Well, folks, we’re down to the wire! These are your last few days to enter the Launch Contest and Prize Giveaway for Orphan’s Song. If you haven’t entered yet, it’s super easy to earn entries, and you don’t want to miss out on a chance to win one of the three awesome prizes! (See the original post here: Orphan’s Song Launch Contest and Prize Giveaway.) In the meantime, I’d like to introduce you to a character who quickly became one of my favorites to write… 
Amos hefted the larger of the two packs and slung it over one shoulder. He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest. “We’ve supplies aplenty, the wind at our backs, and the open road before our feet. What more could a man wish for?” – Orphan’s Song 
Amos McElhenny was a part of the story from the very beginning. Before there was a plot or a problem, the character of the traveling peddler existed somewhere in the back of my brain, complete with his brogue, penchant for imaginative insults, and his stubborn donkey Balaam. Half Waveryder by birth, Amos hails from a little sea-side village called Bryllhyn on the west coast of Leira. A man of many talents, he considers his skill with a dirk and most long range weapons second only to his mastery of the insult. One does not with to engage him in a battle of the tongue. As a traveling peddler, Amos and his pack-donkey Balaam have visited many an inn, eaten at many a tavern, and stopped off at many a small town. He’s a man who’s been everywhere, seen it all, and experienced just about everything there is to experience. So you can hardly blame him for having an over-developed sense of his own rightness and a high regard for his own opinion. But with all the places he’s visited, there’s one inn outside of one small town where he always returns: the Sylvan Swan in Hardale. T’was at the Sylvan Swan that he met his wee lass, Birdie, and t’was there all his troubles began. Again … 
Have you read Orphan’s Song yet? If so, who is your favorite character? Be sure to check out the other Backpage Pass Posts and be watching for more posts in the future: Ky Huntyr, Birdie.
Backpage Pass: Ky Huntyr
“There were three simple rules in the Underground: be invisible, look out for yourself, and no going back. Ever. They all added up to the same thing: Keep up or get left behind.” – Orphan’s Song
Ky Huntyr—thief, runner, member of the Underground—began as one of those surprise characters that pop out of nowhere and force their way onto the page. I had no more clue beforehand that he was planning on entering the story, than Bilbo had about the party he was hosting for thirteen dwarves and a wizard before the unexpected knock at the door. But once Ky arrived, I soon realized that he had come to stay and was going to provide an integral part of the story that became Orphan’s Song. With his aptitude for the sling and his penchant for jumping into trouble to save others, Ky occasionally reminded me of David the shepherd boy from the Bible. Not entirely sure why, but who among us can really explain the random paths our brains take? Care to know a secret? (In a very early draft, I even included a David and Goliath-esque scene in which Ky’s slingstones felled a much larger and highly dangerous opponent. It made me happy. Sadly, said scene no longer exists…) Ky is one of my favorite characters—right up there with Birdie and Amos—and I enjoy writing in his point of view because he tends to look at things a tad different from other folks. 
He’s humble. He’s not always convinced that he’s in the right—because let’s face it, that can get downright annoying—and even when he is, he struggles just like the rest of us with going against the flow of popular opinion. But when push comes to shove, he’s not afraid to stand up for what he believes or for those who are in danger. Despite the hardness of the world he lives in, Ky still cares. There are a lot of numb characters in fiction today. Characters who are so broken and beaten and bloodstained that they can’t feel anymore, let alone truly care for anyone else. And that’s realistic. When you go through something so challenging, you can begin to feel like every ounce of energy has been consumed and you don’t have anything to give anyone else. But what I love about Ky is that he’s not afraid to keep caring, fighting, and doing what he thinks is right against all odds. And that—I think—is what made Ky real and heroic to me.
Backpage Pass—Birdie
“Soft as a whisper, the melody crept toward her, banishing the midnight fears and easing the ache of loneliness. It wrapped around her, the comforting embrace of a friend. Dangerous, Amos had said. Unnatural. But dangerous or not, it was all she had. Birdie slipped into the mysterious melody and allowed it to carry her to sleep at last.” – Orphan’s Song
When I first started writing Orphan’s Song, I had little more than a name—Birdie—and the barest smidgeon of an idea. I knew Birdie was an orphan, that she lived at an inn, and that she heard a melody that no one else could. But beyond that I had no more idea where the story was going than the next random citizen on the street. Out of all the characters populating the by-ways and back-roads of Leira, Birdie probably changed the most over the course of the many drafts and revisions the novel went through before the end. But there were some things that didn’t change. From the beginning, I knew who Birdie is—even if it took me a while to figure out how to best portray it. She’s got a heart bigger than Dunfaen Forest, and a sweet spirit matched only by her courage and the ability to keep on keeping on. She is teachable, but not a push over. When she believes something is worth the fight, her backbone grows harder and straighter than a zoar tree—something that frustrates poor Amos to no end. Birdie is all these things and so much more. But at the heart of it all, she is a lost little girl just searching for a place to belong. 
