TWICE UPON: KNOW THE NOVEL PART ONE!

*slides in at the literal last minute* HI, GUYS. I definitely didn't wait until late on October 31st to post this. I would never. That would indicate unpreparedness for NaNoWriMo 2020, and of course I'm always 100% prepared for NaNoWriMo. 

Totally. 

SO. I'm finally sharing with you guys what I'm doing for NaNo! (Took long enough, I know.) And what better way to do that than to jump in on Christine's writers linkup, Know the Novel?? 

I'm so excited to be joining in on the KTN again this year! (Full details can be found HERE!) And without further ado, I bring you this year's NaNoWriMo novel: 

TWICE UPON!

YES, if you're wondering, that IS related to last year's NaNo novel, Once Upon! Which is about none other than my precious Trentley and Jynnia, first introduced in my series of short stories written around fairy tale-inspired writing prompts. Now they're not the main characters not only of those short stories, but of a full-length novel which is the first in a series. Twice Upon is book 2! ("Twice Upon" is also a very temporary title. So is Once Upon, most likely. xD)

Disclaimer: NaNo prepping has not happened this year. Therefore, I don't know this story well at all yet. Therefore, this post is going to be largely uneventful. But I hope you enjoy anyway. xD

And now I'm just gonna jump right into the questions!

1. What first sparked the idea for this novel? 

Well... book one. :P But originally, the idea for this series came from the writing prompts that Arielle of The Fairy Tale Central posts on her blog, Intuitive Writing Guide! These prompts went along with FTC's monthly fairy tale, and I created characters just for them. I loved the characters and the plot bunnies that started running around in my head so much, that I decided to make it a full-fledged series. 

2. Share a blurb (or just an overall summary if you’d prefer)!

Ha, yeah, *cough* so, uh... I barely have an idea of what this book is about myself. So, you're not going to get much in the way of a summary here. xD But basically, after the events of book 1- which included Trentley and Jynnia discovering that all the fairy tales they ever knew were actual events that had happened long ago-, Jynnia decides that she wants to revive magic and bring fairy tales back to light, whatever the cost. And that cost could be high, since even talking of magic was recently banned. Cue magical fairy tale chaos and shenanigans. Yeah. That's for real all I have. 

3. Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects about the setting? 

It takes place in a world where, as I mentioned, all the fairy tales actually happened in the past. But very few people are aware of that, and a lot of people don't even believe in magic. Fairy tales are just that to them- tales. So, the setting is basically a medieval-ish (?) world where magic is entirely possible but nobody uses it. xD 

What I love about the setting is the basic fairy tale-ness of it. The simple, cozy atmosphere could easily be the backdrop of just about any fairy tale out there. Because of that, pretty much anything is possible, yet I don't have to spend a whole lot of time worldbuilding. That sounds super lazy of me, but what I mean is that I'm basically using the worlds already created in fairy tales to tell this story; so I don't need to worry about creating magic systems and creatures and things like that to build a fantasy world. All I have to do is bring it all together and put my twists on it. (I really, really hope that made sense.)

4. Tell us about your protagonist(s). 

JYNNIA

Jynnia is our spunky, adventuresome fairy tale lover. She babysits for a living and loves nothing more than telling her kids colorful stories from her big book of fairy tales. She is easily amused, fiercely loyal, and stubborn to a fault. She thinks it's ridiculous and unfair that magic has been so strictly banned and would probably end up in jail if it weren't for her family and Trentley.

TRENTLEY

Trentley is our quiet and shy sweetheart with a smile that would light up the whole town. Move over Flynn Rider, if Trentley was in a Disney movie everyone would be swooning over him.  He balances Jynnia out, keeping her on minimal levels of rationality and being there for her when she doesn't listen to rationality. xD He doesn't feel as passionately about the magic situation as she does, but he knows how important it is to her and supports her all the way.

5. Who (or what) is the antagonist?

:) :)

wish I knew

6. What excites you the most about this novel?

Simple: getting back with Trentley and Jynnia! I've missed them so much and they're such a joy to write. I came across this from the end of the first book the other day: 

Um. I will shamelessly admit I did some hard fangirling over that. I mean, they're just straight-up dreamy. XD 

7. Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

This is the second book in a series! I have no idea how many books the series will have, though.

8. Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

Haha. Hahahaha. Haha. 

I AM GOING INTO THIS MORE UNPREPARED THAN EVER BEFORE AND ONLY MY PANTSING ROOTS CAN SAVE ME NOW. 

9. Name a few unique elements about this story.

Honestly, I think the most unique thing about this story is the fact that I'm depending solely on the original fairy tales. I'm intentionally not making any references to the way things happen in the Disney movies (which of course my brain defaults to). I really wanted to keep the fairy tales "pure", as a way to honor the original stories that so few people truly know.

Something else that I think is kind of unique is more toward the whole series than just one book. Instead of being a fairy tale "retelling" or even "reimagining", it's a fairy tale... "reawakening", maybe? (I feel like I used that word or a similar one last year to describe the first book?) Because the stories actually happened in the past, we're not quite retelling or reimagining, we're just bringing them back to life. Also, each book will not be focused on just one fairy tale. Rather, it's sort of a mashup of several. The first book had elements from Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rose Red, and Rapunzel. This one, um... Well, I'll let you know as I find out. xD 

10. 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!). 

Here's my Spotify playlist!

Technically, I made that for book 1, but it works for 2, too. I hope to find some new music as the month goes on, so book 2 can have its own set of music. 

Also, if you want to have a look through my Pinterest board, HERE'S the link! 

I wish I had more information to give you guys... but I wish I had more information to give myself. xD Like, I'm not even kidding. This is MY BLINDEST, MOST PANTSINGEST NANOWRIMO I'VE EVER EMBARKED ON. I've had so little time to prepare (even the marginal amount I normally do), all I have is a general idea. Very, very general. So, we'll see how this goes. I feel (and really, really hope XD) that I'll get into the groove of it once I reunite with my characters. (Did I mention how much I love these characters? Because I really love these characters.)

Anyway. There you have it: a very late, very vague look at my NaNoWriMo 2020 project. Here's to a fantastic NaNo! GO FORTH AND WRITE!!