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Writing allegory—it gets easier

Posted on 17 December, 2012 12:19 am by Alexa Chipman Comment

Writing the first allegory in the series, Erfyl, was a challenge—since every character, object, and place had an alternate meaning, they could not just do anything I wanted to. Every aspect and action a character took had to be weighed for its theological implications, which made the writing rather difficult.

With the sequel, Ambar, I found the flow of writing came much easier. It was partly because I knew the characters better, but also I learned a lot about writing allegories from the first book.

I found that writing the outline from a purely theological perspective first was helpful. Instead of thinking of it as a story, writing out what needed to be covered using a linear non-fiction approach helped when I went to outlining the plot. When coming to scenes with conflict between characters, instead of jumping into the writing, I would pause and write it out based on theology and ignoring the characters temporarily. For example, when the Holy Church was in conflict with Charity, I considered how would the Church be reunited with Charity? In the end I decided a combination of reflection and the Holy Spirit’s guidance, which then told me which characters needed to be involved in that resolution.

In the end, I believe that method brought the characters more to life, rather than less so, and if there is a third book in the series, I shall definitely reuse what I learned with this one.




Visualizing the Erfyl Sequel Characters

Posted on 23 April, 2012 9:18 pm by Alexa Chipman 2 Comments

When I am writing, after awhile I have quite a distinct look in my head for characters, and tend to go around and “fantasy cast” people who could do a good job in a film version. I like to open them up in my reference folders every now and then, especially when writing scenes between three or more to see what the room might look like and add to the texture of the scene.

Since I am now almost halfway writing the draft of Erfyl‘s sequel—Ambar—here is a look at characters you will be familiar with as well as the new ones introduced.

Erfyl
Indiana Evans

What drew me to her was the sweet venerability she is capable of showing, as evidenced in H2O: Just Add Water. I wanted the character to be as feminine as possible, in order to avoid the sort of male superhero in a skirt mentality that pervades a lot of genre fiction. She also has the right general look about her with golden blonde hair, a soft feel and full mouth that I had envisioned the character to look like.

Stephen
Richard Armitage

Although he does not look exactly like I see Stephen’s build, what he does have is a definite stage presence. When he walks on screen you know it! From the first time I saw him in Robin Hood to his portrayal in North and South, I was impressed by the absolute confidence he shows without being overbearing or irritating about it. Stephen does have a darker look than his brother, although not quite to the extreme Armitage has.

Gina
Angel Coulby

When I thought of Gina’s bubbly warmth I immediately thought of Angel. Watch some of her Merlin behind the scenes videos and you’ll see what I mean! Although I see Gina as having a bit darker skin, she definitely has the “cute” look of Angel, rather than something more elegant like Zoe as Ohura in Star Trek. She was probably the first visual I had for any of the characters. The minute I started writing her, Angel popped into my head and remained there, although Gina has definite differences.

Felix
Angus McLaren

I actually chose him because he resembles a much younger David Wenham, who would be my first choice. They both give off an aura of attractiveness without it being the macho type, and also do not appear to be weak at the same time. It is a rare balance which is important to the character of Felix. He also has a bit of a nasty streak to him which comes out under pressure, and he needed to be extra handsome to make up for it!

Museum Curator “The Old Man”
Tony Amendola

I’ve seen him in multiple stage productions, and more screen portrayals than I can keep track of. I think what brought the character and actor together in my head was his role of Bra’tac on Stargate. I didn’t want the curator to be anything like a classic wizard (sorry Dumbledore/Gandalf!) or the overtly elegant sophisticated type. He needed to be down to earth, yet with a haunting otherworld quality to him—eyes that you looked into and saw years of wisdom building within, yet still having the capacity to joke and smile.

Vanessa
Sarah Michelle Gellar

Although she appears briefly in the first book, we find out more about her in the sequel and she takes on a more active role. I wanted someone short, yet fiery, and able to toss out one liners with a wry cutting humour. Vanessa is unlike Buffy in many ways—she isn’t human for one thing, has no friends, hates talking, never goes out to have fun, is a work-a-holic, and enjoys keeping people in the dark and being as cryptic as possible. She also fights with ninja stars when pressed to it, and has more of a flowing dance movement that is closer to River in Firefly than Buffy.

