Mightier than the Sword - A Part of the Aidan Moher Network

Alright, after way too long, I’m finally feel ready to reveal Through Bended Grass to the world in a more concrete form. It took me a while (and several good conversations with the two Shawn/Sean’s) to find a chapter I was comfortable with to represent the novel.

Originally I was going to post the first interlude, a short chapter that comes after Chapter Four and is from the POV of Fithéal, Rowan’s companion leprechaun, but in the end it just didn’t make sense for several reasons. I love Fithéal – I think he’s an utterly charming and fun character, despite his social deficiencies – and I think my readers will, too; he’s Rowan’s guide through the Fey world and is a cynical devil on her shoulder as she discovers all the wonders along her journey. The problem, however, is that he’s not Rowan. Obviously it’s important for the first impression of potential readers (you guys!) to accurately reflect the novel they are thinking of reading. To that end, I decided that the best chapter to post as an excerpt was also the most obvious: Chapter One.

Chapter One opens the novel and, if I say so myself, starts off with a compelling situation and jumps right into the action. It’s a great way to meet Rowan, her young son Lewis and to be introduced to the main plot device driving the story. There’s a lot of foreshadowing throughout the first novel, but I try to keep the magical elements to a minimum, giving the reader just a small taste of what it would be like to have Fey Magic invade our world. This is just the beginning for Rowan and this chapter gives her just a little taste of what’s to come.

I know you’re eager for it (humour me for a second, will ya?) and I won’t keep you from it any longer. Hopefully it’ll be worth the wait!

Download chapter one of Through Bended Grass

Can’t wait to hear what you all think (for good or ill)!

This is a watershed chapter, plain and simple. A lot of the story gets laid out before Rowan (though she understands little of it) and as the reader continues on with the novel they will (hopefully) see many of the story threads leading back to Chapter Eight.

With so much information needing to be crammed into this chapter, it was a challenge for me to avoid long, heavy blocks of exposition and info-dumps (the bane of any Fantasy novel, it seems). The most obvious and effective way to relay information like this is dialogue and I took that concept and ran with it. In fact, the majority of this chapter simply consists of Rowan, Fitheal and another character sitting huddled in a room, deep in the bowels of a Cathedral, shooting the shit.

Of course, there’s a lot more to the chapter than that. Rowan’s now fully immersed in the Faerie world and her life is looking anything but stable. She’s also told, in no uncertain terms, that if she value’s her life she’ll drop the search for her son. But, as any self-respecting, spunky heroine would attest to, those just aren’t very compelling terms. Rowan doesn’t exactly put her Fey host in his place, but I was surprised by how well she was able to hold her own in the argument.

I expect that when I sit down to edit (a process I’ve started, actually) that this chapter will require quite a bit of revision. There’s a definite balancing act between revealing enough to hook the reader into the main story and not giving too much away, and that’s going to require a very close look when I go back to reread the chapter in the future. I’m confident that I’ve got a good solid skeleton for the chapter, all the pieces are there, I’ll just have to spend some time moving things around, add in some fat and try to get it looking more like a living, breathing thing than a stumbling zombie.

Through Bended Grass is split up into three parts - First, Second and Third Act, you know the deal - and Chapter Eight marks the end of the first part. The story’s been set up, the ball’s rolling and things start getting messy. From this point onward the Fey world, and it’s relationship to our own, opens wide and Rowan doesn’t look back as she’s shoved in head first. Her story flits back and forth between the Feylands and our world and each has its own sights to see for the reader.

On another note, the excerpt that I’ve constantly promised is done. It’s all edited, but still I dilly-dally about putting it up here for everyone to see. I suppose part of it is fear that I’ll get torn apart, but I need to be confident in the story I’m telling.

I’ve also put aside editing the first 8 chapters in lieu of getting on to Chapter Nine. The desire to tell the story is burning much too brightly for me to put it aside for editing. On top of this, my brother is currently travelling through Ireland and just visited a major Irish monument that plays an important role in Chapter Nine, so that has me all kinds of motivated!