It’s approaching a month since the release of The Warder, and it has been a busy, few weeks, chatting with Devon Book Club, and appearing as a guest on Sarah Ash’s blogsite. Easter weekend was spent attending a virtual SFF convention from the comfort of my writing room. Convention days go by in a flurry, with the chance to meet writers and readers, be introduced to new work, and chat through an eclectic mix of topics that exposes what a fascinating and wide-ranging genre this is. At the end we are all left tired and inspired.
Chatting about my series in different settings, encourages that digging deep to highlight the essence of the stories, the unique aspects, and those traits that bring the characters to life. I’m taken back into the landscapes I created: from the hot arid land of Shendi, with its coastal town, sprawling deserts and looming mountains, to new lands as the world unfolds. If I listen carefully, I can hear the eagle’s cries ring out from the mountain summits, piercing the skies over the forgotten grasslands.
The character’s personal story arcs are central to the books, and are what drives the stories. The series has an overarching storyline that connects each book. The timeframe of the series spans decades so we see the characters age and grow. They are fictional, but the more time passes the more real they feel, and with each book I enjoy returning to characters at each new phase of their lives.
In book one we met Wanda, a young boy who doesn’t speak. He returns in book two to take a more central role, and has grown into a young man gifted to fly with the hawk. He is joined by a new character, his young cousin, Luna, a troubled girl who speaks the word… dragon. This is a land of gifts, but with gifts come curses.
Suni was the protagonist in Return of the Mantra: an awkward girl in a dangerous world who learned to survive and embrace her identity. She returns to us ten years on in The Warder, a self-assured leader, embracing her gift as she watches over her friends. Suni’s character arc inspired me to write a character monologue, based on her personal journey in Return of the Mantra. It was recently published in the Sapphic Writers magazine, and is called:
This is no Fairy Tale
I am privy to secrets,
Discrete handshakes, sly nods, smuggled packages, hushed whispers,
Hiding in plain sight,
On street corners;
Storytellers keeping the past alive,
In a town built on lies powerful enough to turn forest to dust.
I am an awkward girl,
Spying with envy, children swimming in the river, seeking respite from the desert sun,
While I bake on the banks,
Hood pulled low to hide my face,
From deniers of the past,
When tribes moved with the seasons and rain fell upon a fertile land.
I am a student of the old ways,
Navigating the mysteries of my homeland, blurred lines between reality and myth,
A divided people,
With decimated roots,
Words intended to ignite a fire,
In the belly of a girl looking towards an uncertain future.
I am a frightened child,
Surrounded by a miasma of fear and corruption, close enough to bring cold shivers,
Shocked by the revelation of my lesson,
Revealing me as the one,
To change the course,
To restore balance, and walk the path to emancipation.
I am a fugitive,
Like an axe severing all ties with the familiar, my world cast into the abyss,
Leaving nothing to cushion,
Bleak fear and doubt;
It was surely a grand mistake,
It can’t be awkward, frightened, desperate me that the future depends.
I am alone with my stories,
Of wildlife roaming distant plains, where crickets sing out from blades of grass,
Topped with shining beads of dew;
Alone with an impossible quest,
To be heard by spirits of the past,
To call them forth, and breathe life back into the dying lands.
I am held captive,
By the mysteries of my heart, as the slightest touch of another woman’s love,
Brings an uncaged flutter;
No longer alone,
We stand together,
Storytellers, truthseekers, warriors fighting for peace, for justice, looking towards a new world.
***
Happy Reading!
