kel e fox

abstract art + fantasy fiction + creative journal

[kelefox]

Where to find me in 2024

Hey folks!

I want to say thank you to everyone who welcomed me here so warmly. I wish I'd discovered Tumblr years ago.

As it is, I have limited time, and if I want to actually finish any of my projects and, importantly, the Phantom of the Opera retelling I began for NaNoWriMo last year, I can't be everywhere. So I am parking my Tumblr blog for the time being.

My other big project for this year is illustrated editions of my romantic gaslamp fantasy trilogy about disgraced magicians and deadly mysteries in a city of gardens. Art in progress attached! I'll be talking about it in all the following places.

If you'd like to connect on any or all of them, please stop by and say hi!

Substack

My chaotic newsletter full of creative ramblings, art, comics, and online book fairs. It's lots of fun!

You can also read my free YA urban fantasy novella where a magical circus shows up at a school ball, and I'll be adding a new gaslamp novella featuring an exiled spy, a handsome detective and missing magical art sometime soonish...

YouTube

Author vlog where I flub words and pull silly faces while trying to articulate whatever existential crisis my creative work currently has me in.

Ream

Follow for free to get monthly updates on my writing projects, including the Phantom retelling, plus a new satirical piece I've got in the works about the perils of an interdimensional postal service.

Aforementioned school ball and art mystery novellas available here too!

Thanks again and I hope to see you somewhere on the interwebs! Happy creating :)

[kelefox]

Del painting magic

Another piece from my upcoming illustrated novel, The Secrets We Save 😊

The sun was gone and the greenish mantle lights poor for painting, but Del Fevre was close. He had to be. He gripped his paintbrush, closed his eyes, then yelled as he spun, whipping the brush at the canvas, willing it to come out with feeling. With magic.

In the room adjoining his cramped studio, a violin played a mournful note. Lips pressed together in trepidation, Del opened his eyes. Bright blue paint dripped down the middle of the canvas, over the lip of the easel and onto the floor. Too bright for cobalt blue. And was that … he peered closer, inspecting the spattered shapes. Fear pushed at his heart, which thundered in his chest. He was afraid he hadn’t succeeded.

He was afraid of what it meant if he had.

[kelefox]

Del & Santo

I'm illustrating a novel! My novel, to be precise. And while writing and art are old friends of mine, I've never pushed the two together before...

Should be fun :D

Excerpt from The Secrets We Save

Del swallowed. ‘We shouldn’t.’

‘I know.’ Santo’s breath brushed Del’s mouth.

‘Then why are you looking at me like that?’

‘We might be terrible together, but I can still admire how handsome you are.’ Santo brushed a lock of Del’s brassy hair off his sweat-dampened cheek.

Del held himself still, torn. It would be so easy. If Santo cupped his jaw. If Del leaned in a little further. The lantern, its shutter open, cast the alcove in a soft, flickering light.

But they’d been down this road. The first time had made sense, fuelled by desire and hope and maybe even love. It was lust and loneliness now, nothing more. They each wanted different things.

‘Don’t,’ Del whispered, unsure if he was talking more to Santo or himself.

Santo pulled away, the ghost of a smile fading from his lips.

[kelefox]

So that's how my nano ended up XD

(also if you want more of this sort of nonsense, I put them all on kelefox.substack.com first)

[flowerprose]

NAMESAKE 🌷💀🏛️ EXCERPTS

nano is going well so far! i'm a tiny bit behind, but i've been sprinting a ton the past week, developing new core characters, and mapping out the mystery of kore's death and persephone's rise as queen. decided to flesh out the daimons and personifications who fill the land of the dead as well, which led to the birth of calamity and misery (and gloom, who isn't currently featured.) they're delightful, callous, morbid little menaces.

find the wip intro here for more context, but here are some fresh excerpts from the last five days!

from chapter one:

hekate has a role in the original myth and in my previous rewrite, albeit much smaller. i'm fleshing her out to become more involved in the story right from the start. so far, she's deeply envious and desperate to prove herself as demeter's ward and kore's sister.

the twins and dionysus are the only half-siblings from zeus whom kore will not refer to as "cousin." like them, she's suffered hera's ire, but their proximity in age has made them close.

