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.
So that my post about The Mystery of the Body Thief this NaNoWrimo is not a repetition of what I have said before, I will be answering your questions about it in an upcoming blog post. Here are some examples of questions you might want to ask: questions about the characters themselves, the story, the setting (as I am world-building it), my inspiration behind the novel, my writing progress, or even fun questions, like if my novel was a movie who I would cast to play the characters?
If you don't know what The Mystery of the Body Thief is about, here is a quick synopsis and a link to my most recent post about it:
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.
You can either ask the questions you have about it down in the comments down below, or ask it in this Google form (I will be mentioning who left the questions hence the name and blog part of the form, but if you would like to be Anonymous, you can just enter "Anonymous" and entering your blog is optional (since not everyone has one)):
Now on to the actual post, I thought it was about time to show you more of the drawings from the polls I've created:
Elm with her favorite animal, which is a bumblebee.
I have been needing to update the cover of The Mystery of the Body Thief on NaNoWriMo for sometime (though it wouldn't be the official cover, this is only the second draft), so I used a poll to figure out how I should update it. Interestingly enough the majority vote ended up being a similar design I tried before for the cover, but never finished.
I feel that Ophelia, as a Tinker Bell style fairy, would be a mix of a garden talent and a fast flying talent. On the other hand, you can only have one talent in Pixie Hollow. That presents a dilemma, because Ophelia can control two different elements, earth and air, since she is a devotee of the two gods who give her those two different powers.
I haven't drawn Vinverva in a while, the last time I drew her was in this post.
So, I decided to do a poll where the pollers would decide between her and Odile.
Vinverva ended up winning. In this drawing the pollers wanted her to wear fancy clothes,
so that's what I ended up drawing her in. The only thing I found difficult in drawing her, was trying to make her not look like Oak, since both of them have short blonde hair. I tried to make her hair look a little longer and grayer.
In this drawing I had pollers vote on what character I should do a figure drawing of (it was a choice between Angela and Reyvon), and a choice between whether it should be digital or hand-drawn and hand-drawn won.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Which drawing is your favorite? And if your character was a Tinker Bell style fairy, what would they be like?
A while ago I mentioned that I finished writing the first draft of this novel. This July, I am focusing on editing it and working on the second draft, along with some world-building along the way.
For this project I started writing the first draft in 2018 and finished it in 2020. I made a lot of posts about this novel in the past, so if you want to check them out, here you can, or if you can to look at posts about the series as a whole here you can.
Synopsis-
Genre: Fantasy | Murder Mystery
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.
Characters-
Here are the characters. Please note, many things have changed. Phillip, the dwarf guard character from the first draft moved to later book, given that the time-line changed a lot. (The dwarf and elf war happens much later). Also since Phillip is not coming in until later, I replaced him for now with a character named Angela. I had created her character for All is Not Lost For All Will Begin Again, but that setting and story changed, too. Angela didn't fit the story anymore, so I moved her to The Mystery of the Body Thief instead.
There are other characters who appear later in the story, but I won't be including them in this post. In this post, I am including the characters who have the largest impact on the plot:
Horatio
A servant who works in the castle, who lost his memory. He has a connection to Annabelle, but what the connection is, he doesn't know, but he longs to find out.
Ophelia
She is one of Horatio's few friends and one of the healers at the castle. She works with the Earth and Air Gods and learns her magic from them. She is a very sweet (but quiet) person.
Lady Annabelle
Lady Annabelle is a princess, who is in a coma, who fell unconscious at the same time as Horatio. Before she was in a coma, she worked as a detective and sometimes would work with D.I. Time and Marigold.
Detective Inspector Time
An old friend of Annabelle's, he is a detective actively working on the case of the murdered royals.
Marigold Time
Marigold is also working on the case of the murders of royalty, and is the adoptive daughter of D.I. Time. She also works as a detective in the police department.
Vonivera
Lady Annabelle's lady in waiting, she is a friend to Horatio and a frenemy of "Angie." Unlike the other ladies in the castle, Vonivera is a fairy and she finds it odd to be amongst elves and humans.
Angela "Angie"
Another one of Lady Annabelle's ladies in waiting, Angela is "a close friend" of Vonivera's (or at least that is what she tells people).
Soundtrack-
I compiled a playlist of music that I listen to while writing this story. I decided to make a different playlist for the second draft, because it is neat to look back and listen to music that I listened to when writing the first draft of this novel.
