I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year! Can you believe I’ve been doing it since 2011 and only skipped two years completely. Out of the eight years I’ve competed, I’ve won five times. In 2017 I wrote 118,000 words in a month which is both amazing and horrifying this when I think about it.
Surprising no one, I’m being a NaNo rebel and continuing to work on my never-ending Demon WIP (it’s working title is We Who Refuse to Die). It’s an adult fantasy noir with elements of horror and conspiracy thrillers. It’s about a group of Demons, warlords, mad scientists, and intrepid scholars working together to overthrow a corrupt theocracy while avoiding the Church’s (un)holy assassins.
Read More: 2022 NaNoWriMo Project – We Who Refuse to Die
It has the “isn’t it great being monsters” vibe from Nightmare before Christmas with the somber, “only the damned will ever care for each other” feel from Penny Dreadful and the messed up relations and preparation of human flesh from Hannibal (although I haven’t decided if Demons qualify as cannibals…). Mix all of that with continental politics and the rise of fascism found in Babylon Berlin and V for Vendetta and that’s the Demon book.
It continues the story started in the Queer Croc WIP, but it’s not a direct sequel. The idea is you can start with either book, but you need to read both of them to get the full story.
I’m on Chapter Seven of the seventh draft and it’s already 33K, so I just have to accept it’s going to be a chunky book. I’m hoping NaNo will push me through the part that always triggers a major rewrite and I can get to the halfway point in the book, but we’ll see.
Long synopsis
“If I only could
Make a deal with God
I’d get him to swap our places“-Placebo, Running Up that Hill
The city of Potushar is either on the brink of complete destruction or the rebirth of its past splendor and power. It all depends on whether Rashid, the depressed, suicidal, anxious, disastrous bi, trans prince can manage the many conflicting interests of the region and hold back the entire wrath and might of a vengeful and self-righteous God or if he’ll shatter before he even steps foot into the city.
Rashid isn’t alone, but he sometimes wishes he was. His allies include Nodira, his assassin turned wife who will risk war with the peoples of the North if it means solidifying their hold on the region beyond Potushar; Abdurauf, the opaque and unofficial mayor of Potushar who has survived warlord after warlord for two decades and he plans on surviving this one as well; Ecaterina, the one-eyed ‘mad’ scientist who believes that science can cure the worst of God’s curses; Sophia, Dmitri, and Vasily, the married trio with a surprising amount of secrets and maybe a weapon that can kill God; and finally, Rezan and Danijela, the monarchs of the Demons, who only want a place to call home, even if it means forever condemning Potushar from God’s grace and love.
Rashid’s attempts to bring peace to Potushar catches the eyes of the inquisitorial Timofey of the Crossnic Church. Timofey, along with the most ruthless and worst of the Crossnic Church, would rather see the city of Potushar burn, with Rashid and his allies in it, then admit a heathen could ever bring peace to a city that has only known violence for five decades. Timofey will do anything to see Potushar fall, even if that means manipulating God’s agenda to suit his own.
Rashid and his allies must work together to protect their home by overthrowing a corrupt theocracy or succumb to the Church’s assassins and overwhelming might.
TROPES!
- Bi, Poly, Pan, Ace Disasters
- Trans and NB Rep
- Demons
- Witches?
- (un)holy assassins
- Sewer adventures!
- Mad Scientists and their elaborate labs
- Monsters Fuckers and Lovers
- Exhausted, overworked, and underpaid newspaper staff
- a secret society
- weapon and drug smuggling
- Most Wanted “Criminals”
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Throuples
- Corrupt and suppressed Priests
- Grave robbing
MCs
Rashid of the Sundara
Theme Song:
“sends the black carriage the day Death shows its face
thinning our numbers with Kindness and Grace
and just as a Flower and its Fragrance are one
so must each of you and this Father become
now distribute my scepter, my crown and my throne
and all we’ve called ‘wealth’ to the poor and alone…“-The King Beetle on a Coconut Estate by mewithYou
Rashid the Chrysanthemum Prince of the Sundara is a man cursed to bring about the end of his family’s empire. He is hated by all of his siblings except one, his sister who sent him to Potushar to bring order to the region. His mother constantly tried to have him assassinated and he ended up marrying the last assassin she hired. He is one of only mortals to ever bind himself to a Demon with a blood oath.
Gorgeous artwork is by @sethpuertoluna
He is also an anxious, suicidal, depressed, bisexual disaster, and trans prince who no one really believes in but he’s all they have. While he tends to agree with his detractors, he is determined to make his sister proud and bring peace to the region. He just has to manage the desires of warlords, drug dealers, mad scientists, obnoxious scholars/reporters, and his new Demon neighbors while evading the Church’s assassins and preparing for the Church’s eventual invasion. Easy
Ecaterina Serzhankyzy
Theme song:
“Darling
Just don’t put down your guns yet
If there really was a God here
He’d have raised a hand by now“-Papillon, Editors
Ecaterina (they/she) is an orphan adopted into a family slaughtered during the Shadow War, embraced the Crossnic religion (unlike her brother who refused to convert and was nearly killed for his defiance), and became an (un)holy assassin. Befriended another questioning convert, Vasily Karaminov (he/him) who discovered the Church’s deepest, darkest secrets. She went down her own “sinful” path and studied the biological functions and components of Demons. She now believes the Demon condition is viral in nature and can be treated with modern medicine. She was stripped of her place within the Church and sent to one of their work camps to die. Now she must escape and head to Potushar to beg her rightfully angry brother for sanctuary.
Sophia Henderson-Karaminov-Xojaev
Theme song:
“It seemed like everyone I knew was dying
I looked in the mirror and I was on fire
Somebody yelled out “Hey, stop drop and roll”
I said “That might save my skin, but it won’t save my soul”“-Kimya Dawson, Fire
Sophia Henderson-Karaminov-Xojaev is a real estate agent turned cellist who manages the finances for a failing newspaper & secret society. had the bad luck of falling madly in love with two of Gargain’s most wanted expats: Vasily Karamoniv who knows the Church’s deepest, darkest secrets and plans to use them to destroy the Church and Dmitri Xojaev who has a lot of secrets and spilt a surprisingly large amount of blood for a ballerina. Being the most rational out of the three, it’s her responsibility to keep them alive and their newspaper/writing careers afloat. But when assassins force them to make a deal with Rashid and Rezan, it becomes clear that their martyrdom may be more useful to the royal pair than keeping them alive.
Danijela, Queen of the Demons
Theme song:
“And I said hello Satan, ah
I believe it is time to go
Me and the devil walkin’ side by side”-Soap&Skin, Me and the Devil
Danijela (the/she/he) is the leader of the Demons and partner to the father of All Demons, Rezan. Rezan is supposedly evil incarnate and is absolutely dedicated to her. He would do anything for her, including marching into Heaven and killing God for her. All she has to do is ask.
Together they defy the Church by building a sanctuary for all Demons and their supporters in God’s own “holy land”, right next to Rashid’s settlement. Despite being a Demon, Danijela desires peace more than anything and so makes an alliance with Rashid, encourages Vasily’s vendetta agenda the Church and allows Andra to study her people in hopes that someday they can find a “cure”. But as assassins infiltrate their settlement and the Church threatens to invade, Danijela may need to do the unforgivable to save her people and their supporters. She may have to ask Rezan to kill God.
Pepper Writes 