30 June 2023, Writing - part xxx365 Writing a Novel, Seoirse and Briarashe
Announcement: Delay, my new novels can be seen on the
internet, but my primary publisher has gone out of business—they couldn’t
succeed in the past business and publishing environment. I’ll keep you
informed, but I need a new publisher.
More information can be found at www.ancientlight.com. Check out my novels—I think
you’ll really enjoy them.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon.
This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire
novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the
commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained,
how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing
techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back
through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I’m using this novel as an example
of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I’ll
keep you informed along the way.
Today’s Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my
writing websites http://www.sisteroflight.com/.
The four plus one basic rules I
employ when writing:
1. Don’t confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don’t show (or tell) everything.
4a. Show what can
be seen, heard, felt, smelled, and tasted on the stage of the novel.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
These are the steps I use to write a novel including the
five discrete parts of a novel:
1.
Design
the initial scene
2. Develop a theme statement (initial
setting, protagonist, protagonist’s helper or antagonist, action statement)
a.
Research
as required
b.
Develop
the initial setting
c.
Develop
the characters
d.
Identify
the telic flaw (internal and external)
3. Write the initial scene (identify
the output: implied setting, implied characters, implied action movement)
4. Write the next scene(s) to the
climax (rising action)
5. Write the climax scene
6. Write the falling action scene(s)
7.
Write
the dénouement scene
I finished writing my 31st novel, working title, Cassandra,
potential title Cassandra: Enchantment
and the Warriors. The theme
statement is: Deirdre and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school
where they discover difficult mysteries, people, and events.
Here is the cover proposal for Cassandra: Enchantment and the Warriors:
|
|
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Cover
Proposal |
The most important scene in any
novel is the initial scene, but eventually, you have to move to the rising
action. I am continuing to write on my 30th novel, working
title Red Sonja. I finished my 29th novel, working
title Detective. Writing number 31, working title Shifter. I just finished 32nd novel, Rose.
How to begin a novel.
Number one thought, we need an entertaining idea. I usually encapsulate such an idea with a
theme statement. Since I’m writing a new
novel, we need a new theme statement.
Here is an initial cut.
For novel 30: Red
Sonja, a Soviet spy, infiltrates the X-plane programs at Edwards AFB as a test
pilot’s administrative clerk, learns about freedom, and is redeemed.
For novel 31: Deirdre
and Sorcha are redirected to French finishing school where they discover
difficult mysteries, people, and events.
For Novel 32: Shiggy
Tash finds a lost girl in the isolated Scottish safe house her organization
gives her for her latest assignment: Rose Craigie has nothing, is alone, and
needs someone or something to rescue and acknowledge her as a human being.
For novel 33, Book girl: Siobhàn Shaw is Morven McLean’s savior—they
are both attending Kilgraston School in Scotland when Morven loses everything,
her wealth, position, and friends, and Siobhàn Shaw is the only one left to
befriend and help her discover the one thing that might save Morven’s family
and existence.
For novel 34: Seoirse
is assigned to be Rose’s protector and helper at Monmouth while Rose deals with
five goddesses and schoolwork; unfortunately Seoirse has fallen in love with
Rose.
Here is the
scene development outline:
1. Scene
input (comes from the previous scene output or is an initial scene)
2. Write the
scene setting (place, time, stuff, and characters)
3. Imagine
the output, creative elements, plot, telic flaw resolution (climax) and develop
the tension and release.
4. Write the
scene using the output and creative elements to build the tension.
5. Write the
release
6. Write the
kicker
Today: Let me tell
you a little about writing. Writing
isn’t so much a hobby, a career, or a pastime.
Writing is a habit and an obsession.
We who love to write love to write.
If you love
to write, the problem is gaining the skills to write well. We want to write well enough to have others
enjoy our writing. This is
important. No one writes just for
themselves the idea is absolutely irrational and silly. I can prove why.
In the first
place, the purpose of writing is communication—that’s the only purpose. Writing is the abstract communication of the
mind through symbols. As time goes by,
we as writers gain more and better tools and our readers gain more and better
appreciation for those tools and skills—even if they have no idea what they
are.
