Alethea Kontis – author of the award-winning “Enchanted“, “The Wonderland Alphabet“, The “Alpha-Oops” series, and so much more – returns to the Big Chair to help workshop a rich luxurious story idea offered up by podcaster, voice actor, authoress (and so much more), Lauren “Scribe” Harris. With Justin Macumber as guest co-host (author of “Haywire” and “A Minor Magic“, founder and co-host of the Dead Robots’s Society podcast, and co-host on the Hollywood Outsiders podcast), we dive in to a delightful frothy discussion, inspirations bouncing around like pixies on egg nog, taking Lauren’s already fabulous idea and festooning it liberally in Literary Gold. (and for more writerly delights, make sure you check out Alethea’s Showcase Episode!)
PROMO:“Guild of the Cowry Catchers – Book 4” by Abigail Hilton
Workshop Episode 43 (Guest Host: Alethea Kontis)
[caution: mature language and themes – listener discretion is advised]
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:14:35 — 51.2MB)
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Coming up for Alethea…
- “Enchanted” available in paperback, hardback and e-book
- “The Wonderland Alphabets” in collaboration with Eisner-award winning artist Janet K. Lee
- Apex Magazine features “Blood from Stone“
- “Hero” (sequel to “Enchanted”) to be released in Fall 2013
- “Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome” to be out in 2013
Conventions…
- Mysticon (Feb 22-24, Roanoke, VA)
- Misticon (May 9 – 13, Laconia, NH)
- DragonCon (aug 30 – Sept 2, 2013, Atlanta, GA)
… Delightfulness from Lauren:
- Lauren’s Blog, “Ink-Stained Scribe“
- Co-creator and co-host of the Pendragon Variety Podcast
- Co-host on the Fit-2-Write podcast
- Panelist at the 2013 New Media Expo
The concept of resonance and dissonance is genius. To take it further I’d like to refer you guys to the unknown Mozart of our time, choral composer and director Eric Whitacre, and two of his songs Lux Arumque & Nox Arumque. In addition to composing other amazing feats, like splitting the climax of a song into 12 harmonies, he consistently makes use of dissonance in all his songs. The two I referred to in particular create a beautiful duality when you listen to them back to back, one taking advantage of great blending and harmony (Lux), and one making use of dissonance and clashing notes (Nox). I’m mobile right now, but I can send the link to their YouTube recordings later, or you can just look them up. I just thought it was interesting that you guys were talking about this while I was playing one of those songs this Christmas morning. Could be Xmas destiny 😉
AT, you just blew my mind. I had never heard of Eric Whitacre, but I just listened to both choral presentations and I have to agree with you… his composition is magnificent. Lauren, you may have found some fabulous playlist music for when you’re writing! 🙂
Thanks for this, sir. And as for destiny (Xmas or otherwise)… it’s like I always say: You find what you’re lookin’ for. And sometimes, you discover you’re in a position to help someone else find what THEY’RE looking for. Which kinda makes all of us Agents of Destiny, right? You certainly sweetened the music of my day with your comment and I appreciate it. Cool Yule to you, AT (now tell me more about ratedfiction.com 😉 )
WOW, that is amazing. Extra amazing because of the multiples of 6. This is certainly going in my playlist – what a beautiful composition. I’m going to have to find more of Eric Whitacre’s work. Beautiful. Thank you so much for recommending it!
I have his entire catalog, and his music has not only dominated my writing playlist, but has probably INSPIRED a good half of my content.
The links to his tracks as promised
Lux. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7o7BrlbaDs
Nix. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI_SdYb2HXo
I can see/hear the magic swirling now!
Dave, I gotta say I’ve been listening to your podcast for the last three months and I can’t get enough of it. You, the Dead Robots, and the crew over at Writing Excuses have actually inspired ratedfiction.com (Rated F) which will be my blog about my personal journey into the world of fiction writing. It’ll feature journal posts, op eds, writing games, a few of my attempts at fiction, and I’m getting some people together to create a podcast. Be forewarned: its not for the fainthearted. It goes live when the ball drops on NYE, hence the countdown.
I’m glad you guys had an episode on Christmas. I’ve been going through a bit of podcast withdrawal. I dread the day I run out of archived episodes to catch up on. At this rate that’ll happen… next week.
Some thoughts on such a stratified society.
Lauren, you mentioned that Nobles have almost no contact with commoners, and that for a commoner to touch a Noble is death. For such a society to function there must be a extensive Servant Class. Servants would be higher than commoners, but lower than tradespeople (craftsmen, merchants, mage-singers). While servants would be lower than tradespeople, they have special privileges because of their close relationship with the Nobles. You can’t expect hairdressers, tailors, or valets to be able to work without ever touching a Noble.
While you have characters who are Commoners, Tradespeople, and Nobles, you haven’t mentioned any servant characters. With them holding such an important role in the city it seems a significant gap.
Dashen actually serves a purpose in the story. He is a Nobleman who isn’t evil. He represents the the principal that while this society is unjust, killing every person who happens to have noble blood is also unjust.
Dave, if you want a story about a girl disguised as a boy haunted by her twin brother’s angry ghost, I recommend “Bone Doll’s Twin” (“Tamir Trilogy”, Book 1) by Lynn Flewelling.
Thanks Peter!
“While servants would be lower than tradespeople, they have special privileges because of their close relationship with the Nobles. You can’t expect hairdressers, tailors, or valets to be able to work without ever touching a Noble.”
That is very true, and not something we’ve touched on. I had a class I called the “Artisan” class that were sort of like merchant/tradespeople/servants, though the name may not be the best. I like your suggestion of calling them Tradespeople. I didn’t mention the servant class on the podcast since they weren’t relevant to the plot, but for worldbuilding purposes, you’re absolutely right–they’ve got to be there, and there are probably more of them living in Altaevia than the nobles! I hadn’t thought about the extent to which they’d need to be there, so thanks for making me think harder about it. 🙂
The servant characters are not really represented among the cast of main characters. Daschen’s mother was one (which is why he’s a bastard), but representation does seem to be a bit low. I could make the Dissonant Swordsman Bodyguard Character from the servant class.
It’s true, Daschen is a good indicator that not all nobles are evil, though I’d like to think Bayek is as well. Daschen has a reason to hate other nobles, being a bastard and therefore an outcast, but Bayek is the one who rejects the restrictions placed on women and commoners and teaches Procne anyway. It’s not motivated by any revolutionary intentions, sure, but I hope it at least shows he’s not a classist jerk (like some poeple *cough*Morbin*cough*).
Thanks for the feedback