Meredith Mansfield, Author

Deleted Scene, Continued

September 6, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Here’s a continuation of the deleted scene from THE VOICE OF PROPHECY I started in my last blog post.

I had hoped to fit this subplot into BEYOND THE PROPHECY, but it just wouldn’t fit.

Thekila smiled as she watched Vatar carry the twins off to their tent to put them to bed. Both had fallen asleep cuddled up to his sides almost as soon as they’d eaten. She rinsed off all four plates and started toward the tent herself.

Teran stepped in front of her. “I need to talk to you.”

Thekila looked toward the tent, where the sound of Vatar’s pipes playing his lullaby called to her. “Can’t it wait? There’ll be plenty of time to talk while we ride tomorrow.”

Teran put out his arm to block her. “I don’t think it can. Thekila, you have to face the truth. Vatar is . . . dangerous. If you are becoming bound, then you have to end it, now. While you still can.”

Thekila’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

Teran reached out to take hold of her arm, as if he’d drag her away from her tent—and Vatar. “He’s obviously insane. Believing he knows what the lions are thinking.”

Thekila shook her head. “No. He didn’t say he knew what they were thinking. He knows what mood they are in.”

“And you believe him?” Teran asked.

Thekila frowned. Skepticism was one thing. She’d expect that of Teran. But he’d seen the proof twice now. He’d seen her sense the eagle before the others, when she couldn’t have seen it. And how did he think Vatar had known the lions were there if he couldn’t sense them? “Of course I do. I know he can feel the lions because I can sense the eagles in the same way. It’s perfectly true, Teran. He’s not crazy.”

Teran drew in his breath. “Thekila, are you pregnant with his child?”

She smiled and placed a hand over her abdomen. “Yes.”

“Then it’s that much more important that you listen to me. Staying with a mad man . . . It endangers you and the child. You have to think of that. Come back to the Valley with me. I’ll take care of you. I’ll even raise his child. But you can’t . . .”

Thekila pulled her arm out of his grasp and stepped back, out of his reach. Her voice rose. “Don’t try to tell me what I can and can’t do, Teran. Vatar was right about you. He tried to tell me that you wanted to break us up, but I wouldn’t believe him. I told him not to be jealous of you, that you were like a big brother to me. And all the time . . . Don’t ever try to come between Vatar and me, Teran. He is not insane. I could not be safer anywhere than with him.” She started to walk past him to her tent.

Teran grabbed her arm again. “He asked me to keep you safe. Even he knows that he’s losing his mind.”

Thekila whirled in one of the moves Orleus had taught her during their training sessions last winter, freeing her arm and placing herself nearer to her tent, where Teran would have a harder time stopping her again. “Vatar may doubt himself. That doesn’t mean that I will ever doubt him.”

She took another step back, out his reach, then turned and stalked off to her tent, back stiff.

Vatar looked up as she pushed aside the tent flap. His eyes narrowed instantly and he stood up from their bedroll. “What’s the matter?”

Thekila looked toward the sleeping twins and her lips thinned. “Can you come outside for a moment?”

Vatar looked toward the twins, too. They were soundly asleep at the back of the tent, curled around each other. “All right.”

Thekila walked a few paces away from the camp before spinning to face Vatar. “Did you tell Teran to try to persuade me to return to the Valley?”

Vatar’s eyes flew wide. “What? Of course not!”

Thekila nodded slightly. She really hadn’t believed that. “What did you tell him?”

Vatar reached for her, drawing her into a hug. “I asked him to try to keep you safe if I am losing my mind.”

Thekila wrapped her arms around him. “You were always jealous of Teran. Why would you do that?”

He stroked her back. “I need to know someone will look out for you, if it comes to that.”

“But why Teran? Have you changed your mind about him?”

Vatar huffed softly. “No. I’m not jealous any more—much. After all, you chose me, not him. But I still don’t like him.”

She pushed back within the circle of his arms to look up at his face. “Then why?”

