Meet the Books! - By the First Light of Dawn (What?! It's Back?)

I said back in May that there would be no more Meet the Books! posts. And, well... there won't... at least not any full ones, here. But, at that announcement, it seemed that there were a good few people who wished the return of Meet the Books!, and had further use for it. So, I intend to do it about every three months, perhaps, now, with a prospective WIP (as I have no more real ones to introduce myself) or with just the questions attached, for other bloggers to use the link-up to introduce their own works, especially since NaNo's started up. After that, perhaps, the feature may finally retire. For the moment, it shall remain in partial retirement, at any rate.

Anyways, getting down to the actual goings-on, I'm pretty sure most of you know the rules by now: answer the questions, use the picture if you like, and link it to me in a comment here so I can see the post. Like I said above, I used to make this central post for the link-up one of my stories, but I have no more full WIPs left for introducing. So, like with the last one (Pack Up Your Troubles), I'm going to use an "archive" story, yet to be written and mostly idea at present.

What is the genre?

The genre will hopefully be Fantasy, though it's not my strongest genre, so hold tight.

What is the title? Time period?

The title is By the First Light of Dawn, and, as some of my buddies here know, it is a retelling of Giselle. Due to this, it is in the same rough time period - the fifteenth century-ish.

How is it written (POV, main character, etc.)?

Not at all yet - I usually only write idea stories in summary form.

What is the setting?

A small, 1500's village in Rhineland (basically Germanic territory near the Rhine River). 

Who are the characters?

Giselle, of course, is the main character, and is pretty much the same as in the ballet - a motherly, if sickly, girl with a dream to dance and a thing for her sweetheart, Albrecht. The change I did make to her character will be explained momentarily. 

Albrecht is only known by Giselle as Loys/Loeys/Loes (I haven't decided which spelling I like better yet...). In reality, he is the prince of the province, engaged to a duchess from another... but in visiting the village once without regal train, he fell in love with the place's beauty, simplicity, and quiet, and came afterwards in disguise as the fictional shepherd, Loys. While there, he fell in love with more than the village... Giselle. But he was already betrothed from birth, so things could get complicated... especially with

Hilarion around, a hunter, and Giselle's suspicious best friend. Hilarion wanted to court Giselle himself, and he senses something strange about Albrecht, so he is, of course, very dubious of "Loys." Even though Giselle turned him down, he harbors hopes of courting her still, which bye and bye turns him more resentful and hard to fool - bad for both Giselle and Albrecht.

Berthe, Giselle's down-to-earth mother, worries for Giselle (who is diseased in the heart, and thus frail), as well as worrying about the forces at work around the village. Because of this, she is extremely protective, and denies Giselle's dreams of dancing.

Myrtha is the cold queen of the Wilis, a group of ghostly fae. She herself is the most prominent force among them, leading their loathing of humankind. Her power is mostly unrivaled in the forest, which causes those who know it alarm, and those who don't potential danger... 

                                           

What does the plot consist of?

On a whole, it's mostly like the original story, but with a twist or two. First off, the story begins with Giselle having strange, erratic dreams - dreams wherein, like the title, everything around her seems to reach a peak of light and fall, twisting until it's crushed itself. Strange visions of strange events speckle the dreams, and they puzzle and frighten Giselle. 

Then, some of the things in the dreams start to take place - Giselle's dream causes her suffering, her best friend soon becomes an enemy, and even her devoted lover is revealed as a liar. With this, Giselle dies. No, no, no - just kidding. Well, sort-of, anyways. Giselle does die, but she's not plain dead - meaning, there's more than chicken to this pot-pie. The Wilis summoned Giselle, and caused her death so that she could join their number - it was not natural, by her weak heart, as it seemed. For Myrtha sees the situation with Giselle and Albrecht and wishes to avenge Giselle... as well as herself, as she was once in Giselle's place, in a way. With this, she could give Giselle the powers of the Wilis, and together the group of them would take vengeance upon Hilarion and Albrecht, the causers of Giselle's woe. Unfortunately, the rest is rather hard to work out sensibly in my summary, so I'm afraid I have to leave it there plot-wise (sorry!). 

What gave you the idea?

I got the idea after watching the absolutely brilliant ballet version of the story by the Bolshoi/Parisian ballet. The story was, even in a format sometimes not too conducing to details, so potent, that I laid awake thinking about it. And as much as I hate retells normally, I wished that someone would write one, fleshing out the story even more, and maybe even adding some new elements. And then popped in, of course, that old quote about writing the book you want to read - so I decided I would.

Who are the favorite characters so far?

As it's not written, there are none.

What is the favorite scene so far?

As above, there are none yet.

Any drawings?

Unfortunately not...

Any themes of music for this work?
Beyond the music to the ballet, no, not yet.

Any snippets?

Again, not quite written yet, so no.

Strong point in story?

So far, the inspiration - I'm so revved up for this story... the only reason I haven't started it yet is because I intend to finish another project first.

Weak point in story?

How about... the fantasy? I am not really a Fantasy writer naturally - it takes some serious work, time, and planning for any of my fantasy to be palatable. 

What are your plans for it?

Whelp... to write it, before anything else, I think.

Any particular writing habits for it?

None - I haven't written it yet. 

If it were made into a movie, what would be your ideal cast for it?

Eh... eh... Let's talk about the movie another time - the book's not even finished yet... 

***

Well, that's Il Fine, I'm afraid. I apologies for backing out on a lot of the questions, and for not having very fleshed out information, but there isn't much else to say at this point about my projects. How about yours, though? Did you do the link-up? If you did, comment so I can see! I love seeing your Meet the Books! posts, so, if it sounds good (even if you've never joined up before), just go for it - remember, it's not gonna come out again for a while!