How I Used Divination Tools (and cats!) to Reinforce my Theme

by Jill Archer

The second book in my Noon Onyx series, Fiery Edge of Steel, has a knowledge theme: things you should know, things you don’t know, things you know but wished you didn’t, etc. Both the plot and sub-plot involve the element of knowledge, or lack thereof, but I also wanted to support this theme in other ways.

The first was that I used cats as a repeating motif in the story. Why cats? Well, besides the obvious "All Writers Must Love Cats" Rule – ;-) – I’ve always associated cats with knowledge. They may not be as wise as owls, but they are curious. Everyone’s heard the phrase, "Curiosity killed the cat." So I took that idea and incorporated it into my novel. For example:

* Fara, one of the biggest secondary characters, has a pet tiger.

* Delgato, the captain of the sailboat named Cnawlece ("Knowledge"), which Noon and her investigative team take to the Shallows, is a manticore – a sphinxlike creature who is part lion. I drew inspiration for the character from the children’s song "Don Gato" (the song about the cat who falls off his roof and dies but then comes back to life when he smells fish from the market).

* And, because I pepper my stories with little bits and pieces of backstory, there are some references to two fictional demons, the doomed lovers Curiositus (a monster-sized goldfish) and Cattus (a feline demoness).

Another way that I supported my knowledge theme was to create a handful of divination tools, which also served two other purposes. They were useful at various plot points (see below) and they helped to more fully flesh out the world and its magic.

BLACK ONION

THE VEGETABLE VERSION OF A MAGIC 8 BALL

 

This divination tool was introduced at the start of the novel. After the opening chapter, Noon has lunch off campus at a place called "The Black Onion." It’s a small, riverside café with only four things on the menu: the soup of the day, the bread of the day, the catch of the day… and black onions, which are the Haljan version of a Magic 8 Ball.

How many of you played with a Magic 8 Ball when you were a kid? I did. In fact, I had so many fond memories of using one, that I bought my kids one. Here’s a picture of it. If you look closely, you can even see my reflection. (Ha! ;-)) My Haljan black onions work similarly, but with some differences. A Haljan black onion can answer a question – any question – so long as the person asking it has sailed the river Lethe (which, by the way, happens to means "oblivion" or lack of knowledge). Once a sailor has asked their question, they peel the onion and the answer is written inside the onion on a piece of paper as thin as… well, onion skin, of course!

Noon is given a black onion at the start of the story and it reappears throughout. In a small way, the black onion reinforced my knowledge theme and was one more reason for readers to keep turning the page. Would Noon ask the black onion a question? If so, what question would she ask? And what would the answer be?

FORTUNA’S FAVORITE

IN VINO VERITAS ("IN WINE THERE IS TRUTH")

 

In my stories, Angels are spellcasters. They have all sorts of roles: guardian, interpreter, and scribe. But some of the more creatively inclined make art or wine and cast spells over them. One batch of wine in Fiery Edge of Steel is called "Fortuna’s Favorite." (Fortuna was the Roman goddess of fortune and I used that mythology to create a similar Haljan deity).

Fortuna’s Favorite is "pink and fizzy and flecked with gold" with a bitter, chalky taste. After Noon is given her assignment, she is offered a sip. The wine is like a fortune cookie. She drinks from the cup and wipes her mouth on a napkin. Her fortune appears in a stain of words on the napkin:

 

"When traveling into the unknown,

sometimes the biggest danger is the one you bring with you…"

Noon’s fortune in this scene reinforced my knowledge theme, served as foreshadowing, and became the tagline of the book. (I tried to have it put on the cover, but my editor told me that the art department would kill me – it’s way too long! :-D) But the thing I love most about it is, by the end of the book, Noon’s fortune can be interpreted several different ways.

WAERWATER

THE TRIAL BY ORDEAL

 

Because my books feature a character who’s training to be a Maegester (a "modern day" knight who’s studying demon law), I try to work a few legal concepts into each story. The trial by ordeal seemed tailor made for Fiery Edge of Steel because it’s a method of determining guilt or innocence by divine intervention. Historically, it involved questionable "justice" practices like dunking, boiling, or forcing someone to walk over hot coals. The idea that an accused might escape from these tortures unharmed or even alive – and that such would automatically prove their innocence – is horrifying.

So I created a divination tool that would administer a trial by ordeal to an accused and then worked it into my story. That tool is "waerwater," the poisonous sap from a big, old, magical tree. (My description is slightly more detailed in the book. ;-)) In the story, an accused has the right to demand a trial by waerwater. They drink it. If they live, they are deemed innocent by divine intervention. There is no need for a trial – no need for the truth. Knowledge of actual guilt or any other evidence is irrelevant. Like the first two divination tools, I referred to waerwater repeatedly throughout the novel and then used it in my climatic scene.

So, what about you? What tools do you use to reinforce your theme? Do you have any questions about theme and how to support it? How about cats? Do you own one? Do you want one? Do you think every writer should have one? :-D Thanks so much to Nancy and everyone here at FF&P for inviting me here to guest blog today!

More about Fiery Edge of Steel

Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and　mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several　unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

More about Jill

 

Jill Archer is the author of the Noon Onyx series, genre-bending fantasy novels from Penguin/Ace. DARK LIGHT OF DAY and FIERY EDGE OF STEEL are available now. WHITE HEART OF JUSTICE will be available 5/27/14.

