Monday, May 2, 2022

Lead Me Astray | An Original Song

I wrote "Lead Me Astray" for a songwriting class. The prompt was to listen to a song, and base an original song on it after analyzing the lyrics. The song I ended up choosing was "You're Haunting Me" by BlackBriar, which then inspired a song about something being in the darkness, and the fear of the unknown. 


I made a music video for it, and I tried to capture the feeling of "found footage" (footage that was filmed on a camera/phone that captures something paranormal). 

 
But if you want to listen to the music without the video, you can do so by listening to this. 

  🎶  Lyrics ðŸŽ¶ 

Skeletal branches tap against my window frame,
Reaching out like they have have something to gain,
I don't feel the same,

The sounds of the night,
The pale lights,
Want to...lead me, lead me astray
But, I don't feel that way

Something in the darkness is there,
Wanting to lead me into its lair,

Voices in the darkness keep calling,
But I don't feel like following,
They tell me riches await,
If only I trust in fate.

Often stories were told,
Of creatures of old,
Wanting to lead travelers away in the night,
Those stories would give me a fright,
But, now I am down to my last light,

I feel my desire growing,
Because of my not knowing...
What is there,
I feel I have been caught in its snare,
As it leads me astray...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you saw a light in the darkness, would you follow it? Has music inspired your own songs and/or stories? 
-Quinley

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

The Snowy Day: A Lyrical Photo Shoot (A Collaboration with Hailey)

 

Greetings Travelers! 

Hailey (at The Girl Behind the Camera) and I decided to do a collaboration. I wrote the poem and Hailey took the photos for it. Also, I should let you know that you can also read the post over at Hailey's blog

So, here it is, I hope you enjoy it: 

The Snowy Day 

The sun rises on the cold earth, 

Filling it with mirth* 

Sounds of animals are heard, 

From a sleep some are stirred. 


They look out the window at the world below, 

Seeing the silvery snow, and ice on the window. 

They run outside, through the trees and feel the soft breeze, 

Gazing upon the beautiful freeze— 

Silvery Snow, 

The icy glow, 

All capture a beauty that will one day melt away, 

Like Venus arriving on the ocean sway, 

The beauty is brief, and will disappear like a frozen leaf. 

The feeling of joy, like when you get a brand new toy, 

Is filling the hearts of children who head out to play, 

On such a snowy day, 


They only think of what they can make, 

With snow and a garden rake. 

They grab silvered pine cones, while the icy wind blows, 

They create a shape, 

With the snow now made enormous in weight, 

Of a man. 

They choose a name from the 1960s special, they decide to name him after “Frosty,”

And then the wind becomes gusty, 

And they decide to go home.  

Oh, the beauty of the cold earth, 

Is seen by many, 

Though it brings joy to many, 

And others would pay a penny, 

For it to simply melt away. 

The beauty of the snow, 

Before it goes, 

Is a thing to see, 

For a brief moment it makes many feel free,

From the stresses of life that make them feel 

As if they are stuck at sea. 


Once more,

 the sun rises on the cold earth. 

                    *Author’s Note: mirth means merriment. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is your favorite season? And why? Do you like snowy days or prefer warmer ones? 

-Quinley 

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

Character Q&A (part 2): Phoenix Answers Your Questions

                                                              Click here to read part one 

 This took me a long time to make, because Premiere decided to have an error, then I finally fixed it and then another error popped up and I spent time fixing it. But, now I have finally finished it. So, I hope you enjoy it: 


For those who don't know, Phoenix is one of the many main characters in an ensemble story. Unlike Annabelle who is the main character, Phoenix is one of many characters who each share the spotlight at different points throughout the novels. I haven't really introduced the other characters yet. But, you did get a sneak peek as to who one of the main characters is (i.e. Veraly) in this video. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  If you could dye your hair any color, what color would you dye it? And what is your favorite place in nature? 