from chapter two:

kore's first glimpse of the bone palace. i intend to carve out most of my setting descriptions from last year's rewrite because they're already *chef's kiss* imo, but had to have something on the page for her to react to. and who am i if not routinely depressed by the extinction of lions from Ancient Greece. 🥲

aforementioned little devils. calamity and misery are new editions and suffer from sameness right now, but im hoping to flesh them out properly in my sprints next week. their relationship with hades is so unexpectedly tender and is really helping me understand my evolving god of the dead.

lastly, from hades's intro chapter:

i love them, your honour.

goals for next week are to catch up, hammer down the chapter voices, and curl myself inside the mind of my new villain.

tag list: @mr-writes, @afoolandathief, @sapphic-story, @megarywrites, @blushroomx, @ozzie-scribe, @theskeletonprior, @muddshadow, @thepixiediaries, @nikkywrites, @bebewrites, @jhellfiregirls, @pinespittinink, @pink-prose-n-wiriters-woe, @phantomnations, @queenslayerbee, @antihell, @monstrousfreedom, @perasperaadastrawriting, @andromedaexists, @thebluesthourcommunity, @fearofahumanplanet, @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @stephwriteswords, @cljordan-imperium, @carminasolis, @kaatiba, @moondust-bard, @macabremoons, @lena-rambles.

[kelefox]

I saw this line a while back, and it is even more compelling seeing it again

[kelefox]

WIP update: One Masked Ball

Things I did not expect in a Phantom retelling:

A war between gods rages across the skies, and humans pay the price with their art or their lives in the streets below

A bawdy song by a female vocal group titled 'Fumbling My Balls' (no, I don't know the lyrics!)

Players. One character being all 'I love you' while the other thinks, 'You're easy to enjoy' :'(

Behind on the November word count but that's okay. It's been messy and tough in places. And I've discovered another challenge.

Viviane is enjoying a deep tissue massage and now I want one.

No one warned me about this pitfall in writing. Characters feasting on delicious cakes? Drinking chocolate milkshakes or fine wine? Driving awesome cars or riding a powerful horse? Reading a fun book?

Writing has me constantly swinging between hunger, thirst, desire for speed or the smell of a well-kept stable and longing to fall into bed, and what I need to do is not visit the kitchen or call it an early night but stay. here. at. the. keyboard. Agh.

A massage, though. Sigh.

[blue-eyed-author]

Their laughter calmed. She smiled, staring up at him, her heart fluttering. He held her gaze. The world faded away. Everything became distant, leaving the two of them alone. She bit her lip, and he glanced down at it for a second.

He leaned down. Slow. Her stomach somersaulted, but she couldn't decide if it was from excitement or nerves.

He moved closer. His mouth parted. Soft breath hit her face. A second quick glance to her lips. He stared at her, his eyes asking for permission.

—excerpt from my original Wattpad novel, “Possibilities.”

[ao3commentoftheday]

I feel guilty wanting people to comment.I feel like if my work was good enough, they would :(

This is definitely a common feeling amongst authors, and I think part of it stems from our cultural view of artists/creators. 

We often hear writers say things like “I just had to write this” or “the characters were screaming at me” and that gives off the impression that writing is going to happen no matter what. Writers have to write. Artists have to draw. If creative people can’t let their creativity out, they go a bit nuts. 

The dissonant part of this is that, while creative people do have an innate drive for creation, they don’t have an innate drive to share that creativity. Needing to make something and needing to share it are two different things, serving two different purposes. Creating the work satisfies a part of you that has a story to tell or a vision to make real. Sharing that work is done in the hopes of satisfying a need for making a connection with people about that work. 

Wanting people to comment is a natural part of sharing your work with them, and nothing for you to feel guilty about. 

What readers don’t understand is that desire for a connection to them. For them, the connection is made by reading your work. From their perspective, you have made a connection. The problem is, from your perspective nothing has happened. You’ve posted your work and received nothing in response. It’s like walking up to someone with a big smile on your face and saying, “Hi! How’s it going?” and having them just stand there with no change in facial expression or body language, saying absolutely nothing. The connection only went one way. 

There are lots of reasons why people don’t comment on artistic works, and only 1 of them is not liking the work itself. 

You aren’t being needy, you’re being human.

