Barbara Eberhard's Blog - Posts Tagged "dichotomy"
Next Up?
I'm starting to write my next book. Except I'm actually writing two books, or four depending on how you count.
First up, the one that I've done the most work in, is a memoir. It's a companion piece to the biography of my father, written about 2020 and losing both parents in a month during a global pandemic. I've called it A Journal of Grief, though the current draft is more about the events than the grief. I think reckoning with my grief came after their deaths. So perhaps it makes sense that I lay out what happened first, and then address the challenges that came afterward. We'll see.
The other book is actually a new fantasy trilogy. It's very early on; still only in the ideas stage. I've created the world, though, which is a significant step. The premise is dichotomies. The world is divided into people who live on the water and people who live on the land. They have evolved differently, and they think differently about their world and each other. What exactly is going to happen, what the quest is, and how the world is saved - or evolved - is something I'm still working through.
More to come!
First up, the one that I've done the most work in, is a memoir. It's a companion piece to the biography of my father, written about 2020 and losing both parents in a month during a global pandemic. I've called it A Journal of Grief, though the current draft is more about the events than the grief. I think reckoning with my grief came after their deaths. So perhaps it makes sense that I lay out what happened first, and then address the challenges that came afterward. We'll see.
The other book is actually a new fantasy trilogy. It's very early on; still only in the ideas stage. I've created the world, though, which is a significant step. The premise is dichotomies. The world is divided into people who live on the water and people who live on the land. They have evolved differently, and they think differently about their world and each other. What exactly is going to happen, what the quest is, and how the world is saved - or evolved - is something I'm still working through.
More to come!
Fascinating Fantasy
I've written two fantasy trilogies: Reunion, and Jewels and Gods. Both of those involved familiars and gemstones that enhance magic, and gods for each country in the world. I'm starting now on a new fantasy trilogy - using different fantasy tropes.
This will be a sword and sorcery series. Our heroes will either forge or be gifted swords that enhance their magical powers. At the start, our heroes don't know they are mages - they will learn magic as they learn to fight for both are intrinsic to their being.
The trilogy's teachers are "naga" - which I'm extending to include not only sea-based dragons as in eastern mythologies, but also land-based dragons. In my world, both sets of naga have magic, and both are integral to the quest to restore magic to humans. Which is the quest for this trilogy.
The main driver of the trilogy is dichotomies. The world is half land, half sea. The people have different skills, different beliefs - driven by the "world" in which they live. The two types of people distrust each other deeply.
It's an interesting challenge starting a new world. I remember, by the second book of my first trilogy, the characters were practically writing their own scenes, so immersed was I in this world I'd created. It was in that book that I experienced - for the first time - a character "deciding" her path was different than the one I had originally planned. A fascinating writing experience, to be sure.
The second trilogy was set in the same world as my first, though the quest was among the next generation of mages. This world, however, was slightly different, as magic was different, unified - in fulfillment of the quest of the first trilogy. And so, the world was both the same and different. And most of the characters - the ones on the quest - were different. I had to learn their rhythms and tones. But the gods were the same, and the characteristics of each country's people was the same. To be in the same world - a world I created - and have to find its new patterns was as fascinating as had been the first trilogy. I had somehow assumed that because it was the same world in which I had already written three books, it would be easy to find my way in this second trilogy. It was, and it wasn't.
Now, I have created a whole new world, and its magic is not the same as the magic I have used before. I've only just started writing. But the differences are - well - fascinating.
This will be a sword and sorcery series. Our heroes will either forge or be gifted swords that enhance their magical powers. At the start, our heroes don't know they are mages - they will learn magic as they learn to fight for both are intrinsic to their being.
The trilogy's teachers are "naga" - which I'm extending to include not only sea-based dragons as in eastern mythologies, but also land-based dragons. In my world, both sets of naga have magic, and both are integral to the quest to restore magic to humans. Which is the quest for this trilogy.
