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Dream magic plays a relatively significant part in both Thornspell and The Wall Of Night series and one of its more important aspects is that of portent, with fulfillment locked into whether—or how—the foretold doom or destiny will play out.

This aspect of dream and fulfillment is an essential element of both the Greek and Norse myths, as well as folklore. We all recognize, after all, that if our hero or heroine is told something three times, especially by an oracle of some kind, then the foretelling is likely to prove true …

(This is not just in Fantasy, by the way. In the SFF television series, Babylon 5, I believe careful perusal will show that the captain, John Sheridan, is warned three times that, “If you go to Z’ha’dum, you will die.” Just sayin’)

Yet any exploration of dreams and their “fated” fulfillment in Fantasy also gives rise to the alternative consideration: the extent to which characters have free will. Can they, like Will Thatcher (the mourned Heath Ledger) in the film, A Knight’s Tale, change their stars? The Greek and Norse myths would answer that question with a resounding “no”—in fact it is usually the protagonist’s endeavours to avoid his or her prophesied fate that brings about the doom.

In The Wall of Night series I keep the fate vs free will aspect open by having the prophetic dreams occur very much in the “jumbled workings” of the subconscious. There is truth in them, but they may only imperfectly reflect events that occur in the daylight world. Nothing is certain … and every action a protagonist takes acts on the dream, creating alternative possibilities of fulfillment.

In exploring the prophetic dream tradition, both through reading other writers and in my own work, I suspect that we are also talking about aspiration—the innate human desire to affect our fate and exert control over destiny. The myths, of course, would say that any such aspiration is doomed, its fulfillment stillborn before it has taken the first breath of life.

But what do you think? Do you have a view on the use of dreams and portents in contemporary Fantasy, or a favourite book or series that deploys them to good effect?

Ulysses

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Having a new book scheduled to come out “soon”(-ish!) gets you thinking about the books that have come before them, especially in a series—and Daughter Of Blood is very much part of the continuing The Wall Of Night story.

Partly, this is what made me embark on the recently commenced “About the Characters” posts—altho’ “meet the characters” might be another way of thinking about!—which  has been focusing on minor characters, mainly in The Heir of Night (The Wall Of Night, Book One.)

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All that has got me thinking about the whole process of developing characters, not only in a book, but also in the book that you know is the first step in the long and winding journey of “series.”

And (in my humble opinion, anyway!) The Heir of Night (Heir) and The Wall of Night (WALL) series is all about the characters: who they are, what code of values they subscribe to—and how they behave in relation to those values when the chips are down. So I guess that’s why Heir is quite an adventurous story (OK, it’s also because I like treks into dangerous territory, sword fights and hunts and battles with demons, to be strictly honest!) as well as being character driven. Because it’s only when the going gets tough that the person you believe you are gets tested.

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The two central characters  in WALL are Malian, the eponymous Heir of Night, and Kalan, who is both her sidekick and a major character in his own right. In Heir they are both young (not unlike the five Stark children in George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones), but dark events are thrust upon them. How they deal with that is very much part of the story, so that Malian at the beginning of The Gathering of the Lost (Gathering — The Wall Of Night, Book Two), despite her youth, already has a harder edge than the girl in the opening scenes of the book.

One of the more  difficult characters in the early story, at least in terms of values and being tested, is Malian’s father, the Earl of Night. Some time after the book first came out in 2010, a reader said: “Oh you can just feel the weight resting on him.” This did please me, because it is very much how I hoped that the Earl would come across: not as a straightforward personality, but as a man caught between opposing forces and conflicting values, not least his personal inclination and circumstances that are driving him in a different direction—which means that he is tested, sometimes even severely tested, as a character. Needless to say, he is not necessarily a likable man—but I hope that readers find him an interesting one

Big ideas, big story, characters under pressure—or a tale of adventure, battles and flights from danger? I love stories that weave the two elements together, so it’s probably not surprising that I’ve striven to achieve the same result in The Wall of Night series.

Coming soon now…

… January 2016

A writer can’t expect to be embraced by the people, you just keep doing your work—because you have to, it’s your calling.

~ Patti Smith

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True dat…

Of course, Patti Smith is most famous as a musician—you can find out more on her official site, here:

Patti Smith

My guest series Fantasy Heroines That Rock My World is still going full steam ahead on SF Signal — and this time the featured heroine is Eowyn from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord Of the Rings.

Eowyn

Because, as I say in the post, “I really don’t think it’s possible to have a Fantasy Heroines’ series and not feature Eowyn.”