 

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Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Day trips for your Muse

by Jill Archer

Now that summer is in full swing, there are more chances to get outside. This is terrific for us writers because we spend a lot of time sitting. (Most writers, including myself, take great pride in their butt-in-chair self-discipline, which is good because that’s what gets the job done). But sitting for long periods of time isn’t always good. It’s healthier – and more fun – to get up and get out every now and then. But there’s another reason that extra chances to get outside are a plus for writers – increased opportunities for site visits.

As writers of the fantastical and the speculative, site visits can provide us with accurate, real world information on a particular location that we may want to use in our story. This is great for writers who set their stories in places that actually exist in the real world. But even if you don’t, like me, the site visit can be a wonderful jumping off point for building your own setting. Sometimes, when I visit a place, I find it so interesting that I just know it’s going to end up as the basis for a future setting. For fun, I thought I’d share two of my favorite inspirational places with you today.

Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

I write a genre-bending fantasy series featuring 21 year-old post grad magic user, Noon Onyx. In Noon’s world there are two types of magic: waning magic, which is dark, destructive, and deadly, and waxing magic, which is soft, nurturing, and creative. Usually men are born with waning magic and women with waxing magic. But due to a birth mix up, Noon was born with waning magic. In the beginning, it makes Noon feel very uncomfortable.

The idea behind waning and waxing magic was born from my love of nature. And one of my favorite places to visit when I need a “garden fix” is Longwood Gardens. It is an amazing place – so full of life!

Many things contributed to the creation of Noon’s character, but one of them was the horrifying idea of not being able to walk through a place like Longwood Gardens without killing everything. (What if your presence in a garden had the potential to blacken everything and turn it to dust?) I even managed to find a few fanged creatures there: a dragon, a snake, and a gargoyle. In short, one visit to this amazing place yielded a treasure trove of inspiration for future stories. Interested in reading more about Longwood Gardens? Check out a longer post I wrote about it last spring HERE.

St. John’s Episcopal Church Ruins in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

In my second novel, Fiery Edge of Steel, there is an old crumbling structure called the Stone Pointe keep, which serves as a backdrop for some of the novel’s biggest scenes. In addition to my own imagination, the structure had a few real world inspirational sources. One of them was the crumbling ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church ruins in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. My family and I traveled there last spring break and stayed in a cabin off of the Appalachian Trail. It was a wonderful

visit full of hiking and touring the quaint, charming, and picturesque town of Harper’s Ferry.

The St. John’s Episcopal Church ruins are west of Arsenal Square, on the hill to the north of Shenandoah Street, past St. Peter’s Church. There’s something about stone ruins that always fascinates me. Maybe it’s the combination of durability and ephemerality. Stone ruins last for generations and yet, they are mere skeletons of their former fleshed out selves. They are concrete evidence that nothing lasts forever.

Visitors must use their imaginations to bring ruins back to life. And, as writers, we can take those ruins – that skeleton – and turn it into anything we want. In our imaginations, the remains of what once was are like the monster’s body in Frankenstein beforeit was brought to life. And our inanimate setting “monsters” can be beautiful, frightening, soothing, full of tension, or whatever else we need them to be.

Interested in reading more about Harper’s Ferry? Check out a longer post I wrote about it last spring HERE.

Final Things to Keep in Mind

The most important things to keep in mind on site visits/day trips are two of the most basic building blocks of good writing: (1) USE YOUR IMAGINATION. Simple, right? We’re all writers so we’re used to using ours. But even so, I always try to push myself to consider how the places I visit might serve as inspiration in some new and different way. I use day trips as imagination sparks or seeds.

(2) DON’T FORGET THE FIVE SENSES AND MORE. Since great description is a part of great writing, actually going somewhere and experiencing it for yourself is the best way to take note of the location’s effect on your five senses. But don’t stop there. Pay attention to the place’s effect on you, which is more than just sensory input. Everything about the place – from its sight, sound, smell, taste, and feel, to its mood, vibe, and energy level, to the way other people interact with it, its history and its possible future – impacts how a place affects someone. While I don’t think places are alive, they do have personalities. And the better you can use the unique characteristics of a place to build some of your own settings, the stronger your stories will be.

So how about you? Do you use site visits or day trips to build your own settings? Where have you been that’s been interesting enough to use as the basis for a setting? Are you currently stumped on some aspect of setting design? Please feel free to share any thoughts, comments, questions, or advice for others regarding sf/f settings and/or real world site visits. Thank you, Nancy, and everyone else at FF&P for inviting me here today to guest blog!

More about Fiery Edge of Steel

When traveling into the unknown, sometimes the biggest danger is the one you bring with you…

Lucifer and his army triumphed at Armageddon, leaving humans and demons living in uncertain peace based on sacrifice and strict laws. It is up to those with mixed demon and human blood, the Host, to prevent society from falling into anarchy.

Noon Onyx is the first female Host in memory to wield the destructive waning magic that is used to maintain order among the demons. Her unique abilities, paired with a lack of control and reluctance to kill, have branded her as an outsider from her peers. Only her powerful lover, Ari Carmine, and a roguish and mysterious Angel, Rafe Sinclair, support her unconventional ways.

When Noon is shipped off to a remote outpost to investigate several unusual disappearances, a task which will most likely involve trying and killing the patron demon of that area, it seems Luck is not on her side. But when the outpost settlers claim that an ancient and evil foe has stepped out of legend to commit the crimes, Noon realizes that she could be facing something much worse than she ever imagined…

More about Jill

Jill Archer is the author of the Noon Onyx series, genre-bending fantasy novels from Penguin/Ace. DARK LIGHT OF DAY and FIERY EDGE OF STEEL are available now. WHITE HEART OF JUSTICE will be the third book in the series.

CONTACT JILL ARCHER:

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