#novel development

The months:

Yeneir – January

Ferhrar - February.

Adeniais - March.

Abektar – April.

Mozmanrr - May.

Yeonioz – June.

Yenloyiz - July.

Jamadeh – August.

Denroisz – September.

Venctohor – October.

Devomher – November.

Ajendelis – December.

The seasons:

Sahamar – Summer.

Deynosisz – Spring.

Mefehirir – Winter.

Fillmentro – Fall / Autumn.

Welcome to Oli’s Inkwell Symposium!

Here, we help stories take shape, worlds come alive, and characters leap off the page. Whether you’re here for writing advice, world-building tips, or to dive deeper into character development, you’ve come to the right place.

My goal is to help you harness your creativity and bring your ideas to life, regardless of your writing journey. From crafting complex relationships to building immersive settings, I’m here to guide you through every storytelling aspect.

Alrighty, so here is the next part of my NaNo prep :) Part 2 is all about characters. I basically took the headings from the section and did my own thing. Descriptions are totally just brain-dumps and will be fleshed out as I get more into the story and discover new things lol.

Complex, Believable Characters.

The Protagonist.

Alawin Thess

o   Female, 32, dark brown skin, long black curly hair, dark, almost black eyes. Curvaceous, just below average height, strong and fit. Tattoos on right arm from elbow to fingertip and left upper arm from shoulder to elbow.

o   Middle class. Good education up to her teenage years when she met Chaylish and started training to be a future-hunter.

o   Parents - Her mother is Shalara Thess (head teacher at the Harmonium) and her father is Arac Mal (a cook in the local foodshare).

The Supporting Characters.

Shalara Thess.

o   Female, 52, black curly hair with blue-beaded plaits behind her ears, dark brown skin with cool undertones, deep brown eyes. Tall and strongly built.

Keril Parrah.

o   Female, 30, pale skin, light brown hair, blue-green eyes. Skinny (forgets to eat). Tall and gangly.

o   Highly ranked raphern (uses the magic of raphei to fold starrill into useful forms) in a haract (flying vehicle) folding business. Best friend of Alawin.

Chaylish Garralvin.

o   Male, 68, light brown skin with reddish undertones, spiky black hair with scattered silver starting to show, hazel eyes. Average height, lean and rangy.

o   Future-hunter for 33 years (25-58), hunter-trainer for 10 years.

Estra Twen.

o   Male, 28, lightly tanned skin, black hair in a ponytail, blue eyes. Tall and large build, softer, not so muscly.

o   Rare combination of sequeia (broken magic) and maraleia (mender magic that I need to work on a bit more). Mostly screws around and uses his talents to make enough money to enjoy a comfortable life.

The Physical Antagonist.

Tuil Ricclan.

o   Male, 35, pale skin with freckles that cover the right side of his face, shoulder and arm, tattoos in a band around left wrist, spiky brown hair, light brown eyes.

o   Was a future-hunter for a couple of years from age 18-20 before he started a business (of something) and earned millions of starren (currency of this world). At 28 he left Holdring Fen and disappeared, coming back at 35 and announcing his intention to create an industry based on time-creatures and the futures they hold.

Shashi

o   I don’t know much about Shashi yet, apart from the fact that he trains to be a future-hunter under Chaylish and he has associations with Tuil.

The Abstract Antagonist.

The disappearance of Time Creatures will drain the magic from the world and all life will die.

Whew, that was fun. Coming up next will be the planning/plotting part of the prep and I will split that up in my posts because I’ve done quite a lot on that.

Thank you @gottaenjoythelittlethingzz for the tag! This looks like a really fun and helpful!

Rules: Answer the questions and then tag as many writers as there are questions answered (or as many as you can) to spread the positivity! Even if these questions are not explicitly brought up in the novel, they are still good to keep in mind when writing.

Here’s what I have for A Slumber of Souls so far!

