This is sort of my “writing goal update” post for the week because this is really all that I’ve worked on over the past few days. Mostly it’s an idea I got from a post a tumblr friend made about about characters’ rooms. That post made me think because my characters don’t really have permanent homes for most of the trilogy. Adair and Firedrake have been living out of inns before the story starts- Adair as a cartographer and Dray as a solo traveling performer. Blythe, Etri, and Sol have wagons since they’re part of a carnival troupe, but even then they’re not always staying in them. In book 2 Adair and Etri stay at the Artisans’ guild while Blythe and the twins stay at the caravanserai (sort of an apartment complex for the carnies who live in the capital city) because the wagons are too big to take into cities. In book 3 they’re all sent to a different country via a magical doorway so they’re going to be staying wherever they can crash. So I decided to draw where they spend the most amount of time in book one: their wagons.

I decided on Blythe’s wagon (rather than Etri and Sol's) since that’s where Adair and Firedrake also stay in book 1, and those three are my POV characters. I call these things “wagons”, but they’re more like a cross between a motorhome and a cabin that floats about a foot off the ground. Blythe’s wagon is cozy and inviting. She’s kept most of the wood its natural color and tends to decorate in earth tones. Book 1 takes place in late winter, so there are only a few plants growing. Later in the year there’d be racks of flower pots near the windows and plants growing in window boxes outside, too. Blythe’s a healer who loves plants, so there are always herbs and flowers in her wagon regardless of the time of year. On the walls are some of her weapons, although there should be more than this. Blythe started out life as a Protectorate (the group that guards art and trade) and currently works as a blade performer with her carnival troupe. She does fiber arts as a hobby, so she’s the one who embroidered her curtain and she crocheted the rug that the cat’s sleeping on. (This isn’t tie dye, although it came out looking that way, lol.) The counter at the back is the sink and her kitchen/work space where she prepares her healing stuff. To the right is the stove. Her bed is behind the green curtain on the left. (The rectangles below this are steps recessed into the wood and drawers below these, cabinets next to this). Behind the door is a small bathroom the size of the nook where the stove is. The curtains and the chair cushions are made from the same olive green fabric. The hatch on the ceiling leads to storage space under the roof.

Most of this wagon is Blythe’s because it’s her home, but Adair and Firedrake have things here, too. Neither of them possess much since they travel all the time. (Adair’s a cartographer, Dray’s a solo performer.) Adair’s possessions all fit into that backpack and the trunk against the back wall. Otherwise he just has his blankets and pillow. His sketchbook and pencil are sitting on the bed because he always has these out! Firedrake lost most of their possessions in a fire, so Dray has even less than they normally would. The stuffed dragon was a gift from their mother when they were really young- Dray has always been obsessed with dragons. The things on the chair are Dray’s coat, a hairbrush, and their ribbon. (Each troupe has a specific ribbon that everyone who’s a member wears. Dray hasn’t lived with this troupe in a few years, but they’re still a member, so they still have this ribbon. It’s a minor plot point, along with the dragon.) The curtain hanging in front of the other bed has bells sewn to it and it’s the only thing Blythe kept of Firedrake’s after Dray moved out about two years before book 1. (Dray and Blythe are siblings-by-choice and lived together for a while. Blythe didn’t like the way they decorated, but never got around to changing this curtain.) The cat is technically Adair’s and her bowls are over to the right.

I’m super proud of this drawing because I don’t think I’ve ever drawn anything like this before! It’s pretty darn close to how I picture Blythe’s wagon to look. It took me days to finish this, but I think it was worth the time because now I can see where they live. :) I’m a little disappointed that coloring it in took away some of the detail, so I uploaded a picture of what it looked like before I colored it, too. I started drawing Etri and Sol’s wagon, but it wasn’t coming out right- I might finish that later. For now I’m done with drawing for a while.

This week I'm hoping to get back into working on books 1 or 2, whichever calls to me more.  Besides the drawing, I did a little writing for book 1 last week, but only about a scene and a half. I have a few days off this week (although that's including Thanksgiving and I'm not expecting to get much done that day) so maybe I'll be able to actually write. Fingers crossed!

~Meri