[kelefox]

Before I became an author, I was terrified of reaching out to authors to tell them I loved their work. They had already given me so much, and I felt I was adding to their workload having to read and maybe reply to my comment. Now, of course, I know better 😉

[theliteraryarchitect]

Something that's been knocking around in my head for a while: I think a lot of new writers get thrown off by their assumption that writing will be anything like reading. Reading is a dreamy, passive experience--scenes, dialogue, and description flow over you as you are taken under the writer's spell. Writing, on the other hand (with the exception, sometimes, of the first draft), is the laborious, almost mechanical-like task of putting narrative elements together so that the reader can lose themselves in your story. In short, reading and writing are very different experiences, and the assumption that they will be, or even should be, the same, is cause for much angst among new and experienced writers alike. It's a frustrating thing, because a love of reading is usually what gets people interested in writing in the first place. I've been writing for several decades and I still feel confounded by this clash--it's part of why I don't read much when I'm deep into my writing, and vice versa. And when I am writing, I constantly have to remind myself: Writing is not watching a magic show. Writing is figuring out how to smuggle the rabbit into the hat.

[kelefox]

I learned a useful piece of painting advice a while back and just now realised it might apply to writing too: you might not like to make the art you most like to look at. At the time, I didn't realise why, but this is it - the experience of consuming the art is so different to that of making it.

I have great admiration for detailed pencil drawings. I like to paint abstract watercolours. I enjoy reading twisty thrillers and cosy mysteries, but I don't enjoy writing them. I enjoy writing weird fantasies with mysterious and thrilling elements.

Obviously you do need to study and understand and have passion for what you make, but this idea helped me. I'm no less an artist because I don't make pencil drawings and no less an author because I don't like writing everything I enjoy reading. Actually, it's those intersections that inform my style.

(also I love that magic show analogy!)

[runeseaks]

A Writing Resolution?

Am I allowed to make a near end of year resolution? Or, at the very least I put it off for another month and a half... Hmm. WELL,

I'm feeling inclined, once again, to make a resolution to make MISTAKES. (Not the dangerous variety of course.)

Ideally to task myself with posting more writing that isn't... ✨polished✨. That I haven't edited more times than I can count. That is RAW and riddled with silly mistakes and lines that make me cringe.

I've tried this before, many years ago, and my classmates looked at me like I was insane upon making said declaration. I didn't get very far with it... But, I want to try it again! Another attempt at fighting back against my perfectionism.

Akin to doing those quick, few minute, little sketches where you don't lift the pencil and you don't erase. Not quite to the level of word vomit, but... Y'know? Practice.

[kelefox]

Been feeling this for my drawing lately. We need more visible imperfection. Slowly, slowly, we might chip away at the idea that we're not valuable in our raw creative forms ❤️

[thebearthatreads]

WIP Chimera: Characters

So for some reason WordPress didn't share this blog post here automatically (annoyingly). Rather for copying it all and posting it onto here, I'm posting the link to my website and putting the mood boards I created for the three characters discussed in the post below the cut. I hope you like them!

People on a Page

True to my word the Wednesday prompt smash pieces are on hiatus this month, I’m still planning to smash them out as bonus posts for next mon

Ginny Fong:

Adrian Mollark:

Charity:

[kelefox]

Love a mood board! (I'm terrible at them, lol) And oof, those teeth...

[kelefox]

Question re: love triangles...

OG Phantom of the Opera is a love triangle. Personally, I don't much like them, mostly because in stories they are often unbelievable and predictable. I'm open to writing one, but I'm wary of massive power differences (eg 1000 year old god in love with human, 25) adding to the incredulity.

Do I keep the Phantom/Christine/Raoul triangle?

Love triangles in fantasy?

Love a love triangle. Keep it. Put more shapes in.

Hard pass. Never works. Remove.

Triangle, but make it obviously flawed, and that's the point.

Doesn't matter as long as the angst is at 11!

Voting ended onNov 17, 2023

(feel free to vote about love triangles in general if you wish!)

[blue-eyed-author]

Ways to add to your Word Count (For Nano):

Write any scene (it doesn’t have to be in order).

Write dialogue.

Outline or write some plot points.

Don’t delete. If you remove a scene, a paragraph, a line: count it. You wrote it. It counts.

Write setting descriptions.

Write character descriptions.

Write last line ideas.

If you have other ways to add to your word count, you can share them here to help other writers.

[kelefox]

All of this! Writing isn't smashing out a neat first draft and calling it done. Writing is thinking and planning and throwing words at pages and rewriting and deleting and more thinking and editing until eventually there is something like a story. It all counts!