First Look 

1.       Describe your novel in 1-2 sentences (elevator pitch) 

Necessity is an outcast among the First Blood Elite whose life is turned upside down with the death of the Empress. Her story centers around her proving centuries of bias wrong and forcing her way into society as it’s in danger of falling apart. 

2. How long do you plan for your novel to be? (Is it a novella, single book, book series, etc.)

I’m considering 50K words but that will probably go up. I want it to be a single book but I have ideas for other events in their world.

3. What is your novel’s aesthetic? 

Gilded Parlor rooms, carefully tended gardens, expansive deserts, neon lit clubs, and oil slick alleyways. 

4. What other stories inspire your novel?  

A lot of sci-fi movies and books as well as Game of Thrones. GOT has influenced the creation of my characters and their motivations beyond themselves but the name of their families. I want it to be very character driven but their motivations to be influenced not only by their individual wants but the desires of their family.

 5. Share 3+ images that give a feel for your novel 

I had some mood boards for the capitol of Sirius and the Old Palace, a city grey during the day and bright during the night and a palace maintains a veneer of civility and is more of a giant crypt than anything.

Main Character

6. Who is your protagonist? 

Necessity Dawncrusher 

7. Who is their closest ally? 

Her staunchest ally will be Aurora Bleak-Mayne, who is just as experienced at maneuvering the Court of the Old Palace and able to understand being on the fringes.

 8. Who is their enemy?

There will be multiple threats to the Slumber at any time but the main threat to the protag group is Ximena Tidestrike, an Ambassador out for blood and blind to the way that the Court works.

 9. What do they want more than anything? 

She wants nothing more than to protect and provide for her family.  Often putting their needs above her own.

10. Why can’t they have it? 

Events happen outside of her control resulting in the harm and even loss of those she’s trying to protect.

11. What do they wrongly believe about themselves? 

She believes she is bullet proof and completely untouchable.

12. Draw your protagonist! (Or share a description)

She is a 22 year old woman with short, black hair, violet eyes and reddish brown skin. She is 5’2 and slender with a small bust. She currently has a tattoo of a nebula on her back.

Plot Points 

13. What is the internal conflict? 

She knows that she can never be accepted by her community, fickle as it is, for her genetics, her inability to control her skin, and a couple centuries of bias.

14. What is the external conflict?

A coup is being formed to overthrow the monarchy and reinstate the Republic that she’s been drawn into. It’s not for the good of the country but the good of a few select people who hate and distrust each other.

15. What is the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist?  

Necessity accidentally killing or maiming someone close to her by touching them.

16. What secret will be revealed that changes the course of the story?  

Two of the protag group are children of one of Empress’s daughter who died many years ago. It’s revealed sometimes in the third act and significantly impacts the culture of the Court and the city of Sirius.

17. Do you know how it ends?  

Not at all

Bits and Bobs 

18. What is the theme?  

 19. What is a reoccurring symbol?  

A shattered dawn, the Imperial Insignia, Constellations, The Five Slashes

20. Where is the story set? (Share a description!)  

The fictional country of Dhuri on the planet of Nzuri. The protag group will go through a series of cities following the Imperial party during the Season from the capitol city Sirius to Orange Orchard City, Galatia, Luxor and Cienfuegos. A variety of climates that range from deserts to rainforests. Private owned business, super corporations, the ancient seats of the Founders and old summer houses.

21. Do you have any images or scenes in your mind already?  

I have a couple of character introductions planned out and some emotional scenes that have stuck in my head that I really want to write out that as character developments and setbacks.

22. What excited you about this story?   

The world mostly. I love the world of Dhuri and the culture that binds the characters together but is still fundamentally different. The world was one of the first things that I developed so that I knew what I was setting my characters in and I built the cultures around them first so that those in certain places were kind of polarized by their home culture. I’m excited to kind of throw all of my characters together and have them butt heads.

 23. Tell us about your usual writing method!   

I usually write without any direction but I’m trying to write according to a plot at the moment since I have a large cast of characters and different plot lines for each of them.

