A New Adventure Of The Literary Sort
/Last night I hopped on Instagram live to share about a book I’m writing. I was altogether nervous and excited. Only three other people know about this book (and not a lot, at that)- Josh and my two best friends. I haven’t begun writing it, I’m just knee deep in the preplanning and world building aspect of fantasy at the moment. The two things I am almost certain of are my main character list and about half of the plot. I’d like to share that with you today, along with images that ChatGPT whipped up for me. This post will be in two parts: Part 1 - My History of Writing, and Part 2: The Story. I think this way of sharing my “secret project” will be more delightful and convenient for both readers and myself, since we can approach this at our own paces instead of being constrained to 60 seconds of rushed Instagram Story slides. Plus, as I was recording last night I realized I had a lot more material than I thought and my slides became long winded. Again, here you can read at your own pace. So, let us continue…
Part 1
My Writing History
Growing up, I loved to read. Every house I lived in had a designated area for books and you could almost always find me there, if I was not outside on the farm playing or doing the outside things 90’s kids did. Both of these places and activities fueled both of my writing genres (inside reading fueled my love for fiction and fantasy, and playing outside on a farm fed my imagination for children’s tales starring anthropomorphic animals.).
As my book collection grew over the years, I discovered I loved poetry, but didn’t write much else outside of “fun diaries” that I never kept consistently. I won a poetry contest in 3rd grade and that’s about it. Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I took a Summer B class that was a prerequisite to ENC 1101, and we had a writing assignment. The professor was a little quirky and a lovely instructor, but one day she returned a writing assignment to me and told me I was a great writer. She was a published author herself so she must have known what she was talking about! Ha! At 18, this woke a dormant side of myself that I never gave much credit to, and altered my perception of myself to this very day. This professor is also part of my belief system that a teacher can make a huge difference in someone’s life. I don’t know that I would be writing in my current capacity if she had not offered that little bit of encouragement.
So that summer, I started writing and practicing my craft, pumping out short stories, poems and even a little novel in the “vampire/werewolf” corner of things (The Twilight Movie came out in 2008 and while I never read the books, it’s popularity intrigued me so I contributed to the genre….don’t ask about the book, it will never see the light of day. It’s SO BAD…:D) There were a few works I’d written in that deluge that I was sort of proud of. When I go back and read them today, I feel like an outside reader- like I didn’t write them, which is satisfying to me. One of those was a scene between a new, young queen and a prince who believed he should be King. They are in a throne room with the Queensguard captain, and her court advisor. After a tense discussion, the queen discovered she has this kinetic power to move matter and uses this power to accidentally assault the prince when he insults her. After this, we see more of the magic system when in anger, the prince shape shifts into a crow and escapes narrowly after threatening the queen. Her court advisor then takes her to their resident War Room where they begin her power training in order to engage in battle with the prince in the future. My current novel still has an iteration of this scene but much of the original story has changed. Characters are different, the magic systems, political structure and even the lay of the land is different. But what has stayed same is the essence of the base character group.
{Note: If you couldn't tell by now, I love fantasy. GoT, Wheel of Time, Narnia, Sword of Truth, LOTR, I love them all. I learned that fantasy can be a wonderful vehicle for expressing ones theological beliefs and mirror the story of the Gospel. That is my hope here.}
In the past 2 years, I’ve been able to flesh out this story more than usual. It has had around three working titles, “The Last Queen”, “The Last Queen: The Prophecy of Four”, and now, it’s current working title is “The Stone of Tears” which is what I’m sticking with for now. Let’s move on to the second part of the post, where I introduce you to the current character group and some of the plot. Disclaimer: this is a severely underdeveloped story,(which also has some well developed aspects that I won't include today) so if you’re and avid reader or this kind of genre is up your alley, don’t treat it like a finished work. It will likely be very different from what it is now in the end. I simply want to share it because the longer it stays in a folder on my computer, the more I can push it back and ignore it without consequence. If I know it’s out in the world, I’ll have accountability and I’ll have to finish it. :) Let’s dive into the magical world of Fantasai…..
Part 2
the stone of tears
Characters
Jeyne - a 20 year old woman who discovers she is a prophesied queen destined to free mystical kingdom cursed by an enchantress who confines the inhabitants into powerless sentient objects or animal forms by night. Confined to a dragon form within the curse.
