Today I thought I’d do a behind-the-scenes snippet for one of the Cirenan-Cantingen goddesses: Meshon.
Meshon is one of the older goddesses, and she has a strong presence in both Cirenan and Cantingen pantheons.
Though not considered a primary goddess in the Cantingen pantheon (who only recognize a small handful of deities in addition to Madia), Meshon is revered as Madia’s trusted messenger.
Meshon is often referred to as the Oracle, capable of seeing visions of the future and walking between realms–though her ability to cross realms means it’s not always clear which world her visions refer to, and that issue has landed many of her followers into trouble for trying to interpret her dreams.
Shevanlagiy/Ralendacin has held a grudge with the goddess for this very reason, and that grudge is clear in Magebane.
Meshon currently has a role in both The Wishing Blade series and Stone and String, and even plays small roles in some of the Legends of Cirena short stories, such as The Scars of Her Past… though she plays a much larger role in the upcoming Legends of Cirena novel, The Dark Forest of Aneth. (Yes, novel. It was supposed to be a novella but it has well surpassed that word count at this point).
Below is one of the test images I created for Meshon using Daz 3D Studio. Her design is still in progress, but this is fairly close to how I see her. 🙂
Meshon’s prophecies will eventually have a strong role in the next Stone and String story, and it’s her prophecy that references the coming of Ralendacin, the “Destroyer of Worlds” (Shevanlagiy in The Wishing Blade series).
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Today, I thought I’d take a look at one of the methods I used in writing The Wind Mage of Maijev, the first in the Legends of Cirena series.
This series started with me writing a “segment a week” based on voting from members of the Legends of Cirena Facebook group (now on a semi-permanent hiatus).
My writing partner, Isaac, did quite a bit of world development for the Legends era, especially in regards to the different districts and the shops. While this was meant for a personal tabletop roleplay version of Cirena, it’s also been really helpful for world development. (And I’ve still occasional yanked out the charts he made for reference in later stories that are currently in development).
In this case, Isaac took what I had already developed of Maijev (the general concept for the city, the larger world map, etc.), divided the city-as-a-country into districts (such as the Northern and Southern Quarters, of which the Southern Quarter is the primary area where The Wind Mage of Maijev takes place), and figured out who would likely frequent the region, the kind of prices those stores would have, and even which factions characters might run into.
Here’s a glimpse at the document he created:
Enen’s Study and Zora’s Market are the primary characters and locations I pulled for The Wind Mage of Maijev, though Cross Bones does get a brief reference.
Overall, having these charts has been really helpful in developing the Legends stories, since I can easily look to them to figure out what might be in the area and what sort of encounters a character might have.
For example, Livena, the protagonist of The Wind Mage of Maijev, has mixed feelings about Zora’s Market… especially since they sell a few items that probably shouldn’t be in Maijev. 😉
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See how those charts turned into a story in The Wind Mage of Maijev, (and you can get the ebook edition for FREE from online retailers!)
The second Legends of Cirena short story I released was called The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear.
And so I figured it would be a good idea to feature a gryphon on the cover.
Now, I create most of my own covers via photomanipulation or through Daz Studio renders (“The Singing Coil” was the exception, being illustrated via ink and Photoshop). But, sometimes, when you try to create a gryphon… the gryphon decides to be disagreeable.
And this was before I had discovered Daz Studio.
Sometimes you try to photomanip a gryphon, and you don’t end up creating a gryphon.
Like… what is this guy? I like him, but he’s definitely not a gryphon.
Needless to say, I had to take a different approach for that cover. However, the experiment did result in an idea for a new creature that can be found in the Immortal Realm, a strange owl-cougar-human-looking hybrid called an armansee.
And so this fellow flew his way into a short story I was planning to write but hadn’t fully plotted yet, one which would eventually be called A Path of Swords and Feathers.
I knew I wanted to write a story featuring Daernan’s father and the adventures he went on after he left Daernan and his wife behind to follow the demands of the goddess he serves. And with this strange creature as inspiration (and with me listening to a lot of filk–fictional folk–songs), the plot for A Path of Swords and Feathers came into being.
Now, whether this immortal is foe or friend…
Well, you’ll just have to read the story if you want to find out. 😉
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Want mystical, immortal creatures in your short story reads? How about one of these two stories?
Enjoy the magic of the Wishing Blade universe? You might like some of these free ebooks!
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As much as I loved the old cover for Magic’s Stealing, there was a time when I wasn’t sure it conveyed the genre well.
So I decided to test a new design that I made in Daz, one which focused on Toranih instead of Shevanlagiy.
Original CoverNew Cover Design
I only changed the ebook edition, but I left it up on Amazon a few weeks to see how it went. The idea was that, depending on the response, I’d either switch back to the old design, or swap the the other ebook covers to match the new design and upload those across all retailers.
Regardless, I planned to keep the print covers matching the older design until the series was complete, that way anyone who had already picked up print copies could still get a complete collection. (Plus I have ideas in mind for those covers).
