How The Story Emerged - Flight - The Henge Betrayed

First of all an autographed copy of Flight will be given away to someone signing the guest book, but they must give me a way to reach them. Last week's book wasn't given away since the person has not yet responded. Had a hard time reaching those who entered since they didn't leave an addy so I could reach them.

My interest in Astrology has been a long and ongoing affair. While playing the What If game, I began to consider what if a person had an affinity for one of the four elements, Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Then I thought about my four grandchildren at the time. There birth signs fit the elements and so I decided to write a story using them, but not really. Fictionalized versions of them and using some of the traits of those with Sun Signs in each of the four areas. At night as I was going to sleep I thought about this story and in the morning wrote out the continuing story with none of the frills that end up in the book. A sort of this happened and this happened next. I had decided to call the book The Henge Betrayed. The good or bad thing was that after doing this for a week or more I ended up with about 50 pages typed of what this story was to be. The way I write, those 50 pages would translate into maybe 800 pages, much too long. What emerged was four books. I had fun breaking all this into a story.

Flight is the initial story and has the four children, two sets of fraternal twins, having to leave their home and take flight. Their parents send them forth with talismans and gems that enhance their talents. But their affinities for the elements are just beginning to emerge and they are forced to experiment because of dangers they must face. Along the way they meet a new friend and his companion. They must find a way to heal this boy and they learn he is the son of the ruler who is controlled by an evil man. This friend also has an affinity he had hidden for he cannot follow his father if the talent is seen by the people. The four are on the way to a safe place to wait for the people their parents have asked to mentor them. The destruction of their home occurs and their parents using their affinities for all the elements become a pair of birds. This story tells of their flight and their hopes of finding a safe place. The story also shows their emerging talents. The question is will they ever become strong enough to face the evil man and a shadowy creature called He Who Walks With Evil. During the nect two weeks I'll talk about the second and third books. The fourth has been written and is sitting at the publisher's waiting to hear if it will see the light of day.

Part of the chapter can be read somewhere on the blog.

Characterization -- Astrology - The Henge Betrayed characters

For the past twelve weeks I've posted the characteristics of each of the signsof the Zodiac, honing in on the Sun, Moon and Rising sign. Since The Henge Betrayed Refuge was released today, I thought I'd show you how to use the Sun, Moon and Rising signs were used to create these characters. First a general bit about how I do this.

It's a matter of picking one from each column to give depth to your characters. The Sun is a character's inner self, one they may or may not let other people see. The Moon shows their emotional nature and often how they act and react to the actions of other people. The Rising Sun is the self they show the world. These three aspects may work in unison or they may work in opposition. They will give the character motivations and sometimes motivations that are in conflict.

Before I get to the characters of the Henge Betrayed series, let's look at a character who has more than one level to her character. Suppose you have a hero or heroine with Pisces as the Sun, This gives a dreamy aspect to the character but the world may not see him or her that way since the Rising sign is Aries, a Fire sign meaning they are the kind to rush into action often without thinking. This will give the character some inner conflict. Then perhaps we'll choose a Taurus moon, giving them a need for beauty and luxury on an emotional level. As you can see this character has levels to their nature and there are problems built into their personality.

When I began the cozy mystery series, I must admit the character was based on my own astrological signs. Katherine Miller has a Cancer sun making her want to mother everyone. She also has a Cancer moon. This gives her an emotional attachment to those near and dear to her. Her Rising sign is Taurus, this her love or cooking, beautiful things and in her case music.

Now for one of the Henge Betrayed characters. Though this is an ensemble book, there are five who were there from the very beginning of the book. Ky and Zand are Fire. Not only are their suns belonging to one of the Fire signs so are their moons and rising signs. Ash is Air. Bran is Water and Jay is Earth.

Unlike my other characters these five have sun, moon and rising sign in one of the four major breakdowns. Ky has an Aries Sun, a Sagittarius Moon and a Leo rising sign.
In contrast Zand has a Leo sun, an Aries rising sign and a Sagittarius moon. This gives them slightly different personalities, needs and desires. Ky is more brash and daring while Zand has a desire to rule. Both have a natural way of bonding with animals and investing their emotions in the care of the animals.

So find yourself a good book on astrology that shows not just the sun but the moon and rising signs in each of the twelve Zodiac signs and add some extra flavor to your characters.

Saturday's Two sentence Synopsis

This two sentence synopsis has held true for 4 books. When I started The Henge Betrayed, I thought there would be one book but when I reached the 75,000 to 80,000 mark I hadn't come close to reaching the end. I am now on the fourth book in the series and it's coming close to 300,000 plus words.

The Two sentence synopsis
Four young teens, each with an affinity for one of the elements (Earth, Water, Air or Fire) are sent by their parents from danger and to find teachers to hone their talents.

Will they find their teachers and gain the skills to defeat the powerful wizard known as He Who Walks With Evil?