-Quinley 

Saturday, April 9, 2022

Announcing My April 2022 Project: Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass

I have started rewriting and editing Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass for April's Camp NaNoWriMo. Since I do not plan to repeat myself, because not a lot of the story has drastically changed (partly because it didn't take me so long to finish the first draft), I will not be including the characters' bios again.  So if you wish to learn more about the characters, I recommend checking out this post or looking at this page

Let's begin:                                                    

                                                     Synopsis- 

Genre: Gothic Horror | Historical Fiction 

Maltida Moore was found dead at the castle, her brother, Felix, is missing. No trace of him was found except an eyeless wax doll made in his likeness. What happened at the castle is unknown, but it is as if something evil is lurking within it...something evil is causing these terrible events to happen.

                                           How the editing is going so far- 

At the moment, I am rewriting the part of the novel that is told from Felix's perspective, since in the first draft, I did not really focus on his that much. (I focused on Matilda's more.) By focusing on him I have managed to figure out details about him that I did not discover before. 

(image from wikipedia,
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hughes_(artist)#/media/File:Arthur_Hughes_by_Arthur_Hughes.jpg)

I've also been working on figuring out his voice more. I have it somewhat figured out, but I want to get more into the details about him, because like Maltida he is a complex character. 

I am in multiple "cabins" this Camp NaNoWriMo: one that I am running, and one I am just a member of. In one cabin there was a character development question prompt, which I answered for Felix. I discovered elements about him through doing the exercise. For example, some random things I discovered about him were that he wanted to visit France, and that he used to (long ago) tell stories to his sister, Maltida. Felix in the first draft mostly kept to himself, so I am so glad that he is finally speaking to me and revealing his secrets. 

(Image from Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/312859505337819468/)

Other parts of my rewriting work taught me about Matilda. 
I found this painting. It was a catalog cover. It took me a while to find the original painting, but when I did couldn't help but write a scene inspired by it told by Matilda. The castle in my story is surrounded by a forest and trees, and I could imagine Matilda choosing to walk through it and reading there, and having something mysterious or unexplainable happen while she was there. 

I have also started expanding on scenes that didn't get much attention in the first draft. The first draft in a way acted as an outline for the novel. For example, I created a scene (which wasn't really a scene in the first draft since Matilda simply told the audience she stopped at a village), and added in details like what was going on in the village, who the people Maltida met were, and even what the village looked like (the general mood/atmosphere). 

I've also been focusing on keeping the audience questioning whether what the narrators are saying is true or not, because I want the readers to be confused as to what is actually happening and have to decide on one of the many answers provided by Felix and Maltida. My goal is to create something similar to what happened in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where there are several answers as to where Ichabod Crane went--whether the headless horseman actually kidnapped him or whether he left because Brom "Bones" scared him away. 

So, that has been how Camp NaNoWriMo has been going for me so far.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're doing Camp NaNoWriMo, how is it going for you? What project(s) are you working on? 

-Quinley 

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Using Polls to Create Art #7

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

Hello everyone, 

I am happy to tell you that I have finally fixed the doubling effect in the character interview with Phoenix, and I plan to have it edited and posted sometime soon. I'm sorry about the delay. 

But now on to this post. Here's the next installment of Using Polls to Create Art. Unless otherwise stated, all of the art in this post came out of majority votes... 



This was not a majority vote. When I made a poll about which character I should draw, people started wondering "what does a ghost bride look like?" and "what would a ghost bride mermaid look like?" because of the questions that were circling, I decided to draw the ghost bride as a mermaid. 

However, I did also draw the majority vote, which I will include in the next post, but since this post is themed around mermaids/merman it won't appear here. 

I asked the voters whether I should draw a sailor or a siren, and a siren ended up winning. 
So I drew Oceana again. I may end up doing a digital version of this drawing in the future. 


In this poll, the pollers helped create an original character who is a merman. I'm not sure what to call him, so if you have any name suggestions I would love to hear them in the comments below.  



Ophelia as a mermaid. This was fun to draw. 

