Huojin doodles. Huojin is a side character in #thefourgods and is Fengge’s older brother and chief of the Fenghuang. Because he and Fengge come from the southern tribe of Fenghuang, their clothing is inspired by the Miao people. #characterdesign #fenghuang
Chonglin doodles. #thefourgods #characterdesign #writerslife #qilin
Longwei doodles. #thefourgods #characterdesign #qinglong
Historical review up in here, yo. Love #chinahistorypodcast way too much. The bulk of my edits is probably going to be adding and fact checking for #thefourgods since Chinese gods in ancient China can’t just float in a mythical world the whole book. #amediting #amwriting
So I’m at the halfway point for NaNo (though I’m a few days behind), but I had to stop to share this gem. In my novel, which takes place in ancient China, they use a different way to tell time. In China, every two hours or so was 1 hour dictated by an animal of the zodiac and their order in said zodiac. (Like, it’s the Hour of the Rooster right now, which will end around 7 p.m. since it started at 5 p.m.) Anyway, I didn’t remember the order or the times used, so I turned to my old friend Google and searched “Chinese hours”…and got all of the business hours of all the Chinese restaurants near me. So instead of a system used to tell time, Google was like, “Chow mein?” No, Google. That’s not what I need.
All caught up! A little over 21 K and I’m about 1/3 of the way through the MS. Wrote 2,573 words in 2 hours. #nanowrimo #thefourgods (at The Quirky Feather Confectionery)
And we’re off! Well, I have been writing on this for a bit, but I thought it would be best to announce my newest project at the start of NaNoWriMo. This next book is Book #1 out of 4 of a series, tentatively titled The Four Gods, which is a historical fantasy/speculative fiction series set in China and Korea (the entire series spans from the Han Dynasty to the Cultural Revolution). As the current title suggests, the books will center around four gods from the Chinese pantheon, specifically the Sì Líng (四灵) and their lives throughout Chinese and briefly, Korean history. The current unedited synopsis for Book 1 is thus:
“On the day he was named crown prince of the Han empire, sixteen-year-old Ming Gen was given a challenge: a challenge to become a god. Purging all earthly matter from his life and his body, he soon finds himself among the ranks of deities behind the jade gates of Heaven.
Assigned as an esteemed member of the San Ling organization, Gen meets his two newest colleagues, a Qilin named Bing Chonglin and a Dragon named Zhang Longwei, though while welcoming, are hiding secrets about a possible fourth member of the organization, a Phoenix named Guang Fengge. Demoted and humiliated, Fengge is shunned to the lowest ranks of Heaven’s servants, for reasons Gen is unaware of but is determined to find. He assumes the task of helping Fengge restore his reputation and to find his own place among the gods of his ancestors.
With the help of his three newest brothers-in-arms, Gen soon discovers that Heaven is harboring secrets of its own and that the opulent, bejeweled life many of the gods lead is cracking beneath layers of corruption, rivalry, and struggles for power, which are all only worsened as his beloved Han Dynasty collapses.”
I will keep everyone updated on the progress of the novel this month, and don’t forget that The Moon-Eyed Ones is still available in paperback and Kindle formats on Amazon!
AUTHOR | HISTORIAN | ARTIST 