Celtic Tarot Cards, Meaning from Nature: an inspired contribution

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Guest Resources available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other guest-inspired content is gathered in my Guest Directory for you to explore.

Find more tarot-related content in my Tarot Gallery.

In Part 1 of this series, I collaborated with historical fantasy author Linnea Tanner on this guest post for her Celtic history blog. I originally wrote this piece in April 2015, and it has been reposted here with permission.

UPDATE 2022: Since the writing of this post seven years ago, Linnea's site has undergone extensive upgrades and overhauls. My original guest post is no longer available on her site, but is preserved in full below.

Or skip straight to Part 3: Writing a second guest post for Linnea!

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It is with great pleasure that I introduce D.N.Frost, an exciting fantasy author with a passion for Celtic mythology and traditions. She has graciously provided a guest post about the rich symbolism of nature used in tarot cards. Welcome D.N.Frost! I encourage everyone to learn more about her and the epic saga Tales of the Known World.

Guest Post: D.N. Frost |Celtic Tarot Cards Meaning | Apollo’s Raven


Hello there! My name is D.N.Frost, and I’m the fantasy author, cartographer, and world-builder behind the epic saga Tales of the Known World. I love delving into the mythology and traditions of different cultures, and this guest post for Linnea Tanner was inspired by my love of Celtic mysticism. Enjoy!


The world of the ancient Celts teemed with layers of meaning and symbols drawn from nature. Many of these assorted myths and traditions were amassed in detail by Anna Franklin, a well-known Celtic Pagan authority in the British Isles. One of her books accompanied a Celtic-themed tarot deck, and though tarot only dates back to the 15th century, the book and cards are steeped in ancient Celtic heritage.

This card depicts Scathach, a legendary Celtic warrior woman.

Scathach, Celtic warrior woman of legend

At her feet, a badger appears as the warrior’s familiar, and from the corner grows the magical herb borage. The name for this plant arose from the ancient Gaelic word borrach, meaning “a brave or courageous person.” Celts often soaked borage leaves in wine, which elevated adrenaline levels to evoke power and courage.

Renowned for her skills and strength, Scathach ran a school for warriors in her fortress on the Isle of Skye. Her name meant “the shadowy one,” and her fortress was known as Dun Scaith, the “Castle of Shadows.” Scathach only trained the adept few who were brave enough to invade her fortress and entreat her tutelage within.

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Check out these Guest Resources for more inspirational content!

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She was most renowned for training Cuchulain, the hero of the Irish Ulster saga. Though she is pictured with a sword while preparing for the Lughnasa games, Scathach is best known for the barbed spear Gae Bulg, which she gave to Cuchulain after he completed his training. Some tales accredit Scathach with the power of prophesy, a gift often attributed to ravens.

For ancient Celts, the badger was regarded as the best familiar for the warrior’s intrepid spirit. Seen as unshakable and grounded, the indomitable badger inspired the path of a warrior with its courage and ferocity. The Celts believed that the badger knew all the secrets of Albion, and that its knowledge arose from the depths of the earth in which it dwelt. The badger taught many lessons to the ancient Celts, including the importance of seeking inner solitude.

This card depicts a raven circling the cloudy sky over a youth lost in thought.

The Omen of a Circling Raven

In the surrounding mountains, tall pines stand as the tree of heroes and warriors, and swaths of bright daffodils paint the springtime valley. This flower symbolized the instinctive sexual energies of spring, sweeping the earth in magical regeneration.

In the Celtic tradition, pine trees symbolized fertility and rebirth, representing the vivacious spring rather than the desolate winter. Pine was one of the chieftain trees in the ancient Ogham alphabet, and its sturdy spirit especially resonated with Northern Celts and heroes like the warrior Scathach.

Ravens were messengers from the Celtic gods, bringers of wisdom and guidance from another plane. For the Celts, ravens were teachers and protectors, especially for seers and spirit warriors. Because they often circled in storm clouds, ravens were said to be thunderbirds that could herald coming squalls. Ancient Celts viewed ravens as prophetic, and their behavior was often used to auger the outcome of battles.

