Fall FicFrenzy starts in ONE. WEEK. And before I completely vanish in a mad fury of writing, I thought I’d actually introduce the story that is about to consume my every waking (and possibly non-waking) hours!

I’ll be hopping into the Know the Novel tag which is open to all, so if you’d like to give us hungry bookdragons a taste of your own WIP, tap the link below to snag the questions for yourself and join in!

Introducing…

PROJECT SENTIENT HOUSE

Not the official name, but it’s been fondly called Sentient House or SH for a while now, so that’s what I’ll be referring to it as while it’s in the beginning stages.

What first sparked the idea for this novel?

Funnily enough, one day about two years ago I was thinking about another story and some alternate ways to tell it. And somewhere amidst these thoughts my brain formed an AU of said other story where all the characters are dealing with their problems in a sentient house that has a propensity for matchmaking.

Well.

I couldn’t just leave that idea alone. Particularly, since the idea wouldn’t leave me alone. More accurately, it kidnapped my brain, ran off, and has pretty much held my mind for ransom since that day.

My goofy matchmaking house idea positively exploded into a ginormous dark fantasy that I turned into a roleplaying game for a time and is now, officially, going to be novelized. This story has held my mind captive for nearly two years now, carrying me through one of the hardest seasons of my life, and shaping it into something I can hopefully share with others is more special to me than I can express.

And the extra exciting part? I’m not doing it alone. This is going to be a co-written novel!

Share a blurb (or just an overall summary)!

I definitely do not have a proper blurb for this monster of a thing as it stands right now, so let’s see what sort of vague thing I can smash out of my keyboard…

After a tragic incident, brother and sister Sevrin and Elowen are left broken, grieving, and alone in their mysterious, magical house. The last thing they want is to host a party, yet when the house, seemingly with a will of its own, is insistent on allowing people within its protective walls, they are left with no choice. But secrets abound in the heart of the house, the guests, and the house’s owners alike. As each secret is unveiled, the threads holding the house together begin to unravel, revealing danger and choices that may be everyone’s undoing.

Where does the story take place? What are some of your favorite aspects of the setting?

The story mostly takes place within the sentient house itself, and I do so love my magic house. It is a bit of a wild thing, full of plants and trees growing in corners and vines trailing down from the walls. It has an enchanted sewing room and creates guest rooms to perfectly suit each individual guest as if it can see into the very soul of anyone who nears it. Rooms sometimes move around and the plant life itself seems to have a mind of its own and there are mysterious little beings that serve as invisible servants.

The world, as far as technology and fashion, would probably be close to something of the 1930s. But it is a world full of magic, both rooted in nature and drawn from the celestial bodies, people advancing in technology to fight back the plague of fey folk who can open portals from their realm into the human realm, and secrets nearly as old as time itself.

My favorite aspect is probably the sentient house. It’s a character in and of itself, and I have such fun with it and all the complexities of why it is how it is. But one of my other favorite things is the magic involving light. I do love my themes of light, and this story is giving me a chance to incorporate that in a powerful way.

Also, as mentioned, there are people who are basically fey. And I do love me some fey stories.

Tell us about your protagonist(s).

*nervous laughter*

This is quite the ensemble cast. I’m not ready to give a lot away yet, but just for a fun teaser, we have…

• A total cinnamon roll of a young man with warm hands and the power of the sun flowing through his veins.
• A woman broken and bleeding and nearly crumbling with the weight on her shoulders who can be as sharp as a thorn but desperately longs to be as loved as the rose.
• The head of a fashion empire who conceals knives in every fold of her (fabulous) attire, has a list of secrets longer than she can count due to a nasty case of amnesia, and is plagued by spectral beings clinging to her haunted mind.
• An assassin who was ready to stab hearts, thankyouverymuch, not have his smashed open.
• The awkwardest, dearest nerd to ever walk the earth.
• A woman who tries to have no emotions due to them burning her like fire…maybe quite literally.
• A dancer who bargained for far more than she realized to fulfill her dreams.
• A man who will recklessly throw himself into danger every waking second for the sake of love.
• Charm personified in a man who may be far more than all his nonsensical talk of being able to communicate with the wind.

Just to name a few.

To say I love this cast is a gross understatement. They have my heart, wholly and fully.

