Once Upon a Time. . .

Gracie Hallow | Author | Dreamer | Secretly a Unicorn

[hallowgracie]

Salutations!

Hi, I’m Gracie, and I write original novels and novellas on Wattpad, Tapas, Quotev, and RoyalRoad. The following are some of my works that have already been published on these platforms or are currently being output:

Atomic! is a superhero novel that follows the dual POVs of Claire Browning and Mira, two girls who have grown up in very different circumstances in a world with superheroes and superpowers and as a result are navigating a coming-of-age entwined with their own newfound power. 

Villain Story is a sequel novella to Atomic! following a new character, Cora Ashling, as she investigates the supervillain Titanio to foil his plans and prove he’s a fraud to preserve her late best friend’s memory. As she goes deeper into her investigations, she grows closer to the minor supervillain Orpheus and discovers that Nikola Faraday might not be dead--but instead became the villain. 

Crystal Magic is a space opera that retells several fairytales to tell the greater story of two sisters, Sorrel and Gwynn Marchand, in their adventure to save their world from a cosmic deity and uncover the secrets of the mythical House of Ondrina who once ruled over their star system. 

To Sail on Seas of Sky is a high fantasy as well, this one inspired by the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean. It follows the young Elodie Fleetwood, the daughter of pirates inspired by the historical Anne Bonny and Calico Jack, as she searches for her mother and the treasure her father buried. As a result, she becomes swept up in a race for the secrets of a lost civilization. The winner will gain a power that will conquer the entire ocean and all of the isles within.

The Daughters of Fire and Rain is a YA fantasy novel that focuses on a girl named Lila who discovers she is the princess of a dragon realm called Agartha. She is one of three princesses who must compete for the throne to break a curse. Initially they choose friendship over rivalry--but is it possible to remain pure of heart in the pursuit of power? Only one can take the throne. . . .  

Twilight Tides is a mermaid fantasy following Mika Aubrey, a human girl in Wilmington, NC who is determined to have a summer romance. She discovers an underwater world filled with whimsy and political intrigue, and just might be the key to keeping it all from unraveling. 

These are my projects currently in development. Some are web-serials/novels, others are projects I intend to query in the near future.

Starfall Sleuth is a gaslamp fantasy inspired by the film versions of  Howl’s Moving Castle and Stardust. Seelie Gardner embarks on a quest to the capitol city of Starfall to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a detective. She stumbles on the secret theaters beneath the city filled with the faeries that filled her mother’s stories. At the same time, Seelie becomes caught in a plot to catch a group of Phantom Thieves stealing powerful magical artifacts--and finds herself falling in love with the leader of the Thieves. 

House of Apocalypse is a romantasy set in the world of Verana, a fantasy land inspired by 1970s California. Solene Frey comes from a long line of cursed witches, and Dorian Beltane is a werewolf cursed to end the world. When they fall in love, nothing is the same. 

The Book of Shades is a dark academia romantasy following Carissa Iliana, a cursed alchemist, and Deucalion, an enigmatic genius of a diviner hoping to defy his own fate. The two are thrown together on a group project that leads to them discovering a conspiracy of heresy, hubris, and bad research ethics. They must work together to save their city from a flood and the war of the gods. 

Liberation of an Ex-Magical Girl is a slice-of-life magical girl deconstruction that examines the life of its titular Ex-Magical Girl after the defeat of her villain the questions that it opens up about pacifism, the expectations on girls, and whether the ends ever truly justify the means. 

Summer With the Silverwood Wolves is a summer paranormal romance that explores American dynasties through the Silverwood family, who happen to be werewolves. Mackenzie Patterson stumbles on the younger sons of the family transforming and becomes swept up in their world of wealth and power as they hope that she might just break their curse.

I hope you enjoy reading my published projects and learning more about my wips!  If you enjoy my stories, you can support me on Ko-Fi. 

[die-rosastrasse]

I'm almost done with my largest crochet project, so here's a couple details from behind the scenes 🌿🌙

[womaninbed]

Evening dress of blue silk damask and pearls (1860s) at the Gothenburg City Museum.