Vatar sighed. “Because I know he loves you, too. He’ll fight for you, if necessary.”

Thekila bit her lip. “Arcas—or your father—would.”

Vatar shook his head. “Arcas can’t fight magic. And Father and Boreala would be trying to save me, not you.” He cupped her face with his hand. “I need to know someone will fight for you.”

BEYOND THE PROPHECY releases next Tuesday. You have until then to pre-order at the special price of $0.99.

Posted in writing | Tagged characters, conflict, Deleted Scenes, e-publishing, fantasy, sequels, series, writing | 1 Comment »

Deleted Scene

September 2, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Actually, this is a whole deleted subplot–or part of it. I’d written this for THE VOICE OF PROPHECY,

but had to cut it. The whole return trip to the Valley just didn’t make sense there. The urgency didn’t exist yet and it just wasn’t something Vatar would do at that point. It felt very out of character for him. I was sorry to lose it, because it set up a very nice short-term conflict between Vatar, Thekila, and Teran.

I’d hoped to fit the subplot into BEYOND THE PROPHECY,

but the element that really made it work–Vatar thinking he was going crazy–didn’t exist anymore. So, here’s the first part of that subplot.

This takes place as Vatar and his cohort are escorting Teran and Terania–two Valson completely unused to the plains–across the plains to Caere. Vatar’s twins are about four years old at this point. Vatar has earlier asked his former rival, Teran, to look after Thekila if it turns out Vatar is losing his mind.

They stopped at another waterhole that evening. Vatar, Arcas, and Quetza set about making camp, while Theklan took care of the horses and Thekila and Terania made preparations for an evening meal. The twins, free from their day-long confinement, ran around the campsite, releasing all their pent-up energy.

Vatar watched them for a moment. “Stay close. And don’t go near the water.”

He turned back to pitching one of the tents. Arcas and Vatar straightened at the same moment as the dogs began to bark. Vatar didn’t need to ask. Of course Arcas had sensed the lions coming down to drink at the far side of the water hole. Vatar immediately scanned the campsite. He spotted Savara pestering Thekila, but where was Zavar? He extended his Far Sight. The little boy had wandered near the water in spite of Vatar’s warnings. Much too close to the lions. Without meaning to, Vatar slipped into the viewpoint of the big male—watching Zavar as he drifted closer. He swallowed hard past the sudden lump in his throat. “Stop where you are, Zavar!”

Zavar stopped and looked back, wide-eyed at his father’s tone of voice.

Teran looked up, too. “What is it?”

Vatar strode forward and gathered up Zavar before he answered. “Look ahead of him, by the water’s edge. Behind the reeds.”

Teran squinted. “I don’t see anything.”

Arcas left the tents and went to scoop up Savara. “Look closer.”

Teran stiffened. “Lions!”

Vatar carried Zavar back to the center of the camp, shaking his head. “He’s going to be just like me. Always curious and always wandering off.”

Arcas bounced Savara in his arms. “Too bad Aunt Lucina isn’t here to tell us how she kept you out of trouble.”

Vatar set Zavar down next to Teran. “Lots of eyes, Arcas. There’s always someone told off to keep an eye on the children.” He took Savara and set her down next to her brother. “Teran, I’m afraid it’s going to be your job while we finish setting up camp. Keep them away from the water.”

Terania dropped the knife she’d been using to cut up the dried meat. “You mean we’re going to stay here? Aren’t we going to move camp somewhere safer?” Terania asked.

Arcas looked briefly toward the waterhole. “It’s safe enough. They’re already moving away. They just came down for a drink. Anyway, it’d take half the night to get to the next waterhole. That’d be more dangerous than staying here.”

“Do we set a watch tonight?” Quetza asked.Arcas snorted. “No need. The dogs will warn us of anything that approaches. That’s part of their job.”

Posted in writing | Tagged conflict, Deleted Scenes, e-publishing, fantasy, revisions, sequels, series, writing | 2 Comments »

Brief Respite

August 30, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Well after bashing my head against the keyboard repeatedly, I’ve decided that the problem with getting back into Book 4 (probably to be titled WAR MAGIC) is that I just need to give myself a break. I need to let my creative battery recharge.