[kelefox]

NaNo update (Phantom retelling)

Working title for this project is One Masked Ball, from the original text:

None will ever be a true Parisian who has not learned to wear a mask of gaiety over his sorrows and one of sadness, boredom or indifference over his inward joy. In Paris, our lives are one masked ball. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

Lagging slightly behind target at 13k words, but that's okay. I tend to accelerate towards the end of the month (because that's not stressful at all, haha).

Five hundred years since her last promise-binding, and the shiver over Viviane's skin was as familiar as if it had been yesterday. A mask. She wondered. It was a coincidence, surely. But again, like yesterday, ancient words drifted through her mind. You don’t have to hide from me. My love, it’s not you. It’s the look in your eyes. Give me the mask.

My WIPs for most of this year so far have been pretty light-hearted, but I wrote that last line at the end of chapter 1 and felt the darkness settle over my soul. And I love it. Hello, my old friend ;)

[thebearthatreads]

As I find myself grappling with difficult emotions that my writing today invoked here's a quick reminder to everyone to take time for yourself!

It's okay to not be okay, to feel your feelings and to sit in them.

If you're a fellow writer or a different kind of creative and you're working on something which dredges into your own psyche and pulls deep from your well, please be kind to yourself!

Take care everyone ❤️

[kelefox]

"working on something which dredges into your own psyche and pulls deep from your well"

Especially this. Writing is working. Staring at the cursor blinking is working. Curling in a ball on the carpet and rocking because a) you've dug up something in yourself that has turned around and kicked you in the stomach or b) the creating itself has kicked you in the stomach or c) your psyche and your project have BOTH kicked you in the stomach is working. Don't pile on the punches because you didn't put scribbles on paper. Give yourself permission to do the work in whatever form it takes!

[kelefox]

The Phantom

Estelle is my Phantom, sketched here before she became the unbecoming Opera Ghost.

Vibe: tortured, twisted, ruthless. don't look at me (but also please don't leave)

I had her kill me. I bound her, despite swearing I never would again, and I made her promise to kill me. She couldn’t understand, couldn’t know it wasn’t possible. All I needed was for her to believe it. I am a Lochtal. Two parts light of the universe, one part human belief. That’s what holds us together. That part that we gave away at the start of it all, that piece of ourselves to make humanity. The human belief can die. Indeed, for many of the Lochtals, it has already happened.

When I was looking for a Ghost, I initially wondered if they could actually be a ghost for a twist. But this story is set in the same universe as my other works, and Lochtals – mythical beings from the beginning of time – deserve some love!

[keysandopenmind]

Does anyone have any recommendations for urban fantasy books or series where the love interest is not some super duper hot, confident, put together guy who the heroine is lusting over from the first chapter, and constantly distracted by during major events going forward?

I don't necessarily mind this but I'd just love something with a more awkward, nerdy, fumbling and/or shy love interest that the heroine wants to get to know rather than just jump the first chance she gets. Maybe he even wears glasses!

Bonus points for witches, baking magic, coziness, underground magical societies, mysteries.

[kelefox]

Yes to this! I enjoy tall, dark and handsome as much as the next hopeless romantic, but it's really nice to come across some variation. I especially love it when male love interests don't have perfectly chiseled musculature 😂 (or sculpted hourglass figures, for females) I can't think of any that tick all those boxes, though! If you're willing to compromise on the fantasy part, Livia Day writes cozy mysteries with lovable and varied characters. The Cafe La Femme series isn't magic, but there is mouthwatering baking, mystery and a play on the handsome love interest trope. Romance is very much subplot, though. Tansy Rayner Roberts (same author, Day is a pen name) does write lots of witchy fiction and magical cozy mystery. The Belladonna U series is FABULOUS, but the main love interest is super hot. Definitely hasn't got his life together though, if that'll do!

[keysandopenmind]

HOW COULD I FORGET TANSY RAYNER ROBERTS!

I love Belladonna U! It's such a unique series. And I actually have one of her more recent books unread on my Kindle! Bumping it right up the TBR.

I had no idea she had a pen name. Definitely checking out Livia Day, as I enjoy a cozy mystery, too!

[kelefox]

AAAHHHH A FELLOW TRR FAN! I'm so happy to just exist right now <3 <3 <3