♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #504
What is one of your favorite settings from your books?
Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop, Friend! The authors included in this ongoing learning series wish to thank you for your reading. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writing with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.
This is a difficult thing to answer. In order for me write any of this stuff down, I need the sense that what it is compels. If I there is no desire to share, then there is no need to do so. It is my hope that I never know a point in my career where I write to just puke stuff out on a page without thought and intent to show others a place they must see.
Intent is a tricky word, because there is so much that does end up in a work that was not intended by an author, but is uncovered in the reading by others. Whole literary theories are built upon this premise. They can be tedious at times, but the intertext–the view into the mind of another human, that’s fun in my overall estimation. For instance, the complicated feelings I own around artificial intelligence and creating imagery using such a tool. The closest I will ever come to seeing what readers see is prompting AI to draw me something using descriptions from my work. Fascinating, despite the argument that it is really just interpolating your thoughts back at you.
One thing I am certain I intend is compelling scenery. My background is in filmmaking (screenwriting) and my focus is constantly on the visual picture of the story in my head. This is one of the reasons I struggled with wordiness for so long. The image in my head compelled me to describe each detail. Enthusiasm ruled my judgment.
Out of my dark fantasy series and historical fictions, the answer to the question is many settings. There is something so charming in the Conrad Farm and its fields. Then, there is the opulent places of World War II era New England and Europe, some of which were lost to time. Although those places housed vilest of evils, they still stunned the eye. Lastly, there are all of the places in Trailokya. Between the seven planes, I struggle to think of which could be called best.
Let me take you there…
Picture a vast plane at the base of mountains, circuited with streams and rivers, rural spaces stretching from the base of the largest mountain which is encircled by an increasingly cramped city that rises up the peak. That peak rises at the top, white and brilliant. From the top a pillar of perfect light pulses steadily, as if a power source from beyond the sky, always there, day and night. Brilliant blue skies with soft clouds or a dark inky expanse sparkling with silver glitter and boasting a moon.
There are innumerable settings within that view. Do you prefer the city, a more suburban arena, or country? I can take you there, too. At the outer edges of the seemingly endless suburbs, there grows vast compounds dedicated to the Orders that fill the military of this world. Each of those has what I would describe, to keep it simple, a theme.
If we are to go into the themes, I guess it may be here that I find my favorite places. Nothing is so harrowing nor grimy as the Berlin Gutter found in OP-DEC, but they are stunning places I wish I could literally show you! Near the mountains, Is the order of Odin and its sister order Fenrir. You can guess by their names that they resemble Nordic cultures of time past (or even present). On the opposite side of the ring are the Sun and Moon Orders. Those aren’t so easy to call, but I bet you probably have a Greek or Roman idea floating in your mind. At least, I hope so.
Well, that helps. We are getting closer. Fenrir and Moon Order are related orders, too. Fenrir being the order that trains the war hounds utilized by the other orders. You know how much wolves love the moon! If you’ve read the series, you’ll know that the main character commands a squad of wolves trained by the best of Fenrir. And, I will leave it there, because otherwise–spoilers, sweety.
While I love the idea of spending time at Fenrir with all the rough and tumble soldiers and their families, or strolling the neat streets of the Moon Order and their meticulous, chic lunatics, I love my peace. It’s hard having this duality inside. One minute, I want to be in the thick of the city exploring everything it has to offer. The next, I want to slowdown and be in the quiet of the woods.
Let’s try another place. The main character is from a family who has a home on the outskirts of the order, where things become increasingly rural. It is reminiscent of Tuscany in Italy. Up a hill, along a little trail that goes into the wood that kisses the border of the wilds, is a small grotto. A clearing of grass encircled by ancient trees is the playground of this leader. There she has laid claim to a small natural pool in the exposed bedrock. That rock is reddish in color. The water is clear and clean, fresh and deep with a sandy bottom.
This is the place that our main character finds her respite from the grind of her duty in the Moon Order. Even when you love your work, you still need to rest. She keeps this space clear of intrusion by anyone. In fact, the only persons allowed are immediate family (mother, father, twin brother, and eldest brother) and her best friends in all the worlds (her wolves, her fellow captain from the Order of Horus, and someone I cannot name–spoilers!).
The lone bench, made of marble, is intentionally uninviting to others. It is not made to be comfortable but utilitarian. In fact, the wolves prefer to lay in the field or on the smooth stone beside the pool. Their leader may place her hump there to remove her sandals, and then use it to hold her things while she swims.
The site, however, doesn’t quite seem to belong where it is. It is deeply tied to the main character. If you’re familiar with the moon card in tarot decks, you’ll piece some of the imagery and connection together. The rock is not like the rock that makes up the base of the forest. So how is it there? Things work a bit differently on that plane. And, that is all I will say about that (still more spoilers to avoid).
Follow me…
The forest, if you followed the trail straight ahead of the pool as far as it could take you, would likely take you to a place I think ranks as my most favorite in all of my books. This is the Wolf Leader’s home. It is a huge clearing in the forest, near a deep but narrow river, and half-circled by an outcropping of a collapsed hillside. That cliff face is dotted by small openings in which many various canids den. A small steam of the river provides constant fresh water. The green grass remains tamped down by constant movement of the packs.
At the heart of this clearing sits a Cob House (sculpted mud home). The charming scene is almost whimsical, but for the dark figure that resides there. The Wolf Leader is one of the most feared characters in the series by just about everyone. He is related to a fallen prince of the underworld and lives alone with his packs, training them to serve the battalions while completing special missions into the depths of the underworld. He is whispered about in the halls of the great city on the mountain. The younglings look up to him as an edgy anti-hero while parents threaten little ones with his presence if they don’t behave.
The best settings, in my honest opinion, are tinged by the uncertain shadow. It’s not compelling enough for me without that. I guess that’s just the goth girl inside me. I like the gloaming and sunsets best. An edge of darkness is comforting. In it is the seed of wildness and the unknown to discover. Mystery.
I’d love to hang out with the wolves and other canids. That house, too. Exploring the house would be a lot of fun. Hopefully, he’d let me in his arsenal to check out all the interesting tools. However, I don’t want to try out the sparring ring. I know I can’t beat him! That would be the end of me. Still, hanging out and getting some fresh air would be a nice day. Maybe we could take the cog out on the river and go see the Urva Sea?
Want to find out what settings the other authors have to show you? Click on their links in the scroll box below. Don’t forget to subscribe before you leave. The hop will arrive in your inbox each Friday afternoon without having to search for us. See you next time!
I really love how you discuss the tension between author intent and reader interpretation. It’s fascinating how the settings and details we create can take on lives of their own when they resonate with readers in unexpected ways!
I love characters that are morally gray. Your Wolf Leader sounds like a great one.
He’s a lot of fun. Thank you!
The setting is a character in its own right, with as much power to control emotions and direct action while never speaking a word.
We have many Cob houses in Devon, it’s a local style.
Absolutely. I’d love to see Devon. 🙂
I have been to that place where the soldier stands – it looks like Pompeii.