Senses: Story Overview

Hi everyone! If you’ve been around for a while, you may remember that I attempted—and succeeded—in writing an urban fantasy novel called Senses in June. I wrote about how I did it in this guest post.

However, I haven’t shared many of the details about this story with y’all. Part of that is because you may not get to read this story for a long time, if ever. But it seems fair to still do one overview blog post.

In this post, I’ll share a blurb, some background, a fun fact, art, and a few quotes. Enjoy!

*Title is subject to change. I never found one I really liked, but this is what I’m calling it for now!

Blurb

To start off, here is my blurb for Senses. (“Blurb” is a fun word for the short description you put on the back of a book cover. ;))

What if a story followed the sidekick character instead of the Chosen One?

What if this character were an urban fantasy girl with the same personality as Samwise Gamgee?

What if the novel was set in a world with a race for each of the five senses?

Oculese people with a heightened sense of sight, Aurian people with a specialized sense of hearing, Manese people with a strong sense of touch, Linguan people with an extra intense sense of taste, and Nasuvian people with an enhanced sense of smell. Plus a race with normal senses and superior strength. (They call themselves the Sixth Sense, but the others call them Senseless.)

And what if royalty had all the senses?

But don’t tell the Senseless rulers that the princess still lives…

In a world with a race for each of the five senses, McKenzie’s life is as normal as a Nasuvian homeschooler teenager’s can be. That is, until she meets a strange girl named Courtney and gets roped in on a load of trouble. It isn’t easy being a princess in hiding, but it isn’t easy being her best friend either.

Background

Senses is a really hard book to summarize, so that blurb leaves you with a lot more questions than answers. Let me unpack it just a little bit for you.

In McKenzie’s world, there’s a race for each of the five senses. A human race, not a running race. For example, take Nasuvians. They have all the senses, but an extra heightened sense of smell. This chart shows you how to tell the races apart pretty well:

Tracking with me so far? Ok, you may have noticed that there’s actually a sixth race, the Senseless. Those are the “bad guys.” They aren’t actually senseless—they aren’t blind and deaf and so on, I mean—but their senses are normal, like ours.

McKenzie’s country used to have a royal family. They were a mix of the first five races, and all their senses were heightened. But then the Senseless came in and killed them off and took over. Only Courtney, an illegal princess in hiding, survived.

Fun Fact

Sorry if that was confusing! Here’s a fun fact to make up for that.

McKenzie’s name actually comes from the fact that she’s the main character. Main Character > MC > McKenzie. =D

Same goes for Courtney! CO stands for “Chosen One.” She’s not technically a Chosen One, but since she’s a modern princess with special powers, she’s pretty close.

Bonus for Myers-Briggs nerds: McKenzie is an ISFJ and Courtney is an INFP. It was fun to play with their relationship, and since I’m an INFJ, I could relate to them both.

Senses Artwork

Fun Quotes

Here are my favorite snippets from Senses!

***

The gravity of the whole situation slapped her in the face like a big wet fish in the hands of an immature sibling. Freedom. That’s why they were doing this. And freedom was worth going into any danger for.

***

But the car was too fast for her, and now it was gone. She paused in her tracks and hugged her arms around herself to still her shaking body. What would she do? Her eyes began to get watery, fogging up her vision as she returned to the parking lot. There was Dusk, grooming himself like nothing had happened. What did he know? She scooped him up and pet him hard, and got cat fur on her face as she wiped her teary eyes. Then her vision cleared, and she saw the scrap of paper blowing down the parking lot.

***

Myriads of smells overwhelmed her nose. Every little object had its own material and its own history of scents that had touched it. There was no end to the variety of smells that found their way to her nose if she paid attention to them. Endless streams of particles came each with their own picture, and none quite what she was looking for. 

McKenzie exhaled them all out. And then she inhaled a fresh group of smells through her nose. They were all beautiful to her, rich scents with so many dimensions, but still not what she was looking for.

What Do You Think?

Did you enjoy this overview post? Any favorite drawings or quotes? Do you have any questions about Senses or my writing?

Also, let me know if there’s anything you’d like me to include if/when I do an overview post on my current project, All These Voices Not My Own!