According to legend, the foresight of ravens warned the Irish god Lugh of the Formorian invasion. The head of the Celtic god Bran, whose name means “raven,” was said to prophesy from White Mount, the future site of the Tower of London. Bran’s head protected Britain from invasion until King Arthur removed it to demonstrate his own dominion over the land, but ravens still roost in the tower. Legend has it that Britain will fall to invaders should Bran’s ravens ever disperse.


I hope you enjoyed this foray into the world of the ancient Celts! For more fun with prophesy and magic, visit me at DNFrost.com, on Twitter @DNFrost13, and on my Facebook page.

My love of cultures and mythology inspired an epic fantasy saga.

Let me send you my free ebook today!


References

1. Anna Franklin, The Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
2. Paul Mason, The Warrior; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.
3. Paul Mason, The Page of Swords; Mixed media illustration. Sacred Circle Tarot: A Celtic Pagan Journey; Llewellyn Publications, 2000.

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That's it for this post! Up Next: Writing a second guest post for Linnea...

Download the Guest Resources here, or start your adventure below.

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Portent IX of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Broken, there are 24 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!

At advent cold the prince returned
In urgency through palace wrought
Allegiance traced and traitor bought
By grace of distant lessons spurned

Awash in pain to see all things
The grieving prince rejects the kings
Adrift and lost in freedom's rings
The mortal slain and wisdom earned.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.

Despite its short length, this portent has an interesting rhyme scheme. It opens a number of scenes in Part 1 of Broken, and it predicts a painful ordeal through which someone ascends to enlightenment.

Who do you think the grieving prince is, and what is his wisdom earned?

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Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.

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Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:

Karyeh Njuyek Gusya III
2:3:1:3/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: By sea to land where daemons roar...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.

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You Cannot Get It Wrong: a cartography workshop

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory.

Most worldbuilders are hesitant to make maps. A lot of them might be willing to sketch out general layouts, but committing to a professional map is intimidating. Distant places haven't been filled in yet, and the science behind your geography can be daunting. These doubts often give worldbuilders pause as they consider mapping their worlds. But really, there's no way you can get things wrong.

Even publishing a map does not bind your world to the details of that map. Imagine for a moment that your map was actually drawn by someone within your invented world. The map does not have to depict reality; instead, it represents your world as it is known to the people who live there - round, flat, wide, or tall.

Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!

Your imaginary cartographer and his map illustration are now subject to an array of human inconsistencies, errors, and stylistic variations. This in-world perspective also helps readers better connect with the characters who live out your story. Instead of mapping the entirety of your world, just map the world known to your characters, expanded, if desired, to include undiscovered areas traversed within the story.

There's always a precedent that allows for differences between maps. If you change the spelling of a town, you can cite inconsistencies in real-world spellings of certain places. If you shift a town to the other side of a river, you can cite discrepancies in real-world maps. If you need your desert in a rainy area, you can cite futuristic weather-control, or ancient forgotten magic. With the free exclusive How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop, you can create intentional discrepancies between your maps to reflect the differences between regional cultures.

Between human error, technological advances, and ever-convenient magic, worldbuilders can come up with a justification for pretty much any variance between older and newer maps. As your world grows, your map should grow with it, so consider a few in-world explanations for the changes your maps will reflect.


That's it for this post! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.

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Name Your Places: a language workshop

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more linguistic content in my Language Directory.

Many worldbuilders choose to invent languages for their worlds. But whether or not you invent a language for your world, you need to decide how the people of your world create place-names. Place-names in English are often made by appending a syllable like -ville or -ton or -berg to a landscape feature or town founder. Some places have names with no translation, but people also name places by describing their location, color, climate, vegetation, or wildlife.

If you have an invented language, decide how place-names are formed in your language. Pick out some common affixes, determine whether your culture prefers long or short names, and outline a few name configurations that seem native to your culture. If you don't have an invented language, make these same decisions for the way you'll use English to name your places.

Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!

Once you've decided on your place-name rules, try to depict some name constructions in English. If you have an invented language, translate a few of your place-names literally, into longer names like Rock of the Sighing Trees and River where the Wind Blows Cold, or shorter names like Singing Rock and Riverton. By patterning some English place-names after your translations, you can use English labels to further characterize your people and their language.