Phoenix as a merman. I decided to make his tail feathery almost like a bird's feathers, but actually a fish's tail. 

This is breaking from the mermaid theme a little bit. I had the voters vote on what should appear on the cover of The Case of the Poisoned Goblet. The three things that needed to appear were Annabelle, Ophelia, and a dragon. I ended up having the dragon appear on the poisoned goblet, and I thought it would be neat if Annabelle and Ophelia appeared above. 


Now, I have a poll for you: 


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Which drawing is your favorite? Do you have a favorite mermaid/merman character? 
-Quinley 

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Blood Ghost | An Original Song

I wrote "Blood Ghost" a while ago for a songwriting class. The prompt we used was to rearrange words from a preexisting song to use in an original song. When I returned back to the song to record it, I decided that some of the lyrics I had fit the song and others did not. 

In the final version of the song, I added some new and original lyrics. So, here is the lyric video: 


And if you just want to listen to the audio, here's the song on Bandlab: 

                  
 
🎶 Lyrics 🎶 

Under Southwest Bridge, 
Waiting for the Blood Ghost. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

Hatred of light, hatred of blood, hatred of the Blood Ghost. 
 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

Many tales of old were told, 
Of the entity
Who will now forever be
In our memory 

It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

Searching for shelter, struggling in prayer, fighting against the Blood Ghost. 

It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

It is said that your children it will take, 
in its wake, 
where they go, 
we never know, 

It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

In life it was said to be a fair maid, 
But she faded and turned into a shade, 
Now she haunts looking around for blood, 
And many have succumbed, 
to its will, 
Because an empty shell it wants to fill,  

It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 
It is coming tonight with hatred in its eyes. 

Last three waiting, last three waiting, last three waiting, waiting, for the Blood Ghost.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How would you react if you came across a ghost like this? What is your favorite Ghost story? 
-Quinley 

Saturday, March 19, 2022

What the First Draft of The Mystery of the Body Thief Was Like


I am having a bit of technical difficulty with the video of Phoenix answering viewer's questions. There is a weird doubling effect in the video. This caused the editing of the video to be slowed down. I don't know when I am going to be done editing it, since I am still trying to sort that technical difficulty out. But, I will post it when it is ready. However, I figured while you were waiting, I'd talk about what the first draft of The Mystery of the Body Thief was like. I am halfway done with rewriting and editing the second draft. 

I think this is worth talking about since the story itself went in a very different direction than I thought it would go in the second draft. But if I had stayed with the idea of the first draft and with how the series would have gone this is how it would have gone... 

Also if you would like to check out some posts about the novel, that were written while I was writing the first draft, I recommend checking out this one. And if you want to read about how the story is now, I suggest checking out this post.

                                                   Let's begin: 

                                             The 5th book instead of the 1st-

Originally this was going to be the 5th book in the series. I had sketched out several other books before it, which...didn't end up working. As I was writing The Mystery of the Body Thief, I realized that it would work better as the 1st rather than the 5th book in the series. 

There are going to be prequels, though. They won't necessarily follow the same plot-lines that the original four other books I had in mind had, but they will show what Annabelle was like before the events of book 1 and 2 of the series. She did in fact solve cases before them. 

                                   Annabelle was going to end up with D.I. Time- 

(A drawing I drew a while ago of Annabelle with her and D.I. Time's children) 

Even though this plot-line did not end up happening, it was a possibility that it would end up happening in the series as I originally planned it. 

I had thought giving Annabelle a love interest would be interesting as a subplot. And I decided that D.I. Time would be the perfect character for it, because they were both detectives and liked solving mysteries. But then the characters had a mind of their own and Annabelle decided that "no, I am not going to marry D.I. Time and you cannot make me." So, that plot-line did not end up happening, and I am glad that it didn't. 

However, in the second draft it is being used as a conflict that D.I. Time loves Annabelle, instead of there being a romantic subplot between them. I can't say how it is used exactly, because of spoilers, but it does cause a lot of trouble and confusion for them. 

