I Finished the First Draft of The Haunted Sketchbook

 

On July 11th, I completed the first draft of The Haunted Sketchbook, I had worked on it long before Camp NaNoWriMo--for a couple months in fact. 17,000 words was about the right amount of words to get me to finish the first draft (which ended about 40,000 words in total).

                                                                              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?

                    What's Next for The Haunted Sketchbook? 

I am currently working on characters in preparation for the 2nd draft. I want to make sure that I know the characters well, as I did with the second draft of Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass, which helped move the story forward and also create new discoveries along the way. 

I have recently been doing what is called a "character sketch" for some of the characters in the story. Basically, the writer lays out traits of the characters and then describes them in different perspectives (third, first, and second person). That's what I did for Ferdinand Diggory, and it highlighted an aspect of the character I had not seen before. I am going to do the same for Edith and even Cecile, as this technique helped me discover in the past what I had missed with Felix Moore--what elements of his character were being overlooked. 

I am also thinking about the backstory that Ferdinand has and what the ghost and other mysterious figures motives are. Even if the reader does not know their true motives, it is important to the characters to figure it out, so their actions seem clear. 

I also hope to research 18th century England. My knowledge of the 18th century mostly comes from American history, so I want to expand that knowledge to England when writing this story. As I noted in my Camp NaNoWriMo post about the novel, it takes place in two different time periods. (That is Edith's telling of it is set in the Victorian era, and Ferdinand's in the 18th century). 

I am going to be writing the second draft soon, so these are all things to look out for. 

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If you're a writer, how do you develop your characters? If not, who are your favorite characters in Gothic fiction? 

-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 

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

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Which drawing is your favorite? 

-Quinley

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 

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 

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

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. 

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Which drawing is your favorite? Do you like to draw still life drawings?

-Quinley