Using a mix of English, partly foreign, and entirely foreign words, try to think of names that represent the character of the people who live in your world. In the Language of the Known World, you can see how I use the names Bulb Rock, River Skanth, and Dlathril from the faerie language of Kalrei. Even if you haven't invented a language for your culture, you can add realism by choosing some place-names that lack English translations.

Also think up some intriguing names based on old stories or events that took place in your world. Names like Rebel Bay, Coward's Wash, and The Glades of Despair impart a sense of history to the area and heighten the realism of your world. Provided the rules for your place-names allows for it, you can also add in a few names related to other places, such as New Linden or Old High Road.

Last but not least, make sure to use some obvious and boring names in your world. Not every name can be epic and awesome, and the real world is full of places like Greenbrook, Eastpoint, and Springfield. Though these non-creative names might seem dull, they are ultimately the cornerstone of realism for your world. The naming of places is a messy and subjective process in any language, but with a little planning, you can create a world that is both expressive and navigable to readers.


That's it for this post! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.

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Build Your Kingdom: a cartography workshop

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory.

After you've formed your river in Part 1 of this series, you can determine how your land was settled. Imagine settlers exploring your world for the first time. Since people need water to live, the first settlements usually form near rivers or other water sources. Nearby areas are often cultivated, hunted and fished, or harvested for natural resources like timber, stone, and ore. Wealthy towns draw more people, and these towns grow larger. Roads are laid to connect main towns, and smaller towns develop along main roads.

Unsettled lands are often home to nomadic peoples who come into conflict with exploitative settlers. To defend themselves from nomads or wildlife, your settlers might build walls around their town, as well as forts and other defensive structures on nearby high ground. Depending on the volatility of the times, the ruling class might commission fortified homes like keeps and castles, which trigger commerce and foster new towns.

Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!

Trade outposts develop on the fringes of settled territory and, given times of peace, can flourish into artistic cultural hubs. The more established a civilization, the grander its buildings and its cities usually become, until factors like corruption and unrest cause a cultural decline. When a capital city is first established, it's often centrally located for defense within a settled area. However, territory exchanges with bordering nations can alter the centrality of your capital city over time, and your center of power might eventually shift to a wealthier or more populous area.

In a new land, the first roads tend to lead outwards from the capital city, connecting the major regions surrounding the capital. Roads generally run straight from town to town, unless uneven terrain makes bends or switchbacks more convenient or cost-effective. Some cultures pave straight through uneven terrain to demonstrate their engineering prowess, and other cultures build scenic routes that defer to the lay of the land. Some roads are maintained with pride, and others fall into disrepair. With the free exclusive How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop, you can show how each culture's worldview influences its roads. Reflect the spirit of your settlers with roads that defy or incorporate terrain in an appropriate way.

After major roads connect your capital city and largest towns, think about the commerce and other travel of your people. Determine which towns are travel hubs, and extend minor roads outward from these hubs, connecting to other towns and nearby major roads. Small towns often arise along well-traveled roads, and small roads connect larger roads to create more direct routes between towns. Aside from commerce, you may want to consider reasons for travel such as pilgrimage, migration, or tourism. New roads are often built to accommodate the traffic of numerous travelers.

With this basic blueprint, you can establish a solid foundation to build your world upon. Keep in mind that this outline is by no means comprehensive, and you can deviate from these concepts whenever you feel the need. However, try to deviate intentionally, with reasons why your people would have built their kingdom in such a way. A metropolis in the desert needs an alternate water source, and a winding road to nowhere needs a reason it was paved. You can save yourself a lot of heartache and stress by thinking about these explanations ahead of time.


That's it for this series! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.

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The Greatest Adventure Ever: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I described my great experiment, to see if I can create the ultimate story. But my intention is more than to just push myself to do my best. I believe you deserve a crafted caliber of storytelling that has gotten lost amidst the chaos of modern life. A great story captivates readers from the first word to the last. I believe my stories are worth this time and effort, because I think fantasy fans crave a fresh tale, but still want the happy ending.

In a great story, every word matters. Whether the story is oral or written down, words allow for great precision but also pose an obstacle to the delivery of the tale. If a word doesn't need to be there, it impedes the story and must be culled.

