Hello, friends! Coming in today to do my side of the Know the Novel tag! This Fall FicFrenzy may have been my favorite yet. So I invite you to join me for a while as I reflect on the wild, exhausting, blessed month of writing.

The 4th annual Fall Fiction Frenzy Writing event ended at 11:59 pm on November 15th, and I reached the end with so much gratitude. It’s been a tough year, I won’t sugarcoat that. In this single year, my creativity has been in a lot of limbo with good seasons, amazing seasons, dry seasons, and seasons that I feared my dream as a storyteller may need to be laid to rest.

But as I step into this final month of 2025, I’m dreaming again.

Both the Summer FicFrenzy event and this Fall one brought back my spark for creativity and showed me that, even with health limitations, I can keep going. I’m so grateful for the community that has formed from my little spark of an idea for FicFrenzy and turned it into something incredible. I’m so grateful to my co-author/best friend who is helping me keep dreaming and telling amazing stories with me. And I’m eternally grateful to our Eternal Father, who cares about every aspect of our lives and wants us to create. It’s been A Year, but as I step back and see all that I was able to create through God’s strength, I am left in awe and endless gratitude.

Needless to say, Fall FicFrenzy 2025 was a good one, so let’s hop into it!

PROJECT SENTIENT HOUSE

How did writing this novel go all around?

It was around 11 pm on November 15th as my co-writer, Geneva, and I were in the midst of our final scene for this first book of the series, that I started just sobbing. Before then, I was perfectly fine, almost giddy. I was so enjoying writing our last scene, feeling on cloud nine. And then it just hit me.

As I said, it’s been a hard year, with so many blocks and hurdles. And as I sat there co-writing a deeply emotional scene with two of my favorite characters in the world and thought back to the whole month of writing and how well it flowed and how I had managed to keep up and do it even amidst chaos and chronic fatigue and doubts and fears, I just got overwhelmed.

It was a good cry. A happy cry. The kind of cry that hits you when you’re so filled to the brim with gratitude, your body can’t hold it all in.

I am honestly stunned at how easily this story flowed and how fun it was to tell it.

Geneva and I dove into the first words on October 15th. And, I kid you not, we wrote the final words 8 minutes before midnight on November 15th. We didn’t even set out to write the first book for FicFrenzy. This is actually going to be a serialized story that we want to split into volumes. We didn’t know what “volume 1” would be. But as we got going, we realized we had a natural flowing state of the story and a perfect place that could be the climax for this section of the story. So it was by complete accident that we even wrote volume 1 in total for FicFrenzy.

I went into this scared I wouldn’t be able to do much at a time, amongst a lot of other fears and doubts and obstacles. And I reached the end with a 118,728-word first draft of a novel.

I’m just really, really grateful. 😭💕

Did it turn out as you expected or completely different? How do you feel about the outcome?

Remember how in last month’s Know the Novel post I said these characters were chaos walking? Yeah? Yeah.

What we thought would be a few scenes leading up to a specific part of the story ended up being ALL of volume 1. The characters were like, “No, no, we have stuff to do before we get to that section of our lives” and we were left with no choice but to sit in the backseat as they took the wheel and barreled forward way past the speed limit.

It was great.

Discovering the unknown is my favorite part of first drafting, and there was so much to explore that, going in, we didn’t expect to get a close look at. There is also the whole dice rolling system we’re using in a roleplaying-style way that constantly keeps things unexpected as we let dice rolls direct scenes.

Over half the stuff that went down I didn’t expect, and I adored every bit of it.

What aspect of the story did you love writing about the most? (Characters, plot, setting, prose, etc.)

No doubt about it: CHARACTERS.

These are some of my favorite fictional characters to ever exist, and spending the month telling the first part of their stories is in part why I burst into tears during the last scene. They are carrying me through a dark season and showing me that no matter how dark things are, it can be overcome, hope can be found. The light never dies.

To add to that, the aesthetics. I loved how the two central characters paint the story in light and shadows. How the setting is a character in and of itself, with a lot of imagery of wild greenery and cold shadows and warm drops of sunlight…

a house entangled in foliage | wrinkled, scrawled written letters | bloody fingers | broken mirrors | warm wisps of wind | shy smiles, sharp smiles | hand-painted teacups | floral wallpaper | dreary rainy days | cracked hearts | beams of sunlight

Aesthetically, this story brings my imagination to life, and a lot of the visuals come from the characters and themes themselves, which I think is extra special.

