Karen Azinger's Blog: The Silk & Steel Saga, page 7

Character names

Names evoke mystery, menace, magic and wonder. Whisper a single name and readers are instantly transported to another time and place. Arthur…Camelot…Excalibur…Frodo…Mordor…Voldemort, these names shimmer in our hearts and dreams like magical touch-stones. Some evoke wonder while others embody dread. More than any other genre, fantasy tasks authors to create unique and interesting names, but these names should not be a jumble of alphabet soup, impossible to pronounce and even harder to remember. For my medieval epic fantasy, The Silk & Steel Saga, I took great care in choosing the names for my main characters, striving for names that are both unique and memorable and reflective of my characters’ prominent traits.
Kath, the princess of Castlegard, is a strong female character who is often underestimated and frequently overlooked. Because she is ignored and overlooked, I wanted her to have a common girl’s name, but I also wanted my character to be bold enough to name herself. Katherine is her birth name, the name her father calls her, the name of a princess destine to wed for the good of her kingdom, but my character rejects that destiny and therefore rejects that name, choosing instead to be called Kath, a unique and catchy twist on an otherwise common name.

Inspiration!

My inspiration for writing The Silk & Steel Saga comes from everywhere! From history, from the beauty of nature, from the diversity of travel, from reading books and watching movies, and even from talking with good friends. I guess my two favorite sources of inspiration are history and travel. To me, history is fascinating. There are so many larger-than-life personalities in the past. It's interesting to explore the problems they faced and study the solutions they tried. So many problems of the past are repeated today. If you want a crystal ball, just look to the past, human nature hasn’t changed all that much. One of my favorite characters in the saga, Queen Liandra, is based one of my historical heroines, Queen Elizabeth I, a lone woman ruling a kingdom in deep peril.
I also find inspiration in my travels. Travel makes you look at the world from a different perspective, a different culture, a different history. Travel also provides inspiration for fabulous settings. In my travels I’ve found settings that resonate with history, or beauty, or wonder, from the mysterious ruins of Machu Picchu, to the natural wonder of the majestic Sequoia trees, to windswept castles overlooking a turquoise sea. I try to imbue the settings of my saga with the wonders of far away places. An example of this in my saga, is The Ghost Hills, inspired by the beehive formations of the Bungle Bungles in Australia, and The Deep Green, inspired by the forest of giant Sequoia trees in California.

Lanverness, what's in a name?

In epic fantasy, the names of settings deserve just as much thought as the character names. Just glance at any world map for inspiration. For example, Inverness is a city in Scotland and also in New Zealand. I’ve never visited either place yet the name always struck me as lyrical, magical, even mystical. Putting my own twist on the name, Inverness becomes Lanverness, the only kingdom of Erdhe ruled by a queen. For the capital city of Lanverness, I chose the name Pellanor, a twisted spelling of Pellinore, a king from Arthurian legend who is famous for hunting the Questing Beast. Choose the names of your kingdoms, cities, and castles with care. Names can instill a touch of classical legend in your epic fantasy.

The Battle Immortal

The Battle Immortal, the fifth book of The Silk & Steel Saga, will be written in three parts, The North, The South, and The Battle Immortal. I just finished writing the last chapter of The South! So now the North and the South are both done and I'm on to The Battle Immortal...where all hell breaks loose! Thrilled with the way the chapters are pouring out of me! I feel like celebrating!!!!

Fantasy Worldbuilding

To bring the settings of The Silk & Steel Saga to life, I often draw on my travels around the world. Visiting Chartres Cathedral in France, we listened as an Oxford professor “read” the peerless stonework and stained glass windows, explaining the biblical meanings as well as subtle comments on rulers and politics of the times. The artwork of the great cathedrals was in many ways the “newspaper” of its era. Impressed by these lectures, I was determined to give the same meaning to the architecture of Erdhe. One of the best examples of this is in chapter 27 of The Steel Queen. When Steffan arrives in Coronth, he first visits the great temple and “reads” the architecture. “Crossing the threshold, Steffan felt the chill of stone-cloistered shadows. The ceiling soared overhead, but instead of being light and airy, it captured smoke and darkness. A vault of gloom pressed down as if trying to drive him to his knees.” My readers walk into the temple with Steffan, feeling the stone-hewed malevolence of the Flame God.

The Poison Priestess

"I name you Cereus, a rare desert bloom. The blossoms last for a single night, closing with the dawn's first kiss. A year of passion in a single night." From The Poison Priestess, the fourth book of The Silk & Steel Saga. In case you were wondering, the botanical name is Selenicereus grandiflorus, a night blooming member of the cactus family.

Welcome!

Hello! I'm the author of The Silk & Steel Saga, an epic medieval fantasy full of plots, battles, romance, and schemes that will never let you underestimate the ‘weaker’ sex again. Writing fantasy has become my passion and a thrilling life adventure. I write what I love, sweeping medieval sagas with a sword-wielding princess, a brilliantly strategic queen, a mysterious archer, a cunning counselor, a seductive priestess and a silver-haired grandmother who wields knitting needles and knives. In this blog, I'll talk about insights to my books, about my writing and publishing experiences, and I'd love to answer any of your questions. Welcome to The Silk & Steel Saga.