We are in
the modern era. In this time, the action
and dialog style along with the push of technology forced novels into the form
of third person, past tense, action and dialog style, implying the future. This is the modern style of the novel. I also showed how the end of literature
created the reflected worldview. We have
three possible worldviews for a novel: the real, the reflected, and the
created. I choose to work in the reflected
worldview.
Why don’t we
go back to the basics and just writing a novel?
I can tell you what I do, and show you how I go about putting a novel
together. We can start with developing
an idea then move into the details of the writing.
Ideas. We need
ideas. Ideas allow us to figure out the
protagonist and the telic flaw. Ideas
don’t come fully armed from the mind of Zeus.
We need to cultivate ideas.
1.
Read
novels.
2. Fill your mind with good
stuff—basically the stuff you want to write about.
3. Figure out what will build ideas in
your mind and what will kill ideas in your mind.
4. Study.
5. Teach.
6. Make the catharsis.
7.
Write.
The development of ideas is based on study and research, but
it is also based on creativity. Creativity
is the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to present old ideas in
a new form. It is a reflection of
something new created with ties to the history, science, and logic (the
intellect). Creativity requires
consuming, thinking, and producing.
If we have filled our mind with all kinds of information and
ideas, we are ready to become creative.
Creativity means the extrapolation of older ideas to form new ones or to
present old ideas in a new form.
Literally, we are seeing the world in a new way, or actually, we are
seeing some part of the world in a new way.
The beginning of creativity is study and effort. We can use this to extrapolate to
creativity. In addition, we need to look
at recording ideas and working with ideas.
With that said, where should we go? Should I delve into ideas and creativity
again, or should we just move into the novel again? Should I develop a new protagonist, which, we
know, will result in a new novel. I’ve
got an idea, but it went stale. Let’s
look at the outline for a novel again:
1.
The initial scene
2.
The rising action
scenes
3.
The climax scene
4.
The falling action
scene(s)
5.
The dénouement scene(s)
The initial scene is the most important scene and part of
any novel. To get to the initial scene,
you don’t need a plot, you need a protagonist.
I’m now writing Seoirse, and since I retired from my day job,
I’m back to a chapter a day. I could
likely write two chapters a day, but my brain gets tired. I think it’s important to report again on how
to write a novel. Let’s start at the
beginning.
I already developed the protagonist for this novel: Seoirse Séamas
Wishart. That is his name in Gaelic. His common or English name is George James
Wishart. Why the difference. It all has to do with the worldview of my
novels. The worldview is reflected and
therefore the supernatural exists. We
are mainly writing about the common and mythical supernatural in the
world. I’d like to say that whatever the
basis for the usual supernatural in human thought exists in the reflected worldview
of this and my novels. Thus there are
vampires, werewolves, fairies, the Fae courts, dragons, gods, goddesses, and
other mythical creatures. They aren’t the
world. They world of my novels is the world
you see around you. The supernatural aspects
are generally unseen, unknown, and rare.
They exist like the supernatural exists in the world today: generally
unseen, unknown, and rare. That’s the
basis of the world in my novels.
I wrote initial scenes, but remember, there is only one
initial scene. When I write initial
scenes, I mean the scenes I used at the beginning of the novel to lead into the
crisis. I guess I could outline some of
the development of this novel for you.
It has a little different development outline than many of my
novels. Part of the reason is the
subject matter and the fact that it is a follow-on. Come to think of it, Cassandra had
something similar in its development. I
won’t say this is a common type of outline for the development of a follow-on,
but it does bear some similar characteristics.
Here’s some of it.
1.
Initial
scene – a dialog that introduces the mission the protagonist and the
protagonist’s helper. Seoirse and Rose
don’t hit it off too well. Rose knows
what she is expected to do and she sees Seoirse as
an interloper. Seoirse is put in the
position as Rose’s handler and protection.
I should mention that Ms. O’Dwyer (Organization name), Mrs. Marshall (overt
name) is their boss and set them to the assignment. This is a great dialog scene with all kinds
of deep seated issues brought out. Rose
does not want supervision or protection.
Ms. O’Dwyer is giving her protection because of the recall and Chinese
problems at the climax of the first novel.
