends. Horatio believes they were just friends (but given that he has amnesia, he cannot be completely certain). However, other characters in the story have thought at different times that Horatio and Annabelle could have been secretly in love...
What if Horatio and Annabelle are brother and sister separated at birth?
That is a possibility too. However, Horatio would have to be an illegitimate half brother of Annabelle if that was true (because Horatio is an elf, and Annabelle is half elf half human). This is a possibility, but I can't really give you a direct answer, because that would remove mystery from the story.
...And that's the end of the second part of the Q&A. Thank you to everyone again for sending in questions. They were really fun to answer.
I am participating in NaNoWrimo this November, in order to work on the second draft of my novel, TheMystery of the Body Thief. And if you want, you can check out my most recent post about my novel here, given that this post will be answering questions about it.
Also, thank you everyone for sending in and posting questions for the Q&A about my novel. I won't be able to answer all the questions in this post, but there will be a second part of the Q&A, so if you didn't post a question and want to, you still can. Or, if not all your questions got answered or none of your questions got answered they will be answered in the next part. Also, thank you for Fifty-six followers!
Synopsis-
Genre: Fantasy | Murder Mystery Series: The1st 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.
My Plans for NaNoWrimo This Year
I plan to continue world-building, editing, and rewriting my novel from where I left off. Originally when I was editing, I edited the story in its chronological order. But then I decided to rewrite it out of order, so I could spend some time on the scenes (and sections) I had skipped during the first draft.
I might add that when I was first drafting the story, I skipped some sections. Most of them were scenes I had trouble writing and/or didn't feel like writing at the moment. But in the second draft, I get to focus on those scenes and flesh them out.
I've also found that the scenes I skipped writing required me to have experiences that I didn't have at the time but have now. It wasn't until the second draft that I realized I was unconsciously writing about experiences from my own life, and why I had to process those experiences before getting them right....It's interesting how writing does that sometimes.
Also, in the second draft, I finally realized what message I wanted to communicate through my story. Neil Gaiman actually said something similar about this in his writing of The Graveyard Book: "It was then, only then, that I saw clearly what I was writing...." He "had set out to write a book about a childhood-- it was Bod's childhood, and it was in a graveyard, but still, it was a childhood like any other; I was now writing about being a parent..." (The Newberry acceptance speech, part five, the Graveyard book) I realize that I am doing a similar thing now, in my story, and that there are some elements I need to tweak in order to get the message through.
In terms of world-building, I have made some progress, and I understand the world better. And it has also helped me understand the characters. When I first started writing, I didn't know Ophelia was going to be a healer and a priestess. I first knew she was a healer, but over time I soon figured out what it meant to be a healer and priestess in her world and that some priestesses are healers. (Not all priestesses are healers, but a certain type of them are.)
So, during this NaNoWrimo, I plan to expand more on world-building and look back on the document where I wrote random ideas I had about the world during Camp NaNoWrimo. I want to see if I can expand on them and flesh them out.
Q & A
And now for the questions from you, the readers, about my novel, The Mystery of the Body Thief.
Question from Elizabeth Knight:
I'm intrigued about what the "body thief" could possibly be, but I have a different question in mind so as not to spoil the book for me: what, if any, kinds of magic are there in the book, and what form does it take?
Ophelia (left) and Vonivera (right), using their powers
There are three different types of magic in the world of The Lady Annabelle Mysteries Series: there is magic given at birth which is usually seen in fairies (though it is seen in other creatures too, like dragons), magic that can be learned (in this particular world you have to become a devotee to a god/goddess in order to learn it), and magical objects (which can be in mirrors, wands, etc.)
There are also very different uses for magic: some magic is used for healing in the world, other magic is used for harm (or to kill), and magic can also be used to solve cases by the detectives in the world.
In the religious beliefs of the elves, magic was given to the world by the gods. (Other magic came to the world through pure trickery.) I am also working on a post in my Look Into a World series on this blog, which I plan to post sometime soon. It talks more in depth about how the magic in this world came to be.
Hi Quinley, I was wondering about Horatio’s personality. Is he quiet and shy? Humble and Gentle, a bit prideful or outgoing? Or just friendly and creative?
Horatio is a bit timid (partly because he doesn't have many friends, and many servants in the castle do not like him), curious, and friendly, as well as being outgoing. If there is something dangerous or mysterious happening, he is willing to get involved in it. (However, he doesn't always know why he is so quick to do that: it seems almost like he does it instinctively or impulsively.)
Horatio also seems not to understand parts of himself, like how he behaves certain ways at certain times. This is partly due to the fact that he has amnesia and doesn't remember his past. So elements about himself seem strange to him that wouldn't otherwise be strange if he remembered his past.
Where’s the setting of your story?
