Writing Reflections

   I thought I would do a writing updates post, since it's been a while since I did one and I have a lot of thoughts about the projects I am currently working on.  

                       

                       What I'm Working on 

Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass

 

Last month, I started working on Dolls of Wax, Eyes of Glass again. I had previously paused for research, which I have now partially finished. (I still have to research the spiritualist movement, which I need for Matilda's portion of the story.) Some of the research I did involved reading Beckett's trilogy, since there was an aspect of the trilogy that I felt would work in Felix's narration. In the time that I was drafting, I got a satisfying partial draft of Felix's part done, so I will feel good about coming back to finish it in a few months. 

As I was writing the draft, a singer I like released a song that reminds me a lot of my story, and it was helpful for writing a scene involving the Wax Witch. The song itself is about a folk figure, Black Annis, who is a blue hag that eats human flesh. She is not exactly like the Wax Witch, but some of the lyrics reminded me of her. 

It feels good to get back into this story, since I realize I tend to miss characters if I don't write about them for a while.  

The Haunted Sketchbook

In The Haunted Sketchbook I figured out a problem I was having with Edith's narrative, which will make it much easier to do the second draft. Earlier, I had been trying to adhere to a certain formula (from a M.R. James ghost story), and that constrained the story too much. So, I will let the story move outside of this formula and become what it wants to be.  In this way, I figured out that I want a combination of a murder mystery and a ghost story but not in the formula of either: merely using elements of both genres. 

I also discovered a similarity between Ferdinand and Macbeth. While it is not a perfect resemblance, Ferdinand's motives (for doing what he may or may not have done) are similar to Macbeth's: ambition. However, he is in the art world instead of in the world of kings. The similarities between the motives has made it easier for me to understand Ferdinand as a character.  

The Heist of Dorian Gray 

I finished outlining The Heist of Dorian Gray. This is the first time that I've written a story involving heists, so I wanted to make sure that I had a basic idea of the structure of them. (However, I may change some things about the structure, since other genres are present in this story).

I watched The Great Train Robbery to get an idea of the heist structure, and it helped. 

Also, Ivy now has a character sheet which you can look at here. I still need to make ones for Ava and Alfred, but for now I have the three up. 

I then began writing the novel. I found that "zero drafting" (basically outlining and writing short scenes as exercises), helped clear things up, that otherwise might have caused awkward scenes in the first draft. I basically see zero drafting as throwing things at the wall, to see if they stick, if they don't that's fine, or if you miscommunicated a concept you get to clarify it in the 1st draft. (This then makes 2nd, 3rd, etc. drafting much easier, since then it isn't a mess of awkward scenes). 

The Mystery of the Body Thief 

(image from wiki commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Meynell_Rheam_-_The_Fairy_Wood.jpg)

In world-building recently, I have since changed what I call my elves. I now call them the Sídhe (pronounced like SHEE. This is the Irish word for "people of the fairy mound.") So, if you see me referring to them as that, don't be confused, because early drafts of my story had pointed to them being like Irish fairies. This will be a part of the update in the character sheets. I am also working on a short story set in that world (from the myth collection). I am working on editing and rewriting, and I plan to release it as a story introducing the world. Once it's published I will make an update post on that. 

Also in my world building, I figured out a division between the humans and Sídhe in terms of learning magic from the gods.This was inspired by the research I did for a paper I presented at a fantasy conference. Magic is less common among humans than among the Sídhe, and the humans who do have magic call themselves "fairy doctors." Magic is still a religious thing among humans, as it is among the Sídhe. But the Sídhe call those of their own kind who have magic from the gods, "devotees" or "priests/priestesses." 

And that's all I've been working on writing-wise. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What are you working on this September? Do you have a song that reminds you of your story and/or character? 

-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 

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