On Writing & Publishing by Robin D. Owens

Personal notes on writing techniques, writing a novel, my writing career and threading your way through publishing a book.

My Photo
Name:
Location: Denver, United States

RITA Award Winning Author -- that's like the Oscar, folks! Futuristic/Fantasy Romance and Fantasy with Romantic Subplots.

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

T'Ash's Children, Night musings, Insights into Series building

So I finished up Heart Change, but decided to keep my mind in Celta and started thinking about Laev Hawthorn (up 3 of 3) and skipping 15 years and how old that would make T'Ash's (Rand T'Ash, my first hero, of HeartMate) children.

Now I knew from writing HeartMate that T'Ash would have four children, two boys and two girls.

One of them (a son) was already born as of Heart Quest (Winterberry, policeman and Trif Clover, musician), Nuin.

I knew that Heart Change, Signet's book, would have the birth of the next two -- fraternal twins, a boy and a girl.

Now how to get them, or one of them, in Laev Hawthorn's story? This is what I thought of when I went to bed for a few nights.

Well...T'Ash is a wonderful jewelry maker, but he doesn't consider himself an artist and thinks artists are wimps, so he'd probably pass that down to his sons. I've had Nuin precocious, but he could grow out of that. I think everyone thought of him as T'Ash's heir, too. But...why? On Celta, it's usually the most strongly Flaired child, or the child that shows the most Family Flair who becomes the next GreatLord or GreatLady. Why not make it a girl? The first girl is one of the twins, so why not? How would she fit into Laev's book?

T'Ash lost his Family. He is very, very focused on Family, on keeping his line going, etc. This, too, he'd pass down to his children. So, say, what if Laev becomes a businessman like his deceased father and FatherSire T'Hawthorn? What if this girl twin shows an excellent propensity for business (which T'Ash would greatly value because he'd been poor and struggled)? Would T'Ash apprentice her to Laev? I think so. And she will become the next holder of the title, GreatLady D'Ash. I like it.

So, the other girl? Easy, jewelry designer. Now the boys. The twin boy -- how about a strong and silent blacksmith like his father? Especially since I've decided to make the twin girl quite irrepressible.

That leave's Nuin, the precocious. I have to check what I've said about him, but I think that's about it, not much about his Flair. I've decided he's going to be a geologist. T'Ash is interested in stones and gems, so this could follow. Furthermore a geologist would fit well with the subplot I plan to introduce in Heart Journey.

That's it, and now that I've confused you all, I'll wish you a wonderful day. At least I have my ideas down for myself, so now I'll save them.

May you have a wonderful day.

Labels: , , , , ,

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

What about the influence of Danith? Won't any of the Ashes' children inherit her flair, or something related to her flair (animal healing)?
She is very strongly flaired herself after all...

Sara

12:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks Sara, that was my thought exactly...especially since she's the "only pink person" on Celta.

8:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! Sara and Sue, you both have covered just what I was going to ask. Robin, you write about very strong females and I would hate to think that Danith is/was nothing more than a brood mare. Why can't the oldest boy also be a pink person? I know that he made the cat all sparkly during the cat painting episode, wouldn't that lead him to wanting to do something with animals?

Tine

8:36 AM  
Blogger Jenny Schwartzberg said...

To follow up on the above comments, why don't you have Nuin and his descendants eventually become a separate GreatFamily with animal healing flair?

9:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree, maybe they could take Danith's name and establish GreatHouse Mallow.

10:17 AM  
Blogger Suzane in VT said...

If Nuin's primary Flair is geology (from T'Ash), you could make his creative flair animal decorating/painting (from Danith). That would explain his intense fascination with the process as a baby. It would also show a balance between toughness (from his father) and fondness towards animals (from his mother). And wasn't T'Ash's mother some sort of artist? (I'm at work and can't look it up at the moment.) Children are the culmination and balance of what both their parents (and their ancestors) make them.

And Nuin's precociousness could mellow into curiosity (= need/desire of discovery), which would do well for his being a geologist.

1:29 PM  
Blogger Tannun said...

Guess you have to re read Heartmate the same as the rest of us Robin :)

BTW. It's available on fictionwise as of this past monday, and makes the Celta series finally all available for ebook purchase.

Gratz!

8:21 PM  
Blogger Tannun said...

I'd also like to see a flair duel in a book at some point. We've seen swords being used, but I'd like to see what happens if 2 people decided to duel using flair, possible for head of house

8:36 PM  
Blogger FantasyAuthor RobinDOwens said...

Please see next posting. THANKS ALL
Robin

8:53 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Out of the Blogosphere
[ Join Now | Ring Hub | Random | << Prev | Next >>]