In my last post I told you I would tell you more about my inspiration to get Joachim into and out of the cave. Remember he is the good son so his journey although similar in intent had to have different challenges, different decisions and a different final outcome.
The first thing that was added was a dragon that bonded and mindspoke with Joachim. Remember Brandan rode on horse back and encountered a snow storm and a bear before he ever reached the Cave of Njori. Joachim’s ride, although he was fearful and had mantions poking him with spears, once he met Myrria, the dragon, had a rather enjoyable ride. He got to experience some freedom that he had not experienced before because of his position as prince and heir to the throne.
Now you may be wondering where did I find this dragon and Joa’s subsequent journey through the cave. First the dragon: Myrria first showed up in a middle grade book I wrote last year for NANOWRIMO. In that book she is a messenger of God that guides a group of kids through some lessons in tolerance and forgiveness. You may be asking how did a dragon in contemporary Washington state end up in Mahorg during a medieval period. The answer is simple yet convoluted. Myrria is a dragon that won’t leave me alone. She has been bugging me for years to put her in a book, but I really couldn’t see a place for her in the Twelve Pillars trilogy. After she proved herself in Myrria’s Legacy, she started to get a little pushy. There have always been dragons in Twelve Pillars, but playing very minor roles and actually a subplot is the eventual exodus of the dragons from the Twelve Pillar world. (hint the dragons travel to earth and someday there will be a whole story of what happens to them there). Back to Joa. While writing his story I realized he needed some help and guidance. He is facing a lot of stuff that he has never encountered before. The stuff is pretty heavy stuff that today’s teen would have trouble facing, let alone a teen from the middle ages, even though I think they were a bit more mature for their age back then. Enter Myrria, she is Asha’s warrior that will help Joa face his challenges.
Okay, he now has a mentor, but what will his challenges be. Originally I had him go to Kobata Cave, have some bad dreams and come out conviced that he could convince everyone that he had turned bad until an opportunity to escape arose. Pretty lame huh. Why would any adult or evil entity believe a teen after a few nightmares. So that’s where I was stuck. Does it all come rushing back now.
I shelved my dilema to take a vacation, although it was always in the back of my mind. One of the highlights of the vacation was a Hawai’ian luau. After the meal there was a show that explored the people of Hawai’i and how they came to be there. Part of the show included a volcano and another part a man dancing with knives that he had set on fire. Then it hits me like a ton of bricks; Joa has to encounter fire and volcano in his cave journey. The solution is almost right in front of me.
I let it stew for a few days. We come home from vacation and I find that review I told you about last time. Now the stewing is complete, the frame of my mind is right and I write the scene.
We don’t always need fire eaters, volcanoes and critical reviews to break through a block. Sometimes all it takes is a phone call from a friend, a discussion with your writers or critique group, reading a book, taking a nap or a walk. The one thing it always requires though is stepping away be it for a moment or a week, or month or year. Time to gain a little perspective, a new perspective, time to let the characters breath and maybe tell you where they want to go. If all else fails write something else for a while. Your story isn’t going anywhere unless you take it there.
One final hint and then I’ll give you an excerpt from Palace of Twelve Pillars so you can see what breaking the block did.
Hint: You can only do this if you are working with other writers, your businessman husband would be useless for this exercise. I’ve done it with my writers group and it has brought some interesting results. Anyway everyone who can do it switches computers for fifteen minutes. You get to write in someone else’s wip and someone else works on yours. Obviously the participants would have a vague idea of the story line and characters, but by doing this your characters and story may go a way you never thought of and might pull you right out of that slump. Can’t hurt, you can always delete if you don’t think it works.
Now for and excerpt from Palace of Twelve Pillars: Some of Joa’s adventures in the Cave of Kobata.
Black onyx covered the cave walls, creating a dark, forbidding aura. Cold, wet slime, that froze Joachim’s blood, covered the floors. An eerie yellow light emanated from the corner. Although he tried to fight it, something drew him to it. Trembling as he approached, he stepped into the light, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. A dark, daunting presence appeared in a cloud of smoke and fog and floated in front of Joachim. It wore a floor length black robe, straight raven hair rested on its shoulders. The red glow from the figure’s eyes penetrated Joachim.
The man held a silver goblet. Joachim saw writhing snakes encircling the goblet, slithering up the man’s arms and wrapped around his neck. The prince stood and took a step back, but could go no further. Something held him in place and pushed him toward the figure.
When Joa stood within arm’s reach of the man, he was handed the goblet. “Drink.”
The prince tried to drop the cup, but the snakes wrapped themselves around his hand and began the journey up his arms. The mug was hot and felt as if it were melting and fusing itself to his hands, yet the cup remained intact. His arms appeared to take on a life of their own. As the cup lifted to his mouth the vile potation slid down his throat.
The snakes released him and he dropped the goblet. Waves of pain assaulted his abdomen while his mouth burned.
He fell. “What was that?” Peyote tea bounced through his mind and blackness overtook it and dark visions took shape.
The figure picked him up. “You don’t belong here. You aren’t worthy to be Sidramah’s servant. The volcanic fires of Mt. Dablays will temper your rebellion and be final proof of your unworthiness.”
However, roughly 10% of levitra store couples may not. Any one generic cialis online visiting toronto say it for sure “what a clean city”. Just tear off the package and squeeze out the content in levitra uk your mouth. Spouses and children involved in such situations you can use this medicine so that relaxes the muscles. viagra from canadian pharmacies The man turned as the wall of the cave erupted into a sheet of flame. Joachim was catapulted into the fiery vision. Flames licked his body. Pain exploded in his brain and saw fireworks erupting around him. He tried to move forward, to find an escape from the intense heat. His stomach roiled as he inhaled smoke. He threw up before he could move on. Bile lingered in his mouth igniting the impulse again. Dreams of cool water washing his body and satisfying his thirst teased at the edges of his mind like chickens just out of reach of the chained dog. After catching his breath and inhaling smoke and sparks he resumed crawling to an escape route.
He cried out, “Father help me. Asha come to me.” Only to hear Waldrom’s laughter echoing off the walls as he replied, “They aren’t here. They don’t care. They won’t help you.”
After what seemed like hours, crawling through the flames he exited into a field. A thunderstorm roared around him. The rain pelted his burned, aching body. Momentarily there was relief until the drops turned to ash. Rivers of lava flowed down the mountain on its journey to the canyon that stood before him. On the opposite rim was a sun dappled meadow with the Go Ruden River flowing lazily into the forest beyond. On the banks the royal family played. Myrria danced with Brandan.
Disregarding the canyon Joachim ran toward them. At the edge standing on a precipice he reached and called out, “Myrria, Father, it’s me. Help.”
His father turned. It wasn’t Theodric, but Waldrom.
“Your father no longer loves you. He abandoned his search and is making your brother King. Come to me. I’ll take care of you. You’ll become my heir and together, we’ll avenge you by destroying your father and brother.”
“No you’re not my father. King Theodric’s my father. I won’t bow to you.”
“You will, or you’ll die like your father and brother.”
Myrria flapped her wings as if to fly to him, but froze as Waldrom stared at her. Then the king averted his eyes to Brandan and Theodric. They fell and twisted and writhed as mist descended on them. Screams erupting from them were soon silenced as the mist lifted. Their bodies were grey-blue with eyes rolled back. Lava soon covered their bodies as colored glass rained on the smoldering remains.
“No!” Joachim fell into the canyon.
Christina Weigand
Aaron’s Revenge
Available at Xlibris, Amazon and Barnes & Noble