Thanks @feathersandfortunes​ for the tag!  I’m just getting into the writeblr community, but I’ll try to tag a few people at the bottom.  1. What’s a type of media that you think influenced your writing? Could be anything, from Marvel movies to Magical girl anime or a band or a podcast - anything! 

I did an exercise a while back that suggested listing your top 10 favorite stories — any media, books, movies, etc. — and then look at what they all have in common. And it’s fascinating! Some of my favorite stories of all time, including Harry Potter, X-Files, Hitchhiker’s Guide, Doctor Who, among others, include normal people doing and experiencing extraordinary things, going into extraordinary worlds. 

I know that being in fandom and writing fan fiction has also strongly influenced my writing. I didn’t know it when I was a kid, but my first forays into writing were all thinly veiled attempts to write like my favorite authors in exploration of finding my own voice. 

2. What does your OC do on a road trip or long commute? Playlists, podcasts, daydreaming, games, idk, up to you!

Oh lord!  I feel like Julia has done cross-country road trips before, so she would be all about stocking up on snacks, picking out the podcasts, and plotting out which ridiculous roadside attractions to stop at.

I think David would haaaaate a road trip to start with, like he would hate the very idea of it. He likes to be efficient, and I think he doesn’t like being stuck in small, confined spaces. He’s a walker, too. But I think he would enjoy the novelty of a road trip with Julia if he was forced into it. She would show him the weird pleasures of it.

3. How do you pick names for your characters? Meanings, sounds, anything!

This book in particular was a weird experience because it has a relatively large cast, and I was naming people on the fly while trying to bang out a couple thousand words a day. 

But I enjoyed trying to match the names of the Supernatural creatures with their country of origin (ie: Daoine the Irish banshee) but also playing against type for certain characters (ie: Greg the ogre). 

4. What’s a trope you hate from a genre you love?

Oh man! I love epic hero’s journey stories, but I’m kind of over the “chosen one” who has special powers to save the world. I’m much more interested in ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. 

5. Pick a trope you love from a genre you hate, what is it?

I’m not a big fan of straight romance or rom com, but I do looooove me some romance/rom com tropes like THERE’S ONLY ONE BED! (my fave), or friends to lovers, or any excuse to put my characters in fancy dress so they can oogle each other. :>

6. If you’re a fiction writer, what’s something you wish you could write that would be nonfiction (an important historical event, a celebrity’s memoir, idk)? If you’re nonfiction, what’s a fictional world you would live in?

I actually write both; I write fiction for fun and non-fiction in my business. But for this question, I’d love to write a really deeply researched non-fiction book about habits or lifestyle or something. 

OR maybe a cookbook... 

7. Do you like supernatural/magical/mythical creatures? What’s your favorite?

Love. My current WIP is all about supernatural creatures in the normal, modern world. I don’t think I have an all-time favorite, but from this book I love Greg the erudite ogre and Vincenzo, the vegan vampire. 

8. What’s a quote you would love to see on a movie poster or in a trailer for your wip?

Wow, this is hard... This probably wouldn’t fit on a poster, but I like this quote from the scene in which my two main characters meet for the first time: “I said, I’m not crazy,” Julia repeated.  “Obviously I wasn’t shot.  There’s no bullet wound.  So he must have missed.  But I swear to you, I saw the gun.  I heard it go off.  There was…” she faltered.  “I felt all this pain…”

“Yeah, you would,” the man said, pocketing his notebook and taking a few steps toward her bed.  He was wearing a long overcoat and a rumpled brown suit.  

“Then, you believe me?” She pushed herself up into a sitting position. 

“Wee-eelll, yes and no. I believe that you believe you were shot. But that’s not what happened.”

Julia shook her head.  “I saw the gun…”

“You saw a glamour. An illusion.  You saw what the spell caster wanted you to see.”

