Prophecies
I had been thinking about prophecies in fantasy when Fidel Castro died and his prediction/prophecy that he would die when the USA was destroyed started being discussed on Facebook. Eg Donald Trump is elected, USA is destroyed, thus Fidel thought it time to die.
Prophecies can serve a number of functions in fantasy. They foreshadow, give structure, give depth, and intrigue.
One of the earliest things I wrote in The Kira Chronicles was the prophecy, in fact, the trilogy was influenced by the witches' prophecy in MacBeth. For instance, are prophecies self-fulfilling? In MacBeth, the witches perceive MacBeth's murderous tendencies and the prophecy draws them forth. This occurs, in part, in The Kira Chronicles too.
The prophecy in The Kira Chronicles works similarly, on one level. It was also intended to foreshadow what was to come, but hopefully not too obviously. I hoped to intrigue the reader so the reader could say: 'ah, now I know what the bit means'.
It also guided me, as the prophecy came to me like poetry, and I didn't understand it fully. This was a bit nerve-wracking once Book 1 was published as I had to have faith that the narrative really would reflect the prophecy in a satisfying way.
Prophecies can work to give a narrative depth also. In The Lord of the Rings, the narrative is peppered with little 'sayings' which are prophecies in some respects but also give a sense of the rich history of Middle Earth.
'The hands of the king are the hands of the healer' is one such, as is 'the crownless again shall be king'.
As a writer, prophecies are fun to include because they suggest new ways the narrative can proceed. In The Kira Chronicles, 'when gold meets gold, two halves are one' could be the bringing together of an amulet or coin or ring. When I wrote it, Tierken did not exist.
'When Healer sees a setting sun' was a lot easier, as it meant Kira had left her forest-locked world and looked out on the horizon for the first time.
I also used prophecies in Heart Hunter, because the shamanic leader visions the future. Thus dreams and waking visions can all add richness to the notion of prophecy and to narratives. The trick is to make them accessible to the reader but not glaringly obvious.
Prophecies can serve a number of functions in fantasy. They foreshadow, give structure, give depth, and intrigue.
One of the earliest things I wrote in The Kira Chronicles was the prophecy, in fact, the trilogy was influenced by the witches' prophecy in MacBeth. For instance, are prophecies self-fulfilling? In MacBeth, the witches perceive MacBeth's murderous tendencies and the prophecy draws them forth. This occurs, in part, in The Kira Chronicles too.
The prophecy in The Kira Chronicles works similarly, on one level. It was also intended to foreshadow what was to come, but hopefully not too obviously. I hoped to intrigue the reader so the reader could say: 'ah, now I know what the bit means'.
It also guided me, as the prophecy came to me like poetry, and I didn't understand it fully. This was a bit nerve-wracking once Book 1 was published as I had to have faith that the narrative really would reflect the prophecy in a satisfying way.
Prophecies can work to give a narrative depth also. In The Lord of the Rings, the narrative is peppered with little 'sayings' which are prophecies in some respects but also give a sense of the rich history of Middle Earth.
'The hands of the king are the hands of the healer' is one such, as is 'the crownless again shall be king'.
As a writer, prophecies are fun to include because they suggest new ways the narrative can proceed. In The Kira Chronicles, 'when gold meets gold, two halves are one' could be the bringing together of an amulet or coin or ring. When I wrote it, Tierken did not exist.
'When Healer sees a setting sun' was a lot easier, as it meant Kira had left her forest-locked world and looked out on the horizon for the first time.
I also used prophecies in Heart Hunter, because the shamanic leader visions the future. Thus dreams and waking visions can all add richness to the notion of prophecy and to narratives. The trick is to make them accessible to the reader but not glaringly obvious.
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