One of the joys of writing is discovering new characters
With a new novel, of course, everything is new...the setting, the story, the characters, every element is a fresh discovery. But with a series of novels that centers on the same world with many of the same characters (which is characteristic of so many fantasy series), each new book brings with it new characters, both allies and foes, to interact with our familiar favorites.
So it was with The Spring of Llanfyllin. Taking my cue from several sources, but most notably Stephen King in On Writing, I tried to avoid meticulous plotting ahead of time and instead allow the story to carry me organically in whatever direction the characters chose to go. Certain situations, of course, demanded new characters, and rather than consider them whole cloth from the outset, I allowed their presence in the story line help inform who they were, what they wanted, and how they fit into this world.
So over the next few weeks, I'm going to write a little bit about some of the new friends we make along the way as we journey with Dylan, Siannon, Clyde, and Kane through the frozen mountains and frigid plains of Llanfyllin under invasion. These new characters became, for me, integral parts of this world, and many of them reappear in even more prominent roles in my third novel, which is still in first-draft progress.
That's the teaser for next week, but I don't want you coming for an entree and leaving instead with a small appetizer. To round out this week's blog, let's talk a bit about a minor character from Dylan's Treasure who plays a much more important role in the second book, the magician, Osric the Elder.
Those of you who followed by Blogtober series from last year got to see Osric in his youth as a magical apprentice. In my Llanfyllin novels, he's an extremely old man, especially for medieval times. He's well into his eighties in both books, a fact emphasized by the art and craft of magic in this world.
Osric is our link to the past and the one who provides the context for the question at the heart of TSOL: Why did the Norse invade? Why Llanfyllin, with no resources to covet, and why in the winter, when everything is made exponentially more difficult by the weather? Osric is the one who discovers the secret, and he uses magic to do so in one of the most exciting chapters of the book.
He became my touchstone for the way that magic works in this fictional world as well as my representative for the structure and function of the Magician's Guild, which governs the use of magic and guards the scope of its power. These elements added an entirely new level of suspense and excitement to the story, and they became the foundation upon which the third novel is taking shape.
Osric also brings me back to my teenage days of playing Dungeons and Dragons for hours at a time. He's the character I most identify with personally, if for no other reason that my D&D character was a magic-user. He's probably a subconscious projection of what my character (whom I named "Zarnok the Great") would have become in his golden years.
Without Osric, you basically don't have anything in the second half of the book other than a swift and violent end to the Ellesmere family, and despite Stephen King's advice to "kill your darlings," I'm not about to kill off all my protagonists. This is, after all, young adult fantasy, not George R.R. Martin. Osric gives us the wisdom to formulate a plan to win and the means to try to make that happen.
If you want to know more about Osric's role in the novel, as well as the secrets contained in the second half of the book, click over to my Home Page, where you can order The Spring of Llanfyllin in either paperback or Kindle ebook. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next Monday with new information about some of my new characters.
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