There was an all powerful sorceress (who had multi-colored hair)- 

(Some of the concept art for her)

This idea ended up not succeeding at all, partly because when I did start world-building the idea of an all powerful sorceress who knew the future (but didn't really try and stop it from happening) didn't fit with the world. 

She had an interest in card reading, zodiac signs, and other things, and she was also very, very, magically powerful (and randomly had hair that could go through all the different natural hair colors one could have). 

(Horatio (left) and the sorceress (right) made using this Lord of the Rings doll maker)


This didn't work, though, because everyone would be wondering "why didn't she just try to stop it??" and "how did she get to be so powerful??" But certain elements of her character ended up getting dispersed throughout the novel. Ophelia has some of the aspects of the sorceress (some but not all) as well as having powers herself. Also, since magic is a thing that more than one individual could obtain, it makes sense that other characters would have powers (that could be learned) too. Two of the characters who ended up getting powers were D.I. Time and Annabelle herself. 

The world's setting was originally alternate history instead of a wholly original world- 

     The world was originally an alternate history set in Shakespeare's time, because I (once again) wanted to reference Shakespeare. But, I realized later on that I wanted a world that was more High Fantasy than Alternate History. Also, a lot of the characters were non-human, even in the alternate history setting, so it made more sense to me to have it be High Fantasy. 

While in some alternate history stories there are characters who are non-human (ex. Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell). In my story a majority of the characters are non-human as opposed to just one or one that wouldn't be noticeable. In addition, Dragon's Province (Dragon-spire at the time) seemed to be its own country not connected really to any real world place. Because of these things I felt it made sense to switch to High Fantasy. 

But it also made sense to switch because I wanted to make my own world with its own rules, its own magic system, and its own history, rather than write an Alternate History. While I do love alternate history, for a Fantasy series I really wanted to come up with a whole new world like Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal or other equally amazing Fantasy settings. I wanted people to step into a whole new world they had never heard of and get immersed in it. I thought maybe I could even get readers to do the kind of things they do with Hogwarts houses and Camp Half Blood cabins, where they decide what they would be if they were in the story (which of the gods or goddesses in the story would favor them in my story's case), or decide if they'd be an elf, a dwarf, a fairy, or a human. Anyway, that is one of the many reasons I switched it to High Fantasy. 
                                                   

                                                             I thought it was YA- 
(This is not The Mystery of the Body Thief, but it reflects what I thought the series was like around 2016-18)

     It turns out, none of the characters are teenagers. (Except for maybe Marigold? But she may be older), and yet younger me kept insisting (well not in front of anyone, just in my...head) that it was a young adult book, even though the only YA book I had read was Percy Jackson and (maybe) Harry Potter. My grasp of the genre was very, very limited. 

The target demographic was changed more to Adult rather than Young Adult. While this doesn't stop teenagers from reading it, they aren't primarily the target demographic for it. 

I didn't create a magic system- 

It originally had no magic system, because originally magic was something only a few people could obtain, including the all-powerful sorceress and a few other characters. And while in the first draft there were characters who were born with magic, there were a lot less characters who got magic from learning how to use it. Because of that, the gods and goddesses who taught characters magic didn't even come into play until the second draft. 

I admit that I did not put a lot of thought into the magic in the first draft. I knew magic existed in the world, but instead of having a reason simply for existing I just slapped it in without thinking about how it affected the world. Also, along the lines of the magic system, Ophelia, D.I. Time, and Annabelle didn't have powers in the first draft of the story. Ophelia wasn't even a priestess/healer: she was a nurse. And D.I. Time was pretty much just a detective. This post was the first time I actually started thinking about how the magic system worked. 

And that's all. There were other things that changed in the story as well, but they were small things or things that contained spoilers in them that I couldn't share without giving away the story. 
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this. 😃
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If you're a writer, what was the first draft of your novel or short story like? How did it change over time? 
-Quinley