My novel project is called SC.
Yet I have a brand new title and idea for this project. I have to thank the inspiration that I got for the novel.
The Crown x House of the Dragon x Scandal
Lookie here!
Title of the Novel: The Mask of the Sovereign.
Novel’s Summary:What really goes on behind the Alagossian Great Palace? Many people who past the massive palace walls, don’t know, but do know that great and powerful people live there. Amongst those people is a notorious man named Anjan Terris, the Imperial Fixer-Upper. Anjan’s duties are to keep the imperial family and court stable by fixing the problems that the members face while keeping the public ignornant to what really goes on. Ten years ago, Anjan left the palace to handle familial problems and keep the past from returning, but came back to handle the problems of the court once again since the former Sovereign’s death and the crowning of the new Sovereign, Lady Solana. Anjan has to not only help a certain newly crowned Sovereign maintain order in her court, but deal with the problems of the court and the government overall. As Anjan takes on many challenges in his life from troubles in his past and the dilemma of his future, one thing is certain, he does his best to establish order for the Sovereign while keeping the public from losing face. Yes, Anjan is a feared but respected man, a man who is the mask behind the Sovereign’s court. This is his story.
Okay I find your summary quite interesting and so does the title. It reminds me of another mask-related book I’ve encountered and I’m quite keen on seeing your version to the mask trope. Anyways, here’s my feedback:))
Regarding the summary, I think it could benefit from more depth, particularly in explaining why Anjan is labelled as “notorious”. Some sentences could definitely be shorter to enhance readability, and maintaining a consistent tense would improve the narrative flow. I get why you mentioned Anjan’s past actions, but I feel like it might require some creative restructuring. So you could either start your summary of with that and tweak around with the tense so that it matches the rest of your summary. You could also subtly slide in his past without making an obvious change in tense …it’s really up to you at the end of the day!
I also think that the word “problem” is overused and could be replaced with more varied terminology. Here’s my suggestion on how you could rewrite the first part of your summary:
Behind the grand walls of the Alagossian Great Palace, powerful figures reside, their true actions hidden from public view. Among them is Anjan Terris, the Imperial Fixer-Upper. Known for his ability to stabilize the imperial family and court, Anjan is a figure of both fear and respect.
Please don’t take offence to my criticism - I just think honest feedback helps a lot, especially from a discerning reader such as myself. Anyways, despite the areas that need improvement, your summary sounds promising
Awesome sauce! Sounds like you’ve gotten your ducks in a row, and I’m so glad you could finally zero in on one character. Hopefully it’ll go a lot quicker and easier from now on. Are you writing it in first person or third?
I think Rachel Writes did a video recently on how she leaves big gaps in her outline so she can pants those parts and not get bored with the story before it’s finished. You could always do that. ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )
The only gripe is adding some romantic scenes and moments that the plot calls for sometimes.
I’ve never dated nor experienced romance to add that in my story. I hate adding something like that in my fiction, because I never went through it and rather not force it or make it feel ungodly awful yet fake as fuck.
Personally I think the best romance is just various acts of friendship. I hate to keep bringing up Song of Achilles, but it’s the best example of this I can think of. You know it’s a romance, but apart from one or two sex scenes (nothing graphic) there’s nothing particularly romantic, per se. It’s just two friends helping each other and doing things together, and apart. The mother of Achilles is a goddess, who in this book hates Patroclus, so she’s always doing things to split them up. Patty spends most of the book just following Achilles around and trying to find him after his mother has hidden him somewhere. You could easily write that kind of thing! Once two characters get together, usually all the romantic tension between them dies anyhow, so it’s better to keep them apart somehow. But while they’re apart they seek out each other, and worry about the other. ( ˆ◡ˆ)۶ ٩(˘◡˘ )
Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice that I think it’s supposed to be “passed”? I could be wrong. I get these confused all the darn time
I think it sounds good! Reminds me a little of Black Butler. Have you read it? Not the butler, but Anjan reminds me of the boy. Ciel? deals with taking care of all the dark on goings for the queen in secret. So, he takes care of the bad guys and is kind of exempt from the law somehow, so he can do illegal acts in order to take care of the bad guys. He’s called the hound of the queen or something like that. I like characters like that. They’re like anti-heroes or gray characters.
The Mask of the Sovereign or, you could say Sovereign’s Mask, I mean, whichever you want But it kind of sounds like the sovereign is doing bad things but hiding behind a mask, not like a person is hiding the Sovereign’s bad things from the public. From your summary it sounds like Anjan may be working in the shadows? Is Anjan working in secret? Do people know what he’s been doing this entire time? How about instead of Mask, you say Shadow? The Shadow of the Sovereign or Sovereign’s Shadow?
Those are just some thoughts I had. Take from it what you want. Good luck on your story
Everyone knows who Anjan is and they call on him to fix problems they don’t want the public to find out about. Whether it is scandalous, corruption, or simply private personal things that they want to keep hidden. Anjan’s job is to fix the issues but getting to the heart of what caused it and deal with both sides in a way that he can find a solution to deal with the problem for good. Many people love how he handles their issues, but also fears him because the man is powerful enough to make a Grand Dynasty collapse due to his fixing.
Anjan’s other goal is to help the Sovereign establish order in her court so that she can rule efficiently and focus on helping the people of the world. The Sovereign is not evil or corrupted, just lacks confidence and hides behind a mask she made for herself, forcing people to believe she is tough and scary, but really has lack of confidence and isn’t that experienced at ruling.
Anjan doesn’t want to take the position of Sovereign. Stuff like that doesn’t interest him. He just wants to help the royals and noble and the rich get their problems fixed and dealt with so that chaos doesn’t happen.
Maybe I might have to change the title, because it might not fit after all. Anjan isn’t a shadow, but rather the handyman who fixes the royal and over all rich people’s leaky faucets or cracked foundations to make them new again.
The public needs to know that within the Sovereign’s court there are people doing their duty to help the world, not chaos and disorder.
Supreme, High, and even Middle tier members of the court aren’t mortal…they’re gods and they work on a different level than the Lessers.
I am just afraid the romance will feel fake and cheesy.
Readers will read the story thinking that I clearly never been in love and is possibly delusional.
But it kind of sounds like the sovereign is doing bad things but hiding behind a mask, not like a person is hiding the Sovereign’s bad things from the public. From your summary it sounds like Anjan may be working in the shadows? Is Anjan working in secret? Do people know what he’s been doing this entire time? How about instead of Mask, you say Shadow? The Shadow of the Sovereign or Sovereign’s Shadow?