Welcome to my timeline of novel writing! I remember wanting to write a book ever since I was four or five years old, and I did attempt to write them throughout my elementary school years, but those stories don’t really count as novels, so this timeline begins from when I was 15 and finished my first “real” novel (=a novel length story).
I included the completed ones, and some in-progress works as well, but not the projects that didn’t go beyond the first chapter, because there were too many of those at one point, when I was never satisfied with anything I started. (My vision was always so grand compared to my writing skills, haha.)
Obviously, I can’t share the actual manuscripts, because I might still rewrite even some of the older stories and seek publication for them. But if you’re curious about an overview, some excerpts from old work I don’t plan to publish/plan to rewrite completely, some drawings and other musings, that’s what you’ll get.
(The word counts refer to the Finnish manuscripts unless otherwise specified. Most of my novels don’t have a full English manuscript, only parts that I’ve translated for fun and practise. If they were translated, the approximate word count would be about a third more: 60,000 words in Finnish would be about 80,000 words in English. I’m attempting to translate some novels in the future, to have more options open.)
In each book’s description I included a part that describes the ideal reader, but you should know that if you don’t like character-driven, dialogue heavy stories that focus a lot on psychology and relationships, then you probably shouldn’t read any of my stuff. 🙂
If you would like to beta read some of my projects, send a message to eve-moon@outlook.com. Or contact me another way if we have a connection in social media or something. ^^ I’ll need both Finnish- and English-speaking beta readers for many of my projects at some point, and I’ll remember you when the time comes. If you’re interested in beta reading in general but new to it, here’s a good article for you.
EXCERPTS AND OTHER STUFF WILL BE UPLOADED AS I HAVE TIME.
Linnea of Senjova (2009)
My first novel was a ballet story. How surprising! (Certainly not, if you know me.)
Linnea is an 11-year-old girl who lives and breathes ballet. She and her ballet friends are attempting to get into a prestigious imaginary ballet school called Bujor, after they graduate elementary school. (The name was taken from a French author I liked at the time.) However, life at their small town ballet school of Senjova (name shamelessly taken from my own ballet teacher) is full of drama and competition as well.
Heavily influenced by Ballet for Drina by Jean Estoril. Was supposed to be a series with the titles all being like: Linnea of [insert the name of the current ballet school or other location]. But I came to my senses, and stopped after the first chapter of the second book, because there was nothing remotely original about this story, and the setting wasn’t believable at all.
Ideal reader: I don’t want to say no one, because I liked it so much while I was writing it, and, well, every story has its readers. So, someone who is interested in ballet, and also interested in me so much that getting to know what I wrote as a kid is rewarding in itself. Even better if you’re not bothered by an unrealistic amount of career-driven 11-year-olds.
Finished / Middle Grade, Sports, Slice of Life, Drama / 300 hand-written A4 pages
FINNISH EXCERPTS / DRAWINGS / OLD BLOG POST
Dancing Beauty (2010)
A Sleeping Beauty inspired ballet story that recycled the better plot elements from Linnea, with a fantastical spin. Sessa is a 14-year-old girl who swore she’d never dance again. (Name is a wordplay on the Finnish word for “princess”.) Sessa is rather peculiar: She’s clumsy, and it seems like she has no idea what she’s doing most of the time, but her intuition leads her to the finish line, through what seems like a meaningless struggle to an outsider’s eye. That’s how Sessa ends up at Indigo Academy, too, and meets people who shake her resolve. Sessa finds her love of dancing again, but Indigo Academy is full of things and people as peculiar as herself, such as a fairy who can’t leave the backstage, and a girl who is attuned to everyone’s mindscape except for her own. And why don’t the seasons change, and why is Sessa the only one who seems to notice?
Might rewrite this as a children’s book at some point.
Ideal reader: Someone who likes whimsical or a bit odd characters, and isn’t bothered by a world that is more on the surrealistic side, and doesn’t always follow cold hard logic. Fairytale lovers.
In-progress / Middle Grade, Fantasy / 30,000 words
FINNISH EXCERPTS / DRAWINGS
Mr Forrest & Cherry (2011)
It started as a school play with my drama group: a comedic detective story called Case Casanova, and no, it had nothing to do with the famous Casanova, it was just a name I liked for some reason. It was about two detectives, one whose main interest was surpassing the other, and one who was actually interested in solving the murder of Hannibal Casanova. It later developed into a novel idea, with a mix of prose and comic pages, because I was into that type of storytelling at the time. The story became more serious, and the main characters changed a lot:
Valter Forrest and Cherry Stone live in a Steampunk-ish patriarchal society where gender roles are strictly defined. Valter is a bored aristocrat whose father wants him to “become” something, anything. Valter never intended to become a detective, but everyone seems to expect him to become one, after he (accidentally) solves a murder, and his name is all over the news. Charismatic Valter is more inclined to be a performer, but his father would never allow it, so he hasn’t even considered the possibility seriously. Then Valter meets Cherry, a brilliant, but highly illegal detective, who needs obscurity to do her job, because she’s a woman. Could playing Cherry’s front be the performance of young Mr Forrest’s life?
I decided pretty early on, that I didn’t yet have the drawing or the writing skills to tell this story as I wanted it, but I mean to revisit it at some point in the future.
Ideal reader: Someone who likes classic detective stories (basically Conan Doyle’s and Christie’s) more than modern ones, but isn’t so serious about it that elements of fantasy and romance being thrown in there would make them uncomfortable.
