Friday, July 21, 2023

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

Tuesday, July 4, 2023

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 

Friday, June 23, 2023

Miscellaneous Drawings #9

Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4#5#6,#7, and #8. 

Hello everyone, 
I have some drawings I want to share, and I thought it was time to share them. 
I have some longer posts planned, which I will post later, but for now here is a drawing post: 

This is a drawing of Ophelia. I thought I would draw her smiling since I have a habit of not drawing my characters smiling. 


This is a drawing of my characters, Edith from The Haunted Sketchbook meeting Felix from Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass


Here is the Wax Witch staring at the moon. I was inspired to draw this after reading Hoffman's "The Sandman."


A drawing of Karleon I did in a celebration outfit based on this drawing I found. I remember making a drawing of the shield for Dragons' Province a while ago and including a blue-haired figure who looks oddly like Karleon 🤔 (with makeup and tattoos).

Here's the drawing in question. 




Here's a drawing of Salissah, I imagine her wearing this when adventuring with Karleon. 




I did some drawings of characters I made in the past for an old Percy Jackson fan fiction. 

Dorothy (top left)- the daughter of Hermes. 
Susan (top right)- Daughter of Hecate 
April (bottom)- Daughter of Aphrodite. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? What stories have inspired you to create art? 
-Quinley 

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Introducing Some Characters: Super Villains


Greetings travelers, 

I had been busy so I didn't have time to blog for a little bit, but I am back! Some general updates before we begin the post. 

Firstly, Adventure Awaits finally has a Discord Server, which you can join by clicking here
It's Fantasy and Gothic themed like my blog, there are fun activities on it (such as book clubs, role-plays, discussion questions, etc.), and threads themed around different hobbies and interests. However, to clear up any possible worries this is not intended to replace my blog. It's merely another way to be in contact with me, along with my blog email or the comments section. 

  And secondly, I have made a page for the characters from my book, The Haunted Sketchbook, which you can check out. I don't have everyone up yet, but I have put Ferdinand Diggory's profile up.

 Anyway, back to this post, I thought it was time to introduce some of my super villains as I have introduced some of my super heroes before... 

Let's begin: 

Princess Rose


She had a strong obsession with an animation company that has a rodent as a mascot. (Hubert Hamster, in the case of her world). And in one of her trips to that "most cheerful place on earth," she miraculously received powers: meaning she can talk to animals, and do any number of things that a princess can do. But she is also able to warp reality to become the setting of any of those movies, brainwashing people and transforming them. So, she's a dangerous villain to come across. 

In her free time, when not destroying the city, she likes to collect figurines relating to characters from the animation company and to watch movies from them to get ideas for her evil plans.

Mr. Slime  


A former mad scientist, after an accident with experimenting he became Mr. Slime. He has covered the city in slime several times, and he likes trapping people in slime. Despite dripping with slime, he is usually well dressed and sometimes goes into battle wearing a suit and top-hat. There's a contest between him and Princess Rose about who is "the best dressed villain." 
(Voted on by their enemies the super heroes of course). 

He has a connection with Skunk Girl, and often fights her. But it seems that their connection runs a bit deeper than that of villain and super hero. No one else in the super hero team knows how they knew each other, and some of the team are looking for answers to this mystery. 


Baby Mastermind 


He wants to end the world but hides under the facade of being an innocent baby. He had formerly worked as a super hero, but he decided that he didn't want to be that anymore. So, he switched sides and became a villain. He has a rattle that contains a laser and a baby bottle of "milk" containing poison. Though he may be cute, he is not trustworthy and not someone to cuddle with. 

His super power when he was a good guy was being incredibly smart for his age. His smartness sometimes got him into trouble, however, for he would often overthink and be unable to save everyone in time. So, out of annoyance, he turned to villainy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which character is your favorite? Do you have another favorite fictional super villain in media that you like?
-Quinley

Sunday, May 7, 2023

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 


Wednesday, May 3, 2023

A Gilded Drowning Pool | A Book Review


 Disclaimer: I received this book from a publisher, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Greetings Adventurers, 

It's been ages since I wrote a book review, so now is the time to break my fast of not writing reviews and write one. This book is part of a series that I have never read before, but it's now a series I would like to read. I received this book early, and it will be released on May 9th. 

The book is the fifth book in a longer book series titled, The Roddy and Val DeVere Gilded Age series. However, I read it as a stand alone, and I believe it can be read without having read the other four books. 

The Review: 

(Image from Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123575213-a-gilded-drowning-pool?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=VJMjkmoZZA&rank=1) 

Genres: Historical fiction | Murder Mystery  

 I have always been a fan of historical fiction and mysteries, so this book immediately got me interested. While set in a different time and different place than books I usually read, the book itself reminds me a lot of The Murdoch Mysteries (but with a woman lead instead of a man).

