Inklings of Aethermore

Monty and Evalyn Harper. We're a father-daughter writing team who are currently finishing up the second draft of our first novel, Inklings of Aethrmore. Our shared interests include: reading, books, (especially Harry Potter), writing, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and music of all kinds (especially Beatles music)

[inklingsofaethermore]

"Even in the future the story begins with Once Upon a Time."

That’s a quote from one of my favorite authors, Marissa Meyer. Recently, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series. Four books, based off of classic fairy tales, set in a fascinating futuristic world, with a cast of hilarious and interesting characters. What more could a girl ask for? It’s honestly such an amazing series, and if you haven’t read it you should do that right now.

An interesting side effect of my aforementioned obsession is that whenever I listen to music, which is quite often, the songs remind me of the characters from TLC. Since I’ve also been recently obsessed with Spotify I decided to create a playlist based off of the series. It’s a pretty good playlist, if I do say so myself, so even if you haven’t read the series (Seriously. You need to read these books.) you can still enjoy it.

Link right here: https://open.spotify.com/user/evalyn4200/playlist/5TkWuEEjNJOYRWq7DiDd9H

Each song represents a different character (or characters) from the series, so I’ve provided you with a helpful key. I won’t tell you specifically why I picked each song, you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.

Linh Cinder- “She was a cyborg, and she would never go to a ball.” Golden by Ruth B Titanium by David Guetta

Prince Kai- “I don’t see that her being cyborg is relevant.” Selene by Imagine Dragons Viva la Vida by Coldplay

Iko- “That is the best idea ever. Count me in.” Girl in a Coma’s cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps Mechanical Heart by Beth Hart

Scarlet Benoit- “I need him as much as he needs me.” Little Pistol by Mother Mother Rousseau by Nerina Pilot

Wolf- “I think I realized I’d rather die because I betrayed them, than live because I betrayed you.” Howl by Florence + The Machine Demons by Imagine Dragons

Captain Thorne- “Maybe there’s a little bit of a hero in me after all.” Oasis by A Great Big World I’m Still Here by John Rzeznik

Cress- “Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities were given, and what we do with them.” Crescent Moon by KT Tunestall I Follow Rivers by Lykke Li

Princess Winter- “The palace walls have been bleeding for years and nobody else sees it.” You are the Moon by The Hush Sound Moon and Back by Alice Kristainsen

Jacin Clay- “I serve my princess. No one else.” I Found by Amber Run Safe and Sound cover by Jason Chen

Queen Levana- “Love is a conquest! Love is war!” Fading Flower by Yuna Control by Halsey

Dr. Erland- “I’ve hurt you all in some way. Been at least partially responsible for some tragedy in your lives. I am sorry.” The Scientist by Coldplay

Lunar Citizens- Hometown by Twenty One Pilots

-Evalyn

[inklingsofaethermore]

Working as a Team

So… a father/daughter writing team - how does that work, you ask?

We’ve been writing our book for many years, and it has taken some trial and error to figure out how to work together well. Even now our system is still changing, and the day-to-day routine also depends on what aspect of the project we’re working on.

We completed our first draft in April, 2016.

We met regularly for many many months creating a detailed outline of our story. Then in November 2015 we took the Nanowrimo challenge and got serious about banging out a first draft. We decided who would write which chapters and we just wrote.

After giving draft one a month or so to cool off, we each read it and made notes - where we thought the writing was too thin, or too wordy, or where things didn’t match up properly from chapter to chapter - all the obvious stuff.

Each chapter now goes through a four-step process as we revise.

1. We each add our notes to the master copy (which we keep in Scrivener). Often we do this together so we can discuss as we go, and we make a plan, when necessary, for how to address any big problems.

2. Evalyn takes a first whack at fixing all the notes.

3. I take a second whack at the chapter as a whole. Often I’m trying to squeeze three chapters into two, or lengthen a chapter that started off pretty sketchy.

4. I read what I’ve got back to Evalyn and we fix anything she feels like I missed or messed up.

Right now we are half-way through draft two. It’s very exciting to see our story come to life as we fill in missing details and bring all the moving parts into working harmony. It’s starting to sound like a real novel to me!

-Monty