About: Shadows of Dawn Part 2
By Jessica Marie Here is the second installment about the first book in my debut novel, The Shadows of Dawn. I have finished the first draft and am currently half-way through my first round of edits. The first of many rounds, but it is coming along. I am currently moving narratives and POV’s around to create more cliffhangers between various characters’ stories (this is a multi-POV story) and to break up different story-lines more evenly throughout the novel. What is this novel about? It is a mixed genre science-fiction and fantasy titled The Shadows of Dawn. The tagline is: Magic goes through 2,000-year cycles on Esnevaria. When magic returns it plunges the planet into chaos, war, and political upheaval. This book is the first of what will be a duology. The second book with pick-up exactly where the first leaves off. It’s a story of war, chaos, political upheaval, finding faith, and found family. It is told from multiple POV’s, though my main character is Sorscha Androula. Today I’ll be exploring her adopted brother, Alasdair Atria. Alasdair Atria: He is the adopted brother to the main character, Sorscha. He is a human and came into the orphanage four years after Sorscha did. He was a toddler when he came, but Sorscha took a liking to him and adopted him immediately. They quickly bonded and considered each other siblings within a few days. They would explore, get into trouble, and navigate the orphanage together. As elves age slower than humans, Alasdair and Sorscha were considered to be in the same age group and would attend the same lessons, classes, and grew up together much like twins might. All orphans who are found on the Capital are given the surname Atria. Alasdair has often wondered who his birth parents are. He contacted the orphanage and did some personal research to try and find his birth family, but there were no records to follow to uncover his heritage. He has never told Sorscha or their adopted mother, Sarine about his having looked for his birth family. He knows they would have understood and even tried to help. But he somehow couldn’t bring himself to tell them, various anxious ideas kept him from opening up about the topic. Alasdair joined the Capital Guard at the same time as Sorscha. They attended training together, though while she desired leadership and became an Officer, specifically training. He preferred to work the rowdy night shifts. The strangest events and wildest chases seemed to happen at night and that’s exactly what he liked. Plus, he knows once he settles down, gets married, and has a few kids he’ll want the structure of the daytime shifts. To be as present at home as he can be, not wanting to miss a moment of their growing up. Alasdair is the quick-witted, snarky, jokester who does a terrible job pretending he doesn’t have the softest heart on the Capital. The Setting - Politics: Esnevaria was once ruled by royalty and nobility for much of its recorded history. The snow and forest elves preferred a more tribal lifestyle, while the humans generally organized into larger cities with power concentrated at the top. During the fall of the era of magic 2,000 years ago, when the orbiting Capital was built, the humans realized they needed the assistance of the tribal elves in order to complete the Capital. The engineers and designers were entirely human, but the Capital could not provide for itself. It needed agriculture and farming to take place on the planet below and for those goods to be ferried to the Capital. The elves were far more competent in these areas and a deal had to be brokered. If those on the Capital wished to survive, they would need to relinquish their all-encompassing power. This was the beginning of the fall of nobility. The elves demanded their leaders to be present on the Capital and to represent their interests to the nobility. If they were ignored or taken advantage of, the elves would cease provisions. This slowly eroded the concept of the nobility being the only ones wise enough to rule and this slowly permeated the human society. This led to the demand of a new form of government. Barely two hundred years ago a war was waged and the nobility fell. From the ashes was born a republic where leaders were elected by the populace. Once a month I will introduce another character. Welcome to my novel and hope you enjoy these teasers of my story, can’t wait to see you back for the next installment! Covered so far: Sorscha Androula, Main Character & The Main Setting of this novel, the Capital – Read about it here
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Introduction to my Novel
By Jessica Marie As you saw a few blog posts ago, I finished the first draft of my novel. So, I wanted to update you on this story and tell you a little about it. As I am several weeks into the editing process, I am seeing the story from a new perspective, as most of what I am now editing I have not seen since I wrote it! I am mostly re-reading the story at the moment. Getting a feel for the flow and arcs I have in place. Making notes on scenes I need to add, what I need to describe in a non-info-dumping format, and refresh my mind on what the book already has and what it still needs. What is this novel about, you may ask? It is a mixed genre science-fiction and fantasy titled The Shadows of Dawn. The tagline is: Magic goes through 2,000-year cycles on Esnevaria. When magic returns it plunges the planet into chaos, war, and political upheaval. This book is the first of what will be a duology. The second book with pick-up exactly where the first leaves off. It’s a story of war, chaos, political upheaval, finding faith, and found family. It is told from multiple POV’s, though my main character is Sorscha Androula. Sorscha Androula: She is a Lieutenant in the Capital Guard, essentially the knights/police of the Capital. She has followed logical steps through her life, aging out of the orphanage she grew up in, joining the Capital Guard as she had the skills to do well and it has also provided stability for her. Her adopted brother, Alasdair, joined the Guard with her and helped create that stable life she desired. She feels a pull to devote herself to her religion, Piishan, but it feels illogical and unstable to her. Though she deeply wants to do it, something holds her back. Sorscha was found, by a woman named Sarine, as a several days old infant abandoned in a park on the Capital. She was taken to an orphanage by Sarine, who would later become her adopted Mother, where she lived and grew up until she was 22 years old. As an elf, who live longer than humans and thus mature slower, she was released at 22 which is considered adulthood in elves. We meet Sorscha after she has been part of the Capital Guard for 10 years and is a respected Lieutenant. She volunteers with security at her Piishan temple. She has an attraction to a fellow elf Guard, Noya, who went to the academy with Sorscha and her brother. Noya and Sorscha are close friends and the attraction is mutual. A secret that everyone knows, though they have never been willing to admit it to one another. The Setting: The Capital is a city that orbits the planet of Esnevaria. Think of the Citadel from the video game series Mass Effect, but rather it orbits a planet much like the ISS orbits Earth. The Capital was created 2,000 years ago during the last cycle of magic in an attempt for the nobility to escape the war and magic by going into space. As magic is tied to living natural things (plants, animals, etc.) by building a city off-planet with no living beings aside from the humans and some elves, the nobility, wealthy, and upper-classes were able to escape. Magic cycled away and has been absent from Esnevaria for 2,000 years. In that time trees, birds, and other small natural elements have been reincorporated into the Capital in the form of parks and creating a more natural feel for residents on the Capital. This was allowed as these elements were no longer considered a threat. It is believed that magic had been present on Esnevaria for as long as recorded history, though it dissipated and disappeared long ago. While some believe or hope it will return, it is widely considered ancient history. Once a month I will introduce another character. Welcome to my novel and hope you enjoy these teasers of my story, can’t wait to see you back for the next installment! |
AuthorJessica Marie Cunningham - Intentional lifestyle blogger, aspiring author, and podcast host. All things Slow Living, Books, Writing, Art, creativity, Christianity, and personal stories. Archives
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