Jaspeth - a dark drifter with a strong moral compass who who has a hidden purpose behind his loyalty to Jeyne’s crown. Cursed form(CF) is a ring.
Annard the Stone Elf - A brute elf bred for war with an impeachable desire to help his kingdom and serve the true ruler of Fantasai. CF is a battle axe.
Wise the Emminent Advisor To The Queen - A wizard who is Jeyne’s most trusted friend and advisor, hundreds of years old and well educated in Ilfmagic but appears to be in his mid 40’s. CF is an owl.
Annawin - Jeyne’s teenage lady in waiting with a powerful secret. CF is a doe.
Iflshai The Mad - a centuries old wizard full of quirks, unexpected character traits, near limitless power as a magician, and Wise’ mentor/professor of many years. CF is a wooden bowl.
Lord/Prince Cavan - son of Queen Rachel who sat on the throne 25 years before Jeyne, cocky and self absorbed, will stop at nothing to sit on the throne and rule Fantasai. CF is a crow.
Scythena - a dangerous enchantress who cursed the land at the behest of a darker force, her goal is to enact vengeance and retrieve what was lost to her. CF is a gauntlet.
The Plot
Upon waking from the shock of mystical transportation, she awakes in an attic again, and decides to seek help. The house is empty and upon venturing outside, finds an empty village that looks otherwise inhabited. While she looks around in confusion, a group of dark warlike soldiers patrol the town and an invisible force pulls her to the forest where she finds a place to hide and sleep. In the morning when she awakes, she is in a bed in the village and people are busily waking for the day. This is surprising to Jeyne since just the night before this village was empty. There is also quiet gossip that the raiding party from the night before engaged in battle with an unknown creature and were eradicated by a creature not seen in the kingdom for hundreds of years. Here she meets Annawin, a happy young barmaid who will become her lady in waiting later in the story.
After meeting Prince Cavan, our core group of characters (Jeyne, Jaspeth, Wise, Annard, and Annawin) decide to visit Wise’ mentor- Ilfshai the Mad. He is a quirky wizard who lives in a hidden hut deep in the forest, so to avoid the night raids. He is full of quirks, harebrained humor, centuries of wisdom and education, and almost infinite power. He is a joy to write about, and has an affinity for codfish tarts. He reveals that he has been watching some dark movement in the land and suspects Cavan is in cahoots with Scythena, who cast the curse in anger a few years before. They devise a plan to visit Cavan under the guise of making peace but they plan to prove and reveal his dark alliance. While there, they unexpectedly engage in warfare with the castle gargoyles and fleet of battle crows.
We open with Jeyne in an attic mourning her grandmother’s passing. Upon rummaging through her ‘Mere’s belongings, she finds an elaborate ring which she is fascinated by, since her ‘Mere was a very simple person, not consumed by possessions. When she slips it on her finger, white wraiths appear and try to seize the ring, which is altogether startling to Jeyne who has no exposure to a magic world at this time. Out of the ring materializes a hooded stranger who skillfully deflects the wraiths and transports Jeyne to safety.
We then fast forward and jump ahead in the story to the castle where Jeyne is being introduced to Prince Cavan, who acted as ruler after his mother died. Jeyne’s arrival and coronation as queen clearly upsets and offends him, and he petitions to join her on the throne. It does not go well and he leaves abruptly, but not without threatening the queen! :O gasp!!!
It is discovered that in battle that Annawin and Jeyne have fallen victim to poison from the oil of crow’s feathers, a condition called Crow’s Peck. The only known cure is a poultice from a rare plant called the Ishflower, found on the Ilfpan Pass halfway across the kingdom….will they find the Ishflower in time and save Jeyne and Annawin?! Oh, and don’t forget, they have to travel the corners of Fantasai in order to gain allies against Scythena and Cavan’s forces, dodge Scythena’s attempts to eradicate the group, and find a way to break the curse, all while being confined to their cursed forms at night! What will happen next? Who knows. Maybe the story does.
And we shall stop here so you are left in suspense and interest….we shall all just have to wait to see how the story ends, won’t we? Thank you for sticking with me this far. I hope your fiction hunger has been fed today and you enjoyed reading this little story so far. Happy Tuesday, friends!
