Storm Front

Tomorrow
after our war
clouds stream
out of the nor’east,
seagulls fleeing
before the wind—
a voice on the radio
talks about what it means
to be . . . human, beating
against each other, asks
who will pick up
all the shards, piece
together the joins, dark
fractures enclosing
the whole.

© Helen Lowe

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Don’t forget to read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world—just click here.

Some very atmospheric pics from my writing retreat in Nelson last week. Enjoy! (You’ll know I did. 😉 )

Looking west to Mt Arthur:

This (below) is more north-west across Tasman Bay:

And this (below again) northeast toward what I believe is referred to as Nelson Haven:

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UK

On Friday, I looked at my deliberate decision to give The Wall Of Night series a “classic epic framework”, which in turn drove the quasi-medieval European milieu.

I also said that in taking something that on the surface looked familiar, I hope to then emulate Emily Dickinson in approaching that familiar terrain at least somewhat “slant.”

In addition to aspects of culture and locale referenced yesterday, many readers and reviewers have also noted that not only is the lead character in The Wall Of Night series female—which is still relatively unusual in adult epic fantasy (although not unprecedented, given Mara of the Acoma in the Feist/Wurts Empire series, and CJ Cherryh’s Morgaine series, for example)—but also that the books contain diverse and compelling female supporting characters, as well as their male counterparts.

So sometimes the choice of a “classic epic” setting may not necessarily be as traditional as surface appearances suggest. I hope so, at any rate.

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If you’re interested in reading more on creating epic heroines, “place as person”, the world of Haarth, and the kind of books I write, you could check out the following posts:

Writing Epic Heroines

Writing Epic Heroines: The Princess & Others In Thornspell

Place As Person: What Does It Mean When Telling Story

Keeping Fantasy Fresh & Interesting

“So What Kind OF Books Do You Write?” (1)

“So What Kind OF Books Do You Write?” (2)

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USA

Yesterday I looked at my deliberate decision to give The Wall Of Night series a “classic epic framework”, which in turn drove the quasi-medieval European milieu.

I also said that in taking something that on the surface looked familiar, I hope to then emulate Emily Dickinson in approaching that familiar terrain at least somewhat “slant.”

For example, the Derai Alliance that garrisons the Wall of Night is alien to Haarth and has imposed both its own war and traditional enemy on the indigenous inhabitants. Several reviewers and readers have noted the wider cultural dimension this brings to the conflict.

If I focus specifically on physical setting, the locales I have drawn on to inform my world-building are also diverse. The landscape of Jaransor, encountered toward the end of The Heir Of Night, is strongly influenced by Central Otago in New Zealand.

Similarly, the Wild Lands beyond Jaransor are informed by vistas seen from Australia’s Great Dividing Range. And the River city of Ij, in The Gathering Of The Lost, which is built on islands and features many canals, may appear to reference Venice, but is in fact based on Bangkok and its khlongs.

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UK

From time to time, questions come up about worldbuilding in The Wall Of Night series and one of the perennial favourites is why I chose a setting that is reminiscent of medieval Western Europe.

The answer is that I deliberately set out to write a book that was very ‘classic epic’ in its initial form, so that drove the Western European medieval-style setting, as did the mythological basis to the work which draws on the Greco-Roman, Norse, and Celtic traditions.

Another reason for choosing “classic epic” was not just because I love it, but because I wanted the focus of the books to be on the exploration of character, the world building, and telling a damn fine story (to the best of my humble abilities, at any rate.) I wanted to explore how the Derai, who believe themselves to be champions of good, are in fact divided by prejudice, suspicion, and fear.

I also wanted to address the notion that it is what people actually do, rather than what they believe about themselves, that really makes for “good guys” or “bad guys” – as well as how circumstances may have a bearing on that equation.

I hoped that contrasting this exploration against the “classic epic” setting would provide fresh insight into what at first appeared familiar. So I suppose I have been trying to take something that may appear familiar on the surface and then heed Emily Dickinson’s exhortation to “tell it slant.”

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USA

As I observed last week, revealing the US  and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood  sparked an ambition to send some on-blog time with the characters from the first two books in the series, in the same way I spent time on the world in A Geography Of Haarth.