I’d say this was kind of in my middle-ground stage of working with Daz. Not quite as rough as early attempts, but I still didn’t have quite as good of a grasp on the program. Here’s a look at a 3D rendering I made of Toranih, the precursor to creating the newer edition of the cover:
I did end up making a few changes to her between this picture and the design of the cover, but at the time that was about how I pictured her.
The results?
Well, I left the cover up for a month, and I didn’t see a noticeable difference in sales.
However, I also didn’t have a chance to do as much with Amazon ads as I would have like to have tested, so I might not have had the best comparison to work from.
Eventually I switched it back to the original cover, since I still liked that one better. Someday I may try to update the ebook cover again, once I have a better baseline set up and a more well-thought-out plan for advertising, but for now, I think I’ll stick to the original.
What do you think?
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Read the YA fantasy series where magic gets stolen, and one of the only two people who still have magic is a young woman who can’t see it and doesn’t trust it…
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Happy reading and writing (and book cover designing)! 📚
I’ve been rummaging through my older newsletters for blog content (circa 2018/2019), and I came across an email with my behind-the-scenes process of how I put together the cover of The Wind Mage of Maijev.
So, today, I’m revisiting that. 😊
Below you can see the stock images that went into it, and then the final version:
Since the storm plays a major role in the story (including the cause of most of the conflict), it seemed fitting to include that element. Plus, the walls leading to the entrance seemed to work well with the walled city of Maijev. Livena, the main character, isn’t particularly excited about her magic, so I removed the outspread arms, but still, she faces the storm… which she ultimately must face if she is to deal with her magic.
Here’s the final version:
I used the same photomanipulation technique for the next book in the Legends of Cirena series, The Gryphon and the Mountain Bear, but afterward switched to Daz 3D renders so I would have more flexibility with how I illustrated the covers.
An example of the Daz style covers comes with book #7 in the series, The Wind Mage and the Wolf:
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As a note… I try to keep The Wind Mage of Maijev ebook available for FREE, so if you’re interested in reading this one, grab it from your favorite retailer!
(Just be sure to double-check the price before buying. Amazon especially is notorious for switching the permafree price back to its paid price, since they rely on price-matching rather than allowing authors to set the price to free).
A few years ago, while visiting my parents’ house, I found a stage play I attempted to write during college based on my original version of The Wishing Blade series.
It was cheesy.
Really cheesy.
But it was cool seeing which plot points changed and which ones had remained surprisingly similar to the final, published version of Magic’s Stealing and The Shadow War (originally part one and two of the same book).
When I first started writing the story that would eventually become The Wishing Blade series, it was in 2003. (I did a lot of plotting in eighth grade choir).
Eventually, the story got shelved during the later part of high school and college–except for a playwriting class where I decided to try reworking my story idea into a screenplay. While I think I got a decent grade on it, looking back now…
There was way too much going on for a stage play.
However, it was one of my first successful attempts to fully rewrite the original draft and re-envision the story as a whole.
As such, it was fun to read through sections of the play’s draft and see which aspects stayed the same from the original story, and which aspects changed. (Even though several things had already changed from the rough draft to the stage play version).
Here’s a look at what the stage play looked like. As a warning, there are spoilers for the current version of the story. It would be best if you’ve already read Magic’s Stealing and The Shadow War before reading this. However, I’ve tried to make annotations that relate to the series as a whole.
I’ve added my comments in red.
SHEVANLAGIY
(Aside.)
So easy to fool him (Isahna) with half-truths. He doesn’t know why Aifa attacked me, and he does not know who the traitor’s son is. Poor Nihestan got into so much trouble, yet still he lives. Better yet, only a few know how I came to be here. Isahna has an idea, yes, but there’s still so much he doesn’t know… unless he does know and he’s pulling the trick over me…
(Aside from Shevanlagiy monologuing, which happens a lot in the stage play version… Nihestan was Shalant’s original name, and he had connections to Lord Cafrash Menchtoteale. Though hinted at in The Shadow War, the “traitor” aspect has not yet been addressed in the current version of the series… though I think there’s a couple hints of this in Magebane).
(AIFA comes on stage.)
AIFA
You like to make things hard on us, don’t you? Here string magic binds you, and maybe string magic will hold you, unlike the ribbon magic of mortals.
(I was actually surprised that I had string magic referenced this early in the story’s development. The idea that something is wrong with Shevanlagiy’s string magic remains in the current version.)
SHEVANLAGIY
If I’m not mistaken, ribbon magic is the magic of the gods, too. Isn’t it?
AIFA
That… that is true.
SHEVANLAGIY
Sure, string magic can hold me for a time being. But how long before my look-alike pulls a trick that unravels this prison?
AIFA
She doesn’t have that kind of power. And she really doesn’t look that much like you.
SHEVANLAGIY
Close enough. Genetic code is amazing, yes?
AIFA
Genetic what?
SHEVANLAGIY
Heritage. I wouldn’t expect you to know. Though, being a matchmaker goddess, I would think you would be more inclined to know than some of the others. Then again, it isn’t like the gods to try multiverse travel.
