Introduction:

Ashley Capes is a fellow poet and Fantasy author from Australia who has been a regular participant here for a few years now. Ashley also interviewed me a few months back so with his own debut novel, City Of Masks, recently published I felt it was time to return the hospitality—and give readers the opportunity to find out more about his work.

So without further ado, I am very pleased to welcome Ashley today—and remember, comments are always welcome. 😉

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Guest Post: Ashley Capes On City Of Masks and Beginnings

Hi! My name is Ashley and I’m writing this post today because Helen was kind enough to offer me a guest spot on her blog!

She also generously gave me free rein in regard to topic, so I thought I’d talk about ‘beginnings’ because beginnings (and where we claim they occur) have always interested me and I hope a bit about the way my first novel, City of Masks, came to be, will prove interesting.

And once I started to reflect on it, I realised there were a few options.

On one hand, it probably starts after being read The Hobbit in Grade Four, which definitely sparked my imagination. I can still remember the colour and feel of the carpet, the pins and needles from sitting and listening.

On another level, I might be able to claim that the seven or so novels I wrote before City of Masks, none of which were good enough to publish, but which taught me something about my process or obsessions, and about plotting and revising especially, were responsible. I think I could safely credit my family for encouraging me to write when I was young – or maybe the smell of books, just being determined to be part of the world of words, pushed me into being a writer, into beginning the thorny path to publication.

Or, if I look at a time period a few years back, then I’m in Italy, on the Amalfi Coast. My wife and I were lucky – very, very lucky – to spend three weeks travelling Italy in 2011 and it was there that I saw amazing coastline that caught my eye. Clinging to the sheer mountains around the town were deep green lemon groves and winding, narrow roads where, when cars passed, they did so slowly and with side mirrors folded in.

The buildings were perched right on the coast, where they’d jut out to bear the brunt of winter waves, waves that climbed so high as to seem ridiculous – I was glad we were there at the start of Autumn. But based on photos I saw in a camera shop, it’s clear why most of the town slid into the sea during a tsunami in 1343.

The whole town of Amalfi felt steeped in history, in natural beauty and story-potential, and I didn’t realise until after I got home that it would be the chief inspiration for the setting of City of Masks. (And so the beginning might well have been a setting, rather than a premise or character.)

Finally, I could probably just as easily take the first few words as a starting point – which was little more than a sketch of my main character, Notch, in jail, falsely accused of murder, just as the book starts now. I had perhaps five hundred words written back in January of 2013 and I felt like there was a chance, from that beginning, that I’d finish this story and be happy with it – which I did!

Hope you enjoyed reading a bit about how I started City of Masks and thanks for inviting me, Helen!

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Thank you, Ashley. 🙂

As well as Ashley’s post on beginnings, I thought you might be interested to read the backcover synopsis for City of Masks, plus the first 230 of those 500 words,  so here they are:

City Of Masks:
“Waking in Anaskar Prison, covered in blood and accused of murder, nobody will listen to Notch’s claims of innocence until he meets the future Protector of the Monarchy, Sofia Falco.

But Sofia has her own burdens. The first female Protector in a hundred years, her House is under threat from enemies within, the prince has made it clear he does not want her services and worst of all, she cannot communicate with her father’s sentient mask of bone, the centuries-old Argeon. Without the bone mask she cannot help anyone — not herself, and certainly not a mercenary with no powerful House to protect him.

Meanwhile, far across the western desert, Ain, a young Pathfinder, is thrust into the role of Seeker. Before winter storms close the way, he must leave his home on a quest to locate the Sea Shrine and take revenge on the people who drove his ancestors from Anaskar, the city ruled by the prince Sofia and Notch are sworn to protect, whether he wants their help or not.”
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Chapter One:
The chill of prison bars against his temple did little to ease Notch’s headache. Decades of dank didn’t help either, nor snoring from another cell, where someone was impersonating a bear. Or dying. In the poor light it was hard to tell.

Notch squinted. Noon sun barely crept through the small, grated windows on his side of the building. Even cells across the way were shadowed. Sunlight, in addition to a piece of bread and some water, were high points, while the straw ‘bed’ and stale body odour of criminals were typically unpleasant. Worse places than Anaskar City prison existed. At least he hadn’t been beaten yet – a twinge in his shoulder reminded him how much some guards enjoyed their work.

His cellmate raised his voice and Notch turned. The man had probably been speaking for some time; his drawn face was expectant. Years of imprisonment had washed out his Anaskari tan.

Notch leaned against the bars. “What is it, Bren?”

“Did you kill her, truly?”

“No.”

Bren nodded. “Innocent then.” He knelt in the corner, his fine coat of blue long since gone to grime, his face pressed against the stone wall. “Listen to this one.” He scratched at an armpit with some vigour. “It’s hard to see but I think it says ‘death to the Shields of Anaskar’ and it’s got a signature, but I can’t make it out.”

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You can read the rest of those beginning five hundred words—and the whole of Chapter One, in fact—on Ashley’s website:

City Of Masks

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About Ashley Capes

Ashley is a poet, novelist and teacher living in Australia. He teaches Media and Music Production, and has played in a metal band, worked in an art gallery and music retail. Aside from reading and writing, Ashley loves volleyball and Studio Ghibli – and Magnum PI, easily one of the greatest television shows ever made. His latest novel is City of Masks and his fifth poetry collection, old stone, is due for release at the end of 2014.