Barbara Eberhard's Blog - Posts Tagged "dragons"
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.