Providing a heading with the date and location reminded me of other novels such as Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The author is a historian, so I imagine this influenced her choices in her writing. Like Where the Crawdads Sing, though, I would have liked the dates to continue throughout as it makes more sense for me as I read. 

The book itself was set in 1899. So, a year before the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. I am not deeply familiar with the time period in America, but the author seems incredibly knowledgeable about it. At times I had to look up information, but that was not a failing of the book, because a reader could read it without having any idea of what is mentioned. Instead I was driven by my own curiosity to look things up. Another thing that is worth mentioning is the main character. I like that the main character, "Val," is a daughter of an Irish immigrant. My great-great-grandparents were immigrants from Ireland. So, that was a happy moment for me as a reader, because interestingly I have not read many books from the perspective of a character like that. The character herself is intelligent and is married. She and her husband work on the cases together. But she also works independently, and is shown to be strong on her own. She reminded me of detectives I had liked in the past, as she solved the case in a sophisticated way. She reminded me a bit of Enola Holmes, but a grown up version of her.

However, from the title of the series, it seems like both of Roddy and Val are main characters. I found Val to be more of a main character than Roddy. It could be because the whole story is told from her perspective, but she gets the most attention and detective work in this book. That might not be the case for the other books in the series, but in this one Val seemed like a more prominent main character. 

While the writing style is plain-- it does not sound like it comes from the time period-- it works for that story, since other stories have been written in a similar fashion. The opening paragraph was strong and set up tension with horse imagery, "[a] horse that kicks can kill anyone near its hind legs. A stable hand, a groom, a coachman, or a care-less owner will risk their lives if struck by the animal’s lightning-fast speed and power" (Tichi 1). I've been thinking a lot about opening sentences as a writer myself, and this one works because it sets up what is going to happen, not with a person-- but with a horse. The build up for the detectives going to solve the mystery was well done, for the characters received a message through telegram to show that they were going to go where the body was found. I preferred that to them stumbling over the body (in this case), because it seemed like a call to adventure, a call to the crime scene that is-- since Val had not been wanting to leave where they were currently staying. 

When the Hudson River Valley was mentioned by the characters, my mind instantly connected that to Sleepy Hollow. But the characters don't end up going there. In one of the chapters, when they came to the Hudson River Valley, reminded me strongly of Irving's writing. When they got onto a boat, for example:"Dark wisps from every smokestack signaled on-time departures when every giant sidewheel would churn the waters named for the Dutch explorer who sailed here nearly two centuries ago" (Tichi 33). This reminded me a little of Irving..."In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh[...]" (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, P.1). Despite the differences in what they're describing, I wonder if the author had researched anything about Irving when writing this, for there are references to what the Dutch did in the Hudson throughout. And also, supernatural elements are not the main theme of Tichi's book (there isn't a headless horseman running around for example), but there is a character named Cassie who sees auras and has visions. She is important to the ongoing mystery and seems to know information that was not ever given to her. 

The plot had many suspenseful elements: the idea of people wandering about on the property, the mysterious drowning, and who caused it. I felt like I was on the edge of my seat because of the way the author built up the tension-- in some cases, the fear turned out to be nothing, but it worked to set the scene for the suspense of the mystery. I won't be revealing who or what the killer was, but the author builds up the mystery well, laying clues throughout, making the reader want to solve the case along with the detective. It makes you wonder if those who you trust are trustworthy, or those who seem as if they could do the murder, don't. 

The clues were revealed steadily and mostly conveyed through dialogue instead of through research. The book relied upon social interworking between characters for the mystery to work: they heard about the murder through social connections, and got information through that, which added to the lively feeling. However, despite the feeling that the place was alive, the side characters were rather flat and not memorable. Some mysteries want the suspects or people the detectives talk to be memorable; others don't. This book went for the latter. So, I found myself more interested in the relationship between the detectives than I was in the suspects at times.

I normally find books that are so dialogue heavy difficult to follow, but this one was easy for me. I could keep up with the pacing because Val always brought up the questions over and over again, about who was the killer, why would they do this, so I could be up to speed and not fall behind. 

When the killer was revealed at the end, I was surprised. But I didn't feel like the author pulled something out of thin air. Instead, it came naturally. There was a red herring that I truly believed for a moment, the certainty of it from the character's perspective was what made me believe it. 

The ending hinted at a sequel. Since this is a part of a larger series (being the fifth book), there had to be room for the series to continue. But as a mystery, it resolved the plot well, and I am happy to have read it. 

This is a small note, but there were cocktail recipes, which reminded me of my reading groups at The Rosenbach where often the host posts recipes for alcoholic beverages relating the book. So if you're someone who makes cocktails and enjoys trying them, the book lays a short recipe in some chapters how to do so. I have not tried them, so I can't state how they taste or whether they are good. But there is a sort of audience interaction one can do between the characters and the reader, by trying what they make.

Overall, this was a fun and gripping (but not too intense) detective read. So if you're interested in adult cozy historical mysteries with a female lead, you will enjoy this. 

