Forsaken Empire Origins

Recently, I was searching for copies of my original files for The Genesis Trilogy (see previous posts) when I came across copies of my first book, my apprenticeship book, laboriously stored on 3.5-inch "floppy" disks. Who remembers those compact floppies and the original floppies? Ancient history, right?

Deservedly so.

Forsaken Empire Origins

Four 3.5 compact disks held my single precious manuscript in backup, just in case our PC crashed and offered only the heart-stopping blue screen of writing death. Actually, I might be guilty of using as many as 12 disks to back up my massive tome. Excessive? Perhaps. However, because my research involved reading more than 300 books I'd either purchased or borrowed from the regional library when the fledgling worldwideweb couldn't provide answers to my authorly questions concerning all things medieval, the prospect of losing my work induced nightmares.

Nowadays, my nightmares involve storing info in The Cloud (aren't thunderstorms possible?) as well as emails and random thumb drives--all more convenient than my vintage 3.5 compact disks. Even so, these 3.5 inch babies make me smile. After all, they hold the framework for my current Forsaken Empire series. Thankfully, I've managed to protect my PC's files for more than two decades, because .... I no longer have a computer capable of reading these shiny little disks.

Does anyone still use these?

Keeping Secrets From Characters

 Ancient verses hold links to their own pasts.

While writing Legends of the Forsaken Empire, book 1, I've realized that I'm keeping secrets from my characters.

The mysterious, dangerous manuscript they've translated holds hints, links to their families' pasts, and their own spiritual heritage.

My characters haven't a clue.

Ela and Scythe, from Natalie B.

Their world's Dark Ages and the chaos following the empire's collapse has completely obscured all knowledge of the wondrous lands and creatures their ancestors took for granted.


Readers of the Infinite series will open Book One and within the first chapter, they'll know long-vanished secrets pertaining to my new characters' heritage.

Should the secrets remain hidden? 

 

Being a history fanatic, I've often wondered which ancient events from my research books were witnessed by my ancestors.

I haven't a clue.

Should my characters learn about their ancestors' lives?

Or should I take a page from real life and allow them to face events armed with their own resources and whispers of the past hidden within their own dna?

Who knows?  

     

I'm trying to decide.
Somehow, allowing readers of the Infinite series to open book one and chance upon clues, granting them knowledge about my characters is appealing.

Time will tell. ;)




Blessings,

R. J.                                        

Setting a Mood

Decisions, decisions.

I'm almost to the halfway point in the first draft of Legends of the Forsaken Empire, and as I've been working today, I've been toying with the current scene's mood. Right now, the characters are regathering after a period of considerable turmoil and some serious soul-searching. There's chaos and heartache ahead. After all, this is a fantasy-realm family saga inspired by actual events from our own history during the high-middle ages--an era that isn't exactly known for endless frivolity.

Now is the time to make sweeping changes in characterizations and mood. But do I really want to change the story's mood when it's so close to the truth? Should I merely soften the edges a bit while my characters are sharpening their swords? Perhaps bring in a few characters akin to Shakespeare's clowns? Perhaps. Or should I fear that the clowns might suffer tragic fates, being so near to the chaos that's about to unfold?  Do we want the clowns to endure the chaos as well?

Lots to ponder, which is the perfect excuse to procrastinate and let the characters take the reins and drive the story within its preset boundaries.

Blessings, and rest!

I'm returning to the story to study those characters again.

Blessed by Inspiration

Vintage Inspiration

I'm often asked, "Where do you find ideas for your books?"
I'd like to say that ideas strike my authorly imagination routinely and easily, leading to stories that practically write themselves. But that wouldn't be true. Recently, I finished a manuscript currently titled The Blessing. I drew inspiration for The Blessing from the old photograph inside this vintage locket. But inspiration didn't strike me during my first glance at this photo. Nor at the second, third, fourth, or fifth glance.

It's not that I wasn't interested in this old photo--I was and am. After all, that small shadowed face in the lower right corner is an image of my great-grandfather as a little boy, sitting for a rather solemn picture with his siblings. But I didn't sense a story brewing until I paused in front of my parents' piano to study the image for the umpteenth time, and Mama said, "Isn't that a sweet picture? This was taken not long before their parents died."

Wait. What? I stared at the picture again, at the serious brown-eyed baby in his white gown, with my equally serious great-grandfather seated just to his right. Obviously they'd been heartbreakingly young when they became orphans, and their older brother and sisters were teenagers. How did these five siblings cope with such tragedy? And what had happened to their parents?

While The Blessing isn't my great-grandfather's actual life story, this image, combined with my mother's comment, was enough to send my imagination down numerous paths and into the era that became the setting for The Blessing.

Sometimes inspiration takes more than a glance. It takes an emotional tug to pull an author's imagination into a new plotline, to cheer on beloved characters as their story unfolds.

I'm eager to share this story with you!

Blessings,

Kacy