Kernel of Insight: The initial pitch

Okay...so, I've decided that I want to at least give my readers, the few who have stuck with me, a little something a bit more frequently.  So, I've decided that if a re-write cannot be finished and revised in a week, I will have a column here in an attempt to fill out a weekly cycle of updates.  This is, Kernel of Insight.  Also, yeah, I know this was a few days late to be on a regular weekly cycle...chock that up to my own idiocy.  From here on, once a week, either a new chapter or a Kernel of Insight.

            Here, I will share some of my thoughts on the initial drafts of Chronicles of a Frozen Shade, before it was fully planned out, before the magic system was worked out, before anything really had been nailed down.  How I was inspired to create certain characters in certain ways, why things changed, etc.  This will not include spoilers, because these were initial ideas and many of them have since warped, changed, or are no longer recognizable in the story we have before us.  So, for our first Kernel of Insight, let's talk about the initial pitch.

            Back when in the late 2000s, I was on an early morning kick.  I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons and missed the glory days because there's something beautifully simple, but also kind of innocent and whimsical about kid's programming, especially if it's in cartoon form.  One morning, I discovered a show called "Magi-nation."  This was basically a poke-mon rip off, with a twist.  While there were obvious differences, such as creatures being "imagined beings" or magic existing that basically let the writers play fast and loose with the plot, the big twist was that in every episode something educational would be taught to the audience, be it about political systems, eco systems, or just basic mathematics and logic.  The episode I first got introduced to the series featured the heroes in and underground mushroom garden, not unlike a fairy ring.  It was talking about gardening, but I didn't care.  I was kind of entranced by the setting.  It had a sort of calm ambiance to it, like this was a safe, whimsical place, free from human tampering.  I began to think about what it would be like to have two characters gathering ingredients there.  One of them gestated into Mina, for reasons we may get into later, and the other gestated into Aeon, whose design was a long time in coming, also another story.

            The initial pitch of the story was Aeon and Mina, teacher and student, gathering ingredients in a fairy realm garden.  This was how everything came to be, because everything was leading up to that moment.  Why did Aeon need ingredients?  Why would Mina be in contact with a shadowy figure like him?  How did they get there?  Was there magic in this world?  It got the gears turning, so to speak.  And yes, that means that in my original draft, there were fairies.  The garden and the fairies have since been excised, but for a long time, the fairies and their garden where the pivoting point of Chronicles of a Frozen Shade.  Somehow they had to get there because...just because.  Another show, "Little Snow Fairy Sugar"(I like kid's shows, got a problem with that?  They're cute and fun, which is something modern entertainment sorely lacks.) actually gave me a fleshed out fairy character.  It was a shame to excise her, especially since she could have been a great device for exposition both on how magic worked and why the world was the way it was, but...I didn't really know what to do with her.  There was no journey to go on, like with Mina, Aeon, Celine, Daryl, or any of the other cast.  She just was.  And was a bit annoying at times too.  Cute, but annoying.  There was meant to be a prejudice angle, but when her sadness of being ostracized is resolved the instant Mina takes her in and becomes her friend...yeah...if you don't have a damn good reason for a character to be there, don't have them there.  So, she was taken out.  Her name was going to be Milena.

            This is kind of important because rather than just dying, Milena and Mina somewhat merged together into a more singular personality, both strong, but playful, and not prone to overt periods of being all emo.  Only in extreme moments.  It was a nice balance.  What many readers may not know, however, is that the original draft was completed with Milena still a part of the cast and the second book's introduction was formed with her as an integral part of an early chapter.  She was supposed to be like a self contained Leyline and a way for Mina to wield magic even if she was an inept fool.  I instead went with the angle of magic being available to almost everyone, just requiring so much effort and training that if you weren't going to use it daily, like as a mage, bounty hunter, etc. then there was little point to learning it.

            At times, I do miss the fairy angle of it, but Acacia became something of a fairy garden unto itself, so things worked out in the end.  The story is stronger for having a more tightly wound narrative and biological viewpoint.  There are still fairies, as can be witness in Chapter 2, but they're just regular apocra.  Not some otherworldly oligarchy, like they were in the original drafts, but regular beasts with their own powers and dispositions.  I might still do something with them later, but I have big plans for a few apocra and they don't include fairies.

            Well, this was fun.  I hope you've all enjoyed it as well.