(Though I’ve downplayed it in the current version of the story, Shevanlagiy’s travel to other worlds was more prominent in the earlier drafts, as was her tendency to befuddle those around her with her other-worldly knowledge. That being said, the concept of Shevanlagiy visiting other worlds starts playing a much larger role in Magebane.)
AIFA
That doesn’t change the fact that you’re stuck here.
SHEVANLAGIY
Actually, it does. But what’s a minor goddess like you doing with the Time Stone? How are you controlling it? Surely it’s beyond your powers.
(Originally, the shodo’charl was called the “Time Stone.” However, with the introduction of “time stones” in the Distant Horizon universe that Isaac and I write, I decided to change the name to the “stone of passage,” or “shodo’charl.”)
AIFA
It… is trying.
(As seen in the end of The Shadow War, the newer version of the story has it that Aifa’s not having nearly the same amount of luck controlling the stone as we see here. It’s a factor that I intend to play a larger role in the fourth book of the series.)
Some hints have already been snuck into the books, and more hints are working their ways into the upcoming stories as well…
Anyway, that’s a look at one re-imagining of the Wishing Blade series, even though that particular version has been permanently shelved.
(That said, I haven’t gotten rid of my idea that ribbon dancing should be used to portray ribbon magic in a theatrical version).
One trope I really enjoy in fantasy is that of the misinterpreted prophecy.
Where characters are acting on a belief that a prophecy is going to go a particular way, but there’s a crucial misunderstanding somewhere in the usually archaic-sounding and ominous poem or lyrics. *Squee!*
Whether the misunderstanding is because a word or phrase gets passed along incorrectly or something gets lost in translation, it’s a twist and a trope that makes me happy.
(Not to be confused with misunderstandings between characters as the driving force of drama, which drives me nuts.)
My first encounter with the misinterpreted prophecy that I can remember comes from the book, The Sight, by David Clement-Davies. I adored both that book and its sequel, Fell, when I was in high school. (Or was it junior high? Might have been junior high for The Sight and Fell in high school, come to think of it). I enjoyed the books enough to create a dramatic interpretation from Fell for my speech and debate class.
The one time I ever took home a second place trophy at tournament was after winter break when I, having read Fell during break, loved it, and decided to cut a piece with reference to the prophecy in the intro, plunged into memorizing it and preparing it over the two weeks and took it fresh to the next tournament.
I also might have made at least one person do a double-take while walking by because I was out practicing in the hall and was having a lot of fun with accents.
*Ahem*
Anyhow, point is… there’s a prophecy in the series and there is a single word change that completely shifts how the prophecy might play out. And almost twenty years later (wait… it’s been that long?) I can still recite the first few lines of that prophecy based on what I memorized for the interpretation.
So… what does all this have to do with anything?
Well, you don’t think I’d pass up the opportunity to slip a misinterpreted prophecy into one of my stories, do you? 😁
(Okay, okay. Technically it’s two stories but the second one doesn’t have anything published from that series yet).
So, which universe are we talking?
The Wishing Blade Universe!
Now, to be fair, nothing has been full revealed. Technically I planned to reveal parts of this in the next Stone and String novella or its spin-off that ties into the backstory of one of the characters from Magebane, but those have been on hold for so long that it seems more likely you’re going to get bigger hints about it from the upcoming Legends of Cirena story, The Dark Forest of Aneth.
Now…
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
If you don’t wish for any details regarding the misinterpretation, stop reading this post! Seriously. I’m going to be saying what got misinterpreted, but not why or how this affects the story going forward. Okay with that? Cool. Proceed with reading!
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..
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What’s the culprit for misinterpretation?
One word: Ralendacin.
If you’ve read the Stone and String series or The Shadow War, you already know that Ralendacin means “the destroyer of worlds.”
(Ralen: world)
(Dacin: to destroy)
However, it comes to the attention of a couple of characters in the eventually-going-to-be-written third Stone and String story that the name is, technically, incorrect. Cantingen, as it stands now, tends to be a very exact language.
But everyone agrees that “Ralendacin” means “Destroyer of Worlds” even though a more accurate translation would be “Ralenme’Dacinllah,” or, alternatively, “Dacinllah so Ralenme.”
(Ralenme: worlds)
(Dacinllah: one who destroys)
Therefore, perhaps, the prophecy foretelling of the coming of Ralendacin might not be entirely accurate. And if that name was translated incorrectly, what else might the translators of the prophecy have gotten wrong? And why have so many people mistaken the meaning behind the prophecy?
Some hints have already been snuck into the books, and more hints are working their ways into the upcoming stories as well…
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Ralendacin is the mastermind behind the inciting incident of both these stories… but her lore goes far deeper than any of these characters yet know…
Enjoy the magical world of the Wishing Blade universe or the sci-fi elements of Huntress?
You might enjoy some of the free ebooks available here!
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(Note: The giveaways above are hosted through BookFunnel. Authors will usually ask for your email address, and in many cases, the author will collect these addresses for their newsletters.)
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 