Because, let’s face it, if I’m not enthusiastic about what I’m writing, that’s going to show. It’s not that I don’t love the characters, world, and story of the DUAL MAGICS series. It’s that I’ve been living with it 24/7 for at least two years. And the story has been running around in my head for much longer than that. (This is the third version. The first book had been written in full twice, once very badly, once in a misguided attempt to make it YA. And the second had been written all the way through once, again, very badly. It took two complete rewrites of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE and one of THE VOICE OF PROPHECY before I felt they were ready for the world to see them.)

Even during breaks–like while a manuscript was cooling before revisions or while it was out with my beta readers–I’ve mostly been working on either the tie-in short stories or the next book in the series. Or just giving another editing to pass to something I’d written earlier and formatting it for Amazon, like DAUGHTER OF THE DISGRACED KING, which was actually written just before I started on the rewrite of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE.

Sometimes, you can recharge by taking a vacation. That’s probably something I need to do. It’s a great way to get inspiration, among other things. But it’s not going to be this year. Or probably next.

But there are other ways to recharge the creative batteries. Fortunately, one of them is to allow your mind to play with other toys. So, even though I don’t have a first draft, yet, Book 4 does have a cover. (Well, except for the title, etc., anyway.)

Another way I’m going to recharge is by playing in another sandbox for a little while. So I’ve given myself permission to spend a little time in the world of my next epic fantasy series. Not for long. But it’s amazing how much more writing I can get done on something new. I need to bring that “new” energy back to the final book of the DUAL MAGICS series. Maybe this is the way to do that.

This new series doesn’t have a name yet. I’m playing with THE GODDESS’S OWN, but we’ll see. It’s either a trilogy or a duology. The first book is currently titled BECOME: TO CATCH THE LIGHTNING. We’ll see about that, too. It’s sort of a Hercules story, turned completely–or almost completely–upside down. (Hint: The hero’s not the son of the sky god (like Hercules’s father, Zeus), but of the mother-earth goddess.)

So, Book 4 is coming. But I think it will actually come faster–and better–for just a little break to let my imagination play with other toys.

Posted in writing | Tagged Cover Art, e-publishing, fantasy, first drafts, inspiration, Multiple Projects, sequels, series, world building, writing | Leave a Comment »

Slow Start

August 26, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Okay, so this week I’ve mostly been trying to get back into the first draft of the fourth book in the DUAL MAGICS series, likely to be titled WAR OF MAGIC or possibly WAR MAGIC. Maybe WARRIOR OF MAGIC. (But maybe not any of those if I get a better idea. Titles are hard.)

I posted before about the necessary shift in mind set from editing to writing a first draft. The first draft is just to get the story down. I’m not supposed to worry about whether I’ve got the right word or even whether a sentence is awkward. Or whether I’ve put in enough description or too little. Or whether, at the start of the fourth book, readers have enough of a re-introduction to the characters and setting. And a million other things that I worry very much about when I’m revising or editing. Which, of course, is what I was most recently doing–revising and editing the final draft of BEYOND THE PROPHECY.

I’ve had more trouble than usual getting started again with this story–and it’s because I made a mistake.

When I stopped work on this first draft to do the final revision and polishing edit on BEYOND THE PROPHECY, I didn’t stop when I had a good vision of what would happen in the next chapter, as I should have. No, I stopped at a place where I had to make a time jump (over some boring bits) and I had only a vague idea of what came immediately next. That was a very bad idea. It made it doubly hard to start building some momentum.

I have to keep reminding myself that this draft doesn’t have to be good–or even complete–so long as it gets the story down so I can fix it.

I have–finally–gotten one chapter down. (Though even then, I had to just put a note in saying “More here” and move past a spot that had me stopped for a day.)