2. Next scene—travel scene, where Seoirse
and Rose are forced together by Ms. O’Dwyer to make the three hour drive from
London to Monmouth. They also pick up
their Fae helpers. Ms. O’Dwyer does not
allow Fae in her house and usually not in the Organization although the
basement of the Organization has a place where the Fae are allowed and Ms. O’Dwyer’s
secretary is Burgundy Rose, a Fae being.
In this travel scene, Rose and Seoirse get to bring out their little
tiff and personal issues. We see some
plans too for their operations, and Rose declares, to Seoirse’s chagrin and yet
pleasure that George Wishart (Seoirse’s overt name at Monmouth) is her
boyfriend—it’s a cover. In addition, in a
short connection scene, Rose insists that Seoirse take her out to supper where
they are sure to be seen.
3. First Monmouth scenes—this is an
introduction to the girls in Rose’s class, to Robyn, and to the other girls
Rose must look after. This scene and
scenes leads to the fateful crisis tea party scene.
4.
Crisis
(tea party)—Rose’s modus operandi is to gain the trust of others, especially girls
in this age group by inviting them to tea.
Rose’s cover is as an aristocrat being sent to Monmouth for
education. She applies this very
successfully in the first novel, but there is a problem in the second. Rose sets up the tea party for the five
problem children she must take care of.
The problem is that the real problem child, Sveta, knows all about
Rose. The tea party program was successful
because the regular girls did not question Rose or Robyn’s motives. They just were excited to have a personal tea
with a girl who looked, acted, and seemed to be a real member of the peerage
(actually, Rose is). Ms. O’Dwyer
approved the tea party program for these five and she expected it to work too. What no one realized was that Sveta, the young
Goddess of Light, had knowledge of Rose and her operations at Monmouth. In addition, Sveta knew all about Rose’s
background and Rousay.
In
the crisis tea party, Sveta reveals what she knows with the intention of
getting the other girls to help her oppose Rose. Sveta even goes to the degree of recording
the entire event. She thinks her
knowledge will not only convince the others, but shock them that their mothers and
the Organization (and Stela) are using Rose to observe and to a degree control
them. The problem for Sveta is that she doesn’t
know about Rose’s power over glamour and people, Robyn’s power and love for Rose,
her own sister (Klava’s) pain over subjugation by Sveta, and finally, that
Phoebe and Sophie are not on her side.
In the end, Sveta blows up and only with Rose’s power are the girls
protected and saved. However, Rose must
knock them all out, her 10,000 pound tea service is destroyed, Rose is injured,
and her clothing is completely burned off her.
The
ultimate end of this is that Rose was supposed to protect Robyn from others and
from Robyn harming herself or others. If
she can achieve this, Rose will get her house and property back. This was all covered in the initial scene. Since Rose’s contract is suddenly void and she
sees no hope for recovery, Rose runs away.
The point in her running away is that she is unclothed, doesn’t really
need clothing at the moment because of the balmy temperatures, and can and does
use glamour to hide and protect herself from others. This is the setup for the rest of the
novel.
This
is also where I wanted to start the novel but that would have provided little
chance for buildup. Seoirse is the protagonist,
and this is all a setup for his action on the stage of the novel.
5.
Prior
to the hunt—This is what one on my author friends calls a sequel. This is definitely a type of transition scene. In this scene, Seoirse, is brought into a
conference with the parents of the children who were involved in the incident. Luckily, Sveta made a video of the entire
incident on her phone. Unluckily for
Rose, it showed her in her glorious delight—nude but helping every one of the
girls. In this scene Ms. O’Dwyer details
what they will do about the girls especially Robyn and Sveta, who caused the
incident, but then, most importantly how they will get Rose back. Rose is considered the most important
supernatural asset to the British government because she can control the powers
of a god or goddess. The problem is that
since Rose failed in her agreement, the government no longer has a means of
motivating her. Rose only wants her
house and property back. She isn’t
motivated by stuff. So, the quandary. Ms. O’Dwyer has the police, the Fae, the
courts, and the entire intelligence structure looking for Rose. The military is on alert through the Office
of the King. So far, they can’t find
her. Seoirse tells the group that he can
find Rose. Lady Wishart, who is also
party to the conference agrees and makes Seoirse the chancellor of the Lady
Rose Tash. The reason for this is that
this will allow Seoirse to claim the help of the Fae in finding Rose—it also
give him certain authorities over her and her property. However, making Seoirse the chancellor of
Lady Tash also gives Rose power and control over him.
