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.
I hope your having a happy October. As a quick reminder I will be needing questions for my next Character Interview, so you can ask questions to Riona and Celtierehere. But meanwhile in recent editing updates for my book, which now has a title Eyes in the Night, it has turned quite gothic while still retaining Fantasy elements... In my previous posts however I forgot to mention, what made me think Eyes in the Night (previously known as Tess Short {Book One}) was a children's book. It was because when I looked back at it the writing seemed like one of my stories that I wrote directed at children. However the real audience of this story is people who like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and want to read a book like it (but one that isn't a copy of it). I don't have an exact age range for this book yet. (I can't always give a direct age range for all my books). But, however old the people are who like Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is what it is aimed at. If anything I do not think it is a very young children's book though... I hope that cleared everything up and now on to my editing updates...
Tess somehow revealed to me that she wanted to have black hair or brown hair, both of which she doesn't have. (I double checked, by asking the other characters who said she has red hair not brown or black hair.) She doesn't like her natural red hair, unfortunately for her. At least knowing the information of Tess's dislike for her red hair was useful in rewriting her introduction to the readers. Partly because in the first draft I made it seem as if she liked her hair color, when really she doesn't. Also since Tess is suddenly talking to me, she gave me information regarding actors...
(Image from IMDB, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3629668/mediaviewer/rm3418773760)
Dalia Bella, who has acted in Netflix's Anne with An E, I think could do an amazing job playing Tess. (Though it would be Dalia Bela with red hair instead of brown.) So now since Tess gave me the actor that she looks like, I can draw Tess more easily now since she has a consistent face:
And another character has also sprung slightly into talking into me, that is Robin. I'll say this: he went from a seemingly normal elf to an elf on the edge of insanity. Or at least he appears to be insane. And interestingly he reminds me strongly of the narrator from The Tell-Tale Heart. Though he isn't a murderer, because it would be a little weird for a murderer to be helping Tess.
But because of Robin's newfound "insanity" I do need to figure out how he will get Tess (and Inny) to come with him to figure out what is going on with the elves and fairies. No one would join a slightly insane person on a "quest." And Tess is smart enough not to trust someone who appears to be far from sane. It could be that he fails multiple times to get her to come, and then something happens that causes her to join him. The "something" could be that he rescues her in some way, or scares her enough to get her to join him. Whatever the reason is (I haven't figured it out completely), but I think it would be interesting if it was a little like a scene from Shakespeare's lesser known play, Pericles where Pericles's daughter Marina gets kidnapped by pirates (after she is almost murdered). But, I'm still trying to figure out what causes Tess to trust Robin enough that she willingly joins him on a quest.
As for Inny's character, I feel as if I didn't give her a scene where she uses magic ever in the book, which I found disappointing. She is half hag half human after all, which will be interesting to explore and I am sure there is a dark reason for why she is half human other than the explanation in draft one (as told by Robin):
Of course Inny, knowing that Robin may or may not be sane, could have taken the opportunity to tell him a story (above) where her father fell in love with her mother (because he thought she was a damsel under a curse) and married her (somehow) without a protest from her mother. But somehow knowing that Inny's mother is a hag, she could have easily put him under a love spell and made him marry her. Or perhaps she pretended to be a beautiful maiden and then got him to marry her, and then after the wedding transformed into her real form. Anyway, there are explanations for why her mother could have wanted to marry him,
(Image from wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga#/media/File:Bilibin._Baba_Yaga.jpg)
It could even be a reason a little like the Russian Fairytale character, Baba Yaga, who at one point threatened to kill the main heroine, Vasilisa, if she didn't complete the chores that she requested. Her mother could have wanted to marry a mere mortal for reasons like Baba Yaga, or perhaps her mother wanted to do something with her father, or she even thought of eating him...
Double Trouble from (The Scottish Play) and Harry Potter
As for Inny's magic, I for some reason imagine something like the witches from the Scottish play (aka, the play whose name you should never shout or say in a theatre) happening. Though it would be good magic and not black magic. But even so the way the spells would be cast with potions would be the same. But there would not be overly disgusting ingredients like the Scottish Play's potion. And instead be ingredients from nature, so perhaps more Druid like magic than witch like. But even so, I think it would be neat if the spell casting had a Double Trouble rhythm to it. Or it could have the Double Trouble rhythm to it be more intense than a ordinary witch's spell:
And I think perhaps one of her spells would be as intense as this. This song to me, is almost like a call and response, in which you sing out a spell, and then you get a response that isn't your own.
Speaking of spells...
I've been also trying to figure out different kinds of ways people cast spells, other than the way Inny does. I know that Inny's magic is definitely going to have a mix of chanting and singing in it (and herbs). And I imagine that not every spell, but some spells that elves and fairies cast require some singing. There must be some separation between spells and songs, since if not then why don't lullabies or entertaining music cause something magical to happen? So that is why not all magic in the world requires song to work, but, a (somewhat) large amount does, and it will require knowing the right words to the spell, that will be done in a slightly different way than Inny does,
Some of the ingredients Inny may use for her spells.
Another difference is that her spells might require certain ingredients where as an elves' or a fairies' do not and can be done without. And then there will be more differences between the two. I know that fairies can at least shape shift into one animal and this doesn't require any chanting of any sort, though I haven't figured out all the non-witch spell's yet.
