Over time, the scene my mind goes back to with most relish is the medieval solstice faire. I loved crafting the journey there as well as the time at the faire. The events that immediately precede it are some of the most important in the series. I never broke down the factors that make it my favorite until yesterday, when a reader told me it’s her favorite!
Several reasons come to mind. I don’t want to give too much away, but I think this will be okay. One is that it’s the first occasion of main characters being snatched; when that fact first came to me, it altered the entire trajectory of the book.
The faire gave me an opportunity to paint the scene of a bardic contest— an ancient tradition of the Isles—in living color.
The faire allowed presented a context for reunions, between women friends, brothers and sisters, a son away at training with parents. There’s a magical tent in this part, and the discovery of a woven tapestry that holds clues.
I loved creating those moments, then returning to them and fleshing them out. Editing, in that sense, is the best of daydreaming. You’ve already formed rich settings and know the characters, their emotional relationships, their conflicts.
Last week I wrote about a wonderful conversation with a reader, and how I loved her questions. Yesterday I had another such conversation. This time, the reader, who is a workmate of mine, told me her favorite part so far is the Winter Solstice faire! How fun, to find out a reader’s favorite part is the same as mine. As we talked, she mentioned loving the banter between sister and brother, that it led her to reminisce about her own brother and their relationship. I, too, have a brother I love to joke with. A bonus revelation of hers was a dream she had that she related to my book. She shared that she woke one night and, unable to fall back asleep, opened my book. Reading it helped her fall back asleep and when she did, she dreamed a dream that reminded her of the book: a special house, a path … Some of my blog followers know how much I value dream life! The fact that the book stirred new conversations with a colleague is special to me.
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