Hi, Writeblr! I finished writing my novel Mosswood before I started this account, but I'm currently writing the sequel (and an alternate universe novella), so I figured I should do a project introduction since I'm likely going to continue having severe brainrot about these characters!!!!
In Ponderosa Bay, Oregon, people go missing all the time. Unlike the rest of them, AnalĂa Monroe reappears.
Blurb: Split living between her mother and her father's new family, Monroe is a ghost in her own home: unwanted and misunderstood. She only finds solace in her small circle of misfits—her younger half-sister Rajel and best friend June—and the dangerous but magical world of Mosswood deep in the forest, but their obsession may have deadly consequences.
Setting: Ponderosa Bay, Oregon, a small, rural town along the coast, 2002-2005
Genre: Adult contemporary fantasy
Series: 1 of 3
POV: Multi-POV, third-person present-tense
Characters:
AnalĂa Monroe: INTJ-T, equal parts pretentious and pathetic, tortured prophet who doesn't believe in prophets, oneiromancer, voted God's favorite little lamb most likely to be slaughtered, the most autistic person you've ever met, a 12-year-old adult who will grow up to be a 20-year-old child.
Juniper Bardot: ENFP-T, very sweet and outgoing, Monroe's self-appointed guard dog, responds to most situations by either making tea or committing acts of extreme violence, wears wool sweaters all year round.
Rajel Cohen-Monroe: ESFP, chaotic little sister who wants to be taken seriously, cello player, has a deeply complicated relationship with Monroe, attempts to hide her insecurity behind sarcasm to varying degrees of success, underachiever with an inferiority complex.
Vibes: dark forests, the taste of blood, cracking lightning, crinkly notebook pages, cherry-red neon diner signs peeking through the fog, ink-stained hands, winding mountain roads, milky tea, two-headed lambs, rain-slick streets, your mother's church you haven't been to in years, laundromat arcade games, uncanny convenience store taxidermy, the beach at dusk, rings of toadstools, the feeling of being watched, bicycles on gravel roads, second-hand Converse with the sole peeling off, decade-old missing posters.
Soundtrack: I Know the End, Phoebe Bridgers / Big Sky, Kate Bush / Dear Arkansas Daughter, Lady Lamb / In Dreams, Ben Howard / Dreams, The Cranberries / I'm Your Man, Mitski
Word Count: 96k
“And then there’s Mosswood,” she adds just in case. “Mosswood,” June repeats curiously, gazing once again out past the rising lights in the water. “Don’t you remember what I told you when we first met? I don’t think this place will let us go.” There is something a bit tired and gray in her eyes, but then, it is nearing 3AM. Just to make herself feel better, Monroe laughs a little. “God, that’s creepy.” “Well,” June laughs in return, “it isn’t like we want it to.” With a flicker of curiosity, Monroe holds the jade-green Eye Stone to her eye and peers out into the writhing ocean below. Through it, the Something is a breathing, expanding monolith with kaleidoscopic tendrils crawling toward the shore. Toward the light. “No,” agrees Monroe. “It isn’t like we want it to.” And it’s a good thing we don’t.