6. The hunt—Seoirse thinks he knows
what Rose is doing to hide. He lays out
his plans and his suppositions to Aillan, his Fae helper. Seoirse noted that a will-call ticket was
issued for the train at Lydney, the closest station to Monmouth. The conductor noted the tarin stopped, but no
one apparently got on the train. He
believes that’s how Rose got into the rail system. To hide from the Fae (who are in the isolated
and out of the way places in Britain), the police (who are in the populated regions
or Britain), and the intelligence structure (who are looking everywhere). Seoirse thinks Rose is riding the rails on
the two sleeper trains in Britain. The
first to Penzance would go directly through the stations Rose could have
connected to—Paddington. The second is
just a quick local Paddington to Euston in London—the Caledonian Sleeper. Seoirse lays out his deduction to
Aillan. Rose took the train from Lydney
to Paddington and the Penzance Sleeper then scooted over to Euston and took the
Caledonian to Scotland, most likely Inverness.
That would get her closest to Rosay and her home. In the end of this scene Seoirse sends Aillan
on the Penzance Sleeper just to make sure Rose isn’t double tripping it, and he
takes the Caledonian Sleeper. They think
Rose has not procured clothing since she can use glamour more easily in that
state to hide from the eyes of people.
In addition, the weather isn’t that cold and she’s on a train. Further, Seoirse goes back to Monmouth to get
clothing for Rose. This is the setup for
the next crisis for Rose and Seoirse.
7. The finding—Although the crisis is
the action scene that sets off the entire novel, the finding is the scene that significantly
forwards the relationship between Seoirse and Rose. The first thing to understand is that Seoirse
is a gentleman. He is a gentlemen in
need of a little instruction and TLC but he is a gentleman. Rose, on the other hand, is a lady by decree
and cover, but she is a survivor and a manipulator who loves the ambiguous and
the uncertain. This becomes clear
through her interactions in the entire novel.
Seoirse indeed finds Rose almost right away on the Caledonian
Sleeper. He figured her perfectly right
down to her missing knickers. And, he
finds her in the nude. Unfortunately or
fortunately, however you are thinking, Rose doesn’t immediately recognize him or
that he can see her. The scene is both
humorous and titillating. When Rose
finally figures out what is going on, Seoirse can’t cover his eyes or let her
leave because he has captured the illusive Lady Rose Tash. Before he allows her the clothing he brought
for her, she must promise by the One and All to not escape. That seals her fate, so to speak. Seoirse gives her the clothing he brought
from her room at school, but she is so flustered, she forgets he can see her
plainly in the window of the compartment—it’s night after all. Seoirse takes her to his compartment and then
to dinner.
8. The dinner—this is a highly important
and intricate scene. In it, Seoirse plays
a pivotal role as well as his planning. While
Seoirse wants to establish their cover, Rose wants to establish her
propriety. Seoirse orders wine so he can
show off the fake IDs he procured for her and him from the Organization. As Seoirse notes to Rose, two sixth form
students traveling on a sleeper train in the same compartment means the police
and others will get involved. On the
other hand, a twenty-one and a twenty-two year old traveling together is just a
lover’s tryst. She becomes Raven Tash
(21) and he James Wishart (22). He buys
a bottle of wine to ensure the waiter will ask for their IDs, but tells Rose
she need not imbibe. Of course Rose will
imbibe. Something you don’t know about
Rose. She is a survivor. She is also a strongly motivated foodie who
must eat. She burns calories like a furnace,
and eats everything she can. It’s a
little secret and problem embedded in her past.
She has learned to eat more slowly and she is always the consummate lady,
but she can eat copious amounts and quickly.
It’s not a good trait, but she can pull it off. What does this have to do with dinner? They are eating a nice dinner on the train. The focus is not the dinner, but their interaction
in dialog. During their conversation,
the most important issues to Rose are what Seoirse saw of her and what others
saw of her in the video from the incident.
