Young Writers Society

Ivy Blackwell is a florist and a recluse. Her friend Nikki Radford is quite extroverted, and a farmer. She brings Ivy the flowers. They knew each other as kids. Ivy's Mother died in childbirth, and her father mysteriously disappeared one day after he went to the mountain. Ivy's grandmother looked after her until she'd grown up.

Lennox Grey (just called Grey) loves to tinker. I'm iffy on his backstory. Maybe he ran away from home, maybe his parents were jailed and he left on the streets. One of those, really. Because of course the parents can't be around. Now he's working for this crazy old inventor as a parts-runner and word-spreader.

This crazy old inventor knows something's coming. He found proof in a dead scientist's field guide. He's trying to spread the word to prepare for this catastrophe, but no one will listen. At the same time, he's building a machine he thinks will prevent it.

Grey's friend Tommy works with the inventor as well. He's from far away, and seems not to understand simple things, like magic (???) but knows all about... electricity? I think there might be elements of fantasy in this book. I've always wanted to write a book where the would-be hero of another story is just a side character. Tommy crossed worlds from ours to theirs, but we don't really care about him that much. Though he does know some important things.

Basically, Grey will run into Nikki, and she'll drag Ivy to this "secret society" or something, that the inventor runs. They'll think he's crazy (and so will the reader), but play along just to have something to do for fun or something. It's kind of exciting, yeh? But then it will become apparent that he's not so crazy after all.

The skies will darken, and there will be a monster lurking in the night. Everyone will be afraid. The Inventor's contraption will help cage the beast, but ultimately, Ivy is the only one who can stop it.

I'd like to give Grey an equally-important part, but I just can't think of one right now!

-Grey infiltrates fancypants party
-Ivy and Nikki spend time at Nikki's farm
-Ivy finds a mean black cat and takes it in
-Ivy's shop does poorly
-Grey sneaks around? lol
wait.
he's a bit of a gadgeteer, and he does odd jobs like lamplighting and chimney-sweep (maybe not that exactly but hey). He also has this little mechanical friend that can pick locks. Maybe in his spare time he breaks into houses just to see what they look like? or like... something. And then he starts stealing small things, and by the end he's been corrupted quite a bit, and his kleptomania leads to complications of the main plot somehow and ups the tension.
From Sunny: "Make ivy an accomplice at some point and she didn't know she was and when she finds out she does something as a coming out of her shell moment"
-Grey teaches ivy how to tinker and do machine things, and he falls in love with her a bit, but the feeling isn't mutual exactly.

OKAY:
I think, maybe it would go like grey starts stealing, makes ivy help him on a device which helps him break into a jewelry place to get her a necklace to show his affection. Before this, she sooorta liked him but after, not at all. He says he'll change his ways and she is reluctantly his friend again. But he doesn't change his ways. Now instead of eating his emotions of disappointment in himself, he's stealing them, so his problem gets worse and worse. He steals something he think will help the cause for the main plot, something really valuable, and he gets caught and thrown in jail and has to bust his way out to help save the day at the last minute.

Character arc for Ivy: She moves from X-TREME shy to confidence
arc for Grey: Good boy to corrupted boy to redeemed boy

-Ivy thinks she's being haunted so she goes to that one machine in the workshop that Grey claims is for warding off ghosts and something happens.