Beautiful Books 1: Introduce your Novel

So Paper Fury and Further up and Further in. is hosting Beautiful Books for NaNo again this year. It was great to participate last year (my past posts are here and here). I completely dropped the ball this year and didn't write my first post until RIGHT NOW. So I apologize for being late. But I will double post to catch up with the second prompt which is already out.

How did you come up with the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea? 

It's an old Korean myth/folktale about a Gumiho, nine-tailed fox that can shift into a beautiful woman. So I've had this idea swimming in my head for a couple of years. But I didn't have the confidence to commit to it until now.

Why are you excited to write this novel? 

Ummm, because it's about a nine-tailed shape-shifting fox.

Also, because it's a love story. And it's got a lot of K-Drama elements and I'm a K-Drama nut.
AND I get to look at beautiful inspiration like these GIFs:

What is your novel about, and what is the title? 

I think I jumped the gun in answering this question. But to go into more detail it is about a girl who is a gumiho, but doesn't really want to be. She's never had a regular life or real connections. And she meets a boy who is also lonely in his life. They fall in love, but of course things get kind of complicated along the way.

The working title is "Gumiho."

Sum up your characters in one word each. (Feel free to add pictures!) 

Hahn Jihoon - Detached

Gu Miyoung - Lonely

 Gu Yena - Cold

Which character(s) do you think will be your favourite to write? Tell us about them! 

I really do enjoy writing Jihoon and Miyoung. But there is a side character that comes in later in the book named Junu. He's a bit of a ladies' man and he has a mysterious past as well.

What is your protagonist’s goal, and what stands in the way? 

Miyoung deciding between her love for her mother (her gumiho side) and her love for Jihoon (her human side), and eventually having to deal with the consequences of her own disastrous choices.

Where is your novel set? (Show us pictures if you have them!) 

Modern day Seoul, South Korea

What is the most important relationship your character has? 

The relationship between the two mains is the most explored. But there is a huge theme of their relationships with their parents.

How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel? 

Miyoung learns that she cannot always lean on others in her search to define herself.

Jihoon learns how he hides himself behind these fake personas he creates for himself and that trusting other people might be worth it even if he does get hurt in the process.

What themes are in your book? How do you want your readers to feel when the story is over?
Three themes are: Love, Family, Search for self.

I want my readers to feel satisfied. Like everything happened the way it should have.

BONUS! Tell us your 3 best pieces of advice for others trying to write a book in a month.

Advice for people trying to do NaNoWriMo: Don't edit. You'll want to. But you can't, because the editing bug is strong and you will start to tweak things and get caught up in that. Edit in December. For November, write your heart out!

Join along in the fun here!