It should be obvious why this is important even to a maiden of dubious background. Rose is worried about her cover and what
others think of her. Seoirse is more
concerned with getting Rose back and negotiations about what she will do in the
future. He is her handler and protector. She is the only person in Britain who can handle
the goddess girls and others (that we haven’t even moved to in the novel). This conversation moves to breakfast, but I’ll
handle that in the next scene outline portion.
9. Inverness – What we see in Rose is progression. She does not change, but in every endeavor
and experience, her approach changes.
She dodges, weaves, and forces through her every desire with mostly
behavioral training, acting, and manipulation.
Seoirse just wants to achieve his mission and to become friends with
Rose. As an author, I show this
progression and action through the incidents in the novel. Rose demands Seoirse plan their excursion in
Inverness while they wait their evening Caledonian Sleeper to return to
London. Rose wants underthings, a
nightgown, clothing, makeup, and a souvenir.
She also wants a good dinner (luncheon) and drinks. Here is where things get a little
interesting. The kinds of clothing Rose
usually wears are not available in Inverness.
Yes, my friends, the clothing of celebrities and the ultra-wealthy can’t
be found in even large cities and towns.
You need a metropolitan center, and with apologies to Inverness, that’s
one of the reasons I sent Rose and Seoirse there. This produces a little of an issue for Rose,
she must have another set of clothing, but she knows she can’t find her usual designer
stuff. She also must settle for regular lingerie—there
is no way she can get the hand-made French silk lace knickers and bras that are
her usual underclothing. This is a
tension builder in the scene, but as I noted Rose is always in
progression. I forgot to mention, the
scene where the police recognize her. Seoirse
has made his report to headquarters that Rose is found, but he Scottish police
in Inverness haven’t got the word, yet.
Rose makes a beautiful scene where she convinces the apprehending
policewoman that James (Seoirse) has brought Raven (Rose) to Inverness to
propose and that the involvement of the police might put him off. This is a moment where Seoirse realizes that
Rose is not at all what she seems. She
is a consummate actress. The police
check with the desk sergeant and find that Rose Tash has been found and Raven
Tash may continue with her boyfriend, hopefully fiancé. That’s just the beginning. In Inverness, Rose knows exactly where she
wants to shop—she borrowed Seoirse’s laptop while he was in the bath and
changing. She takes him to the Victorian
Mall in Inverness where she buys antique whiskey glasses as souvenirs. Then to a fancy store. She breaks to him that she wants a jumper (sweater)
and clings to him. Seoirse doesn’t seem
to realize what she is about. She went
from cold to hot in an instant—is it the cover or something else? Rose drags him to a kilt and Scottish clothing
store, really emporium. They hand make their
kilts and clothing there. Rose wants a kilt-like
skirt and a top in Rousay Rose. That isn’t
a clan tartan, but it fits her. She also
wants a Harris Cape in burgundy, and she wants it all made before
luncheon. The manager notes Rose’s very
expensive attire and agrees if she will allow photos of the process and
fitting. Rose agrees as long as Seoirse
approves the pictures and that they are flattering to her. Rose is perhaps one of the most beautiful and
elegant women anyone will meet—that is the reason for the attention, plus a
woman who wears 5000 pounds in exterior clothing in just jeans and a top is
definitely in a certain strata. Take
beauty, kindness, elegance, and wealth all together and you get not just Rose,
but societal interaction and acquiescence.
That is Rose. Suffice to say Rose
gets her very Scottish clothing and very stylish cape. The pictures, which will eventually haunt her
and Seoirse are taken, and they head for luncheon at the White House Pub in
Inverness. There are a few more
adventures in Inverness, mostly related to drink and makeup. Seoirse has to bail her out of that one too,
but all this is to show just how resourceful and capable Rose is. In the end, they make their way back to the
Caledonian Sleeper and board for London.
They have a Caledonian Double this time.
10. Return to London – The return to
London isn’t as detailed as the trip to Inverness, but still fills out critical
details and foreshadowing in the novel.
Of greatest interest for tension and release is that Rose happens to be
sleeping on the same bed as Seoirse.
This provides some great laughs later with Seoirse’s parents. However, the most important part of this scene
is the pillow-talk (so to speak) dialog Rose engages in with Seoirse. She wants to know how to handle the five
terrors—the girls that caused the whole problem. That is, if Rose is willing to take over her
assignment again, what can she do to fix the girls? Seoirse gives her an answer which has great
legs in the novel. He tells her the
military breaks their new recruits down to build them back up again, and that his
mother might be able to shed some information about that. This is a revelation to Rose, but of course
she gives no indications of this—she just starts digging.