Julia blinked at him. “I’m sorry.  I thought you said ‘spell caster.’”

“You got hit by a curse, and apparently it’s given you what humans would call the sight. You can see the supernatural world. My world.”  He scrubbed the back of his head with his hand, looking thoughtful.  “Though, whether or not the curse was actually meant for you is up for debate.  Do you know anyone who might have wanted to give you the sight? Anyone in your family make any deals with demons that you’re aware of? Have you ever been bitten by an imp?”

Julia stared at him for a long time.  “I think maybe you need the psych consult.”

He grinned crookedly at her. “Probably. But not about this.”

9. Where do you start when creating a character? Backstory, appearance, personality, etc?

I usually start a story with a scene or an idea — and the characters just start talking or acting. A lot of times the character just shows up and starts talking at me, and that’s where everything starts. I might have an idea of what they look like, but sometimes not. So I guess it starts with personality and how they act in a particular situation and grows from there. 

10. What’s a scent that makes your OC feel at home?

David’s father was a carpenter, and that was his first trade, so I think the smell of sawdust and cut wood would take him back.

Julia I think is starting to associate the smell of coffee with David, so maybe coffee... ;) 

11. Are there any scenes you’re secretly hoping get fanart in your wip or published work?

Oh my gosh! I would love to see people produce fanart of this book! I really want to see people’s interpretation of Greg the ogre in his police uniform!  Haha. But I’d also like to see this scene, with David and Julia sitting in the grass taking in everything going on in the park: “You sure know how to show a girl a good time,” Julia quipped as the alley turned a blind corner, but the words died on her lips.

It was a park, but not one she’d ever seen before. Hemmed in on all sides by skyscrapers, it wasn’t very big, but it was bursting with life. The sunlight seemed brighter here, even though by all rights the park should have been deep in shadow from the tall buildings all around.

The walls surrounding the park were painted with large and wonderful murals. In one, the seeds of a giant dandelion seemed to be perpetually floating off into the distance, twirling and flying in an imaginary breeze. As they walked past, one of the seeds morphed into a tiny pig that started squealing and chasing them. 

David caught Julia’s curious frown and laughed. “The graffiti artists sometimes enchant the graffiti to insult cops.”

Julia stared at him. “The painting knows you’re a cop?”

“Well, the spell does, anyway.”

[...]

Beings and creatures of all shapes and sizes were walking, sitting, talking, strolling through the park. An extremely tall, willowy woman with long brown hair filled with leaves was dancing slowly around the base of a tree. Little pixies, no more than 10 inches high, were buzzing around, laughing, playing, and shouting profanities at one another. A group of men and women who looked more or less human were sitting in a circle in the sun, chanting, as a strange symbol burned in the air in the middle. She felt like her eyes couldn’t quite take it all in. 

“This is…” she whispered.

“Yeah,” David replied with a smile.  He led her over to an unoccupied patch of grass where he took off his overcoat and spread it on the ground for them to sit on. “I wanted you to see that it’s not all snarling demons and manipulative witches. There’s a lot of wonder in the supernatural world, too. A lot of good.” 

Thank you again for tagging me!

The rules are 11 questions answered, 11 questions given, and 11 people tagged! As I said, I’m new to the #writeblr community, but I’ll tag @copperbadge, @brynwrites, @theticklishpear, @lvslie, and @licieoic if you want to play!

1. Have you had to “kill any darlings” from your current WIP, ie: quotes, characters, scenes, etc. that you LOVE but don’t fit and have to be cut? Please share.

2. What is your favorite genre to write in and why? Is it different from the genres you like to consume?

3. Do you consciously study existing works by other authors to improve your own writing? If so, what types of things do you look at?

4. Have you noticed any patterns in your own writing, ie: you always have a certain type of character, like to explore a certain type of story, etc.?

5. Do you do most of your world building before you write, while writing the first draft, or during revisions? 

6. If when your WIP hits the bestseller list, where would you like to go or what would you like to do on a book tour? Is there somebody you’d like to be interviewed by? 