Ambar
Jake Gyllenhaal

He is introduced in the second book and without giving too much away, he is the same race as Vanessa. His character is quite the enigma—you never know which side he’ll decide to be on. The one that is certain is that whichever side he’s on tends to be victorious. Erfyl has a terrible time trying to decide whether to fight him or recruit him. While Dastan has a similar fighting technique, Ambar is much more cheerful and open about his emotions. He also does not have the sense of family bonding, which is the reason he and Vanessa basically ignore each other.

Guthwyne
Katie McGrath

Speaking of enigmatic characters—book two sees the appearance of Guthwyne, the first of the Diras. Until now they have been a sort of faceless enemy, and that’s about to change. As the original power, she chooses to take a semi-human form more often than the others because of her close relationship with Ambar’s race. As for whether she will be Erfyl’s friend or foe you’ll have to read the book to find out! I chose Katie McGrath for her portrayal of Morgana’s story arc. She is able to go from the open-hearted innocent, yet opinionated ward of Uther to a cold bitter adversary. She has a distinctive voice that sets her apart from most actors, and gives the feeling that she doesn’t belong with humans. Her beautiful glowing skin and expressions add to the faerie quality that the Diras possess.

Agree with the choices? Or did you imagine someone else? Post a comment below!




Erfyl sequel is a go—it started writing itself without asking

Posted on 21 January, 2012 2:39 pm by Alexa Chipman 14 Comments

When I finished Erfyl I was exhausted—trying to keep everything accurate yet have a compelling story is quite difficult! Plus I was writing my first “first person” work which was also a challenge. Looks like the gaming guild is back for new adventures!

At first I didn’t plan on writing a sequel for years. Unfortunately the first chapter sat down and wrote itself before I could put a stop to it—the visuals came so intensely that I could not deny them.

The book opens by throwing the reader straight into the action of a chase sequence—the most compelling intro chapter in any book I’ve seen in a long time. I decided to go with Terry Goodkind’s method of writing sequels by not explaining exactly what events occurred between books, and not opening the sequel with explanatory info for new readers. He assumes you read the previous book and throws you straight into the situation. To me that is a powerful method to use, and so when the opening action came to my imagination I didn’t latch on any information to “introduce” the readers. Here are the very first few lines (remember it is a rough draft):

Desperately I rushed at an open area between the silhouettes of trees as fern leaves tried to grasp at my ankles. Twigs scratched at my face and arms in my blind stumbling run toward freedom. I could see no light anywhere. A loose rock sent me whamming against dirt. I could taste its soft bark in my mouth and smell the richness of pungent forest needles. Scratching at the soil to right myself I rushed on through the woods. I could not even hear my breathing as I ran—concentrating only on finding openings in the dense undergrowth and thick old trunks surrounding me like ancient sentinel guards turned to stone and helpless against the Diras.

After writing the first chapter I figured “that’s great, I’ll let it sit for awhile and can ignore it” but no such luck. An emotionally charged situation came up in my own life, which mirrored where the character Erfyl left off at the end of the chapter. I thought I might as well keep writing because I could channel that emotion to her and have quite an honest, realistic chapter two. Here is a brief excerpt:

Tears stung at my eyelashes threatening to burst out and I knew any speech I attempted would sound shaky at best. I was so furious at myself for messing up, yet I could not feel it for the deep sorrow ripping out my insides that it had been me. I wanted to pout on the cold dock all night, or scream at the hill rising innocently up covered with flowers peeking through the gloom.

“What’s done is done,” Vanessa finished the figure eight of the lines to secure the ferry, “moping never helped anyone.”

“But what else can I do?” the words slipped out half mumbled and filled with tears. My throat felt dry as sandpaper.

Obviously it is a first draft, yet I think the fact I captured what I was feeling can easily be expounded upon later and made for quite a charged set of paragraphs. It looks like book 2 is off to a start, and there is nothing I can do about it!




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