11. Conference with Ms. O’Dwyer. That’s the first piece of business, and the
obvious piece of business on Rose and Seoirse’s return to London. This entire conference is about
reestablishing Rose’s contract to regain her house and her assignment. Ms. O’Dwyer allows Seoirse to negotiate, to Rose’s
chagrin. He had the authority and he
told Rose, but Rose didn’t trust him. Seoirse
is forced to promise not to speak about the incident of finding Rose in the
nude, not to roll his eyes at her, and to help her with the girls. There are a few other details, but that Rose
agrees to the expansion of her assignment to all five girls for her property as
long as Seoirse agrees to her terms is a small and large incident in the
novel. It shows a turning point in Rose’s
mind, but the others just see it as petulance.
12. Briarashe—Rose cajoles Seoirse into taking
her to see his parents at Briarashe. This
is a set of three scenes which solidify and drive the novel. The reason for the visit, so says Rose, is to
take pictures and establish a credible cover for her as George’s (Seoirse’s)
girlfriend. I’ll remind you, Seoirse is
George at school and Rose originally proposed that George act in the role of
her boyfriend while at school so they could legitimately communicate and work
together. She is just continuing the façade. At Briarashe, Rose begins by berating the
Butler because of Seoirse’s terrible wardrobe and clothing choices. She is acting like the petulant aristocratic girlfriend. How much is an act and how must the Lady Rose
is hard to tell. When Seoirse’s parents,
Lady Wishart and Air Commodore Calloway invite Rose and Seoirse to dinner
(luncheon), Lady Rose forces the couple to serve her and Seoirse wine. She does this through the previous Raven Tash
ID Seoirse gave her. This is a little
off putting, but Rose is putting Seoirse’s parents in the place she wants
them. Then Rose appears to trip up a
little. While describing Seoirse and her
trip to Inverness, Rose lets out that her current Scottish clothing is Rousay
Pink and was hand made for her. I forgot
to mention that Seoirse forgot about Rose’s injuries from the incident. She was holding his arm and hands to hide
them (scalds and cuts on her hands and arms)
This was also the reason she wanted a jumper (sweater) and acquired the Harris
cape. In any case, everyone else
remembered Rose’s injuries. However,
when Rose mentions her current Scottish clothing, Lady Wishart informs her in
no uncertain terms that she will not wear her clothing to Monmouth or in
society that knows her. The reason is obvious,
it could blow her cover. This informs Rose
that Lady Wishart knows all about her background. This causes a crisis for Rose. She has been acting very high handed with
Lady Wishart and Air Commodore Calloway and she ends up apologizing for
that. Lady Wishart sees things much
differently. She completely accepts Rose
and her cover as well as her peerage presented by the King and the Fae. It may be a fake actual peerage, but it has legitimacy
in the world Lady Wishart engages within.
I perhaps didn’t remind you, Lady Wishart is the Keeper of the Book of
the Fae. I need to mention, this scene
ends with a peace offering from Air Commodore Calloway. He provides McCallan 18 to them all and gives
Rose a Scottish pour. This results in
her Rousay accent coming out and her needing help getting to her room.
13. More at Briarashe – There are three
more notable scenes at Briarashe. In the
evening, Rose has recovered well enough to participate in supper. This is a short scene with some important discussion,
but a lot of talking around issues. This
is followed with a drawing room scene where the ladies and the gentlemen partake
in cigars and whiskey (McCallan 18). Why
mention McCallan 18—to all Scotch Whiskey fans this is the best Scotch in the
world at about $300 a bottle, it’s steep, but not too steep for the quality of
the whiskey. The study or drawing room
scene is all about convivial conversation and a dialog about the meaning of Seoirse
being the chancellor for Lady Tash. In
this scene, Air Commodore Calloway is read in about Seoirse’s covers. He is not told anything about anything else. There are layers on layers of secrets and secret
affairs in this novel. Part of the fun
is how they interweave and interact.
This scene is a setup for the morning scene.
