#cavernousask

[kjscottwrites]

What inspired you to write Cavernous? Was it a "why does nobody write X" moment? A character idea that wouldn't leave you alone? World building that finally found a story to go with it?

Thanks sm for the question!! <3

Cavernous was my covid project - I was struggling to work on anything creative during this time and really needed something light and fun to work on without too much pressure. This was right around that time was when Ruby Dixon's barbarian series was getting really popular, and I loved the self-indulgent silliness of this creative prompt which involved putting mostly ordinary, contemporary characters in an outlandish situation and figuring out how on earth they're going to turn the situation sexual. A friend at work and I were chatting about this, and she asked me where I would set a goofy romance novel if I wrote one, and I said "a cave" as mostly a joke. But, by the end of the workday I had rough-outlined pretty much the whole book.

At the time, my friends and I had been discussing the bachelor/bachelorette franchise and watching a lot of reality tv trash, so elements of that got thrown in. My own more general love for ambitious women scientist characters (Susan Calvin, Ellie Sattler, Jo Harding, etc) drove the character development. The cultural setting was mostly ancillary to the fact that the deepest caves in the world are in fact actually in Georgia, so I ran with the Eastern European influences from there.

Blocking out the concept and plot came first, then the characters, and then last came the sense that this could actually be something real, as opposed to a just-for-fun writing exercise to get me out of my pandemic depression funk. And now it's this! My first book! Whoda thunk ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[kjscottwrites]

Sequel?? Sequel to Cavernous please?? !!!

I'm licheralllllly working on it right now <3

[kjscottwrites]

As one of the beta readers, I'm really interested to know what the major changes are going to be for the final draft of Cavernous, if you feel like talking about them!

OOH yeah I'm kinda dying to talk about it actually so ty! I'll try to give an overview without being too spoilery.

I'm relieved to say that there are no major structural/developmental changes, and that basically everything on the docket is small adjustments to internal character voice and dialog to make sure everyone's motivations are as clear as possible, their arcs are distinctive, and the conversations, u know, crackle. Joanna got the most notes and is undergoing the most changes (Which didn't not surprising! She's been a challenging character for me to nail.) This is mostly going to be about turning the dial up on her sense of adventure/enthusiasm and adding more of her backstory (esp. around her parents & upbringing) to contextualize her decision making - in the grand scheme she should still feel like the Joanna that's already in the text, just with more of her to chew on.

In fact, a lot of the changes are about just adding more context and backstory, so while I really am trying not to balloon the word count too much, I've accepted that this thing is going to probably end up sitting between 120k and 125k words. (It's at like 118k currently) Thankfully I already had my meltdown about not being able to scrunch it under 100k, and I've since made my peace with it 🙏 bless

This is getting long, here's a cut!

The two chapters that are getting overhauled, 20 and 28, are both largely about getting Mikah into the story more - he's so important but remains in the background for so much of the story. In both of these I'm doing some cutting - there will be a little less javelin throwing and certain long carriage convos will become shorter carriage convos, and in exchange there will be a little more elder prince drama, so hopefully that's good news!

There's also going to be a lot of shuffling and adjustment going on with the minor and side characters in order to poise readers for book two which is fun! Gareina, the pretty courtesan who helps Joanna, has been renamed to Corina by an overwhelming committee vote of "how the hell do you pronounce that?" and she'll have some different under-the-surface motivations than her current iteration in order to align with her role in book 2, which is small but important. Characters like Sian (Pritta's politically angling cousin), Olma (Stacker's dance partner), and Martem (Mikah's scribe) are all getting slightly expanded roles, also because of their importance in book 2. In exchange, characters who are there but aren't really important (Like Leti, Vanda, Horus, Evie, etc.) will no longer be named or focused on in order to streamline things and make it easier to recall who's who.

I'm also going to be planting little teeny hints of a new character! He'll be very minor in book 1 and very much not minor in book two :) Lots of beta readers noted the ending as being abrupt so I'll be adding a very short epilogue that will serve as a check-in and segue-way as well. Plotting out book 2 ahead of finishing book 1 turned out to be a great strategy, and I'm just desperately trying not to get ahead of myself and start diving into the next installment before I get this first one locked!

[kjscottwrites]

If Cavernous ever WAS adapted to a visual medium, what other ideas do you have for shooting locations, actors, etc?

So like, my boring answer is that IRL if i was approached for an adaptation I ............ actually very much would not option the rights 😅

BUT if we ignore the boring answer? 👀 WELL.

Reiterating this ancient post I made about it - I'd want a 9-10 ep. series on Starz showrun by Catherine Hardwicke and starring Zazie Beetz as Joanna 100%. I actually don't have a ton of strong preferences for the other cast members! I have some faceclaims, but for most of those, idk if they'd work actor wise? Here's some ideas --

Irina - Maybe Alycia Debnam-Carey (she's a bit too young though) or Phoebe Tonkin?

Carmen - Auliʻi Cravalho is the obvious choice, and a pretty good one, but the vibes/look are not a bullseye!

Luka - Simon Baker.... but he's too old now. Could Sam Reid do it?????? I'd sure like to see him with the mustache.

Tati: Jodie Whittaker......? HM

The others are a huge question mark for me idk! Consider me open for suggestions!!