                 Overall rating: 

Descriptions: ⭐ (my own personal taste, but common for the crime genre to have simple descriptions). 

Dialogue: (not much to say about it, other than it moved the story forward). 

Characters:  (the characters weren't as memorable as I thought they would be. But it's more plot driven than                                                       character driven) 

Plot: (overall a gripping mystery that made me want to keep reading)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Have you read books from this book series? If so did you enjoy them? What's your favorite murder mystery book? 

-Quinley 

Saturday, April 22, 2023

How April's Camp NaNoWriMo is Going for Me (Part 2)

Click here to read Part 1. 

Greetings Adventurers, 

This is the final part of the series about my adventures in Camp NaNoWriMo for April 2023. Next year, I may do something similar if I am working on a project that I've already talked a lot about. But in terms of posts relating to Camp NaNoWriMo, you can look forward to hearing about the project I am working on in July, sometime soon. 

My Writing 


On April 14th I got to my word count goal! The story is far from finished and I still have a lot of work I need to do in terms of writing it. But it feels good to have a better version of it written than my first attempt at the third draft. It still needs a lot of editing and rewriting, but I am getting closer
     in terms of publishing. 

 However...I am going to have one of my standalone books be my debut novel, since this novel lands on a cliffhanger and is a part of a series.

 In the meantime, I finally rewrote the summary. The original summary I had written was from 2018, so it was outdated. Here is the new summary:

“Arisias” is the only thing Horatio remembers after waking up from a coma. He doesn’t remember who he is or what happened to him before the accident. 

At the same time in Dragons' Province, two detectives are working on solving the case of the murdered royalty. It’s unclear who the killer or killers are, for a different person is always seen leaving the scene of the crime. Will they be able to find out who or what is behind it all, before it is too late?



(Two pages from my writing notebook from 2016) 

I feel the story is becoming clearer and clearer, though it is very different from the first draft. I found the first page of the notebook I had written about the characters, when I first created them. They were so different then. And it's interesting to see how it evolved. I don't know what younger me would have thought of the story as it is now, but the fact that I've been able to work on it for so long and have not given up is an accomplishment. 

I do, however, have a to-do list of things for the story from writing this. I figured out some world-building elements, which I will now need to decide how to fit in. And I need to redesign one character's clothes--while I may end up using them somewhere else in a different project, they now seem out of place in this story. They were inspired by 18th century clothes, and most of the other characters' clothes are inspired by Ancient Greek and Irish culture. 

However, I am not going to completely forget about the clothes: they will be reused somewhere else. I have done this before with other story elements. For example, Ophelia's former boyfriend, Austen, ended up getting a project of his own, which I hope to explore sometime. And a character who changed appearance wise, but is still in the story, had their appearance used by another character in a different story.  (Admittedly if someone heard this out of context, a person using another person's face would sound incredibly weird.) 

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelyn_De_Morgan#/media/File:Cassandra1.jpeg)

In the writing group I am in, there was a fun exercise to "post artwork that reminds you of your project." It reminded me how much of my project-- character wise was inspired by Pre-Raphaelite art. Besides being inspired by Tauriel from The Hobbit (movies), Arisias took some inspiration from a painting when I first created her. And more recently, there are paintings that remind me of her, one of which is posted above. 

(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Waterhouse#/media/File:Waterhouse,_JW_-_The_Sorceress_(1913).jpg)

I even found some paintings that remind me of Ophelia, in particular this one by John William Waterhouse. 

The writing challenge I mentioned in the previous post has helped a lot with understanding my characters more. I not only figured out the relationship between Karleon and Salissah, but I also figured out the inner workings of other relationships that they have with other characters-- which is great. 

What I've Been Reading and Watching 

While in the past I have read fantasy and murder mystery books to get into the mood to write, now I am mostly reading classics. I'm currently rereading Jane Eyre. It's fun to delve back into it since it has been a year since I read it. (The last time I read it was for a book club.) It's nice to read about the characters again, and I also am appreciating the descriptions in the book, upon rereading it. I particularly enjoy the gothic elements spread throughout, with the red room, and Jane thinking she sees a figure in the mirror.

I've also been reading Middlemarch and watching the BBC adaptation. I love George Eliot's writing style, and it makes me want to read more books of hers. I will have more to say about it on a later date. 

And I've been loving watching the Sleepy Hollow tv series. I started watching it recently and am on the second season.

(Fan art I did of Abbie). 

 I love Abbie's and Ichabod's friendship. While the main story is nothing like Irving's story, they sprinkle elements of the original story back into it. 

I also love the aesthetic of the title sequence. 

So, from reading Jane Eyre and watching Sleepy Hollow I may have gotten ideas for my gothic novels. 

Anyway, that's the end of my posts about April 2023's Camp NaNoWriMo. I am looking forward to July's. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How has been April been? Have you been reading or watching anything good recently? 
-Quinley