Gaslight Trials | The Wattys2023 Shortlister ✔️

Authoress' Note

Hi guys! ☺️💜

As I tend to write each year around these dates: come in, grab a comfy seat 🛋, some yummy biscuits 🍪 and be very welcome to Gaslight Trials.

I bet the title and the cover (not to mention the mini gif 😹) are already allowing you to guess that this is going to be a steampunk novella.

Its creation owes its existence to my recently discovered and I am sure, undying love for "Cinder," first book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, as well as movie "Alita, "Freejack," and TV Show "Arcane."

Having seen "Arcane," and having read the entire Hunger Games saga, the possibility to combine their background premises that wouldn't leave me alone for a long time. It kept nagging at me, lurking in the creative corner of my brain.

To me, there is something poetic about the battle: that duality between life and death, victory or loss, that seems to have been emphasised in many shapes and art forms throughout humanity timeline, transcending time and space.

The third source of inspiration for "Gaslight Trials" is "Alita: Battle Angel," the 2019 American cyberpunk action film, based on Yukito Kishiro's manga series "Gunnm." My favorite elements here were the non-stop combat action and the relationship between Alita and Dr. Dyson Ido, a renowned cyborg-scientist, part time bounty hunter and Alita's would be father-figure.

It's a style I can only hope to emulate, but, ermm, let's see. O.o

To tell you the truth, this is my very first attempt to write anything remotely steam-punkish. In my young adult and fantasy-ish book I wrote in early 2017, my first book ever, "The Prophecy of Water," I did have some steampunk elements but they never once overpowered the whole fantasy vibe.

Since then, I've been itching to try my virtual pen at another talelet or booklet of this genre. Alas, I haven't truly been inspired until the re-apparition of the Open Novella Contest in 2023.

After having spent couple of weeks on the hunt for an ONC prompt, tweaking existent ideas and brainstorming like crazy, all the cogs clicked into place and the clock finally started ticking.

The prompt I eventually chose for this adventure is # 49: "Master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can." Cuz, games, amirite?

This is the fifth consecutive time I am participating in ONC, and, err... It seems that I always come up with the craziest ideas! All Open Novella Contest projects I do end up just being something for fun and ultimately connecting with my fellow writers 💜, testing out new genre waters!

Thinking back, not a single one of them were the same genre at all.

As to the word count:

My shortest novella was my first one, from ONC2019 which barely surpassed 20k required words: "GG!" ❤️

Afterwards, all of them have been on 30 000 - 40 000 words side.

Given the nature of this book I feel that the same shall happen with Gaslight Trials—it shall be long-ish, probably brushing 40k.

I love getting feedback of any kind, and this book is in its first drafting stage, so if you want to tell me how you feel about what I wrote so far, see errors of any kind, or have helpful comments and suggestions:

Do not hesitate to shoot! 🔫

Oh, and I almost forgot! 🤦🏼‍♀️

I would love to thank the creator of my cover, AnnieRosebud ! ❤️ She is an amazingly talented artist with a keen eye for detail who was so gracious to create this simple yet impactful imagery, conveying the steampunk vibe.