7. How do you approach setting the scene in your work? Are you into lush descriptions or giving the bare minimum and allowing the reader to fill in the blanks?

8. Do you follow a set structure (ie: hero’s journey, 3-act structure) when plotting out your works, or fly by the seat of your pants?

9. What does your revision process look like?

10. Please share a bit of dialogue from your WIP that shows us something important about the character’s personality.

This is a little aside from my NaNoWriMo planning posts, I just wanted to share a brainwave I had in my world-building. I’ve been having a lot of fun outlining this story and probably the best part has been discovering parts of the world the seem to appear from nowhere. Sometimes I love my weird and wonderful brain.

One of my most recent breakthroughs in my world-building for Tempus Fugit was the discovery that some people are born with a talent for a magic called morphreia and they are usually called morphs instead of their proper title of morphrei. If these people embrace the talent and train hard, they are eventually able to change their face and form and appear as someone other than who they are. Morphs are only able to take one other face and this takes a lot of energy to maintain.

The common perception of morphs is that they are untrustworthy, even those they are really no more dishonest than any other group of people. Many who are born with the talent do not develop their gift due to pressure and their family and society at large. Most morphs who use their inborn magic train in secret and unknown to those without the talent for morpheria is that there is a clandestine network of morphrei that helps to train and support morphs in a world that is rather hostile towards them.

Many people think that morphreia is a dying magic because morphs find it better to pretend that they are not morphrei. The underground network of morphrei (called Fray) works to promote the interests of morphs while at the same time helping them to conceal themselves in plain sight.

An aspect of morphreia that is all but unknown to common folk is that the time creatures and the futures they bestow have a blind spot for morphrei. The futures shown by time creatures only show the face that the morphrei was born with and never the one they have learned to take.

I’ve been quiet for a while, you know life and all that happened for a bit, but I’m back with the next part of my NaNo outline :) I’ve come to accept by now that I’m pretty much ignoring the last few parts of the NaNo Prep 101 guide, but that’s mostly because my life doesn’t really support those parts. The bits I’m ignoring deal with organizing my life rofl and scheduling and managing my time lmao. I would love to be able to really devote November fully to achieving NaNo, but the reality is, I have to fit it in around what’s going on in my life and make it work.

Also, I’m skipping most of the section that deals with world-building as it doesn’t really gel with my writing/planning style. The worlds I build tend to spin into being as I’m writing or they ambush me with details just out of the blue. I think maybe after NaNo is done with for another year I will sit down and think about my world-building style... As I write this I realize I don’t have much insight into my creative process and to analyze it might help :)

Anywho, for now the outlining continues with Part 4 of my outline, chapters 7 and 8. (Part One can be found here, Part Two can be found here and Part Three can be found here.)

Chapter 7 – Flaer Migration.

o   Images as seen through the eyes of Flaer. Men entrancing them and then caging them. Flocks of Flaer dropping from the skies. The lands they have always lived in paling behind them over the horizon. One Flaer who gets separated from their flock sees a strange haract and stealthily investigates, spotting the one known as Alawin before they are found by their flock and continue their migration away from danger. The Flaer sends a pulse of magic in Alawin’s direction, a wish for success and good luck.

Chapter 8 – Winds of Change.

o   While they travel they get caught in a strange wind pattern and the haract sustains minor damage as well. Chaylish is injured and Shashi also suffers two broken fingers saving Alawin from falling overboard.

o   Keril is trying to keep the haract in the air when she sees something in the clouds. She is astounded when a rare flying lizard called a skyvern crash lands on the deck. Keril calls Estra and Shashi to come and help the creature while she stabilizes the haract.

o   The skyvern growls at the men and won’t let them approach, but when Keril fixes the haract enough to get them to Westertwin she goes to see to the skyvern and it lets her see to its wounds. The skyvern pretty much adopts Keril, riding everywhere on her shoulder.

