Announcing my April Project: The Silver Key (+ part two of my Plotting Progress)

Hi everyone, before you begin, I should say it's necessary to read part one of this post before continuing reading this one, because there are some things I said in the previous one that may not mentioned in this one.

Synopsis- 
(I figured out a little bit more of the plot than I did last post.)

At the age of twenty every young man and woman finds out what they were in a past incarnation.

Phoenix has reached that age and went to the record keeper's building, where he received his scroll, 

and a silver key. The key seems to have a mysterious feel to it, he just can't place it. 

At the same time, however, Princess Ashalena has to deal with a problem. A loyal servant of her parents' has been found turned completely to stone, and she doesn't know who or what did it. 

And most of all, why would they do it? 

The characters- 

                                           Phoenix

Phoenix is an orphan who writes poetry and short stories. 

He has a dislike for love poems and romance novels -- he just can't stand them. 

                           Princess Ashalena 

Despite the fact that she will rule a kingdom one day, Princess Ashalena passes her time drawing, since it helps her calm her nerves.


                                 Silverling  

Silverling is a fairy, who I can't say much about without accidentally spoiling the story.
She will show up in the Silver Key...sometime.

(My currently unnamed character)

Though I do not know her name yet, I have a feeling it will come out when I am writing the story.
She is a trained martial artist, and hopes she can use her skill to help people.

(My other currently unnamed character)

I also have a feeling I will find out his name later. 

In a way he is a comic relief character, 

because he hums theme songs that he makes up for the other characters. And he hums them at the worst possible times. 

The world- 

The world has grown since I last posted,
currently there are many creatures other than humans. However, I haven't figured out all of them yet...
                                                   Creatures: 
                                                                  Humanoids- 
                                                        Humans
                                                     Shape-shifters*

                                                     

                                                                       Fairies

(Fairies' real forms are unknown, and they are known to be seen
in multiple ways by many different mortals. The drawing above is one
of the many forms in which a mortal may see a fairy.)

                                                     Mermaids and Mermen

                                                                        Sirens

                                                                 Demigods
                                                                         Non-Humanoids- 
                                                             Phoenixes**

*As well as human shape-shifters there are also animal shape-shifters in this world. In a way all shape-shifters fit into both the humanoid and the non-humanoid category, but the shape-shifters that are born in human form fit into the humanoid category, because the human form is their true form.

** Phoenixes kind of had to exist in this world, because I had to explain why phoenix was Phoenix's name. Plus phoenixes are awesome so why not have them?


And as I said before there are 32 hours in a day which makes the world run a on 16 clock:

(The reason the numbers are moving is that this clock has entered the fairy realm.
Most of the clocks don't act that way unless that happens.) 

                                     The fairy realm 

(Unlike the rest of the fairy realm, the purple object in the distance never seems to change.
It remains the same for everyone who enters the realm and no one knows why.) 

The fairy realm is connected to the world, but very few people can reach it. Some are said to have accessed it through dreams.
If you do manage to get into it, you will find it is quite whimsical, and that the fairy realm will be different for each person.
No one exactly knows what fairies actually look like, all they know is what they have seen themselves.

Story soundtrack 

Last time I posted songs that were part of the story soundtrack, but I didn't post the playlist because I didn't feel like it was ready. Now I feel that it is ready, so enjoy:
The Silver Key (story soundtrack) 

                                                               You can also listen to it here 
**A warning for I Hate Love Songs: slightly strong language (usage of the word "H---"), so if you are uncomfortable with it you can skip that song** 






Since I decided that I would be combining two posts together, I'll get to the plotting progress part of it....

More of my character's Casting Choices  
With this novel, I feel as if casting is in the air, since my characters seem to be a little (over) obsessed with casting actors to play them, or at least to look like them, so...
here are some of my character's most recent casting choices...

                      Gates McFadden as Silverling 

(original un-cropped Image from Wiki, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Beverly_Crusher?file=Crusher_and_Picard_imprisoned.jpg) 

So, despite Silverling being a relatively new character, she seems to have already made up her mind  about who looks like her and she immediately chose Gates McFadden.
(Gates McFadden has acted in Star Trek: Next Generation, and in several other films and movies. She also choreographed the dancing for Jim Henson's Labyrinth.)


                                      David Tristian Birkin as young Phoenix 

(images from wiki, https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/David_Tristan_Birkin?file=Jean-Luc_Picard%2C_age_12.jpg,
and https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Newton_Scamander?file=Newt_with_Grindelwald.jpg) 

No, Phoenix did not change actors on me! The actor Phoenix chose this time is no longer a child, so Phoenix is using that actor's younger self. As you can see from the picture both Eddie Redmayne and David Birkin look pretty similar, but I went along with it, since my characters seem to be controlling the story more than I am.

(David Tristian Birkin has guest starred in the Star Trek episode "Rascals" as a twelve year old Jean Luc Picard, and acted in a film adaptation of Les Misérables.)

More gods and goddesses- 
This is continued from my previous post, so I will not be including the same goddesses and gods again. I will be mentioning what inspired me from Norse, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology at the end of each of the descriptions of the gods and goddesses. However, I have not figured out the characters' god and goddess names yet, so I will be referring to them as the god or goddess of whatever they represent.



