Know The Novel (Part One): the Dorian Gray Trilogy

I was sad that NaNoWrimo closed. A lot has already been said by others about the controversial reasons, and I did not want to make a negative post. Instead, I decided to search for NaNoWriMo alternatives and found FicFrenzy, which takes place in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. I joined in time for the Fall event. 

I decided to do a story that I have been working on for a while (at least behind the scenes, since I have not made many blog posts about it). I have not quite figured out how to explain this series, and that is something I am still working on. This post will explain the changes to the novel series and give new readers the basic gist of it. Also, FicFrenzy's Challenge has given me new motivation to write the series.

Here are the questions for the Challenge, let's begin...

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel?

A part of this idea came to me during college (though I had been thinking about it since 2020). I was tasked to write a screenplay for an assignment. I had written a few sketch comedies and written two short plays in response to Shakespeare's The Tempest, but writing a whole new screenplay from scratch was a fun adventure. 

At the time I was inspired by the television show, Sleepy Hollow, because I liked how they portrayed Irving's characters. So, I decided to write about Dorian Gray and this whole trilogy came into being. However, the original idea to make the story into a television series did not last long (because while I like screenwriting, it did not work for this particular story), and instead the story evolved into a novel trilogy. 

2. Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!

To give you an idea of what my story is like: it is a literary fiction trilogy, and it is not the same type of story in every book (though from book to book the same characters will be the main characters). I also tend to mix genres within the series so, the trilogy is not primarily one genre. 

Also, the reader is not required to have read Wilde's novel to understand my writing. Familiarity with the source material merely enhances it, but one can read my series without even having read Wilde. 

Here is what the first book is like...

Dorian's painting (which is his soul) is displayed in a museum. When he attempts to steal his painting back he finds that his past may not be as buried and forgotten as he believes it to be. 

The second book... I am currently working on a summary. That summary will probably appear in future blog posts. However, the second book focuses on one of the character's backstories and their present, which are intertwined in the narrative. 

 Currently, I am only working on books 1 & 2, since they are in conversation with each other. I have plans for Book 3, but have not yet begun writing. 

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?

There are two timelines in the trilogy: the 20th century and the Victorian Era. I had originally planned to set the series in the present, since I was inspired by Sleepy Hollow. However, the series went in a different direction.

 In the first timeline, the setting is the 1920s-40s.  I chose this 20th century time-frame, because I wanted to explore the Art Deco and Modernist (literature) movement. 

In the second timeline, the setting is the end of the Victorian Era (or near the end of it). And in that time period, I explore the Aesthetic and Pre-Raphaelite movements. 

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s).

(Characters from books 1 and 2). 

In book 1... 

Dorian Gray 

An immoral immortal who has his soul stuck in a museum, and wants to free it.
He loves aesthetics, and while he may look innocent, he is not trustworthy. 

Reed Hayward 

Reed is a magical artist. He suffers from false memories, though he is unaware that his memories are not what really happened. He has magical art abilities which allow him to enter paintings and create illusions. 

Ivy Hughes 

Ivy is a painter who creates replicas of paintings, and owns a painting business with her husband. However, she longs to make her own artwork. She is also witty and thinks like a critic about art. 

And in book 2, the same three characters remain, but a new character appears.. 

Medea

Medea is a magical artist--her magic relates to embroidery and weaving. She is mysterious, and you will never truly understand who she is, even when you think you do. 

I am still working on their character pages (the old pages are severely out of date), but if you wish, you can look at the works in progress here. 

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

In book 1... 

Raymond 

He's technically not the antagonist unless you see him through Dorian's eyes.
Raymond is a thief, who is sly and cunning, and can be vindictive against his enemies.  

In book 2... 

The antagonist isn't a person, instead it is a psychological feeling (unless you count Dorian, then it's Dorian again).

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

The characters, because they are what fuels this novel series. Spending time with them, helps me to learn about them, and writing becomes a journey of discovery. 

Also, what excites me is the world-building for series. A whole new world was sparked because of this story series, and I have been steadily building and writing it. 

Also, because of this trilogy, I am researching topics that interest me. 

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

It is going to be a trilogy series with maybe some spin-offs involving other characters (such as Medea). 

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

I am doing a mixture of planning out the novel and improvising. I have the basic idea of where this is going, though I am still figuring out how to express some of my ideas. 

9. Name a few unique elements in this story.

While I do have other projects which explore art (notably, The Haunted Sketchbook), I like exploring paintings, sculptures, etc. through this idea of magical artists, since they show the magic of art. 

And while immortality is not really the focus (morals are), I like having characters from different time periods interacting with one another. 

This novel series also plays a lot with social situations. So, I get to explore the etiquette from different time periods in which the characters live. 

10. Share some fun “extras” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

I am going to share some of the art (visual and music) that inspired me (and is inspiring me) while writing this: 

Windflowers by John William Waterhouse 

Early Art Deco Furnishings

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What are you working on? Is there anything you've learned about your projects as they've developed?

-Quinley

Announcing My November 2023 Project: The Heist of Dorian Gray

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?

-Quinley

My Art from Inktober 2023 (Part Two)

Click here to read part one. 

Greetings Adventurers, 

Here's the second part of my Inktober series. The post after this one is going to be what I am writing for NaNoWriMo. But after that, I will return to posting the final part of this year's Inktober series. 

 Here's the official prompt list: 

Day #11 Wander. Reed Hayward (from The Heist of Dorian Gray) feeling lost in thought. I decided to go for more wanderings of the mind rather than wanderings in the physical sense. 