And I should probably apologize to them all for the immense amount of hardship they have and will face…

Who (or what) is the antagonist?

WELL. You can’t have fey without an ancient evil fey queen, now can you?

And that’s all I’m saying about that. *smile, smile*

What excites you the most about this novel?

The real question is, what doesn’t excite me? (Answer: Nothing.)

This story involves:

• Literally a world built on themes of light vs dark
• An ensemble cast working both with and against each other in all their brokenness and messiness
• SENTIENT HOUSE (I just love sentient constructs, okay? I have no shame)
• People who are quite fond of knives 🔪💕
• A very twisty plotline
• Magical sewing is a whole thing
• SO many interesting character dynamics (we’ve got complicated sibling relationships, we’ve got romance, we’ve got friendship, we’ve got enemies, we’ve got enemies to…???, we’ve got found family, there’s going to be a LOT)
• DRAMA 🙌

There is just so much to this thing, and it’s hard to choose one thing I’m most excited for. Just ALL of it.

Is this going to be a series? standalone? something else?

Eheheheheheh.

Let’s, uh, just say it’s no standalone.

This is a big story. One day I hope to make it into a series, but it’s probably going to start out more in a serial story format and just told as one big ol’ story, then later split into separate books or volumes. There are also ideas for prequel series and sequels.

It’s the biggest project I’ve ever worked on. I am not sad about this fact.

Are you plotting? pantsing? plansting?

Plantsing would probably be the best term for this one.

My co-writer and I are doing a ton of planning with backstory stuff, shaping it up from its original roleplaying days to something tighter and more suitable for a novel format. We’re going to mostly pants the actual writing part and just let the characters take us where they will. But we’re trying to create a firm foundation, world, and concept to play in before we start.

Name a few unique elements in this story.

Goodness. I feel like some of the most unique parts are major spoilers. A lot of the worldbuilding and magic system is pretty unique.

But probably one of the most unique aspects is how it’s going to be told. As mentioned, this will be co-written by me and one of my dearest friends. And we have a fun way of co-writing that ties in traditional novel writing with roleplaying that involves a dice system of our own making. So we literally let a lot of the story shape out by dice rolls, and it makes things so thrilling. I also feel like a lot of the dialogue and just overall character dynamics come out much more organic, because our way of co-writing is playing back and forth on each other. We each have our set characters, throw them in scenes together, and write back and forth as them with their dialogue and action, as if having real back-and-forth conversations. It’s a unique system that combines novel writing and roleplaying, and I adore it.

Share some fun “extras” of the story (a song or full playlist, some aesthetics, a collage, a Pinterest board, a map you’ve made, a special theme you’re going to incorporate, ANYTHING you want to share!).

This story formed during one of, if not the, most difficult seasons I’ve ever faced, when I was doing a lot of soul-searching and prioritizing. It spilled out of my bleeding heart and took form into the message I’ve always longed to put out in the world.

I will say now: this is not an easy story. It is dark, it is messy, it does not shy away from highly difficult topics. These characters are deeply broken and morally gray and make mistake after mistake. But it is a story that isn’t afraid to dig into the mess and reveal that even the most broken pieces can be formed into something beautiful. That hope is something to fight and bleed for. That sometimes our hearts have to break to find it, but it is there, a beacon in the sea of darkness.

This is the type of story I’ve always wanted to write. It feels like a story I’ve been working my whole life to tell. And there is such joy and excitement in feeling like I’m finally ready, in seeing myself grow into the writer I’ve always wanted to be.

It’s not been an easy road, and this story is not going to be an easy one to pen. But it’s the one pouring from the scars in my heart, and I feel so honored and privileged to be able to tell it.

So there we have the story that has, quite frankly, consumed my mind for well over a year now and will soon be truly taking shape. This set of characters is so dear to me; I cannot wait to, hopefully, give them the best story I can with my wonderful co-writer. It’s going to be a beautifully wild ride.

FicFrenzy is almost here! We start writing on October 15th, so if you want to join the Discord and hop along, find all the details HERE. All writers are welcome!

What do you think, friends? Does this sound up your alley? Have you ever co-written a novel before? Are you joining a writing event this fall? Part 2 of the Know the Novel tag series will be up at the beginning of November, so stay tuned!

Don’t forget you can join this tag yourself HERE!