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

I shall start at the beginning, with “A” in the first book in The Wall Of Night series, which is, of course, The Heir Of Night. I hope you may enjoy the “many meetings” that shall ensue. 🙂

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Akerin: chief healer in the Keep Of Winds

“Akerin, as experienced a campaigner as any guard in the keep, had shaken his head. “Not that desperate. Losing Gerenth was a grievous blow, but losing you …” He had stopped as an orderly came into the room, waiting until the man left before speaking again. Even so, he had kept his voice low. “You will have to choose, you know, between the Keep command and being Honor Captain. It leaves Night too vulnerable having one person, however able, trying to do both jobs for any length of time.” 

~ from © The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One, Chapter 21 — Pieces on the Board

~ by Rebecca Fisher

Introduction:

After the success of Robin Hood (2006 – 2009) and Merlin (2008 – 2012) over on the BBC, it must have seemed a fair bet for Channel Sky1 to try and fill the Saturday night slot by broadcasting their own take on a famous fantasy hero: Sinbad. Unfortunately it didn’t do as well as its predecessors, lasting only a single season and never picking up much of a following.

So why do an article on the subject? I have an underlying fascination with shows that never quite get off the ground (Roar back in the 1990s was another one) and in examining how exactly things went wrong. Sinbad appeared to have all the prerequisites for a popular show: a strong cast, a solid premise, reasonably high production values – but it lacked the all-important “x-factor” that garners a wide audience.

Premise:

Unlike the likes of Robin Hood or King Arthur, Sinbad is a fairly nebulous character to adapt. The oldest tales involving him (dating back to the 17^th century) are composed of sea voyages filled with strange creatures and mysterious islands, but this version eschews all that in favour of original storylines.

After a series of bad decisions culminates in his brother’s death, Sinbad is cursed by his own grandmother to remain at sea, with a twenty-four hour time limit put on his forays inland thanks to a necklace that will strangle him to death if he doesn’t return to his ship before the sun rises each morning.

Sinbad and the cursed necklace

Sinbad is forced to leave his home and join up with a motley gang of misfits (the mercenary, the princess, the physician, the pickpocket, the bounty hunter, the cook) who are thrown into a range of familiar fantasy plots each week.

Story:

The show runs on a fairly formulaic series of plots: there’s the evil siren that magically entrances our hero, the heist episode in which they have to negotiate traps and snares to retrieve the treasure, the one in which everyone’s deepest dreams appear to come true, and the inevitable descent into the Underworld and back. There’s lots of getting thrown into prison, plenty of sword fights, and repeated reminders that our lead character is irresistible to women.

Naveen Andrews as Lord Akbari. You can tell he’s evil because of the eyeliner.

It’s entertaining enough, but the show’s greatest weakness is its want of a decent villain. Lord Akbari (Naveen Andrews) becomes obsessed with revenge after his son accidentally dies at Sinbad’s hands, but the lack of a personal history between the two characters means there’s no real meat to their animosity. His court sorceress Taryn (Orla Brady) fares a little better as an actual threat to our protagonists, but towards the end she becomes something of an unlikely ally – again robbing the show of any sense of urgency.

One can’t help but feel that some of the show’s cheesier elements (such as the anachronistic speech patterns, the dodgy television special effects, and the perpetually shirtless lead) would be more excusable if they were part of a more interesting story.

Characters:

The main cast is largely made up of newcomers: perhaps Elliot Cowan as an exiled Viking is the most familiar actor, but the likes of Marama Corlett (Rina), Dimitri Leonidas (Anwar), Estella Daniels (Nala) and Elliot Knight (Sinbad himself) are still relative unknowns – though the show has to be given credit for assembling a racially diverse cast for a story that takes place across the Middle East.

From left: Cook, Rina, Anwar, Sinbad, Gunnar, Tiger and Nala

The problem is that each one is a fairly stock character, and though they’re developed individually as the show goes on, they never quite become a cohesive unit, and completely lack the fascinating dynamics of (for example) the crew of Firefly, or the golden trio of Harry Potter, or the assorted members of the X Men.

But every now and then a surprising face will pop up: somehow the show’s runners managed to book the likes of Dougray Scott (Father La Stessa), Evanna Lynch (Princess Alehna), Sophie Okonedo (Razia), and Timothy Spall (Anicetus.)

Conclusion:

So that was Sinbad: over almost as soon as it had begun, and without leaving much of a ripple on the world’s collective consciousness. Most people have probably forgotten it entirely – if they ever knew about it at all.

