And thus I break in my #TopTenTuesday streak to link up with Cait and Sky‘s Beautiful Books!

*break for applause*

As you probably know by now, I’m doing National Novel Writing Month for the I-don’t-know-how-many-th time this year. Fifty thousand words, thirty days, hopefully I survive. Beautiful Books is a deviation from the usual monthly Beautiful People linkup, in which they discuss characters- but alas, I digress. On to the questions!

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What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?

*crickets*

I have no idea. It was in my idea document?

Describe what your novel is about!

Do you want my elevator pitch? Boy and girl go off on an epic adventure through the PNW to break a curse forcing his mother and baby sister to be dragons for half of every day.

And before you ask, no, they don’t fall in love and live happily ever after. This is no hate-to-true-love-story, rather it’s a… hate-to-grudgingly-accept-each-other’s-existence.

And yes- his mother is a dragon at night, his sister is a dragon by day.

You thought human threenagers could be difficult- meet Kaida. Absolutely adorable, but she’s also a three-year-old who can breath fire.

#Fun

What is your book’s aesthetic? Use words or photos or whatever you like!

Basically, it has to do with witch-run bakeries and the Pacific Ocean and old-growth forests and mist and general yes.

Introduce us to each of your characters!

Ryu is the actual sweetest angel. He just wants a normal life, but more often than not ends up trying to help out his family. Ryu is adopted and really likes obscure soundtrack music.

Katařina is pretty much his opposite. She’s half-Czech and half-Saudi Arabian, and yes, it’s also a long story. She’s the last person you’d expect to be working in a bakery, let alone be a witch’s apprentice, yet lo and behold, she is. She’s also quite particular about the pronunciation of her name:

“My name is Katařina. Not Katerina. Not Katrina. Katařina with a háček over the ‘r’, making a ‘zh’ sound. Call me ‘Kat-ah-ree-nah’ one more time and I’ll fillet you.”

“Would you rather I used the cheese grater?”

“Katařina. Got it.”

(It’s Kat-ah-zhen-ah, by the way)

How do you prepare to write? (Outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?)

Does that count?

Otherwise, I’m outlining, eating my chocolate stockpile prematurely, buying more chocolate and repeating the cycle, thinking about going over my outline and making it more in-depth, and procrastinating more.

What are you most looking forward to about this novel?

I’ve already fallen in love with the characters- Ryu and Katařina kind of popped into my head fully formed, and thus far have been pretty fun to work with. Also, I’m looking forward to finding more food aesthetic for it and possibly trying some of the recipes, soooo… yes. Bakeries, y’all.

List 3 things about your novel’s setting.

Oregon beach

(and therefore cold, cloudy, generally grey, absolutely and utterly incredible)

 

Bakery

(flour, dark wood, slate, cocoa powder)

 

Old-growth forest.

(foggy, mysterious, definitely one of those places where reality is slightly altered- especially on an overcast day.)

What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way?

As aforementioned many a time, Ryu’s mom and baby sister are partially dragons- so it’d be nice to get that resolved*. But the thing is, the witch who cursed them didn’t even realize that (a) it worked in the first place, and (b) that it’d be passed on to the biological kid- and she doesn’t know how to fix it. Also, dragons aren’t a native Oregonian species, and Greenpeace** isn’t happy.

*As much fun as it’d be to be a dragon, the logistics really aren’t working out for them at this point.

**Are they still a thing? I haven’t heard much from them for awhile… or maybe I’m just out of the loop. Probably.

How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

They’re going to be able to tolerate each other, for one. That’s a biggie.

What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over?

Hmm… I guess, perhaps, that things you do can have repercussions you may never know about. Maybe they aren’t as bad as turning someone into a dragon (maybe they are…?), but still. And when you end up hurting someone for it, it’s important to make it right and own up to it.

#SelfPsychoanalysis

*mic drop*

*running away and hiding*