This is hard for a lot of writers, because we get attached to certain wordings and imagery, but every word must be necessary or it's just slowing down the flow. I cut the fluff - not just in words, but in dialogue, mini-arcs, and extraneous details. I streamline my prose to be the clearest and most gripping communication of my story that it can be.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I write because it helps me make sense of the world. It helps me understand why people do the cruel, irrational things they do. What makes good people do bad things? What drives innocent children to grow up into monsters? How does chivalry and nobility triumph over arrogance, egoism, and greed?

These questions drive me, and I play them out through my characters. Each of them is complex, multifaceted, realistic. And, like in real life, each of them has an overarching theme they've come into existence to explore, integrate, and be enriched with wisdom through. Their lessons are my lessons, and lessons of us all.

I write to free myself. I want to share a vision of a world where magic is commonplace, where people grow up accepting that they have magic, and that they can use their magic to make the world a better place. We've forgotten our magic here on earth. But in my Tales of the Known World saga, magic is the foundation of all being. I write these stories as examples, so we can learn to embrace our own magic.

I want to provide a framework through which people can understand how this real-life magic flows into being, anchors our souls into physical form, and guides the unfolding of the universe. These are spiritual concepts, woven into a fantasy world, so readers can absorb these concepts without the background resistance they'd have if presented with these concepts in a real-world fashion.

The fantasy stories circumvent our biases about the "real world" and allow readers to resonate with the spiritual concepts they know deep down are true. Once that resonance has been established, my hope is that it will vibrate up from their subconscious to manifest positive change in their real lives. After all, isn't real-life change the greatest adventure ever?


That's it for this series! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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Portent VIII of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Broken, there are 24 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!

The gateway fallen takes the cave
Beneath accursed wind and wave
Where sundered long forgotten riles
Entrenched beyond the winding miles

The earthen king shakes off the cloak
Of barren soil and broken yoke
When long afflicted heeds the plea
Of danger's tide across the sea

Benevolent the sundered rise
To fight again for darkened skies
From ashes cold flames overdue
Spill blood for blood and old for new.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.

This prophesy comes to pass in Part 3 of Broken, when some unlikely allies rally to Allana's aid. Who do you think the sundered long forgotten are, and who is the gateway fallen who riles the earthen king?

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Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.

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Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:

Varyo Ngehsi Rovikya II
2:3:1:2/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: Awash in pain to see all things...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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The Great Experiment: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.

I write to move you. I want to write a story that grips you by the heartstrings and drags you breathless through the novel. What do we all want on this earth, really? To live, to feel alive, to experience that soaring of your spirit when triumph takes the day. We all love that visceral feeling when music, art, or film grabs us by the lungs and fills us with sensation.

There's a sort of liveliness inside that comes from great stories. Whether you participated in the event yourself, or followed the telling of it, the events and people in those stories can seize you and make your heart sing.

It happens with unpleasant emotions too. We feel alive when things go wrong, and some people get hooked on the tension and drama of their favorite characters. We suffer their defeats, feel their pain, and share in their triumphs. You want that feeling. It is electrifying.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I write to contribute something of quality to the world. There are so many books that are poorly written. There are so many stories that are trite and predictable. I want to write a book worth reading, a book that uplifts your spirit and hones your intellect. I want to write a story that is fun, gripping, adventurous, a story where you read it and become smarter, holier, without even knowing it.

I want my stories to drag people along for the ride, and then in the splashdown on the very last page, you're somehow more enlivened, more attuned to yourself and the heartbeat of the universe than when you started.

I want to write a book that imbues quality and originality back into the fantasy genre. I want something new, something fresh, something smart and intelligent and vibrantly alive - and since no one out there is writing it, I decided to write it myself.

With my Tales of the Known World saga, I seek to deliver that zing of life up through your fingertips. I aspire to tell a story so good, and write that story so well, that you pop out the back cover and bob in the afterglow, forever changed. Can I do it? That is the great experiment: can I write the ultimate story? And can you, dear reader, take the adventure?


That's it for this post! Up Next: Crafting a new caliber of storytelling...

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Cartography of Mother's Gate: a mapping directory

This post is part of a series to augment the Codex of the Known World available for free download.

The best and latest cartography resources are gathered here at www.DNFrost.com/cartography.

