The Avalan Dark Fantasy Novel BBC Music Introducing ORIEL Original Oil Pastel Art Malvern Hills Author · Artist · Musician The Avalan Dark Fantasy Novel BBC Music Introducing ORIEL Original Oil Pastel Art Malvern Hills Author · Artist · Musician
Author · Artist · Musician · Malvern Hills

MillicentAps

I'm writing a dark fantasy novel, painting bold colours on charity-shop frames, and making music from a cottage in the hills.

The kingdom is still there. The secrets are patient.

Fantasy Novel Oil Pastels Indie Music BBC Featured
Millicent Aps — author, artist and musician
Oil
Pastels
✦ Novel Coming Soon
Millicent Aps performing live as ORIEL
Original painting by Millicent Aps
About

Writing worlds before
the world wakes up

Two and a half years ago I had a dream so vivid, so cinematic, that I woke up and couldn't stop writing. I've always had lucid dreams — the kind you can step back into, rewind, edit. This one was different.

I wrote intermittently for two years alongside working full time — stolen early mornings, late nights, weekends on the hills. Now I'm at the final stages of my debut fantasy novel, The Avalan. It's time to make it real.

When I'm not writing you'll find me with oil pastels and a charity-shop frame, making music as ORIEL, or walking the Malvern Hills until something worth writing about occurs to me.

"Started with a dream I couldn't shake. Two and a half years later, it's nearly a book."

✨ Debut Novel · 🌑 Epic Fantasy · 📖 Coming Soon

The Avalan

Eighteen years ago, an entire kingdom was erased from every map and every memory. Someone made sure of that. Now the secrets are surfacing — and nothing is what it seems.

From the Preface

"The kingdom at the heart of this tale has been lost for eighteen years, erased from maps and memory alike. But kingdoms, like secrets, have a way of surfacing when you least expect them."

— The Avalan, Millicent Aps
Epic Fantasy Multi-POV 75,000 words Dark Magic Found Family Coming Soon

✦ Meet the characters ✦

Derekin — scholar character from The Avalan
Derekin
The Scholar
Explains mythical biology mid-sword fight. Annoyingly loveable.
Wesley — character from The Avalan
Wesley
The Golden One
Sketches everyone he loves. Uses kindness as a shield.
Thorne — character from The Avalan
Thorne
The Fierce One
Breaks things when he panics. Cannot function near Sky.
Sky — mage character from The Avalan
Sky
The Mage
No bloodline. Moves stone with her hands. Carries tea trays while doing it.
Cup — guardian character from The Avalan
Cup
The Guardian
Terrible at knitting. Runs a tea shop. One of the most dangerous men alive.
📬  Notify me when it publishes  📬

Follow the story behind the story and be the first to know when The Avalan is ready

✦   The origin story

"I woke up from a dream so vivid I couldn't stop writing. I've always had lucid dreams — the kind you can rewind like a film. This one wouldn't stop playing on repeat."

Two and a half years in the making  ·  Malvern Hills, England

Oil Pastels & Acrylic

Bold, saturated,
unapologetically colourful

I find frames in charity shops and paint each piece to fit — every original is completely one of a kind.

🛍 Shop Originals
Buy original art on Etsy

Unique oil pastel & acrylic originals. Every piece one of a kind. Ships from Malvern.

Visit the Shop →
Original oil pastel painting by Millicent Aps
Oil pastel · original
Daffodils acrylic painting by Millicent Aps
Daffodils · acrylic · original
Malvern Hills oil pastel by Millicent Aps
Malvern Hills · oil pastel
Hyacinths acrylic painting
Hyacinths · acrylic · original
Birmingham cityscape oil pastel
Birmingham · oil pastel
Millicent Aps holding BBC Music Introducing sign
BBC Music Introducing
Music

ORIEL

📻
BBC Music IntroducingFeatured as an emerging indie artist — atmospheric, honest, and completely her own.

Under the name ORIEL, I make music that sits somewhere between indie, atmospheric, and wherever the feeling takes me. The same instinct as the writing and the painting — a different medium, the same need to make something.

Follow Along

Find me across
the internet

The Avalan, art in progress, ORIEL music, and life in the hills.

Original Art
Enquire about a piece

Each original is painted to fit a charity-shop frame, so every single one is completely unique. Browse Instagram for the portfolio then reach out — or shop directly on Etsy.

Shop on Etsy → Email me
Journal

Updates & musings

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Dispatches from the hills — the novel, the art, the music, and everything in between.

How it started · 2023
The Dream

Three dreams in a week — that's where this started. The first came at 3am, vivid enough that I woke up and immediately started writing. It came back the next two nights, slightly different each time, like I was editing the story in my sleep.

From that first morning, I knew. When the characters started to feel more real than memory, I wrote such detailed descriptions of each of them that I made AI reference images from those notes. They're still on my wall.

More in the newsletter
On writing · Ongoing
Why I'm Still Going

Two and a half years in and I'd do it all again. Writing The Avalan brings me more joy than I know what to do with — even on the days I write one sentence and call it done.

I already have the prequel and sequel in my head. I write when I feel it, no word counts, no self-imposed deadlines. That's exactly why it's taken this long. And I wouldn't change it.

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Real life · Daily
Stolen Minutes

I work full time. This novel has been written on commutes, in evenings, on Sunday mornings before the day properly starts — not in long uninterrupted sessions, mostly in pockets.

What I've learnt is that it doesn't need perfect conditions. It just needs to matter enough. And this does.

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