Now, I’m going to start getting away from the planning and more into that war promised in the (probable) title. Hopefully, that should let me build up some momentum.

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Good Things

August 23, 2015 by meredithmansfield

First good thing: Beyond the Prophecy is available right now as a paperback.

Of course, it’s a lot cheaper if you pre-order the ebook for only $0.99.

Second good thing: Two of my book are still available on Wattpad, BLOOD WILL TELL and the sequel BLOOD IS THICKER.

Someone read both of them in what must have been a marathon and commented on just about every chapter how much they were enjoying them. That just makes an author’s day. And it made me go back and look at those two again. I’d forgotten how much fun that story was. Someday, I’ll have to go back and write the third installment of that series.

I’m going to let those two good things win out over the one bad I’m still struggling with. More on that later–maybe.

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Cover Art Update

August 19, 2015 by meredithmansfield

While I’m trying to transition my brain back into first-draft mode, I updated the cover of FIRE AND EARTH. Admit it, the old cover was kind of boring:

The new version is more dramatic:

It’s one of the great things about e-publishing that it’s so easy to change a cover.

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Transitioning Back to First Draft Mode

August 16, 2015 by meredithmansfield

BEYOND THE PROPHECY is all set.

Final draft uploaded for pre-order. Print files formatted and the proof ordered. (The print version will go live as soon as I’ve checked the proof and made any adjustments necessary.) I also have to get busy setting up some promotions and maybe trying to get a few early reviews.

So, now it’s time to transition back from revisions and edits to the first draft of Book 4 (likely to be titled either WAR OF MAGIC or MAGIC’S WARRIOR). This will be the last book of the DUAL MAGICS series.

This transition always takes a few days because it’s a complete shift in thinking. I have to stop worrying whether that’s the precisely right word. Even stop worrying about getting the details right. The first draft is to get the story down. Nothing else.

It always takes me a few days to make that shift. Right now, I’m reading through what I’ve already written (while BEYOND THE PROPHECY was with my beta readers). That’s necessary, but the temptation to edit and revise is still strong.

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Almost Done

August 12, 2015 by meredithmansfield

I am just shy of 80% done with the polishing edit on BEYOND THE PROPHECY (which is up for pre-order at only $0.99.)

After I upload the final version, that’s not the end, of course. I still have to check the upload. And format the print version. And do something more about getting the word out.

And then I can go back to the first draft of the fourth and final book of the series.

Meanwhile, when I start to go cross-eyed from the edits, I’ve been letting my creativity out in planning an update to the cover of FIRE AND EARTH and starting to think about the cover for that fourth book in the DUAL MAGICS series.

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Pre-Order Now Available

August 9, 2015 by meredithmansfield

The third book in my DUAL MAGICS series, BEYOND THE PROPHECY, is now available for pre-order.

And the pre-order price is only $0.99! It goes live (and the price goes up) on September 8th.

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Magic and Vatar, Part 3

August 5, 2015 by meredithmansfield

Here’s the third and final blog post about Vatar’s unique relationship to the magic of the world of the DUAL MAGICS series.

Acquired Magic:

Having been born and raised among the Dardani, Vatar is a fully initiated member of the Lion Clan. As such, he can sense the presence of lions and tell whether they’re resting or hunting. That’s normal for him.

However, the two kinds of magic interact. The first indication Vatar has of this in THE VOICE OF PROPHECY is when he accidentally sees through the eyes of a hunting lion. His Far Speech is also accompanied by the shadow of a lion. And, more dramatically, his Transformation into his avatar—a white lion with a black mane and tail tuft—is much too large, about twice Vatar’s actual size or the size of a real plains lion. That breaks all the rules of how Transformations are supposed to work.

When Thekila was initiated into the Eagle Clan, similar things happened to her. There is the shadow of an eagle in her Far Speech. She can see through the eyes of eagles. And her avatar—a white eagle—is the size of a normal eagle and able to fly. Thekila’s younger brother, Theklan, was also initiated into the Eagle Clan, with the same effects.

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