Find more worldbuilding content in my Codex Directory.

Also check out the maps for the TotKW Saga at
www.DNFrost.com/maps.

What is Cartography? On this website, the cartography tag refers to ideas about making maps, especially regarding fictional maps.

The cartography resource series focuses on my Known World, and the cartography workshop series focuses on your own world.

Read more about this tag here...

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Codex of the Known World: a free download

Immerse yourself in the Known World with this collection of notes and resources.

You'll learn about the world's cultures and prophesy, plus magic, language, and maps.

Read more about this download here... Soon.

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Download your worldbuilding guide Codex of the Known World here.

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How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop

This exclusive guide provides step-by-step instructions for making maps in Photoshop.

It also provides some great information on how to build a realistic world.

Read more about this exclusive here...

Download How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop:

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The cartography apprentices

This ongoing post series tells the stories of the novice map-makers illustrating the saga.

The original story is Scribe Ascribed, relating how the apprentice Farwen is asked to scribe the tales of his old cartography master.

The other posts focus on each subsequent apprentice, who is charged with the task of creating the maps for one of the books.

Explore more posts here:

Soon:

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Cartography of Awakening

This 3-part post series details the ideas and procedures for making the maps in Book 1.

It starts with Planning the Cartography of Awakening and expands into designing the old-world style of the maps, as well as the story of the apprentice who makes these maps.

Explore posts 2-3 here:

That's it for this post! Check out the latest cartography resources for more.

Download the Codex of the Known World here, or start your adventure below.

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Your Font Matters: a cartography workshop

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory.

When mapping your world, a few factors impact the overall feel of your map. Visual cues communicate information about your world at a subliminal level, and your readers absorb this information within moments of glancing over your map for the first time. While your colors and mapping style create the general atmosphere for your map, your font is what really embodies the spirit of your world.

It can be tempting to pick ornate fonts with grand details, but fancy fonts rarely work for cartography labels. Ornate fonts are often obscured at smaller sizes, so your best bet is to select a simple font that's easy to read. A map can backfire when the font is too hard to decipher. If you have your heart set on a particular font that won't work for small labels, use it for the largest labels and pick a simpler font for the rest.

Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!

In addition to simplicity, your font style needs to convey the spirit of your world. Curly fonts often seem cheerful and provide for an idyllic feel, whereas Gothic fonts can feel gloomy and impart a sense of danger or foreboding. Scripts that resemble handwriting elicit an older setting than modern fonts, which evoke a sense of technological advancement. To portray a medieval or ancient world, try fonts that appear to bleed into parchment or be carved into stone.

Combined with astute color selections and the style of your map, the font you select establishes certain expectations in your readers. With the free exclusive How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop, you can decide upon the colors, styling, and font for your own maps. By choosing a legible font that captures your world, you can prime readers with the right expectations, so they can experience your work as you intended. A spot-on map will also draw the right interest, from people who will enjoy and share your work.


That's it for this post! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.

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A Worthy Re-Read: inspiration & spark

This post is part of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory.

Some stories rely on plot twists to keep readers guessing, but there are better ways to create suspense. Instead of keeping you in the dark, dear readers, I encourage you to see the convergence. I want you to anticipate things happening in advance. My goal is to make the unfolding story so breathtaking that you have to read it anyway. It grips you. It sculpts your experience. It builds your anticipation, then not only sates it but goes beyond your expectations. You are wowed by the nature of the tale you were expecting all along.

That's what builds for you as you read. It is your expectations being right, but also delightfully surprising and satisfying, as the story unfolds. Once you decide how a story's going to turn out...don't you want to see if you are right? And don't you love it when you also discover thrilling and unexpected additions to the story's equation? I know I do. That's why I write, to create the story that brings you to fruition. Put the clues together! I tell you what's going to happen, but I tell you in a different place.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

You're supposed to see it coming. You're supposed to think about how desperately close everybody is to their destiny, the chance meetings, the timely happenstance that brings the ship of destiny. That's what prophesy is all about, right? You see it coming, but you still can't stop it. But instead of boring you into a sense of predictability, it thrills you. You're excited for the convergence, and can't wait to see how it unfolds. I want you to literally get thrills as you read it. Everything you expect turns out so blissfully unexpected that you crave one more page, every time you try to put it down.