o   The group lands just before sunset and holes up on Westertwin because there is a new settlement on Eastertwin. 

o   Alawin decides to tell Chaylish and Shashi a little about what’s going on as she trusts them more, but she omits some information such as the name of the person who will end the world, pretending she doesn’t know. Chaylish is stunned and Shashi appears to be a little confused and doesn’t seem to fully understand what’s going on. They talk about what Alawin is trying to do, but as she has to lie to keep Tuil’s name out of the conversation they get nowhere.

o   Alawin eventually gets frustrated and wanders away to find some solitude. She thinks deeply about the problem of not being able to see any more futures, but can’t come up with a solution.

o   Estra, Chaylish and Shashi decide to travel to Holdring Rivermouth (closest town on the mainland) to get supplies and Keril goes to find Alawin.

o   When Keril finds Alawin, her friend is sitting on the edge of a cliff and staring out at the view. Moonlight sparkles off a river far below and nightbirds call in the rippling canopy of the trees. Keril asks what’s wrong and Alawin hesitates and then blurts out that she only has one future left to see.

o   Keril goes straight from worried to pissed that Alawin hadn’t told her about her futureless future. She is also angry that Alawin was going to try and see more futures and possibly end up timeblind**, trying to handle it on her own.

o   **Timeblind is when a future-hunter tries to see more futures than they are meant to and they go blind. The amount of futures they can see is revealed in their first futureview and is something that cannot be changed unless they decide not to become a future-hunter.

o   Alawin apologizes and tries to explain that she can’t see how to stop Tuil ending the world without hunting more time creatures and seeing more futures.

o   Keril shoves Alawin and picks up a stone, hurling it off the edge of the cliff. She shoves Alawin again and says that she will be the one who sees the futures as long as Alawin can hunt the time creatures.

o   Alawin stares at Keril and stutters that she thought that Keril wasn’t interested in future views. Keril has never seen a future (made a point of not wanting to know). Keril shrugs and says offhandedly that she would rather accidently catch a glimpse of her own future than watch the world end without doing anything to stop it.

The only thing that worries Keril about the idea is that they have no idea how many futures she will be able to see once she sees her first one and she’s scared that it might not be enough for what they need to do. Alawin is humbled and in awe of her friend’s courage and selflessness, swears to herself that she will work out a way to change the future without Keril getting hurt.

Or subtitled ‘HOLY SHIRTBALLS IT’S NEARLY HERE!’

Alright, here I am again with some original content (partly thanks to a great post by @alexwillow​ that reminded me I am writeblr so my writing is welcome here. Sometimes I need that reminder). 

Part 6 only has one and a bit chapters because I seem to have stalled slightly in my epic stream of outlining awesomeness... But that’s okay because I think I can spin 50,000 words out of what I have. Looking at my writing to date, I tend to crank out chapters that are mostly around 7-10k in length, and as I have almost 12 chapters outlined this should see me through NaNo :) 

I think I have enough world-building done so that I won’t need to do toooooo much on the fly (you know, pausing the writing flow to think up the layout of a historical shrine or some other such thing that has stalled me in the past). What I might do between now and November 1st argh it’s so soon I’m freaking out slightly is go back over my outlines and see if there’s anything I can flesh out as trivia that I can draw on once the writing gets tough :D Woot, productive use of my time!

And now, forward into the outlining. (Part One can be found here, Part Two can be found here, Part Three can be found here. Part Four can be found here and Part 5 can be found here.)