The main driver of the trilogy is dichotomies. The world is half land, half sea. The people have different skills, different beliefs - driven by the "world" in which they live. The two types of people distrust each other deeply.
It's an interesting challenge starting a new world. I remember, by the second book of my first trilogy, the characters were practically writing their own scenes, so immersed was I in this world I'd created. It was in that book that I experienced - for the first time - a character "deciding" her path was different than the one I had originally planned. A fascinating writing experience, to be sure.
The second trilogy was set in the same world as my first, though the quest was among the next generation of mages. This world, however, was slightly different, as magic was different, unified - in fulfillment of the quest of the first trilogy. And so, the world was both the same and different. And most of the characters - the ones on the quest - were different. I had to learn their rhythms and tones. But the gods were the same, and the characteristics of each country's people was the same. To be in the same world - a world I created - and have to find its new patterns was as fascinating as had been the first trilogy. I had somehow assumed that because it was the same world in which I had already written three books, it would be easy to find my way in this second trilogy. It was, and it wasn't.
Now, I have created a whole new world, and its magic is not the same as the magic I have used before. I've only just started writing. But the differences are - well - fascinating.
Three in One?
As I wrote a while back, I'm writing a new fantasy trilogy.
Usually a trilogy follows a timeline - first book covers the start, second book the middle, and third book the finale. The challenge with these kinds of trilogies is making each book also have an arch. Otherwise, the reader gets bored or frustrated, not getting a sense of completion in any of the books until the third.
But this trilogy is different. I'm writing each book from a main character's perspective, covering the same timeline in each book.
This is similar to the very first book I wrote, which had three stories in one, each the same main characters but with a different perspective. In that book, the husband of the couple dies at the beginning of the first story, and the rest of the story is about how they met and how she will get along. The second story tells the story of them living and loving until old age. The third story is much of the truth of the tale, which is loosely based on real events.
So this trilogy is similar in that it's the same story - sort of - with different perspectives.
But it's different in that each book is really the story of fulfilling the prophecy from the perspective of one of the three chosen ones. It's not until the final chapter that the three come together.
And so, as I write, the three stories are separate but intertwined. Things that happen in one book may affect what happens in the others. And since things "come up" as I write - regular readers will know this about my writing - I'm writing the three books simultaneously. That way, I can incorporate the pop-up ideas in the other two books - if appropriate.
As a result, I don't think I'll publish until all three books are completed. So, instead of publishing every 9 months, as has been my norm, it might be a couple of years.
That's scary for me. I don't know that I have an audience waiting for my books. But it's still a long time between new books.
So we'll see. I may try to focus on one of the three and publish sooner than that.
Usually a trilogy follows a timeline - first book covers the start, second book the middle, and third book the finale. The challenge with these kinds of trilogies is making each book also have an arch. Otherwise, the reader gets bored or frustrated, not getting a sense of completion in any of the books until the third.
But this trilogy is different. I'm writing each book from a main character's perspective, covering the same timeline in each book.
This is similar to the very first book I wrote, which had three stories in one, each the same main characters but with a different perspective. In that book, the husband of the couple dies at the beginning of the first story, and the rest of the story is about how they met and how she will get along. The second story tells the story of them living and loving until old age. The third story is much of the truth of the tale, which is loosely based on real events.
So this trilogy is similar in that it's the same story - sort of - with different perspectives.
But it's different in that each book is really the story of fulfilling the prophecy from the perspective of one of the three chosen ones. It's not until the final chapter that the three come together.
And so, as I write, the three stories are separate but intertwined. Things that happen in one book may affect what happens in the others. And since things "come up" as I write - regular readers will know this about my writing - I'm writing the three books simultaneously. That way, I can incorporate the pop-up ideas in the other two books - if appropriate.
As a result, I don't think I'll publish until all three books are completed. So, instead of publishing every 9 months, as has been my norm, it might be a couple of years.
That's scary for me. I don't know that I have an audience waiting for my books. But it's still a long time between new books.
So we'll see. I may try to focus on one of the three and publish sooner than that.