                                                             The god of comedy 

God of comedy in plays, literature, and songs, etc. 

Both the goddess of tragedy and the god of comedy were born at the same time. 

He rejoices in making mortals (and gods alike) laugh, and loves helping mortals craft their 

plays, songs, and stories.  

(He was inspired by Thaila the god of pastoral poetry and comedy from Greek mythology.) 

The goddess of music 

Goddess of songwriting and singing. 

The deity who is favored by singers and songwriters.

(Inspired by Apollo and the Nine Muses from Greek Mythology) 

                               The goddess of tragedy  

                               

Goddess of tragedies in plays, literature, 

songs, etc. 

She is the exact opposite of her twin brother in many ways, but is willing to join with him for a comedic tragedy, when one is needed.  

The words that she inspires are about tragedy, and she delights in seeing a mortal do a tragic ballad, story, or play. 

(Inspired by Melpomene the muse of Tragedy.) 

(I have not figured out what to call them yet...)

They are the four gods that decide how a mortal's life will play out. 

The first of them sculpts and creates the bodies of all animals and creatures. 

Two of them, a twin brother and sister, write out the lives of mortals, one of them writes the beginning the other writes the end. 

And the last one combines all of the things they did, and breathes the soul into the body, 

and sends them to the stage of life. 

(Inspired by the Fates (from Greek Mythology) and the Norns (from Norse Mythology) 

and inspired by the gods and goddesses from Hinduism or Buddhism) 

Other Gods and Goddesses

I also recently started working on another culture's mythology for my fictional world. 

It's for the race of shape-shifters, who are around nature enough that I thought they would see their gods and goddesses as half human/half animal (like the Egyptian gods from Egyptian mythology).

Here are the ones I have so far (they don't have names so I will be referring to them as the animal they look like): 

The white stag

Creator of the world, and the animals and creatures in it.

The first god to ever exist, and out of loneliness created the earth, 

the forests and the people and creatures in it.  

Also, while doing that she made the other gods as well. 

The Rabbit 

Goddess of love, marriage, and natural beauty

She is a very gentle goddess, who loves seeing people 

happily in love. She also loves seeing mortals with natural beauty, 

and not forced "beauty."

The Peacock 

Goddess of vanity, and narcissism and unnatural beauty.

She is sister to the goddess of love, but is the opposite kind of love or beauty. 

She represents narcissism, unnatural beauty, and the vanity that some people

are prone to show. 

The Butterfly 

Giver and creator of reincarnation 

She noticed while flying in butterfly form through the world, 

that mortals lives were so short and they never got to finish what they wanted to do. 

 So, with a little talking to the white stag, 

she was granted permission to find a way to fix it without making the mortals immortal. 

She came up with a solution which was reincarnation. It didn't make the mortals live forever, 

but allowed them to fix mistakes they had made before, and finish what they wanted to finish. 

And a question for Phoenix: 

And since I most recently got a comment from another blogger in the comments section for part 1, I thought I would allow Phoenix to answer it...since it was directed at him (I should mention that Phoenix thinks people from our realm are fairies.):

Phoenix: "The reason why I don't like food is-- "

Another character interrupts and causally takes food from Phoenix's plate. 

Phoenix: "Hey!" 

Other character: "You just said you didn't like food, so I thought it was alright 

to take the food from your plate--" 

Phoenix: "No, it is not!" 

Other character: "So you like food?" 

Phoenix: "No, of course not, anyway, stop eating my food, please." 

Other Character: "You said you didn't like food...but I'll stop." 

Phoenix: "Thank you, anyway as I was saying, I do not like food, but I like some foods, such as the ones you were eating! But, food is rather difficult to chew--" 

Other character: "I disagree." 

Phoenix: "For me, it is. Alright fine, if you aren't going to allow me to answer this question, I'll...go answer it somewhere else." 

Phoenix walks away from the table and leaves the room, and closes the door behind him. 

Phoenix: "Thank goodness, now I can answer this question in peace." 

Decides to read the question five different ways before answering again...

Phoenix: "As I was saying before, food is difficult for me...to chew. 

And the eating of food, is difficult and not enjoyable, unlike what other people think...

I still don't know why they enjoy eating it. But there really is a deeper reason to this..." (side note: the reason is not a spoiler but merely a fact about Phoenix) "I was sick when I was younger, from a disease of sorts, and no one knew what exactly it was, even I don't know, the disease only went away after a long while. It involved lots of vomiting, and a few other symptoms as well...but the vomiting made it difficult to eat food. Hence why....I don't like it. 

I hope that answers your question, fairy of the other realm." 

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

Are you excited for April's Camp NaNoWrimo? 

Does one of your characters share the same distaste for food that Phoenix does?

Oh, and feel free to ask one of my characters a question in the comments. ;) 

-Quinley 

Wattys and Camp NaNoWrimo July 2018 project: The Mystery of The Body Thief (+ 100th post!)

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):


                                       As The World Falls Down by David Bowie. 

You can listen to it here

 This song goes really well with a (romantic) ballroom scene in my book. ;)

Kiss and Break Up by Meghan Kabir 

You can also listen to it here 

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