I am also trying to figure out what Tess's powers are. Since she is half elf, she does have magical abilities but the question is how strong they are compared to the other elves'. This will be more thoroughly discussed in part three. (This post was meant to focus more on Inny and Robin rather than Tess.)
Who is your favorite witch character? (From Shakespeare or some Folktales) And have you read Edgar Allan Poe's Tell-tale heart?
-Quinley
P. S. An upcoming post is an acting post. That is all I will say, but it will be the first time I've ever posted something acting related on this blog, so that will be fun! (It will probably be posted before or after Halloween (All Hallows Eve), depending how long it takes me to edit it and upload it.)
(You may want to read this blog post before continuing reading this one.)
Hello everyone,
Since I recently finished writing Tess Short (Book one) which is the book's title for now, until I come up with a better title. I thought I should make a blog post about it so that I can keep track of my editing process...
World building within editing
Since Tess Short (book one) was one of my first novels, first fantasy ones to be exact. I didn't know that much about world building or what religions fantasy worlds have and stuff like that.
When I looked back at it I realized I didn't know much about the way the world worked. (Other than it being a world that was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth.) So I decided I would focus a little on the bits of religion that were left out of it...
Like how a (religious) wedding for an elf would go, and how a (religious) wedding for a hobbit would go. And even how weird it would be if a hobbit did a wedding the elf way or even how weird it would be if an elf did a wedding the hobbit way.
The reason I bring this up, is because one of the controversies in Tess's world is why on earth would a hobbit and an elf get married? And are they really able to have children? (The answer is yes, since Tess was born, but it is still a hot topic in her world.)
I thought that I should focus slightly on the way of which Mr. Short and Princess Gletta got married, and how the elves and hobbits reacted to it. (But mostly the hobbits since they are the ones who show up in the prologue.) And why it is so outlandish to have happen in that world. And also how people react to it socially. Some of the questions I am turning around in my head because of this are... Are they treated like an lower class because of the marriage? How well are Tess (and her siblings) treated because of it? Is there any possibility that other elves and hobbits could have married before Gletta and Mr. Short? (If so, are theirs undocumented, and are Mr. Short's and Gletta's marriage the only case of a documented marriage between an elf and a hobbit?)
One thing I am also trying to do is make the world seem a little less like Middle Earth. Though I do want the readers now and then to think that is somewhat like it in ways. But I don't want them to be thinking "oh wow, that sounds exactly like how things work in Middle Earth." This is why through the editing I am going to be expanding both the religion, the magic system, and the world in the rewrite. I also slightly want to use magic more in the story than I did in the first draft.
And one somewhat magical element I have been trying to explore is why names have power.It is something that has shown up in the story that I didn't exactly know the answer to. But I hope to figure out the answer when I rewrite. It seems to be along the lines of why Hades's name (from Greek mythology) was not talked about among the ancient Greeks. In fear that he would take them to the underworld early. But other than that I am not exactly sure what the reason is for elves' names having power, yet.
Fixing the dialogue
One problem (which is also going to be fixed through rewriting) is having the character spout words like...
This I found to be a problem, since it sounded way to similar to the way we speak in our world. And not in the slightest old fashioned (as I intended it to feel.) I feel as if when I was writing the first draft I forgot that I didn't want the characters to sound like how a child or an adult from our world would talk. I also want to fix the dialogue and pacing in general.
When looking back at this dialogue, it felt a little flat...
And it just happened so quickly in the first draft. Out of nowhere Tess is asked to go on an adventure, and I didn't even give the readers enough time to get to know her before the adventure began. There were little weird things here and there like Tess not knowing her own age and somehow thinking one hundred years had past when so little had (I think it was because I didn't know Tess's age when I was first writing it, but, I found a way to fix it within the storyline now.)
More character development
Tess was a developed character, but everyone else in the story I felt as if I didn't take that much time to develop...
One character I have been exploring is Gletta Short (formerly known as Princess Gletta.) Since she in the first draft was a (somewhat) peaceful character. And now since I know her it turns out that she is in on a daily lookout for monsters (since this is what she is used to doing.) Though she is calm sometimes especially when around her husband or children, but is much more used to being on the lookout at all times. Due to learning this information, I figured out what her day job was.
Which turned out to be a blacksmith, the particular kind of blacksmith that she is, is one that specializes in making weapons. Which is appropriate to her character since she is a fighter.
But yet, I can imagine despite all her active fighting and everything that she is used to doing, I can imagine her singing a lullaby that sounds like this to her children:
(Though the term "angels" that is used in the song would be replaced with a spirit-like figure that is protective in the elven religion.)
Because of how useful this development was, I think I need to focus more on each member of Tess's group...
(an old drawing I found of each the members from left to right, Silena, Thistle, Tess, Robin, Inny)
And figure out what their motivations are, since I haven't fully figured that out.
I know what Tess's motivation is, but I don't know what everyone else's fully is.
I also want to know why Robin wanted Tess to go on the adventure in the first place, why did he choose her? Also, did he think the adventure was going to turn out of the way that it did? These are questions right now, that I haven't figured out the answer to. But I assume I will once I start developing each of their characters.
So I hoped you enjoyed the look at my editing process so far...
