What if Magic is Real? by Rayne Hall

I've never had a guest post. Rayne Hall's main character, Dahoud, was supposed to be the second interview of the writerly show Under the Fireworks with Father Dragon. Due to different commitments and obstacles, I couldn't continue with my original idea of the interview. However, I'm very happy to still be able to have Rayne as my guest today. She is promoting her book Storm Dancer (which I highly recommend) and picked up a very appropriate subject for the occasion. For a dragon, magic is very real. Please welcome Rayne Hall.

Note: British English. 

People all over the world have always believed in magic. Most cultures and periods had professionals who studied the craft and followed its rules. Only in our modern western society do people think that magic does not exist.

What if the vast majority of people in the world and in history have known something we don't? What if this is simply a knowledge that eludes most modern westerners? What if magic is a scientific phenomenon that's still waiting to be discovered?

Magic, to the modern westerner, is like electricity would have been to someone in ancient Greece. Imagine explaining to someone in 1000 BCE how electricity works and what it can do. Lightbulbs? Telephone? Television? Internet? Carts that move without being pulled by animals?  The good folks would either laugh at your gullibility, pity you for your madness, or whip you out of town for your lies.

Electricity existed in their world and the effects of it were all around them, but they explained these in ways that fit their view of the world. When they saw lightning in the sky, they assumed it was their God Zeus hurling lightning bolts in anger.

Perhaps even in our modern world, magic is all around us, although we don't understand it and attribute its effects to other causes. Perhaps we are as ignorant about magic as the ancient Greeks were about electricity.

When I write fantasy fiction, I base my stories on the premise that magic is real, but it needs skill to harness its force, and abuse brings danger.

The wizards in my yarns are highly trained experts, each specialising in a field of their trade.

Merida in Storm Dancer is a weather mage. By dancing, she can bring storms, rain or sunshine. She has travelled to a distant country where droughts ruin the harvests and the people are starving. Her gift of rain will bring relief.

The ruler has promised her everything she needs: privacy for preparations, a date when the right planets align, an energy-rich location at a river mouth, and an orchestra playing a specific tune. On arrival, she finds the conditions are not as expected. Her ritual is treated as a public spectacle in the arena, the date is wrong, and the only musicians are two drummers who have not rehearsed and don't know the tune.

The only way to raise the needed power is to draw energy from the spectators - an unethical method Merida has sworn to eschew - and to enter an extreme level of trance, potentially lethal, that will leave her vulnerable to attacks. What will she do?

Storm Dancer is the story of Dahoud, a demon-possessed siege commander who needs to atone for his dark past. When their lives intertwine, Merida and Dahoud are drawn into a whirling spiral of darkness. They have seared each other's hearts with betrayal. Now the only way they can stand against evil is as allies. Can they learn to trust?

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 ABOUT RAYNE HALL

Rayne Hall has published more than forty books under different pen names with different publishers in different genres, mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction. Recent books include Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel), 13 British Horror Stories, Six Scary Tales Vol 1, 2, 3, 4 (creepy horror stories), Six Historical Tales (short stories), Six Quirky Tales (humorous fantasy stories), Writing Fight Scenes, The World-Loss Diet, Writing About Villains, Writing About Magic and Writing Scary Scenes (instructions for authors).

She holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Currently, she edits the Ten Tales series of multi-author short story anthologies: Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft, Spells: Ten Tales of Magic, Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies and more. 

Rayne has lived in Germany, China, Mongolia and Nepal and  has now settled in a small dilapidated town of former Victorian grandeur on the south coast of England. 

https://sites.google.com/site/raynehallsdarkfantasyfiction/

Do you believe in magic? If not, do you enjoy reading about magic in fiction? What makes fictional magic real to you, so you can suspend your disbelief? What's the most convincing magic you've read about in fiction? Leave a comment, and I'll reply.

Books and On-line courses: Steps in the ladder.

An update on the Father Dragon’s quest to reveal all secrets and unravel all mysteries about the craft of writing. Six months ago I wasn’t sure where to begin so I read writers’ blogs. I learned many things but each answer has brought 5 more questions. Second step was to buy How to books. This was a tough one. How to choose among the hundreds of options out there? I summoned the spirits of the Mighty Ancestors to help me decide.

Mystery 1. Deep POV.

During a critique to my first draft, a friend pointed out a breach of POV. My POV character couldn’t be aware his eyes turned golden, as I had described. I didn’t understand his comment until I found out a deep PoV should not describe or talk about those things your character is not aware of. (i.e. the changes in his face, other people’s thoughts, etc.)

The ancestors sent the sign and a light shone over The Emotional Thesaurus. For a clueless writer like me, it has been really helpful. Now I have to watch out my addiction to over describe inner reactions. Yet, the book is great.

Secret 1. Suspense.

“If this were a book sitting in a shelf, I would have not picked it up.” I got this from a few beta readers of my first draft. Their opinion changed as they kept reading but it made me see my first Chapters lacked something. My story didn’t hook the reader since the beginning. Big whoops!

The Ancestors’ sign came this time in the form of a challenge. I can’t resist challenges. If I am told I can’t do something, I feel compelled to prove otherwise (as long as it is a productive positive challenge, of course.) I met with Rayne Hall in twitter. In a promo of her book, Writing Scary Stories, she had a note. “Not for beginners.” What? Why not? For me it was like the sign “Enchanted Treasure inside. Dragons stay away.” I couldn’t stay away and I didn’t, so I bought it.

I don’t write scary stories. I scare myself so I don’t do them. The scariest level I take is the one handled at Monsters, Inc. However, I found this book extraordinary helpful to see all the flaws and errors on my first chapters. This book gave me a lot of ideas to correct those mistakes and improve my story.

Mystery 2. On-line courses

Writing Scary Scenes turned me into one of Rayne Hall’s fans. I gathered all of her writer tips and I learned about her on-line courses. I wanted to take a writing course here in Mexico, but honestly they are way too expensive. The option for me has always been Internet.

The sign of the Ancestors came in the reflection of a mirror. I was beta reading for a friend who was struggling with a problem of wordiness. Observing his troubled self made me turn to look at my own manuscript and wonder how much of it was just straw. After all, I have written for many years but only recently cared to educate myself in this art. I learned about the Word Loss Diet Seminar through Lowcountry RWA and chose to give it a shot.

I was so excited. This was my first on-line workshop. I started it with an open mind and the awareness there were no rules in writing and all that. Now I must say Rayne’s seminars are not a picnic. Her seminars are hard work. At least this one was for me. It helped me to get rid of a lot of useless words without affecting the plot at all. On the contrary, all those changes helped the pace; they tightened the plot and also had me pondering about Chapters that might not work well at all. It made me think a lot and that’s always a good thing. I understood what a writing voice was and discovered my own.

She gives a fair warning. It’s not for beginners. I took it as “it’s not for the faint-hearted.” INDEED! The results of the first lessons might be shocking for some. They were shocking for me as I found nearly 20,000 words of what I’ll call “wordiness crap”.  Dwarves needed to keep the salts at the ready during each lesson, but I still do not regret it. After all, I have a dragon’s heart, and those who have such kind of muscle can't be called “heart-fainted”. I considered the price paid was the money best spent in a long time. A dragon size bargain!

So I do recommend these tools to improve writing. Do you have any other recommendation for the spirits of my Ancestors to consider shining a light upon? I’ll be always grateful.