(Image from Wiki Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Sandby_-_Bothwell_Castle,_from_the_South_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
The story is set in a Fantasy world. But most of the action in the first half takes place in Dragon's Province, in the castle of Lord Oberon, where Horatio is a servant.
But the setting also extends to the town in Dragon's Province, where events happen such as plays, festivals, and religious gatherings. At different points in the story, Horatio visits the town for different reasons. In particular, he visits the police department.
(Image from Wiki Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tavern_Scene-1658-David_Teniers_II.jpg)
And though this isn't exactly a single place, the characters do visit several taverns (and sometimes taverns that are also inns). I have felt like taverns are also part of the setting of the story. Taverns can be a dramatic setting in the story, since characters often fear being watched by others. Other characters either meet in a tavern (in some cases) or go there to talk when their work is done. (And I may have been also slightly influenced by D&D and Lord of the Rings with the taverns that show up in my story).
One thing I think I should add is that I've been listening to this particular complication of music whenever I write a tavern scene. Though it isn't exactly about the setting in my story, I thought by sharing it I could give you an idea of the atmosphere of the taverns in Annabelle's world.
Ooh my first question is- who is Annabelle? Kinda obvious I know lol, but she seems to be key.
Annabelle in her wedding dress.
Lady Annabelle is a half elf princess who worked as a detective before she (like Horatio) was in a coma. But unlike him, she hasn't awakened yet. She is also the main character in the series. (Though Horatio is taking the spotlight for a short time in this one book, the next book will go back to Annabelle.) She started working as a detective after a murder took place in the castle, and though her father is very against it (because he worries about her safety), she continues to solve cases anyway.
However, her connection to Horatio is unclear. Horatio isn't sure how she and him knew each other -- whether they were friends...or something else entirely -- but at the moment, he believes they were at least friends or acquaintances (given that he has memories of her). But I can't say anything else about that...because of spoilers.
So, I hope that answers your question. Also, I have created a profile for Annabelle on this blog, so if you want you can check out her character sheet here.
Inspector Time- I'm wondering if his name means anything (like time travel or something) or if that's just his name?
Naming wise, When I first created the character, his name was going to be Detective Inspector Thyme, but since I was pretty young when I named the character and had taken the name from the cozy murder mystery TV show, Rosemary and Thyme, I thought the name "Thyme" was Time not Thyme, so I ended up naming him Detective Inspector Time. But since it worked, I decided not to change it.
Character-wise, D.I. Time changed his last name, because he wanted to. His family had had a different last name, but since he wanted his name to be memorable he decided to change it to Time. (This may or may not have been after he got his magic). His extended family though is not very happy with the name change. (Especially because the name change was not done through marriage, and just was done..."on a whim" as they describe it).
When it comes to your question about whether he has powers (time travel related ones that is), the answer is not exactly. Since most detectives or officers in the police department do have powers (though people are not required to have them) he does have powers (and so does his adpoted daughter, Marigold). But they aren't exactly what you think they are. Upon touching an object, D.I. Time has the ability to know what it has gone through and who has touched it. But he can't tell the names of the people who touched it, only the texture of their hand, the way they hold the object, and other feelings like (warmth, cold) he gets from where the object was, how it was made, what it has been through.
The fact that murders are happening in multiple kingdoms is intriguing too. that makes me wonder if Time and Lady Annabelle are part of some far flung agency or detective group, or ?
So, there are several detective agencies working on solving the murders of royalty. This is partly because concerned royalty (who is worried they one of them could be next), would rather have more than one agency work on solving it than a single one. So agencies from all over different kingdoms are working to solve it. Admittedly, this rarely happens, since crime solving is usually limited to one kingdom, but since the life of different kings and queens is on the line, multiple detective agencies happened to get involved.
Annabelle is not a part of the detective agency though. Her father would never let her give up her position of princess to be a detective, though she has gotten herself involved in several different cases, I'd say in a very Sherlock Holmes-like fashion.
Is there any drama in this story? I would like a lot of drama in your story! I love drama!
While the story itself is not a melodrama, there are some social conflicts (drama) and internal psychological conflicts. Gossip often plays a negative role in the social drama, and since this is a murder mystery, there is of course the drama of murder itself and having to look for the killer or killers. There is also magical and supernatural drama throughout the series, as magic plays a role in causing and solving cases. Gods and goddesses often come to the mortals' world, and sometimes they cause a bit of drama whether they meant to or not.
Why are the murders happening in the story? Is it because of money or something else is going on?
That contains spoilers, so you will have to wait for my book to come out in order to figure out who the murderer or murderers are, and why the murders are happening. If I revealed it here, it would remove the mystery from The Mystery of the Body Thief.
...And that's the end of part one of the Q&A, if you would like to get a question or questions in for part two, you can ask them here or comment them down below.