14. Morning at Briarashe—Seoirse has
made arrangements for a meeting between Rose, Sophia, Phoebe, Robyn, Sveta, and
Klava as well as their mothers Mrs. Marshall (Ms. O’Dwyer and Mrs. Mardling. I’ll eventually get to this scene, but the
setup is pretty important. Mrs. Marshall
is the current Goddess of Light. Mrs. Mardling is the current Goddess of
Darkness. Sveta is the presumptive
Goddess of Light and Robyn has similar powers, while Klava is the presumptive Goddess
of Darkness. You can see this meeting
will be filled and fraught with issues, but there is an interesting one looming
after breakfast. At breakfast, Rose
gives a foreshadowing that she will make requests of Lady Wishart. They take a walk. Lady Wishart calls Rose her friend. That makes Rose immediately begin addressing
Lady Wishart as Azure (her given name).
This brings unease that Rose obviously wants, but Lady Wishart unexpecting
brings. Rose’s request is for Lady
Wishart to induct her into the Black Branch which is the band of women warriors
led and trained by Aife. Why this is
important? In myth, Aife was the leader
of the Black Branch, woman warriors and Aife trained them on the Isle of
Shadows. Aife’s sister Scattach ruled
over and trained the Red Branch, a group of male warriors. She trained them at the Isle of Sky. In the history of Myth, Aife was accused of
stealing the knowledge of writing and reading from the gods and giving it to
man (to help in her training). Aife was
also the keeper of the threefold Celtic law.
This was the idea that evil returned threefold to those who committed evil
and good threefold to those who did good.
Aife, because she gave reading and writing to man, was turned into a
Swan. In some myths, she is killed by a
hunter. In others she just remains a swan. In some, Ceridwen, the head goddess of the
Gaelic and Celtic people returns Aife to a human form. In my novels, Ceridwen, in an earlier
incarnation, has returned Aife to human form and she plays a role in trials and
the courts of the gods and goddesses.
She is obviously held in some contempt by Ceridwen and the others. Ceridwen does allow Aife to have an Isle of
Shadows teahouse in High Wycombe. This
is near Wycombe Abbey which plays some roles in my novels. In one of my novels, Lady Wishart demands of
Ceridwen that Aife be returned to her previous honor as the Queen of the Isle
of Shadows and of the Black Branch. In
this novel, Aife has been given back her authority. Rose knows all about this through the
Fae. She requests that Lady Wishart make
her a member of the Black Branch, and basically forces her to enact a knights
oath. A knights oath requires the Lady
Wishart to strike Rose (remember the sword on the shoulder? In reality, this wasn’t a tap, but rather a
strike. The strike could be done with a
sword or the fist). Lady Wishart regrettably
strikes Rose which makes her a knight or captain beneath her in the Black
Branch. Rose then requests a portion of
the Red Bracer. These were the marks of
the Black Branch and Aife. I don’t know
why Aife’s colors and bracers are red historically, but they are. In one of my other novels, Aife gives the
Lady Wishart one of the Red Bracers, which is an item of power from antiquity. Rose requests the beads form the bracer which
are used to make the members of the Black Branch. She requests only two of them. The bracer delivers six to Rose. This is more than she needs. Here’s what is going on. Seoirse gave Rose the idea to apply military
training to Sveta specifically as part of her rehabilitation. Rose gets enough pieces of the Black Branch
bracer to make all the girls cadets under her tutelage. That is and was her plan only for Sveta. These are unstated concepts in the
novel. They are not stated
directly. Rose’s plan now, that she
doesn’t tell anyone, Lady Wishart might have some idea what is going on, but
really Seoirse is the only one other than Rose who might have a more complete
idea. Plus, Seoirse does not know yet
that Rose was made a knight under her and the Black Branch by his mother. He sees the results. With that, a bag of biscuits, tea, and water,
with Rose’s head on Seoirse’s lap (because she is out like a light). Seoirse and Bob head off in an Organization
Bentley to Monmouth and school and the very important and potentially dangerous
meeting with the girls and their mothers.
15.
On
the way to Monmouth—that’s next.
I guess I should move on from there.
More
tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual
novel websites:
http://www.ancientlight.com/
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/
http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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storyline, character development, scene, setting, conversation, novel, book,
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