What we’re left with is a confusing and patchy single season that isn’t sure what story it wants to tell. Akbari’s vendetta, the curse set upon Sinbad, and the budding romance between him and Nala are all abruptly brought to a close by the middle of the season, and the show’s second half meanders through a range of seemingly meaningless one-shot adventures before a finale that sets things up for the non-existent second season.

Still it’s a shame that it was cancelled so soon – worse shows have been given a second chance and managed to straighten themselves out, and there were some interesting narrative seeds sown that could have had pay-off later on. Instead we’re left with this odd little curiosity: the short-changed voyage of Sinbad.
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Next Time: Farscape

We go from an obscure failure to a cult classic: it ran for a grand total of four seasons and a concluding miniseries, it starred a number of imaginative creations from the Jim Henson Creature Shop, and it’s still remembered fondly to this day. It’s Farscape of course, and I’ve got two weeks to cram in as many episodes as possible.
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About The Reviewer:

Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com and her They’re All Fictional blog.

To read Rebecca’s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:

Big Worlds On Small Screens

Rebecca has recently won the Sir Julius Vogel Award 2015 for Best Fan Writer, for writing including Big Worlds On Small Screens.

Orison

~ a Meditation on Katherine Mansfield,
in the south of France

A bell calls on sleepy air
resonant
with late afternoon

sheep click & clack
over cobbles
the smell of fleece
hangs on the hour

an olive tree taps
against glass –
through twig and leaf
there is sea, bright
beneath a blaze of sky

the page on the desk
is blank, the pen
a burden to the hand –
she lifts it
draws in breath
…………..will again
until the final line
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© Helen Lowe

~ first published in Takahe 62, 2007

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Enjoy. And don’t forget to read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world—just click here.

USA

I’ve been pleased over the past week or so at the number of visits to the US and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three), both here and on the Supernatural Underground.

Their release, together with recent posts such as “Writing Epic Heroines” and “When Characters We Love Die”, has kept reflections on storytelling and the importance of world building and character creation uppermost in my mind.

Such reflections tend to focus on big name, main point-of-view characters (such as Malian and Klan in the Wall Of Night series) but as I observed in a Twitter conversation with reader, reviewer, and podcaster Paul Weimer last week:

““Sometimes I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

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I have talked about the importance of minor characters before, most recently in a July post Keeping Fantasy Fresh — & (With A Teaspoonful Of Luck!) Interesting where I observed that:

“To believe in the world, we first have to believe in the characters at an emotional level. Their hopes, dreams, and fears have to be real for us as readers. One way I strive to achieve that, as a writer, is to understand that no matter how large or small the part in the story, a character is always important to him or herself. Even the most minor of characters will have a history and a life that matters to them, and as the writer I have to convey a sense of that, even if the reader will only ever catch the most fleeting glimpse of the character on the page.”

I suppose it is like a lake or mountain in a natural landscape—however important or spectacular it may appear, it doesn’t exist in isolation. It is the surroundings, whether hills or forests framing a lake, or the rest of the mountain range  providing ‘contrast’ with the high peak, that help highlight their prominence. (I think/hope that makes sense!)

So even if the main characters are well drawn, if the supporting characters are more in the nature of “cardboard cutouts”, or worse, caricatures, the story will often feel flat and unsatisfying. Stimulating ideas and fast-paced writing can provide compensation but ultimately a story is all about the characters, so a book where the secondary and minor characters are less than three-dimensional will always disappoint.

You can always tell a really great writer, in my humble opinion, by the effortless ease with which they bring their minor characters to life. For example, like Ursula Le Guin’s Lord and Lady Of O in A Wizard of Earthsea:

“That night the Lord of O was a guest of the school, himself a sorcerer of renown…With him was his lady, slender and young, bright as new copper, her black hair crowned with opals.”

Just a few lines, but it is enough to bring the Lady in particular to life for the less than two pages she figures in the story.

At any rate, because I believe minor characters play a vital part in making a story successful, I shall kick off my new About The Characters post series (starting this Thursday) by focusing initially on minor players from the Wall of Night series.

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

—Vincent Van Gogh

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I think this is so true (of just about anything, really) but also reminds me of the famous Lao Tzu quote that ” the journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step.”

Because it’s only all those single steps, one after the other, knocking off one mile after the other, that allow the the thousand-mile milestone to be achieved.

Although I think there’s a little more to the  van Gogh quote, since a painting or a book can comprise many disparate elements—the art lies in bringing them together in a way that transforms into the “a-ha!” moment of a larger whole.