Create With Mystery

Create With Mystery

“On the contrary, the world where this Joy happens is as full of darkness as our own world, and that is why when it happens it is as poignant as grief and can bring tears to our eyes.” Frederick Buechner

Seeds of mystery by even minor characters can add an extra layer of atmosphere to the overall story world you are building. Sometimes the mini-sequences can pack a strong emotional jolt just because they are a brief close-up.

There is an excellent example in the novel The Crystal Scepter by C.S. Lakin. Every year, to a combination of disgust and fear by the inhabitants, the trolls visit the poor fishing village that Perth lives in. This year however, Perth finds he must face them and hopes to stave off their rage long enough to retrieve a stolen item.

Perth finds that everything horrid about them matches his information. Yet on the other hand they wore “shreds of clothing in a hodgepodge fashion,” and one wore dozens of necklaces. They spoke his language, much to his astonishment. And their conversation became stranger and stranger.

Perth stood listening in disbelief. Carrying on about tea and crumpets? These trolls were odder than he ever imagined. ‘I could get you some clotted cream,’ he offered without thinking.”

When the truth about the trolls comes to light, it brings tears as to what happened to them; admiration for their determination to hold on to their heart truths, and a recognition that light can exist even in the darkest moments. And touches of laughter as they wrestled with the good and evil battle they were forced to face.

For Perth, their brief encounter became another stepping-stone forward to decisions he needed to make and strength to face his own battle with darkness.

Journal Prompt:

Buechner also says that “Good and evil meet and do battle in the fairy tale world much as they meet and do battle in our world, but in fairy tales the good live happily ever after.”

How can this concept be applied to the genre you are working it. What have you read that would fit this description?

Share: The story where this works.

Construct With Memory

“Evil has within itself the seeds of its own destruction.”

Rolland Hein (in reference to the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien)

Often when we have major decisions to make we take time to reflect and remember previous successes and failures to guide us. We use experience, seek counsel and estimate consequences as best as possible. However, sometimes what our heart most desires will tilt that process towards one side or another. Jesus reminds us that, “where your treasure is, there will you heart be also.”

The same possibilities apply to our characters. In the novel, The Crystal Scepter, Pythius wanted power and authority beyond all measure. While still a youth, he murdered his own father to obtain the crown rather than wait until he was older. Every time someone placed a warning or an admonition before him, they suffered deathly consequences. The only thing that caused him anxiety was the reality of death.

“What he needed was a magical amulet or something that would ensure a long life, some charm that would insulate him from attack and make him invincible. If only such an object existed! What he would pay for that!  Why, he’d sell his very soul if he could live without fear of death. Without always having to watch his back, suspicion hounding his every waking moment.”

And so he planted his own seeds of destruction. Every time he had an opportunity to hear the truth, or to change his direction he remembered his heart’s desire and chose it again and again. The warnings as well were given over and over. He resisted even as poison and decay coursed through him. He believed he had ultimate power and wealth and therefore no one could refuse him. Not even the prophecy.

“The created fantasy world must have its own immutable laws. Once those laws have been established, they cannot be set aside at the author’s whim for the demands of plot.” Jane Yolen

“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve:” Joshua 24:15

Journal Prompt:

            Choose one of the seven deadly sins, (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride), for your antagonist and plot out a series of opportunities before him to relinquish his choice for evil.

            Or

According to Wikipedia, “Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do. By this definition, evil exists when good men fail to act.” List a series of incidents for one of your ‘good’ characters where they continually failed to act.

Share: Which consequence in your sequence do you think became the step of no return for him specifically? Why? What evil for that character resulted?

Connect With Maps

“Theme in literature is the idea that holds the story together, such as a comment about society, human nature, or the human condition. It is the main idea or central meaning of a piece of writing.” Rebecca J. Lukens

Although theme is an integral element, it is not always visible, or at least not on the surface. Yet without its natural thread weaving throughout, the story will remain unfinished and unfocused, regardless of the expertise of the writer. Something will emotionally remain undone.  

Think of the maps we follow faithfully down city routes, turn a corner and discover where a road should be is a very tall brick building. The road was there but has been cut off, perhaps decades earlier, and only after much trial and error do we find a way around and back to the squiggly lines the map says will get us to our destination. Only now we are completely frustrated and no longer trust the ink directions.

On the other hand the theme that quietly draws us through shadows and back alleys and into hidden compartments feels more like a treasure hunt and when we see theses lines shape into their pattern, our response is an ah-ha moment.

In the mystery series Midsomer Murders, it is not unusual for the investigators to have maps up on their boards to help mark out routes suspects may have taken within a time frame to commit the murder. Since Midsomer is a fictional county there are many rural hamlets, villages with paths and alleys, busy towns, and sometimes hidden underground tunnels. The guilty knew their lay of the land well and used it to their advantage. Often though the physical map and the psychological map were intertwined in the theme.

So also for the character Calli, in The Crystal Scepter, who after a shattering experience flees up a deserted coastline, but through the journey is restored to her true nature. Then when disaster comes again she is able to stand firm to her heart’s truth.

Journal Prompt:

            Look at possible physical maps in your story line. Which characters walk them? For each person, link the external map to their internal emotional arc and the overall theme.

Share: Did your choice add a deeper context to your story?

Compose Through Metaphor

“To be a true symbol, the object must be emphasized or repeated, and supported throughout the entire story; it represents something quite different from its literal meaning.” Rebecca J. Lukens

To the royal house of Elysiel, the scepter was a sacred trust under a vow to protect. The long list of heirs stood as the Keepers of the Promise with their hearts merged into the heart of the scepter. To outsiders like King Pythius it was power awarded to the victor, and he intended to claim the magic for himself.

In the recently released fantasy The Crystal Scepter, (The Gates of Heaven Series) by C.S. Lakin, this symbol weaves its way through the entire story, whether characters are even aware of the actual scepter’s existence, influence and potential or not. Heart decisions must be made by minor and major characters alike. Their choices become mirrors and reflectors of the battle between truth and lies. Personal actions move towards life or death from the inside out.

King Cakrin warns Pythius of his consequences, “You have come in treachery and out of a lust for power, but you have gotten a taste of the price of your action.”

But the obsessed king dismisses the warning as subterfuge to keep him from his victory. He cannot imagine or believe that the scepter can mean anything else that literal power, or be wielded for any other purpose. Despite repeated honesty spoken to him, his heart rejects anything but his own interpretation despite the grueling and frightening evidence he experiences.

How will the prophecy end?

Journal Prompt:

            What symbols/metaphors have had the most impact on you from novels and movies? I have never forgotten the image of the birds waiting on the telephone wires in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds, from my first viewing as a tween. In fact when I once tried to watch it again as a ‘mature’ adult, I had to turn it off.

            Make a list and then divide them into categories of fear or hope or humor etc. Can you adapt one of categories to your own wip and parallel a symbol metaphor likewise?

Share: Which is your favorite and why?