Chapter 11 – Song of the Storm.

o   After her discussion with Keril, Alawin decides that it’s time to put all her cards on the table and ask Chaylish and Shashi for help. Chay realizes what she’s about to do and acting on intuition he derails the conversation and persuades Alawin that they need to have a good night’s sleep and talk about serious things the next day.

o   Chay sneaks away in the night and hunts for a time creature on the off chance he can confirm his suspicions about his apprentice. He finds a Burr and almost doesn’t bother trying to enchant it as the Burr are notorious for not being receptive to male hunters.

o   To Chay’s surprise the Burr-kind sees him and comes to him without hesitation. He is shown a very specific future of Shashi standing in the house of Tuil and talking to a bunch of people including one of the men from Shore. Chay realizes that Shashi is a spy.

o   Chay manages to act normal when he goes back to the group and starts cooking breakfast. He somehow (not sure how yet) gets Alawin away from the group, but only has time to tell her that she shouldn’t trust Shashi before Keril comes running up with Zelek saying that they have to get going because a storm is brewing.

o   Shashi gets suspicious and starts asking pointed questions about Keril’s haract and when they would begin testing it. Keril sees the look on Chay’s face and breaks into a full on rant about how Alawin has been a wimp about trying aerial manoeuvres in an untested craft. Keril baffles Shashi with bullshit and then pretends to berate Chay, Estra and Alawin, demanding that they use the coming storm to stress test the haract.

o   Shashi’s questions make Alawin realize that Chay was trying to tell her something more than that he just didn’t like Shashi. Playing along with Keril, Alawin plans to talk to Chay, but doesn’t have a chance as the group sets about breaking camp and checking that haract is flightworthy.

o   Once Keril declares the haract fit for testing, Alawin tries to talk to Chay, but Shashi keeps mucking around close to them. Alawin gets nervous that Shashi is working for Tuil and manages to secretly ask Estra to make a distraction to get some breathing space to work out what to do.

o   Fire? Lightning hits the haract? Keril tries out gentle manoeuvres at first but then tries a tricky one that gets mucked up wind/lightning? Come up with something awesome to go here.

o   The storm isn’t natural, Zelek, Alawin and Chay all sense that the crazy winds and lightning were caused by unfamiliar magic that somehow feels like when Alawin and Chay connect with Flaer time creatures to see futures. No much is known about time creature magic, but it is suspected by hunters that Flaer can manipulate the weather.

Chapter 12 – Tears in the Water.

o   The haract is blown high and out over the northern sea. Crashes into the ocean.

o   Zelek reveals something else that no one knew about skyverns and uses magic to cushion the impact and float everyone down into the water without getting hurt.

o   Estra, Keril and Shashi however land with the haract, apart from Alawin, Chay and Zelek and they are swept away from each other in the wild waves. 

o   Estra and Keril make it to land on the Pale Shore, northeast point of the land but Shashi doesn’t. (He is seen swimming away from them before getting lost in the storm, but Estra and Keril think he is caught in an undertow, they try to help, but can’t get to him).

o   In desperation Estra uses sequeia magic to pull himself, Keril and the damaged haract out of the sea and onto the shore. (The Pale Shore is pale because it is all white stones and there is a deep dropoff just offshore that causes the waves to break heavily in white foam.) They freak out when they realize that Shashi didn’t make it to shore, but realize there’s nothing they can do.

o    Not sure what happens in the middle here yet. Possibly fixing the haract and attempting to contact Alawin and the others (I’m coming up with some cool magical communication methods lol).

o   Alawin, Chay and Zelek wash up on a recurring sandbar near the Firth River, north of the Holdring called Firth’s Edge.

Woo! So, looks like the bulk of my NaNo Prep is done. NaNoWriMo here I come :) If anyone wants to add me as a NaNo buddy then feel free, my name is Bex3825.

Tagging @writingwordsanddrawingpictures @marewriteblr @bookishdiplodocus @vhum @fourohfourlifenotfound @brieflyhighangel @dove-actually @cawolters and @rhyseoshaughnessy (general disclaimer, if you’d rather not be tagged just let me know). I hope you all have enjoyed my NaNo prepping as much as I have enjoyed fussing over it lol. Stay tuned for excerpts once NaNo starts, because I found that was a great boost for me last year when the writing got tough.