Behind the Scenes: The Silent Blade--part 1

     Okay, so when I asked the questions quite a few of you wanted to hear some "Behind the Scenes" stories. Well, in all honesty, I'm not sure I could actually write out the story behind Dark Storm Rising in a way you could understand. It was all sorta a mix of a few ideas I had, a friend who teased me to no end, and a very interesting character named Finch. Make sense? Haha, yeah. Didn't think so. ;)
     So instead I'm going to give you a behind the scenes of The Silent Blade. This is quite a bit easier to explain because it actually has a rational story behind it.
Around December of 2014, my family watched The Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. Needless to say, after I watched them everything about fantasy and a medieval-like world completely captured my attention! In January or 2015, a friend did a fun writing assignment on her blog. I listened to the music she had given us and immediately I pictured a medieval world. I sat down and within a few minutes I wrote my entry, which was:

Eira crept slowly through the dark corridor. What I wouldn't give to be home! she thought, as she reached and touched the saber that hung at her waist. The smooth metal felt cool to her clammy hands. She grasped it tightly as she felt along the rock wall leading deeper into the cavern.  Suddenly she stopped. She wasn't alone. There was someone else in the cavern as well. Before she could react, a hand was placed over her mouth. She pulled the saber, but before she could get it up, a fist hit her hand knocking it to the ground.

“Relax, Eira. It’s just me.” a voice whispered close to her ear.

Eira nearly collapsed in relief. It was only Casimir, her brother's friend.

“What are you doing here?” she whispered, frantically trying to locate the fallen saber.

Casimir reached past her and picked up the saber from where it had fallen, dangerously close to the edge of the path.

“I’m here to help you. And also to let you know there isn’t much time. Willem sent me to tell you they’ve arrived.”

“What about Willem? He has to get out!”

“Your brother will be fine.” Casimir reassured her. “But we must hurry.”

I had no ideas to turn this into a longer story, so it got buried in my documents folder. In April, a different friend loaned me a few fantasy books by Nicole Sager. I started them and then finished them a few days later. They are all so amazing! After that I really wanted to write something fantasy/medieval, and I remembered the piece I had written back in January. I want back and read it and wrote a rough outline of what I pictured the story to be. Well. . .this scene never made it in the actual book and the outline changed drastically, but the idea and characters had formed for what would eventually become The Silent Blade.

And there you have it! Between The Chronicles of Narnia and an amazing fantasy series, I was inspired to write a story set in a medieval time period. (because I honestly CANNOT write fantasy!) Come back next week for. . .Part 2: The Story Behind the setting of The Silent Blade