Day #12 Spicy. Ocean Guy cooking. I figured he has an interest in cooking when he isn't saving the world from villains. So I decided I would give him an apron with a seahorse on it and draw sea themed stuff in the background. 

Day #13 Rise. Since Zora (the lead singer of Blackbriar) often acts as characters in the band's songs, I figured I would draw a character the song "I'd Rather Burn" which is about a witch,
and one of the lines is: 
"But know I'll return and I'll be dead awake

I'll be dead awake, rising from the stake"

Day #14 Castle. Denisse Grigory going on tour and performing near a haunted castle. 

Day #15 Dagger. This was the sketch I used to create my new header (above). In this drawing, I am imagining that Arcasia found a weapon given to her by the goddess, Artemis (indirectly: Artemis left it for her). This is like how in Clash of the Titans (1981) Perseus receives weapons from the gods. 

Day #16 Angel. I decided to draw Aziraphale from Good Omens.

Day #17 Demon. I drew the "painted" devil, a creature that appeared in this post. 

Day #18 Saddle. This is Ophelia going out for a ride through the forest. I haven't drawn my characters riding horses a lot, so I decided to challenge myself. 

Day #19 Plump. I took "plump" to mean the round kind of plump (referring to the tapioca balls) and drew Dorian Gray (from The Heist of Dorian Gray) trying bubble tea. He does not like it, nor does he get the point of why anyone would do this with tea.

Day #20 Frost. Edith (from The Haunted Sketchbook) walking through a graveyard. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Which drawing is your favorite? What weapons would you like to receive from a god/goddess and/or, what's your least favorite type of food? 

-Quinley 

Miscellaneous Drawings #11

                  Previous parts: #1, #2 #3, #4, #5, #6,#7, #8, #9 and #10. 

Hello everyone, 

It's time for another drawing post. I've been practicing a lot of digital art, so I figured I'd show the recent drawings I've made.

 In other news, two characters now have profiles here and here. I am also steadily working on the characters for Arisias's series and there are two categories in their Meet the Characters page--gods and mortals. 

I've been busy, but sometime soon I plan to respond to the comments on my previous posts. So keep an eye out for that. 

But anyway, let's begin: 

Salissah is the goddess of the moon, wisdom, and strategic warfare. I played around with the background a lot in this drawing and with the lighting, so that the stars in her looked more like they were glowing. 

And here's a video showing the process of how I drew it. 

Here is my version of Dorian Gray from my novel, The Heist of Dorian Gray. I took some inspiration from the 1945 film version for his outfit (since in my version, Dorian has been living for a long time, into modern day, I thought it would make sense for him to wear something more modern). And I like how it turned out. 

If you're wondering why my Dorian has blond hair (since other versions of the character have black hair) it is because of this quote from the book: Dorian was“wonderfully handsome, with his finely curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth’s passionate purity.” (The Picture of Dorian Gray, p. 17) 

This is Edith Porter from The Haunted Sketchbook. I had drawn Ferdinand before in this new style, so I wanted to draw her next. I wanted to make it look as if there was spilled paint or paint being laid out on a canvas, and I think I managed to achieve that. 

Here is Ivy Hughes from The Heist of Dorian Gray. Ivy is an artist, so I wanted to emphasize the splattered paint in the background. 

This is Reed Hayward from The Heist of Dorian Gray. He has "art magic"-- while I do not show him actively using magic, I wanted it to be present in the background. I also had a lot of fun designing his outfit. 

Finally, this is a drawing of Ophelia. I've been thinking recently about how Ophelia sees her herself, versus how someone else might. She is an elf, and so others (i.e. humans) would see her differently. 

I'm also drawing this to help figure out what aspect of Ophelia's character I am missing, as I feel as if I am missing something but I am not sure what. 

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    Which drawing is your favorite? And which of these characters would you like to see more of? 

-Quinley 

Blog updates: Character Pages

 

So a lot of my characters pages are outdated--not only in art as my style has changed but also in content. The most notable that I need to update are the ones from here and here. The characters in Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass had some developments, and the clothing of the characters from the Princess Arisias Mystery series has changed. The older pages will be kept up (I won't delete them), and you will be able to see them in the "old pages" place. 

And I have newer pages which will stay mostly the same, such as the one for The Haunted Sketchbook characters and a new page for a series I am working on (and going to be doing during NaNoWriMo this November) called The Heist of Dorian Gray.

There might be slight modifications on the Haunted Sketchbook page (that is, minor ones to Ferdinand's profile), but the most that will be done will be adding new characters into those pages, as I have not put Edith Porter's profile on the Haunted Sketchbook character page yet. And I am working to make profiles for the other characters from The Heist of Dorian Gray, as I have only put Dorian's character sheet up. 

Since I did not do this before, I will also be adding a section to the characters from Arisias's story page, including the gods and goddesses. Because the gods and goddesses are recurring characters on this blog, I thought making their own pages for them would make sense. And it would also make learning about the god characters easier if they had pages. For example, if you didn't know who Karleon or Salissah was, you could look them up. 

In terms of how quickly the changes will happen, I mostly have the new page ready for Felix Moore, though I am still working on Matilda's, so Felix's profile is likely to be one of the first to be changed. 

Also, this is a minor change, but its one you're likely to notice quickly: 

(the header that is soon to be changed) 

The header for my blog will be updated since my art style changed. I have no idea what I will change it to yet, but it will follow the story that Arcasia (the blog's mascot) is experiencing, moving her a step forward in her adventures. (You can see my previous headers here.)

Anyway, those are my updates. These are big changes, and I didn't want you to be confused, or wonder where the past character sheets went. My next post will be my usual style of post. 

-Quinley