beautiful books : introducing tethered

it's that time of month again...time for beautiful people. but wait! it's October! so that means NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and in honor of that...Cait and Skye are giving us a chance to chat about what mysterious projects we're planning on writing over that gloriously stressful month!

I have literally been waiting in anticipation for this post for....well, not quite forever--but let's just say I'm extremely excited to talk about tethered. beyond excited, even.

hiyori is internal me. yato is external me judging internal me for being this excited.

so why bother with any more of an introduction? let's dive right in!

1. what inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea?

once upon a time (in July), I was scrolling through pinterest when I probably should have been studying for my finals, and I stumbled upon this picture. I stared at it for a few seconds, then pinned it, and went back to scrolling. however, that little picture stayed in my mind all afternoon and all evening, until it came to the point that I had to get what was brewing my head onto the page.  so I sat down with my laptop and wrote up a prologue about a boy whose dad had just died. this boy had black hair that would eventually turn white and could see ghosts. this boy's name was Neil.

2. describe what your book is about!

ghosts and hearts and friendship and dying. all the good stuff.

3. what is your books aesthetic? use books or words or whatever you like!

4. introduce to each of your characters!

+ Neil Ruthers +
my sad little main character who can see ghosts. his dad died when he was 14, and that night, Neil saw his father again--only in ghost form. you won't see him without his favourite accessories: his dark circles, his greasy, silver hair, and an always burning cigarette. really loves succulents and potted plants for some strange reason.

 this is basically my mental picture of him, just w/out the silver hair.

+ Cora Hart +
my slightly less sad main character who can't see ghosts, but is the unassuming flatmate of the one who does. queue terror and confusion when ghost things go down. Cora is a nurse at the local hospital, and she has backbone enough for the two of them--except when it comes to supernatural things. still, she's scared of living in the apartment, but she's even more scared of going home for reasons unknown. loves the color purple, hates clowns, and will murder you if you mess with her beauty sleep.

+ Foxglove Jones +
my sweet, gearhead son. a little on the quiet side, Foxglove is Neil's best friend and job hunter--he keeps an ear out for potential news of haunted houses or possessions. he wears beat up yellow Converse and is extremely fond of buttoned up shirts buttoned all the freaking way up.

+ Olive +
Neil's mentor, a college professor with a secret love for all things supernatural, especially ghosts. she was a close friend of Neil's father when he was alive.

+ Angela +
a little girl from Cora's hospital who makes friends with Neil, even though he's not really used to visible people paying attention to him. she likes sour candy, talking for hours, and ponies.

+ Walter +
Angela's older brother, who hates Neil and ponies and pretty much everything in the world (but he's fifteen, so we forgive him).

+ Sybil Tuesday +
a mysterious woman. (and yes, that's all I'm going to say).

5. how do you prepare to write? (outline, research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc?)

in the past, I just kind of hopped into NaNo with very little plan or expectations. this time, I plan to do things a little differently, especially since I bombed NaNo last year. I have a plot. I have character profiles. I have a fancy playlist in the works. right now, I'm going through Scrivener and planning out my chapters and scenes individually--something I've never done before. It's scary. I have tried outlining in the past, but this year, I used the Beat Sheet method, which helped SOOOO much. I also have plans to stock up on chocolate and tea. the ultimate writing supplies.

also a lot of this

6. what are you most looking forward to about this novel?

well, I'm both excited and nervous to try and write something scary. I've been writing contemporary for a loooooong time, and while there are few scary nightmare scenes, I don't have a lot of experience in writing suspense and all that. and I really want to do it well. so that's a thing.

I'm also excited about actually having a villain? I'm really bad about villains. they're either too cheesy or too boring or too over the top, so I'm going to work hard at finding the right balance of what I want in a villain.

7. list 3 things about your novel's setting.

picture this: a cheap apartment with a ratty sand-colored couch and stained wallpaper. streets of old Victorian houses, gray in the February afternoon sunlight, dust shading the windows. sterile hospital hallways, with dingy blue tile and harsh fluorescent lights, soaked with the scent of disinfectant and clean linen.

8. what's your character's goal and who (or what) stands in the way?

well, I'd say Neil doesn't have a goal--other than to stay away from all manner of supernatural creatures as much as possible, which pretty much means he wants to stay in his gross apartment and eat cereal for the rest of this life. this all changes when a strange ghostly phenomenon starts affecting the people of the town, and when people start dying, he's the one everyone turns to,

9. how does your protagonist change by the end of the novel?

Neil changes from a passive, lazy, somewhat terrified "Chosen One" to become someone who recognizes that he can't be the Chosen One...but he's still going to try and save everyone, even if he doesn't have the means.

10. what are your book's themes? how do you want your readers to feel when the story is over?

I'm still thinking about my themes. I do know forgiveness is definitely one I want to develop, but I'm sure there are others that will be important to the story as well. I want them to feel bittersweet, with a side of satisfaction.

CAN NOVEMBER BE HERE ALREADY? I'm so ready to get all these words out of my head before they disappear...forever. O_O

are y'all planning on doing NaNo? if so, what delicious little plot bunny are you going to be cooking? (wow...that metaphor turned out a little darker than I planned it to...)

although this might be me during November so you know...maybe darker than planned isn't all that bad.

love you all! have a fantastic Saturday! <3

byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeee