You may have heard me say this in a couple podcasts. Just to make sure we are on the same page, I’ll say it again. Blind Influence was meant to be a one-off book. Don’t get me wrong, I am loving every minute of writing the Blind Series and am so very happy it has a number of loyal followers. Work on the Blind Series remains a priority. In fact, after I’m done with this post, I will write at least 2000 words on book five’s free write today.
So where does Tales of Reginnis fit in? Glad you asked. At the time of creating TOR (Tales of Reginnis), I was working with Kevin Macpherson coordinating and spearheading Artist Mentors Online. It was thriving. We had the first year students returning for their second year of mentoring. We had a whole second class of students signed up for their first year. I was conducting art chats with masters artists, writing and coding the website, working with Kevin to get the second year of lessons coded and loaded, writing the AMO blog, and I was participating in the second year of classes as well. It was insanely busy and I was loving every minute of it.
In the second year of classes, Kevin and I encouraged our students to reach beyond their comfort zone and experiment in a media that they normally would not try. There was to be no judging, just let the creative energy go. It was then I realized my first love was writing. I was also reading the original Lord of the Rings books (not the ones based and created from the movies.) I say books because there are seven books that the movie condenses into three and removes some of the poetry that Tolkien wrote in the original. How he created this mythical world inspired me. It inspired his friend, C.S. Lewis to create the world of Narnia. I wanted to create a world too, and tell its tales. That is when Tales of Reginnis was born.
As our AMO second year students created in different media (clay, water color, etc), I decided to jump way out of the box and write–creating paintings of the characters, the book cover shown above, and began writing the free write. I created the cast of characters and a map (which is still somewhere in my studio downstairs.) I painted Artan in a gray scale painting. I painted Ohn and Ohn-son. I painted Ari-lyn. I thought of the different places of the map and what they looked like. I designed and created the Oracle (pictured in the painting above).
Those are the things that are still around. Here’s the heartbreaking part. I remember so vividly writing a number of scenes–at least the first 100 pages or so. I opened the free write document yesterday to discover only the first 2200 words. The rest was gone. So, it does feel like I am starting over, but it is something I want to capture before my mind forgets the details of it. Even with all the creative energy swirling around the Blind Series, TOR is still fresh in my mind. I just need to capture it while I am also capturing book five of the Blind Series.
Tales Thursday with occur twice a month. This will allow me to dedicate a time to write the free write on alternating Thursdays. I hope you’ll tag along. Of course, you’ll have to be patrons–for this material will only be published to patrons so that I can keep the copyrights intact. For as little as $2 a month, you can read this exclusive tale (along with book five’s free write and exclusive access to my painting courses (From Brush to Palette Knives)), journey along with me as I create this new world. (As an aside, when I reach $150 mark, I will schedule once or twice a month meetings where you all and I can chat.) As we move along, I will share some paintings I create. I hope you’ll join me.
Discovery of the Oracle
That is the name of the first book. I won’t go into the plot much but I will give you an introduction to the characters. The first scene opens with our introduction to two central characters. A young man, Artan, is sitting on a rock formation, staring out into the sunrise. We would say he is meditating, but he doesn’t understand that. Artan was orphaned as a toddler and lived among the Anarym (elves) in the forest of Monsuret until he was a young teen. He knew he didn’t fit in there and felt the others (not Ohn’s family) wanted him to leave. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Artan’s race is human. The have fled their land, traveling across the Sea of Desperation (named that because anyone who had sailed it never returned), to the forest land of Monsuret. The human’s land was vanishing, becoming barren as the hateful and greedy Solrac searched for more power–the power he had heard the humans possessed in the form of an Oracle. There was one human that carried it, and he was the intermediary between its source of power and the people. Solrac–the most evil of evil beings–once said to be human–destroyed anything in his path trying to discover of the oracle. Many humans died and most kept moving toward the coast on the Sea of Desperation to flee from Solrac’s devastation. One night, Artan’s father and mother (pregnant with Artan), boarded one of the last vessels sailing to Monsuret while a valiant hundred tried to hold off Solrac and the Oghans (Solrac’s army).
Since what happens next appears in a flashback scene, I won’t spoil it for you. I will introduce you to three characters that are at the core of the story. Artan is the man character and we follow his journey throughout the tales. Ohn is the father of Ohn-son, an elf tribe who live in the forests of Monsuret. Ohn is a medium and shaman who can see the future. He has a family and he takes Artan under his wing. Ohn sees the destiny of Artan and knows his importance in the existence of all of Reginnis (the world in which these tales take place). Ohn-son is Ohn’s first born and, even though Artan is a jahren (year–yes–it is the German word for year–but I like saying it this way and it’s my story! hehe!) older, Ohn-son acts as if he is the older brother to Artan. They have a close relationship, and they love each other as brothers.
Ari-lyn is the daughter of the Goddess for Hunters and Warriors. She is also the spirit guide of Artan. Ari-lyn’s mother assigned her daughter this duty the night Artan’s father was killed.
Solrac is the twisted, evil, power-seeking said-to-be-human who discovers that there is an Oracle that is the gateway to the Majestic One–a direct line to the master. Solrac wants that power, but there is something he doesn’t understand–neither do most in this story and that is part of the discovery that happens–so no spoiler here. You’ll just have to tag along.
As I mentioned above, I somehow erased well over 20,000 words of this story, but the basic premise and a few scenes I remember. This gives me the opportunity to rewrite and improve these scenes. (Yes–see what I did there–a negative to a positive! I think I was meant to rewrite them anyway.)
Join me as we discover Reginnis together!
Linda Riesenberg Fisler 