What was your least favorite part?

The worldbuilding is pretty vast, and I struggled a bit during the parts when it came to weaving in worldbuilding without getting info-dumpy or, on the flipside, making it too vague. I’ll definitely need to look at it all with fresh eyes come editing time to better thread in specific worldbuilding aspects more seamlessly.

I have a love-hate relationship with worldbuilding. 😅

What do you feel needs the most work?

Since we were co-writing this, for a lot of scenes we wrote together, we would do this thing where we were kind of putting the scene in multiple points-of-view, just to get a good idea of what was going on in the minds of each of our characters.

So a big part of editing will be going back to put each scene in a specific POV, because we like to write in deep 3rd person POV. But sometimes with our style of co-writing, it’s easier for us each to write in the POV of our characters just to give each other an inside look at what’s going on in their heads.

How do you feel about your characters now? Who’s your favorite? Least favorite? Anyone surprise you? Give us all the details!

Oh, these characters. 💕

This overall story has an ensemble cast, but this first volume kept to a smaller section of the cast until we gradually start introducing the others. But our central and favorites are…

Genevieve, my co-author’s main character, is wrapped in shadows and trauma and mystery and one of the most layered characters I’ve ever known. She is sharp and soft and complicated and messy and reckless and holds such a deep capacity to love (also has fabulous fashion sense). I am in awe daily over Geneva’s work with this character, and I want to gush about her endlessly but it’s so hard to without spoilers. But GAH. I cannot wait for everyone to meet this epic character. Genuinely one of my favorite characters to ever exist.

Sevrin, my main character, is a cinnamon roll with immense self-worth issues and yet holds such conviction and a deep belief in hope. This character arose from the deepest parts of my heart, from insecurities to beliefs, and it has been incredibly therapeutic telling his story.

Did anyone surprise us? You mean like the character who was supposed to only be around for one or two scenes and instead insisted on being front and center and caused all sorts of havoc?? (We weren’t sad bout it.)

These chaos characters surprised us daily. It was a grand time.

What’s your next plan of action with this novel?

After a little break, our next step is to go over this draft and clean it up. After that? I probably shouldn’t say much, and life does like to Life, but we hope to offer it up to be read in a very fun serialized way. So definitely praying over all of that!

If you could have your greatest dream realized for this novel, what would it be?

Honestly? Just getting to tell it feels like a dream come true. It’s been a long road getting here, and the fact that it’s actually happening sometimes feels surreal. It’s a story bleeding from my heart, and telling it has been so healing.

My other dream for it is to get it out in the world and for it to find the right audience to touch hearts as much as it’s touched mine. This isn’t going to be the type of story for everyone. It is dark, it is dramatic, it tells stories of messy people living messy, mistake-ridden lives and the consequences that come. There is romance and violence and domestic abuse and shadows and broken hearts. But every bit of it is to point to the light that no amount of darkness can dim.

We all have our own shadows, and my hope for this story is for it to reach into those shadows and show that they can be banished.

Share some of your favorite snippets!

SNIPPET #1:

The click of the iron door sounded behind her, followed by a single footfall. “Good morning, Lady Morgan,” Emil Aldera’s voice greeted.  

“Lord Aldera,” she said, turning, her voice remarkably steady considering how unstable she felt. “This is an unexpected pleasure.”  

He shifted his weight, his form a little silhouetted by the daylight coming in from the open door behind him, but she heard his intake of breath and caught one corner of his lips tilting up. “Mother said someone had arrived.” The pleasure in his tone was undeniable. “I volunteered to see what they were about so she didn’t have to make the walk if it wasn’t necessary.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and took a step forward, studying her face beneath the veil, and several seconds of silence stretched between them. “So what brings Lady Morgan to our home this morning?”  

“What usually brings Lady Morgan to your gatehouse?” she said, echoing words spoken more than two years ago in this very room by a different Lady Morgan. “I have come to petition for entry.”

His lips curled up a touch higher. “Are you at last ready to let the House read your heart?”

“And to see which of us wins our bet after all these years,” she said, matching his smirk with one of her own.

“Maybe it would go against loyalties, but I would put my money on you if I could.”

