Weekly Update & Storyboards

Sunday I went to the Student Center of my college to get a bagel and found myself stuck in the building due to the on-pour that started around noon. Because I had my sketchbook, my Writer's Block Companion (the name of the current spiral notebook I write ideas in), and my phone filled with my Spotify playlists, I decided it was a good time to find a corner upstairs with a window and try to write something. 

What I came up with was highly influenced by the amount of Miyazaki films I've watched in the last week. I wanted to write something wholesome, cheerful, with the right dose of magic and world-building and a batch of realistic young people to pave the way. As I already have a basic but thought-out plot-line and my characters have been brought to life both in my sketchbook and in words, I believe this story could be the start of a fun project I end up completing. However, like lots of projects I take on that were due to whatever phase I was in-- superheroes, aliens, witches-- there's always the chance I give up on it. Either way, I will keep going and if I choose to put it aside, I believe this novel is fun enough that I will want to come back to it in the future. 

I have not worked on anything involving Freya in a while, but I believe that will change in the very near future as I start to think about what I want in the final copy of Nocturne of the Sea. It will likely inspire me to pick up working on the sequel, Ballade of the North again, which is good, because it's been a long while (I don't even remember the last thing I wrote about Freya). For now, i'm focused on the Apple sisters and their shenanigans. If I get back to Freya any time soon, I'll be sure to let you know. 

I'd like to talk to whoever's reading about something that has helped inspire me and build my excitement for my writing: storyboards. For me, it isn't just a collage of pictures; for each major project, I keep a collection of quotes, song lyrics, color palettes, places, people, and scenes that remind me of my story and may offer inspiration that could help further develop my rough ideas. I use Pinterest to storyboard; I'll link my account so that you can see what I mean. For example, I have a storyboard for Freya, Reed, Thyne, Alyeth, and Isadora to help me characterize them, come up with backstories and scenes, and remind me of the emotions I want them to invoke. I recently created new boards for my superhero story, The Enhanced, which may become a graphic novel, and Eagle, an old story I spent the last month giving new life to. Pinterest is a great way to find the aesthetic of your novel and to find quotes and scenery that may help you when you find yourself in a slump. Even more, you can find others who are using their Pinterest for the same thing, and the two of you can share ideas my being mutual followers. I have a little less than 800 followers simply because I spend so much time storyboarding there. 

Hope this helps. 

More for you later, 

Cami

 My Pinterest Account

So back in January I got a publishing deal with an awesome indie publishing company known as Burning Willow Press for Nocturne of the Sea, my Young Adult Fantasy novel. In order to get the word out about my novel coming out in October of 2018 as well as to keep track of this project and keep everyone updated about what's going on in my little literary world, I decided to create a blog where I can post regular updates without blowing up my other social medias. 

Nocturne of the Sea started with a little idea I had over the summer almost two years ago for my high school senior project, where I take the characters and a few other little details from a novel I wrote when I was thirteen and completely convert it into high fantasy, a genre at the time I had never written before. This way I could hold on to the parts of the story I loved while changing it to something original where I had more room to expand the story and focus on world-building. By the end of February of my senior year of high school, I had finished the first draft of my manuscript at around 75,000 words. Now, about a year later, my book has been edited and tweaked to the point where it was good enough for a publishing deal. I am about to embark on the next leg of Nocturne of the Sea's journey where I prepare it for publication. As I have never published anything in my life, this is a new experience for me and I want to keep track of what I learn as best I can. 

A little synopses of Nocturne of the Sea: 

Freya Solstice, a twenty-year-old Sun Sprite with a knack for asking too many questions, has grown up in a sea-side village where her culture dictated that she never leave her people. She had always imagined travelling the world and witnessing all the miracles she heard tales about, from the crystal mountains to the port cities. She never planned to leave her loved ones behind to satisfy her curiosity, however. When strangers Alyeth Brookshade and Verrana Sky appear in her village offering to take her away on an adventure, Freya chose family and familiarity. When strange and unnatural beasts attack her home and a power she didn’t know she had was revealed, she had no choice but to leave everything she knew behind her and shove ahead into the unknown. At the call of an ancient seer, Freya must follow the map left to her so she can seek her own destiny and discover the truth about her own abilities. Freya is unaware that the legendary Baroness, a woman of great power and a known criminal, is only a few steps behind her and will stop at nothing to ensure that the future of Freya’s making will never come to pass. 

I've never kept a blog before, but I'm hoping this will help me with my writing and be something I can look back on at the end of this process with pride. I hope to keep it going through writing the sequel, Ballade of the North, as well as any other projects I may decide to publish in the future. 

Thanks for reading.

Until next time, 

Cameron Davis