Most of us aren’t orphans doomed to a life of drudgery at the local inn. Most of us know our own history … know our parents … have a name we can call our own. But at the same time, I feel like most of us can relate to Birdie’s desire to know where she fits in the world. We want to know our place, to feel at home, to know where we belong, and how we can contribute. This is what made Birdie feel real to me as I wrote her, and I hope it will help make her feel real to you as well. 
Valiant as a… Mouse?
An Echoes of Eternity post – seeking the echoes of eternity in fantasy and speculative fiction.
Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.
(from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S.Lewis)
 |
| courtesy of Google images :) |
Reepicheep. In my opinion, Reepicheep is one of the best characters ever to fill the pages of a novel. He is somewhat of an enigma. He is a mouse, who is braver than most humans. He is small, but his spirit makes up for his lack of stature. Though trapped by the limits of his size, Reepicheep is not bound to the common conceptions of a mouse – his love for adventure and his strict code of honor and nobility are worthy of a giant!
If anyone were to ask me what a true knight of Narnia looks like, Reepicheep would immediately come to mind. Courageous, courteous, chivalrous – Reepicheep fits the image of a hero in character if not in appearance (somehow, I can’t see Reepicheep charging into battle on the back of a white horse!)
But I think, perhaps, the greatest part about Reepicheep’s character is his deep and unflinching devotion to Aslan demonstrated so clearly in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
When the Dawn Treader reaches Ramandu’s island after months of hardship at sea, many of the crew wish to turn back, afraid of what lies in the unknown waters ahead.
Reepicheep responds:
“My own plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle East in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise and Peepicheek will be head of the talking mice in Narnia.”
If only we possessed this same one-mindedness in our own lives. Would that we had this same attitude toward God and seeking Him. Too often, our coracle sinks and we flounder in the water, wallowing in our misery. We take our eyes off the East and drift aimlessly, seeking first one thing and then another, forgetting our first love. We grow weary and tired of pressing on and we allow ourselves to float off course.
Why do we do that? Why do we allow the distractions of this world to draw us away from the most important thing of all?
The author of Hebrews wrote, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
If we but fixed our eyes unswervingly on Jesus, every day, how different our lives would look!
In contrast to Reepicheep’s single minded goal, Caspian becomes distracted from his purpose. Lured by the promise of adventure on a journey to the world’s end, Caspian seeks to abandon his throne, his quest, and his duties to the people of Narnia. All so that he might glimpse the Edge of the World.
This event reminds me of the story of Odysseus and the Sirens from Greek mythology (oddly enough, Edmond comes to the same conclusion, threatening to tie Caspian to the mast until he comes to his senses.)
The Sirens possessed incredibly beautiful voices, and their song was so alluring that it drove unwary sailors mad until they plunged over the side of their ship to a watery grave. In order to get past the Sirens safely, Odysseus ordered his men to plug their ears with wax so that they could not hear the song.
But he, desiring to hear the song of the Sirens without fear of leaping to his death, also commanded them to tie him to the mast so that he might listen under restraint. His men went about their work, ears blocked to the song of the Sirens, but tied to the mast, Odysseus wept and raged beneath the spell, imploring his men to release him.
Like the song of the Sirens, the distractions of this world seek to lure us astray. To draw us off the path. But like the author of Hebrews, like Odysseus’ men, let us throw off the entanglements, block our ears to the call, and run with endurance the race set for us.
Like Reepicheep, longing to reach Aslan’s country, let us fix our eyes on Christ and seek Him with all of our hearts.
Let us be like the Psalmist and say, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Where can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1-2 )
“The coracle went more and more quickly, and beautifully it rushed up the wave’s side. For one split second they saw its shape and Reepicheep’s on the very top. Then it vanished and since that moment no one can truly claim to have seen Reepicheep the Mouse. But my belief is that he came safe to Aslan’s country and is alive there to this day.”
~ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis
