Annabelle 101 + Friday's Suprise
Annabelle and the Ugly Witch (working title) is a project I have been working on, off and on, for several years.
I loosely describe it as 'The One With Everything Jen Likes' and that's a frightfully fitting description. So much so that I'm beginning to realise that I might have to take stuff out in order to ever finish the book in the hopes of publication. Realising, also, that I'll just have to back the book well enough in the expectation of sequels or even some massive sprawling Discworld like universe development.
A simple way to describe the book is this: Annabelle is a Princess, though she doesn't often act like one. On her thirteenth birthday she is cursed by Bernadette, the Ugly Witch, but, in the conusion, no-one actually knows what the curse will do. Just that it will come about on her eighteenth birthday.
The story follows what happens when Annabelle is kidnapped by Bernadette just a month before her birthday. It focuses, for the most part, on her three heroes and would-be rescuers: Thomas, the Gardener's Apprentice who has loved Annabelle all his life, James, her runaway piractical elder brother, and Ross, a charming Prince who has no choice but to attempt a rescue.
Each hero acquires an interesting sidekick along the way, and there is far more to them than meets the eye.
In Annabelle I'm playing with fairy-tale tropes and my skewed version of a fairy-tale world. But also including other bits and bobs - from pirates to cricket*.
It is set on Faerona, a continent of many varied lands.
It is my goal to finish the first draft of Annabelle, and discover a proper title, by the end of March. At the moment I predominantly working long-hand and attempting to type up what I already have so I can see precisely what I've written. (Not a lot) I have most of the Prologue and nearly an entire chapter from later in the book - so if I want to be finished by March I have some work today.
I have a chapter list which currrently gives me the expectation of 21 chapters for the book - a not unreasonable size I think.
And that concludes today's lecture. I intend to update each Saturday with how much I've written through the week and little tidbits for you to concrit. I also intend to post Suprise of the Day posts as my characters are wont to do things unexpectedly and you may find some interest in them.
So all that leaves me is to give you today's surprise and wish you happy reading with whatever book you are currently engaged in.
Friday's Surprise
On writing the Prologue I realised that it was as good an opportunity as any to introduce the PoVs of most of my major characters. The Good Guys as it were.
Imagine my suprise on approaching the end of the Prologue to discover that Wensley, Annabelle's eldest and most studious brother, had decided that he, too, must be a part of the Prologue. His PoV on the Announcement scene has taught me something about him - he's immensely likeable, even if he is a little stuffy at times, and very long-suffering where his siblings are concerned.
That on top of a surprise earlier on in the week (when I discovered that Hubert, King of the Kingdom and the father of Annabelle and her brothers, also wished to have his part of the Prologue) the Prologue has become something more than I ever intended it to be.
In a good way though.
*Shut up!
I loosely describe it as 'The One With Everything Jen Likes' and that's a frightfully fitting description. So much so that I'm beginning to realise that I might have to take stuff out in order to ever finish the book in the hopes of publication. Realising, also, that I'll just have to back the book well enough in the expectation of sequels or even some massive sprawling Discworld like universe development.
A simple way to describe the book is this: Annabelle is a Princess, though she doesn't often act like one. On her thirteenth birthday she is cursed by Bernadette, the Ugly Witch, but, in the conusion, no-one actually knows what the curse will do. Just that it will come about on her eighteenth birthday.
The story follows what happens when Annabelle is kidnapped by Bernadette just a month before her birthday. It focuses, for the most part, on her three heroes and would-be rescuers: Thomas, the Gardener's Apprentice who has loved Annabelle all his life, James, her runaway piractical elder brother, and Ross, a charming Prince who has no choice but to attempt a rescue.
Each hero acquires an interesting sidekick along the way, and there is far more to them than meets the eye.
In Annabelle I'm playing with fairy-tale tropes and my skewed version of a fairy-tale world. But also including other bits and bobs - from pirates to cricket*.
It is set on Faerona, a continent of many varied lands.
It is my goal to finish the first draft of Annabelle, and discover a proper title, by the end of March. At the moment I predominantly working long-hand and attempting to type up what I already have so I can see precisely what I've written. (Not a lot) I have most of the Prologue and nearly an entire chapter from later in the book - so if I want to be finished by March I have some work today.
I have a chapter list which currrently gives me the expectation of 21 chapters for the book - a not unreasonable size I think.
And that concludes today's lecture. I intend to update each Saturday with how much I've written through the week and little tidbits for you to concrit. I also intend to post Suprise of the Day posts as my characters are wont to do things unexpectedly and you may find some interest in them.
So all that leaves me is to give you today's surprise and wish you happy reading with whatever book you are currently engaged in.
Friday's Surprise
On writing the Prologue I realised that it was as good an opportunity as any to introduce the PoVs of most of my major characters. The Good Guys as it were.
Imagine my suprise on approaching the end of the Prologue to discover that Wensley, Annabelle's eldest and most studious brother, had decided that he, too, must be a part of the Prologue. His PoV on the Announcement scene has taught me something about him - he's immensely likeable, even if he is a little stuffy at times, and very long-suffering where his siblings are concerned.
That on top of a surprise earlier on in the week (when I discovered that Hubert, King of the Kingdom and the father of Annabelle and her brothers, also wished to have his part of the Prologue) the Prologue has become something more than I ever intended it to be.
In a good way though.
*Shut up!