In-progress / Speculative Fiction, Mystery, Romance / 20,000 words + a few dozen comic sketches
COMIC SKETCHES / DRAWINGS
Ashland (Solumea 1) (2012)
Evangelica Weil disappeared when she was ten years old, and has made her living as a mercenary for years. Sofie Zeralde is an alchemist in the service of the chief of the clan, and when Evangelica returns, Sofie isn’t exactly ready to welcome her old best friend home with open arms. Ririn Beldin, a healer, wants to side with her friend Sofie, but there’s something about Evangelica that keeps drawing Ririn closer. The chief, Hart Mikia has plans for all three. But he has his doubts about Evangelica’s background. Why is it, that peculiar incidents seems to follow her, why did she decide to come back home now, and why did she leave in the first place?
I’m creating a comic based on this story, so on this page I’m only sharing spoiler-free content, or scenes I don’t plan to use in the comic.
Ideal reader: Someone who enjoys the more everyday aspects of magic, and doesn’t need the plot to be moving towards the epic and world shattering aspects at all times.
Finished + an in-progress rewrite attempt / Young Adult, High Fantasy, Episodic / 115,000 words + a 40,000 word rewrite attempt
ENGLISH EXCERPTS / FINNISH EXCERPTS / CHARACTER STUDIES / CHARACTER MEMES
COMIC SKETCHES / DRAWINGS
Anem (2012)
Dina is a good girl. She picks up flowers every morning, to put on the altar of her family’s home. She’s chaste, she’s beautiful. She fears God. Semira is a “Wild One”, she rarely goes to church, she speaks out of turn. She could be beautiful, if her hair wasn’t so short. Dina doesn’t think it’s her job to save Semira. After all, if the Fathers don’t know how to help the girl, how could she? But Dina keeps ending up spending time with her anyway, and the more she does, the stronger the big black swirling something grows in her stomach. There’s clearly something very wrong about Semira. And there’s something wrong about the woods surrounding their isolated village. Dina knows she’s supposed to stay away, but Semira keeps going into the woods.
Another project I put aside, because I didn’t trust my plotting abilities yet. To be rewritten in the future.
Ideal reader: Someone who has a philosophical or psychological interest in theology and is comfortable with uncertainty and, at times, confusion.
In-progress / Speculative Fiction, Religion, Horror / Several rewrite attempts that are each about 20,000 words
ENGLISH EXCERPTS / FINNISH EXCERPTS / DRAWINGS
Sand Castle (Solumea 2) (2014)
Evangelica, Ririn and Sofie continue to deal with magical problems and their personal lives. They have a name and a face for the threat to their home island now, but it only seems to bring more questions. Hart Mikia decides to take a dangerous trip to the castle of the island’s king, and he needs the help of the three again, among other people who make the journey interesting.
Finished / Young Adult, High Fantasy, Episodic / 90,000 words
The Corners of the Closet (2016)
Jaro is asexual and he has never met another ace. He was forced out of the closet when someone saw him reading a book about asexuality at school, back when no one knew what it was yet. His classmates made a big deal out of it, and now, a second-year in high school, Jaro still kind of has the label of an “impotent monk weirdo”. His closeted gay-best-friend Venla wants him to go to an ace meet up in the city, but Jaro is fundamentally against trying to make friends with anyone based solely on their sexuality. At least until his conservative school counsellor thinks he needs therapy, because he punched one of his bullies. Jaro discovers a need to vent, and preferably to someone who really gets it. Among other people, he meets Alina, another ace, who coincidentally has just moved to Jaro’s home town, and needs help picking a high school. Jaro is over the moon about his new friend, and Alina’s presence helps him deal with the fact that some people in his life still think he just needs to get laid to fix all of his perceived problems. Venla is struggling to conform with her girl group, where one can only be certain things and talk about select topics. Alina’s life is driven by the need to experience everything, whether it’s about trying all the cakes in a café, or driving across the country to help a friend, which steers both Jaro’s and Venla’s life in ways they didn’t expect.
This one became my second published novel by Nysalor in 2022. (In Finnish.)
Ideal reader: Someone who thinks a slightly info dumpy, character-driven “issue book” sounds like fun, and would appreciate a subversion of the Gay Best Friend and Manic Pixie Dream Girl tropes.
Finished / Young Adult, LGBT+ / 75,000 words
Against the Door to Emptiness (2017)
A spirit-like creature, who needs music for energy, lives in a girl’s head. What eventually became my debut novel, with a different title. Here’s how it happened. The book is now available in Finnish with the title Unitytöt (=Dreamgirls) published by Nysalor 2021.
Ideal reader: Someone who loves both Venom and Anne of Green Gables.
Finished / Young/New Adult, Fantasy, Romance, LGBT+ / 71,000 words
DRAWINGS
Drummer (2018)
Lilea hates her magical music school.
Ideal reader: Someone who appreciates realism in their fantasy stories and doesn’t feel any trope is sacred. Interest in religion doesn’t hurt.
Finished / Young Adult, High Fantasy / 78,000 words
DRAWINGS
Singer (2019)
Sequel to Drummer.
Finished / Young Adult, High Fantasy / 77,000 words
Fairytale Girls (2021)
Five girls and five different intermingling stories about growing up.
Pretty much the only book I’ve ever started that was inspired by real people and real events. The idea had been sitting in my head for ages because I wanted to be sure how to go about it. Then I got an uncontrollable need to write the first girl’s story, but the other four are still waiting for the perfect angle to emerge.
The first book I’m writing in English first, to see how it goes.
Ideal reader: Someone who loves both contemporary, literary-ish fiction and dark fairytales.
In-progress / Magical Realism, Coming-of-age, Gothic / 23,000 words
The stuff I wrote before finding a publisher ends here. I’ll make a separate page for my publication journey.
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