Hello all.
As is tradition at this point, I have, in fact, disappeared from the internet since last year's Know The Novel, but fear not. I still live. Allegedly. If you're new to this linkup, it's a three-part tag created by Christine Smith for writers to answer questions about their WIPs, specifically aimed at those participating in one of the many writing challenges that love to plague us around autumn.
This year, I'm planning to do 50k on my chosen project in November for NaNoWriMo, but I'm hoping to work on either edits for Project Wales or preparation on this project for the first half of FallFicFrenzy. FallFicFrenzy, for those of you who are new to it, is a writing challenge Christine made that runs from October 15th to November 15th. Please, check it out on her blog if you want to learn more about it.
I was intending to do what I hoped to do last year and do an extra 10k for that initial half of FallFic, but if all goes to plan then the 50k in November should more than complete this project. Or, well, the first book of this project.
Speaking of which! I went back and forth on which project I wanted to work on for this NaNoWriMo. I'm still chugging my way through Project Wales edits in my own time, but I don't normally like to edit during NaNoWriMo because I like Taking My Time, so I've opted for a newer project that has no title. At the moment, we're calling it Spooky Wild West because what else am I going to call this disaster story?
Now, without further ado, onwards.
What first sparked the idea for this novel?
This particular story came about kind of as a combination of things. I’ve always loved westerns, in all forms of media, and I’ve wanted to write something in that setting for a while. More recently, I started watching The X-Files (very late, I might add), and that combined with a Western tv show I was watching at the time, the Magnificent Seven show from the late 90s, to create this whole thing.
I think it has a lot of influence from The City Between series, and its sequel series A Whisker Behind, by W.R. Gingell too, as well as drawing from general Victorian gothic literature.
Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!
Look, this story is so hard to write a blurb for. I’ve made an attempt, but I don’t think it’s very good. Still, it gives you an idea, I think.
Introducing to all you lovely people, my weird historical paranormal gothic horror novel…
Seventeen years, four months and two days. That’s how long it’s been since Eugene Fanshawe last heard his true name spoken aloud without danger. Living from one fake name to the next, surviving by trickery and con-artistry, ultimately led him to a prison cell and an offer, to join the mysterious Agency as an investigative agent, giving him a pardon—after four years of obligated work, that is—and the resources to finally solve the mystery that has haunted him for so much of his life.
But, four years on, Eugene has not solved that first case, and he has successfully driven away every agent the Agency attempted to partner with him. He is given one last chance, a partnership with the latest and most notorious agent to join their ranks, Guinevere Arkwright—also known as the Maiden Reaper, a notorious assassin finally arrested and granted a pardon in exchange for her life in service to the Agency. If Eugene can’t make this partnership work, his hopes of solving his oldest mystery will turn to ash, and he will never be free to use his true name again.
Sent to investigate a series of mysterious deaths in Ashfield, a mining town deep in New Mexico Territory, the two must find a way to work together—because Eugene’s hopes aren’t all that’s at stake. Darker things are at work in Ashfield than either of them know and, perhaps, their only hopes for survival and success are each other.
Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?
This particular story takes place in 1870s New Mexico Territory, except a Spooky version.
I love the eerie, creepy nature of the world I’ve created for this story. I love the atmosphere of it, and I love getting to play around with folklore and cryptids and paranormal creatures like ghosts, whilst very much putting my own spin on them. It’s a world that has, to an extent, its own internally consistent rules whilst also being kind of beyond my characters’ comprehension. Sort of Lovecraftian in that way. There’s very much a sense that the world is much bigger, much more dangerous and much stranger than my characters will ever be able to fully understand, like all they can do is solve small portions of it.
Tell us about your protagonist(s).
For this project, I have one main protagonist, who's the point-of-view character, and a secondary protagonist, who's his partner. It was a real challenge to find the images for these collages that were also free to use, so...I hope they look good.
Agent Eugene Fanshawe Stokers
ENTP | American | 22 | Hufflepuff | 3w2 | old west gambler | former con artist | immensely charismatic and charming | lover of riddles, puns, and word play | far softer than you'd think | has a big old squishy heart | vehemently pacifistic | spends too much time trying to convince guinevere that murder isn't the solution to minor problems | has a horse named Merlin (see, it's funny because she's a female horse, so a mare, and she's MARE-lin, yes he's a loser) | could talk you into giving him your life-savings but would probably feel bad afterward | his back must be aching from all that singlehanded carrying of this novel's moral compass | guinevere's Morality Pet | social chameleon | ADHD king
Agent Guinevere Arkwright | The Maiden Reaper
Who (or what) is the antagonist?
Given that this is a mystery, I have absolutely no intention of telling you. I will say, however, that there are multiple antagonists in here.
What excites you the most about this novel?
There's so much about this project that excites me. Like I said above, the setting and time period has always been a favourite of mine, I'm just a sucker for Old West settings. This is also my first attempt at a full-blown horror story. I'd say my project from last year, Wild Swans Retelling, certainly had major horror elements, but this is the first project that I think actively falls into the horror genre. I'm very excited.
I also just love the relationship between my two main characters, and I'm really looking forward to writing it. It's really the lynch-pin of this entire series, which does make me a bit nervous because if it falls flat then the whole series falls flat but it excites me as well. I don't know if I'd call it a romance or a friendship, I think it might be somewhere in between. I really don't know.
Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?
I actually put a lot of thought into this and ultimately settled on a longer series of shorter novels, with each one coming to about 50k or so. Each will follow a different investigation, with an ongoing mystery in the background that my characters slowly begin to uncover as they go. So the 50k I'm doing in November should, if the story goes as I've intended, actually take me well over the finishing point, especially since I've already written 5k. Obviously, it may grow during my actual drafting process, but hopefully it won't grow too much.
Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?
I'm plantsing, I think. I do have the actual reveals planned out, and I've got a decent idea of the overall plot, but I haven't planned a lot of it out in detail. Unusually for me, I probably have the third act planned out the most, but there's still a lot missing that I'll have to figure out when I get there.
Name a few unique elements in this story.
I think that the main relationship is fairly original, I hope anyway haha. I'm honestly not sure. I will say that this story isn't a comedy, per se, but I do think it'll have black comedy elements, which'll be fun. Guinevere tends to bring dark comedy just by being herself.
I also hope that the world'll be original. Like I said, I'm drawing from real folklore and such, but I've put my own spin on them and created creatures that are unique to my story, whilst still having elements of those older stories.
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!).
Aesthetic
Playlist
And here's my full Spotify playlist:
If you want to see my Pinterest board, that would be here.
I'd say, thematically, this series is fundamentally about redemption, about mercy, about radical forgiveness, about loving the unloveable, about the redemptive power of love and kindness. Themes that are just very close to my heart.
I'm so excited to get to write more of this story, and I'm eagerly awaiting everyone else's posts! Thank you, Christine, for hosting this amazing tag every year, it's always so much fun.
