Barbara Eberhard's Blog - Posts Tagged "revelations"
Prophecies and Revelations
One of the ways in which fantasy writers move the plot forward is with a revelation or a prophecy.
Revelations - in my definition - are things the characters realize, not necessarily divinely given, but that nonetheless change the direction of the plot or are the resolution of a breadcrumb. Examples might be when one character shares something they thought everyone else knew, but didn't. Or when a plot idea from the beginning of the book is tied to something that happens toward the end of the book, which makes the reader remember the breadcrumb from earlier - or go back to try to find the previous reference - and the reader gets a sense of satisfaction from seeing how the different sections connect.
Prophecies, on the other hand, come from the gods or powers that be or whatever higher power you may be using in your particular fantasy novels. In both the Reunion and Jewels and Gods trilogies, I had the same set of gods, one for each country. I'll totally admit I stole that idea from David Eddings' brilliant Belgariad, though I'm not sure he was the first to think of it either. At any rate, in those trilogies, the main characters get prophecies from the gods that point them in a different direction or confirm they are on the right path. In both cases, prophecies also started the quest.
So, it should come as no surprise that Dichotomies, my in-process trilogy, would also have both revelations and prophecies. In fact, one of the first things I did when I embarked on the process of this new trilogy was create a series of prophecies to be revealed as the quest went on. One, in particular, would help the "chosen ones" know where they needed to go to complete their question and fulfill the prophecy.
The second thing I did was determine where those prophecies would be revealed in the plots. Now, in the case of Dichotomies, because the three books are happening concurrently, the prophecies needed to come out in each book. But I decided they would not always come in the same order or at the same time. Thus, one main character might know something the others did not. I mapped each plot out by where the main characters were, with a rough sketch of what would happen at that point in the story. But then I also filtered in the prophecies. It was fun to try to figure out which prophecy's revelation would have the greatest impact during what part of which book. Got it?
There are also revelations, obviously. In this case, there are wise nagas who are mentoring each of the main human characters. They know things they share with their charges - the chosen ones - along the way. Some of these revelations are unique to that bonding. Others have to appear in each book of the trilogy. For example, how humans lost their magic is something humans don't know. But the nagas remember when it happened, and why. And the naga mentors to the chosen ones explain this to their charges, but not always at the same time or in the same way.
In today's writing, I came up with another revelation. This one is that the nagas knew when the humans lost their magic, and they knew it was related to the dichotomies that had divided humanity over time. But what they didn't know - and what they and the chosen ones will come to find out - is that the dichotomies not only severed the emotional connection among humans - as the Canian and Resani came to distrust each other - but also the loss of magic broke physical connections between the "can" where the Canians live and the "res" where the Resani live.
Because losing emotional connections can have the consequence of losing physical connections, and vice versa.
Revelations - in my definition - are things the characters realize, not necessarily divinely given, but that nonetheless change the direction of the plot or are the resolution of a breadcrumb. Examples might be when one character shares something they thought everyone else knew, but didn't. Or when a plot idea from the beginning of the book is tied to something that happens toward the end of the book, which makes the reader remember the breadcrumb from earlier - or go back to try to find the previous reference - and the reader gets a sense of satisfaction from seeing how the different sections connect.
Prophecies, on the other hand, come from the gods or powers that be or whatever higher power you may be using in your particular fantasy novels. In both the Reunion and Jewels and Gods trilogies, I had the same set of gods, one for each country. I'll totally admit I stole that idea from David Eddings' brilliant Belgariad, though I'm not sure he was the first to think of it either. At any rate, in those trilogies, the main characters get prophecies from the gods that point them in a different direction or confirm they are on the right path. In both cases, prophecies also started the quest.
So, it should come as no surprise that Dichotomies, my in-process trilogy, would also have both revelations and prophecies. In fact, one of the first things I did when I embarked on the process of this new trilogy was create a series of prophecies to be revealed as the quest went on. One, in particular, would help the "chosen ones" know where they needed to go to complete their question and fulfill the prophecy.
The second thing I did was determine where those prophecies would be revealed in the plots. Now, in the case of Dichotomies, because the three books are happening concurrently, the prophecies needed to come out in each book. But I decided they would not always come in the same order or at the same time. Thus, one main character might know something the others did not. I mapped each plot out by where the main characters were, with a rough sketch of what would happen at that point in the story. But then I also filtered in the prophecies. It was fun to try to figure out which prophecy's revelation would have the greatest impact during what part of which book. Got it?
There are also revelations, obviously. In this case, there are wise nagas who are mentoring each of the main human characters. They know things they share with their charges - the chosen ones - along the way. Some of these revelations are unique to that bonding. Others have to appear in each book of the trilogy. For example, how humans lost their magic is something humans don't know. But the nagas remember when it happened, and why. And the naga mentors to the chosen ones explain this to their charges, but not always at the same time or in the same way.
In today's writing, I came up with another revelation. This one is that the nagas knew when the humans lost their magic, and they knew it was related to the dichotomies that had divided humanity over time. But what they didn't know - and what they and the chosen ones will come to find out - is that the dichotomies not only severed the emotional connection among humans - as the Canian and Resani came to distrust each other - but also the loss of magic broke physical connections between the "can" where the Canians live and the "res" where the Resani live.
Because losing emotional connections can have the consequence of losing physical connections, and vice versa.