My Goal-
Since I'm on the second draft, my goal is going to be edit/rewrite at least 12,000 words. I made my goal smaller because, editing is really hard and I don't want to make myself stressed with a large goal. There are also a lot of things that have changed in the plot-line, so getting those changes into the story, along with the world-building is very important in this second draft. While it may not be perfect, I have the third draft to fix those flaws.
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,
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.
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.
Hi everyone, last April I made a post about this project so I thought that I should make another post about it considering I am still writing it and I entered it into a writing contest called the Wattys. (Also, this is my 100th post.)
Anyway, here is the post:
Synopsis-
Ever since Horatio woke up from being in a coma, things around the castle have been going from normal to strange.
He is also trying to solve a murder that now is beginning to seem more complex than he thought.
Characters-
Since I made a whole list of the characters before in my last post about this project, I am only going to do some of the main characters and not the minor ones. Horatio
A servant who works in the castle, who lost his memory.
Vonivera (previously known as Veronica.)
Lady Annabelle's lady in waiting, and friend to Horatio and Phillip.
Unlike the other ladies in the castle, Vonivera is a fairy, and she finds it hard to fit in.
Phillip
The captain of the guards and the only dwarf in the castle. Also
a friend of Annabelle's who is helping Horatio and Vonivera solve a recent murder.
Detective Inspector Time & Marigold
From left to right, Detective Inspector Time, Marigold.
Two detectives who are trying to solve the recent murders of royalty. Lady Annabelle
A princess who is in a coma, who fell unconscious at the same time as Horatio.
Excerpts-
Vonivera had very annoyed looking expression her face, that she normally had when she was talking about the gossipers and how they talked about Horatio, and the things he had done wrong.
“I am worrying about it, because I care about you, unlike everyone else in the castle.” she said.
-from Chapter 10, Vonivera to Horatio.
“Are you alright?” Vonivera asked.
“Yes…I’m fine..” Horatio said, as he picked up the burnt fire wood, and swept the chimney, which was sooty but not quite as sooty as it had been when he first cleaned it.
“Are you sure?” asked Vonivera, who like usual was hanging around where Horatio was working. She rather liked to talk to him…
“Yes I’m sure…” sighed Horatio, who rather was concentrated on cleaning the chimney…
“You don’t look sure…” said Vonivera.
Horatio sighed, “That’s because I’m cleaning the chimney!”
- from unidentified Chapter. (Though I am pretty sure it is after the events of chapter seven though, but I am unsure...since the labeling of the chapters got confused.)
You can also read the seven chapters that are up here (though I do plan to self-publish it eventually.) the official story soundtrack-
Last time I posted songs that reminded me of the story. But now here is the official story soundtrack:
You can also listen to it here
Some of the songs in this are songs you have heard before in the previous post.
A sneak peek at future songs that will be added into the story soundtrack (playlist):
This song went perfectly with a scene from my story.
(I am not going to say what scene though ;) )
Money, Money, Money by ABBA
You can also listen to it here
I am not sure whether this song will be added to the story soundtrack or a playlist describing one of my characters, but either way it still reminds me of what the servants may think of royalty and money.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have you ever entered your book into the Wattys? Also, how was your Camp NaNoWrimo?
Love,
Quinley
Hi everyone,
I hope you are having an awesome April... I have some exciting news! I finished my Camp NaNoWrimo word count goal! :) (However, I am still working on my novel.)
Synopsis 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.
Characters
In this novel there are quite a few characters. I won't list all of them, I'll just mention the main characters. Horatio- A servant boy who woke up from a coma, he doesn't remember anything except a name "Annabelle." Lady Annabelle- She and Horatio fell into a coma at the same time, except unlike him she hasn't woken up.
Detective Inspector Time- An elvish detective, who is trying to figure out who could be behind the recent murders of royalty. Phillip- The Captain of the Guards, who is a dwarf.
Veronica- Annabelle's Lady in Waiting, who is a fairy.
Marigold- Time's adopted daughter, who is working with her father on the case.
Ophelia- The castle nurse, though she is a nurse she dislikes blood, and well anything medical.
Some people in the castle wonder why she became a nurse in the first place.
Austen- The new coroner, who is also helping Time solve the case.
Excerpt
He opened his eyes,his head felt incredibly dizzy and memories flashed in front of him for noparticular reason,and voices calling a name:
“Annabelle, Annabelle!”
thename felt like it had a meaning for some reason but he could not place it. Suddenly he felt a hand on his wrist. “Sir” said a stern voice, that sounded as deep as a bass.“You suffered from severe trauma to the head and were in a coma for 24 hours.”
Story music
This is kind of a sneak peek at the story soundtrack I am working on for the story soundtracks page...