As if from sheer annoyance, that invisible rush of resistance pressed through her.

She looked down, running one finger along the rolled seam of the chair, a little smile tipping one corner of her lips. “And I am still of the opinion that you would lose your money if you did.”

“I suppose we should find out then.”

SNIPPET #2:

Genevieve glanced back at Sevrin, at the shadows under his eyes and the weariness in his stance. He looked disheveled and like he hadn’t been sleeping well of late. And now he was hurt…like Katrina had been hurt earlier. They didn’t look much alike, but their expressions when hurt…they were a little too similar for comfort.

“Would you accept a trade?” she asked, very much against her better judgement. “A question for a question, and a true answer for a true answer?”

“You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to,” he assured with a small smile. “The point was that I’m helping you find information, after all. But if you have a question for me, I…don’t mind if you ask.” Though by his hesitation, there was clearly discomfort in the idea.

This was a bad idea. She should leave well enough alone and leave before…

“Have you been sleeping at all since I saw you last? You look exhausted.”

“Oh.” He dropped his gaze and tugged at his wrinkled collar. “I’m sorry, I know I’m a mess. I have been sleeping, I promise, or as well as I can. I just…didn’t really get any sleep last night.” His voice faded with the final words.

“You’re not a mess, you’re poorly rested. There is a difference. And I feel as though there are related questions I should ask, but it’s your turn.” Her voice sounded steady to her own ears, but her intuition was tugging hard at her from a dozen different directions. Sevrin’s insecurity about his appearance, only being able to say he was sleeping as well as he could, and whatever had caused him his sleepless night that was so genuinely disturbing…something was not adding up at all.

It took him some time before he spoke. “Are you well?” It was a simple and so very not simple question all at once, and the weight of it hung between the space separating them. 

“Define well,” she said, rather than saying no the way she was tempted to say.

He rubbed at his wrist, seeming to be considering it carefully.

“I don’t know if I can,” he finally said. “I don’t know if I know what well really means. Maybe there isn’t such a thing, not really, and it was an unfair question to ask.”

“I understand that too well,” she replied with a sardonic note in her voice, belied by a hint of softness. She tipped her head from one side to the other. “I’m not dead, and I suppose that’s as good as starting benchmarks get.”

A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. “I’m glad of that. That you’re not dead.” His face scrunched at the awkwardness of that statement, but he was sincere all the same.

“After fearing for a month that I was?” she finished for him, one brow quirking upward as if gently daring him to deny it. 

He squeezed his eyes shut in an embarrassed wince and nodded. “Maybe a little.”

Now the ghost of a smile was playing about her lips, but the rest of her expression was still serious. “I got into a fight with a mirror.”

“I see,” he said, clearly not seeing at all. “It seems you…won?”

“If winning means it ended up shattered all over my sitting room floor and I came away with only a bloodied hand, then yes, I suppose I did.”

Did you glean any new writing and/or life lessons from writing this novel?

Do it scared. Do it when it’s hard. Do it even when you think you can’t. Don’t let doubts and fears and insecurities and limitations stop you from embracing the passion God has laid on your heart.

Sometimes the things that seem the most impossible are the ones most worthy of pursuing. I think we often believe that if it’s hard, it’s not meant to be. But the difficult pursuits are the most rewarding. Climbing the mountains means witnessing the most beautiful view at the top.

If telling this story has taught me anything, it’s to not let the hardships hold me back, to not let those inner lying voices of insecurity scream louder than the truth, to not let limitations keep me down permanently.

The road of a writer (or any creative) is hard and discouraging and exhausting and painfully vulnerable with far too much outside advice and opinions. But if we love creating, then eventually we have to decide to step above the difficulties and nay-sayers and doubting voices, find the right rhythms for ourselves, and just create things we LOVE.

This story about a man with sunlight in his blood looking for his worth, a woman haunted by shadows looking for peace, and the magical house that brings them together has helped me learn to dream again, see that I can keep creating even with limitations, and brought hope and comfort in a time where there has been so little.

If you made it through all of that, bless you, dear reader. Thank you for being here with me on this journey. I hope to have more to share soon. 💛

And that was Fall FicFrenzy 2025! Does this sound up your alley? Did you participate in a writing event during the fall? If so, how did it go??

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