The whole point is to see it coming. My prophesies share the sense of what's going to happen, but without enough explanation for it to spoil the story ahead. And even if you happen to decode the prophetic riddles, the way I tell the story should be so good that the unfolding delights you anyway. I can write twenty riddles of what's coming next, confident that even if you figure them out (some are tough, I hope!) you'll still love reading the story.

Don't you think you deserve a book you can read again and again? I'm crafting my Tales of the Known World saga to account for multiple read-throughs, after you discover secrets hidden within the novels. I write my stories to be just as enthralling to re-read as they were the first time. I've designed the story to seem one way on the first read, and once you learn more of the secrets unveiled across many books, the story changes for you, and there is a newness to the old books again. I want your perspective to shift as you learn things. If the place from which you enjoy the tale is different, the tale itself will read differently.

I've crafted my story to grip you on the first read, but I've added clues that won't have meaning until you unveil connections in later chapters. I've included Easter eggs inside the books, trifling details the first time around that thrill you with a secret tip-of-the-hat when you re-read the novel. I want the layers of meaning to keep building, to keep enthralling you, rewarding you every time you decide to re-enjoy my books. To show my appreciation for your readership, especially for reading my stories more than once, I took great care in adding wonderful secrets for us to share.


That's it for this post! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.

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Humble Beginnings: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more prophetic poetry in my Portents Directory.

I wrote my first poem in 5th grade, an entire year before I wrote my first story. It rhymed, but I wasn't impressed with it. I felt it read like a kid wrote it! (Imagine that.) The poem was a homework assignment, and before I turned it in, I had very little sense of what the poem's message was.

But when my teacher encouraged me to put in an extra line at the end to make the message seem more finished, I was indignant. I didn't like that she was making me change my poem, even though the day before I'd judged the selfsame poem sub-par. This, I suppose, was my first brush with criticism, and with external editing. Since then, I've come to understand that indignation as the resentful smothering of creative expression, which I'm convinced all humans share to some extent.

Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!

I realized later that the whole poem celebrated the beauty in life, but the last two lines ended with a sort of haunting rejection of the human condition. Years passed, and the unaltered poem was selected for a Poetry.com anthology I never bought a copy of. Thus I became a published poet as a teen, albeit an unpaid one. Even as my rumpled feathers were soothed, I didn't understand why they'd selected my very first, sub-par poem over newer poems I liked better. My current guess is that I'd shifted into non-rhyming poetry, and it resonated with fewer people.

In retrospect, my 5th grade teacher might have felt unsettled by the poem's conflicting messages, and wanted to teach me to be more consistent. Or maybe she figured a child wouldn't intentionally assert what the poem asserted, and endeavored to help me make the message more positive. To be fair, I hadn't intentionally created a message at all, not that it stopped me from rejecting her critique. Whatever her motivation, she convinced me that I should tack on a final non-rhyming phrase to wrap up the poem's jarring end.

After reluctantly hand-scribing a few silly parting words onto the construction paper mounting this cloudy jewel of a poem, I shrugged it off. Apparently, poetry was not my strong suit. This conclusion didn't trouble me. I was ten, and had better things to occupy my time. Since this was well before my Tales of the Known World saga, I saved the poem out of some mystical sense of self-duty, the same way I imagine scrap-bookers feel compelled to preserve their memories. Then I tucked away my predilection for rhyme to go read and watch Ninja Turtles.


That's it for this post! Up Next: Developing notions of meter and rhyme...

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Portent VII of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

In the novel Broken, there are 24 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!

Farewell the bonds of timeless sight
Unlauded lowly left for right
To walk the earth they oust the night
And win the sunny vale

The timeless forced at last to see
For all that was now cannot be
And quell the wailing of the sea
By recognition pale.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.

A pair of scenes early in Broken begin with quotes from this portent. Though short, this prophesy foretells the chilling end of an ancient civilization.

Who are the timeless forced at last to see, and what unlauded lowly do you think triggered their downfall?

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Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.

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Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:

Dynvyi Lannwe Kaedya I
2:3:1:1/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: From ashes cold flames overdue...

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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