[hallowgracie]

House of Apocalypse is back on Wattpad, with the currently-finished sequential chapters. This isn't going to be like my other stories where I have a determined schedule and weekly updates. We're doing this fan-fiction style--when I have them ready, that's when there will be updates.

I think that's the best way to wrap up this particular chapter of my writing and allow me to move on from it.

[hallowgracie]

It's been a while since Book of Shades updates--I finally finished another chapter and we're up to 54,295 words. I had to do some re-structuring and re-planning for the ending, so we have a new chapter-count.

I'm still hoping to end up at 90,000 words by the end.

34/55 chapters complete

[hallowgracie]

Tentative, but we're thinking about House of Apocalypse again. . .

I recently uncovered the old draft and it's really not as bad as I remember it. Might go ahead and finish it up so I can post it back online. I think maybe the pressure of posting online in the way that I did just kind of stopped up the wheels.

I thought about querying it, but since I don't feel like making many changes from the version that was up, and the premise for the world is so out there, I think I'm going to go ahead and do that.

But only when I've truly finished it.

[dozydawn]

[hallowgracie]

Mika and Kei are getting to know each other in the latest chapter of Twilight Tides. Which you should totally check out.

These two are the favorites of a dear friend of mine.

[hallowgracie]

One of the little experiments I decided to try in regards to Starfall Sleuth was I decided to copy my manuscript and excise most of the faerie subplot since that is causing me the most trouble, and is kind of a distraction from the main plot and from developing Seelie and James as a pair.

Kill your darlings is in full force here, because I was surprised to learn that the faeries were only 20,000 words (roughly) of the manuscript. I kept a few of the scenes in that I could with pretty minimal effort refit to make a James and Seelie scene instead of a Liir and Seelie scene (such as the opera) and this isn't a precise breakdown.

But given what scenes I want to add, that 20,000 words will likely be built right back up. There was also a chapter that I cut in this version of the manuscript that just needs to go because it is world building fluff. Maybe I'll figure out where to put some of it.

And I'm not quite giving up on the faeries yet, as I still think that they fit well into the world and the aesthetic--they just may be reworked a little and regaled to sequel content (and ironically some of my ideas for a sequel might be brought to bring the manuscript back up instead).

That said, I'm very comforted that just the detective plot parts of Starfall Sleuth is around 62,000 words because that means that I didn't bungle it so horribly as I'd feared.

[hallowgracie]

Update: I ended up putting the faeries back in, but after I edited some scenes and re-arranged some parts. There may be more edits throughout the querying process to come, but I at least feel comfortable continuing on my quest.

Liir also got to return, but I took out any reciprocation Seelie had for his crush. On her end, they are very good friends, but Liir still does have feelings for her. Which of course makes everything deliciously complicated.

Current querying stats:

I've queried 31 agents, had 1 partial request (rejected) and 20 total rejections so far. If I get to 100 rejections, that is when I will shelve the project for querying and put it up on my platforms for all of you to enjoy!

[hallowgracie]

Nothing I love more than a “Wait For Me” moment for a protagonist. When the hero of the story swallows back their fear, admits their mistakes—and they’re determined to do anything, crawl into Hell even, to make it right.

Just *chef’s kiss*

[tokkibean]

"work in progress" is actually so misleading like it assumes that im actually making progress on my work

[hallowgracie]

One of the little experiments I decided to try in regards to Starfall Sleuth was I decided to copy my manuscript and excise most of the faerie subplot since that is causing me the most trouble, and is kind of a distraction from the main plot and from developing Seelie and James as a pair.

Kill your darlings is in full force here, because I was surprised to learn that the faeries were only 20,000 words (roughly) of the manuscript. I kept a few of the scenes in that I could with pretty minimal effort refit to make a James and Seelie scene instead of a Liir and Seelie scene (such as the opera) and this isn't a precise breakdown.

But given what scenes I want to add, that 20,000 words will likely be built right back up. There was also a chapter that I cut in this version of the manuscript that just needs to go because it is world building fluff. Maybe I'll figure out where to put some of it.

And I'm not quite giving up on the faeries yet, as I still think that they fit well into the world and the aesthetic--they just may be reworked a little and regaled to sequel content (and ironically some of my ideas for a sequel might be brought to bring the manuscript back up instead).

That said, I'm very comforted that just the detective plot parts of Starfall Sleuth is around 62,000 words because that means that I didn't bungle it so horribly as I'd feared.

[hallowgracie]

50,000 words and 31/62 chapters completed!

[hallowgracie]

Finishing out the day with 32/62 chapters completed and 51,125 words. We're officially now in the back-half of the novel. As I continue writing on Act II, I expect more parts of the novel to shrink, but I'd be glad if it didn't so I could end up somewhere around the 90k mark. But if not, no big deal.

It would be nice to have this next novel done and ready to query relatively soon (even if summer is rumored to not be a good time) and it could switch roles with Starfall Sleuth for the time being.

Of course, there is the matter of Codename Mercedes. I do want to end up drafting this next, but maybe after the Starfall Sleuth rewrites are complete.

[hallowgracie]

33/62 chapters complete

53,356 words

[hallowgracie]

Naming Our Leading Lady

Naming the Silverwoods was relatively easy once I had the surname, and I collected a list of "old-money" names. I suspect many of these names aren't really the type used in these families and I'll probably get a lot of comments, but that's not really the point. It's about the feel of the names, how they are sophisticated, not unwieldy in the way some genuine old money names are.

Why do I bring that up? Because for our leading lady of Summer With the Silverwoods, I needed the opposite.

One of the names I initially considered was "Diana" for the moon vibes, and an allusion to the famous Princess Di, as an outsider to a dynasty who was known for her positivity, generosity, and kind spirit. However, Diana is also a fairly old-money sounding name (since Princess Di was still aristocracy) and I felt like it just wasn't right.

After some exploration, I had my name--Mackenzie Patterson.

Mackenzie, after an American wolf sub-species, and a very popular name for girls in the new millennium, with some fun nicknames available for me to play with.

And then Patterson, after the young actress who played Rosaleen in The Company of Wolves, a dark fantasy adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood based on Angela Carter's stories. Also a common American surname that isn't associated with the upper class.

With just the names alone, we've set up the dynamics of this story and the connection with the wolves. And with that, I can begin to truly develop these characters.

[hallowgracie]

50,000 words and 31/62 chapters completed!

[hallowgracie]

Finishing out the day with 32/62 chapters completed and 51,125 words. We're officially now in the back-half of the novel. As I continue writing on Act II, I expect more parts of the novel to shrink, but I'd be glad if it didn't so I could end up somewhere around the 90k mark. But if not, no big deal.

It would be nice to have this next novel done and ready to query relatively soon (even if summer is rumored to not be a good time) and it could switch roles with Starfall Sleuth for the time being.

Of course, there is the matter of Codename Mercedes. I do want to end up drafting this next, but maybe after the Starfall Sleuth rewrites are complete.

[hallowgracie]

A realization I had as I’ve been doing some more character work for The Book of Shades as to why Carissa and Deucalion are so compelling together is that their biggest flaw is the same—they are both deeply insecure individuals.

Neither of them believe that they are good enough for the other person, who they have built up a shrine for in their heads. And it’s interesting because it reveals what both of them value in others.

Carissa sees Deucalion as near-divine (because he technically is) and admires the ease to which academics come to him and how many things he’s skilled at. She also admires how he doesn’t care about whether people like him or not and how people like him all the same without him having to try.

What Deucalion admires about Carissa is that she is a kind, thoughtful person who always chooses to be the bigger person (although this often frustrates him as well). He also thinks she is way smarter than she gives herself credit for, and admires the work she puts in to improving herself.

She loves him because he’s a demigod, he loves her because she’s mortal. And what they both love the most is how they make each other feel human.

Perhaps this is the part where I share too much and say that I’ve never approached any crush I’ve had or romantic interest because I never felt like I would ever be good enough to attract anyone’s attentions, much less keep them. I’ve always felt that way—and so writing them helps me explore those feelings. I suspect I am not the only one who’s ever felt that way (sarcasm) and I can only hope that they will be equally as compelling to those who read The Book of Shades someday.

[hallowgracie]

50,000 words and 31/62 chapters completed!