To find out why I think so, though, you’ll have to check out the article:

Helen Lowe On The Fantasy Heroines That Rock Her World: Eowyn of Rohan

My other SF Signal feature this week was when the “Making Covers New” post, releasing the new US covers for The Wall of Night series, made the Top 25 posts for September (huzza!):

Top 25 SF Signal Posts for September 2015

Enjoy!

The proof being done, I’m taking time to do some reading — and this week have been devouring Kate Elliott’s Crossroads trilogy, which begins with Spirit Gate and is followed by Shadow Gate and Traitors’ Gate.

I have heard Kate Elliott described as a master of world building, and the “Gate” novels certainly impress in that respect. The societies of The Hundred and its adjoining realms are diverse and textured, as are the landscapes and cultural mythologies, so that the world really springs to life.

But its not just world building: there is a cast of interesting and compelling characters and an engaging epic fantasy yarn being told. Suffice it to say that I am enjoying the series a LOT and—having just finished Shadow Gate—I am keen to make a start on Traitors’ Gate over the weekend.

How about you–what’s on your TBR table for the weekend?

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The recent unveiling of the US  and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood  — and now the new look US covers for the whole WALL of Night series — has inspired me to spend some blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, in the same way I spent time on the worldbuilding in A Geography Of Haarth.

I also decided to focus on minor players to begin with, because: “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

Today’s minor character—and unlike Garan, last week, he is very minor indeed in the context of the story, despite imposing titles—is Gerenth.

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Gerenth: military commander of both the Keep of Winds garrison and the House of Night

“She knew the rest of the Earl’s household as well if not better than her father. Gerenth, the Commander of Night, strode in first behind the Earl, with Asantir, the Captain of the Earl’s Honor Guard, at his side … The feast was brought in with a clatter, and the hall soon became filled with an ocean of noise as Night celebrated the safe return of friends, comrades, and kin from the dangerous boundary patrols. Even the Earl and his household, generally more reserved, seemed relaxed. Nhairin smiled her twisted smile at some joke of Haimyr’s; Gerenth, overhearing, brayed out a laugh.”

~ from © The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One, Chapter 2 — Heralds of the Guild

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On September 15 (US Central Time), Hugo Award-winning SFF site, SF Signal, hosted the exclusive release of the new-look US covers for The Wall of Night series. Now it turns out that it was one of the Top 25 posts for the month—which is Awesome!

Just in case you missed it the first time, this post-of-awesome can still be read here: 😉

[EXCLUSIVE] Making Covers New: Creating An Epic Look For Helen Lowe’s THE WALL OF NIGHT Series

As those who have already seen it may recall, the feature was a post of two halves, comprising both the “author’s take” and my Voyager editor, Kate Nintzel’s  “cut” on the whole process of developing new covers.

We’re thrilled that enough people were interested in both write-up and covers to propel the post into a Top 25 slot—and deeply appreciative of the SF Signal team for hosting us.

from the hill

boats turn
at their moorings,
facing into the wind:

I can see every
shift in the weather
from up here,
she says, standing
at my shoulder —
the boats better
than any
weathervane…

we take our tea
out, onto a deck
made of timber
from old hulks
dredged out
of harbour mud,
she speaks
of the home to
which she does
not return, of the
much younger man
who will not let
her go — nor she him —
turns again to watch
the boats, talks
of a change
in the wind.
.

(c) Helen Lowe

first published in Takahe 62, 2007

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When I reread this poem and realised that it is eight years since it was published, I thought it really was time I shared it with the world again—hence the Tuesday Poem slot today. 🙂

To read this week’s poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub, and other great poems featured by fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here.

First-Pass-Proof manuscript

One thing about spending a few weeks locked into a major part of the book-writing cycle, like doing the final proof of the manuscript, is that a lot of other stuff falls by the wayside in the meantime.

Although—brief digression ensues—I realised as soon as I said “final proof” that actually it’s called the “first-pass-proof.” That’s because although it’s the final time the author gets to see the manuscript before it’s a book, it’s only the first proofing round for the publisher’s production team.

So though you see the author’s part of the process via a writer’s blog like mine, there’s this whole other world that’s pretty much invisible to readers (and the author, although at least we know it’s happening!) between this stage and anyone getting an actual book in their hands.

In short, there’s a lot more to this book malarkey than meets the eye!

Now, back to stuff that falls by the wayside—like updating my website and blog with the new USA book covers for The Wall of Night series, just for example. And various items of correspondence (you’ll know if your mail falls into this category. 😉 )

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Not to mention ensuring all the plot and character reminders captured on post-its and the backs of envelopes throughout the proofing are captured in a more secure location, especially where they are relevant to the writing of The Wall of Night Book Four.

All designed to keep the author scurrying before she can even think about getting back to actually writing WALL4! So on that note, I had best get to it…