I imagine a huge ammt of it would have to be shot on a lot, but otherwise I think it would be a dream to shoot on location in Türkiye and Georgia. Locations like uhhh this cave monastery, and this cave monastery, oh and also this cave monastery? Or any number of mind-bogglingly cool historical sites/churches/ruins in this area. I think Cappadocia would cover a lot of ground on its own!

Ironically I'd probably shoot a lot of the caving-caving stuff in the USA's version of Georgia, because of Ellison's Cave, idk (and i highly doubt!) if you can get permits to film in here, but since this is a fantasy hypothetical world, I say I can. She's a stunner and very visually similar to Krubera, which is my fictional cave's sister cave, geographically.

......... and like, now that I'm here, thinking about it, if I couldn't get Hardwicke...... I'd want Baz and Catherine on it .................... 👀 omg. Wait. No. Omg...... can u imagine...

anyway, this is literally such a meandering answer aldkjfl;akjf and I don't want to go all the way down this rabbit hole because I think this story works best as a book! But ty for the ask, this is a fun thought experiment!

[kjscottwrites]

Happy WBW! I'm izzy, a new writerblr!

What kind of language does your world have?

Hi Izzy!! 👋👋 Welcome to writeblr!

This is such a great question! My setting is contemporary and in real world Georgia with English-speaking characters but most of the story takes place in an underground fantasy kingdom that's somewhat caught in an ancient time! They speak their own language called "Inimari" (working name on that don't quote me lol) and I get past the language barrier with a magic mineral that works like a universal translator when you ingest it.

I use it as a plot device in the story where the characters don't know how long the effects of the rock last. It rachets up tensions since they're at risk of losing their ability to speak in the native language at any time. It's a fun little side plot that runs through the story (and makes it so I don't have to write a whole conlang, phew 😅)

Ty! <3

[kjscottwrites]

I mean..... I would absolutely love to hear about the mushroom leather darling even if it has to be killed. That sounds fascinating 👀 (and this way we can keep it alive in loving memory)

Ah ty! 😅 I was kinda being a baby when I made that post bc this is not actually that long of a paragraph, and for all the research I did about non-animal leather, this is all that made it on the page:

Amongst it all, Kostas warned them against anything that might betray them as “lowborn.” Trousers were discouraged unless worn with a specific formal coat. Bronze embellishments were strictly forbidden, as was anything worn on their feet more substantial than an anklet. Shoes were more or less non-existent for the upper echelon, and Kostas lamented not being able to offer them any despite his love for sandal-making. His own shoes were made of a supple, blotted leather made of mushrooms which he called “toadhide,” despite not quite knowing what a toad was. When Carmen tried to describe one to him, he concluded she was describing a mythical beast, and would not be convinced otherwise. The mushroom leather, he explained, was reviled uniquely by nobility for its rustic quality. Luxury, after all, was the lifeblood of Inim.

Anyway, this paragraph is gone from the draft (RIP), but you can google "amadou" as a good jumping off point to learn about mushroom leather! Mushroom leather gets touted as a really new alternative to animal leather in the fashion space, but in reality we've been using variations of it for 5,000+ years for all sorts of stuff. It's specifically used to make really kickass hats in Transylvanian folk art!

Since Cavernous takes place in eastern europe and has a very mushroom-y aesthetic, I wanted to try and incorporate it, but I didn't find a way to bring "toadhide" back into the story after this first mention. Plus, I've got plenty of other similar cute moments in the story of the girls trying to use animal metaphors with Stacker and him being confused due to his lack of exposure to anything besides fish and bugs. So, ultimately, not much is lost in this moment with Kostas about toads (even though I really like it 😭).

[kjscottwrites]

Hi! What elements from books / shows / things you like are present in your WIPs? Can you trace each WIP back to their main inspiration source(s)? (hope the question makes sense, I'm lurking in inboxes trying to be more writeblr-active)

Hi! Thanks for this question this is great!

Cavernous is fun bc of how contained it is, I literally remember the exact conversation that spawned it (in my office cubicle, whilst not getting work done lol) so here's the thread of how it all started:

A friend/coworker and I were chatting about Ruby Dixon's books and her sudden viral success and wondered aloud "how would *I* do a self-indulgent fantasy romance series if I was going to take a stab at it?" and I posited that I'd want to use a really novel setting that I've never seen a romance writer use before - like what? - ummm underground? In a cave maybe? - like in the descent? - yeah! With the hot girl spelunkers and everything! But no scary gremlin men, only hot men - okay so cavemen? - no..... No like.... Sexy elfen lost world princes - what are they doing down there? - um idk...looking for wives? - oh, so like they're hosting a cave version of the bachelor down there? - Yes. Yes. Exactly.

Obviously what started out as .... an irl shitpost basically (almost two years ago now!) has since evolved into something much richer and more involved that I love and take very seriously lmaooo 😅 Ideas come from anywhere I guess! I owe a lot of thanks to Ruby Dixon, Neil Marshall, and Chris Harrison!

[kjscottwrites]

btw I read the cavernous chapter excerpts and what can I say I'm hooked! excited for the court politics and erotica down the line but the science is what got me engaged so I'm excited for more (O_O is there more science)

AH gosh thank you so much! I'm super glad you liked it!!

One of my big goals for my current edit, actually, is to not neglect the fact that my characters are all scientists once they're embroiled in the drama 😅 There's definitely some there already, but in this draft I'm working on now, I'll be integrating a lot more geology expertise into the back half of the story!