Today, I am happy to welcome Cas Peace to my blog. She is the author of a YA trilogy: King's Envoy, King's Champion and King's Artesan as well as a non-fiction book: For the Love of Daisy. We are celebrating the release of her book: King's Artesan. Take it away, Cas:
First I would like to thank Monique for inviting me on to her blog. I hope everyone enjoys the following post.
WHAT IS AN ARTESAN?
The fundamental premise behind my Artesans of Albia series is that a section of my world’s populace, drawn from five separate races, is born with a certain talent. One manifestation of this talent is the ability to learn how to control your inner life force – an energy I call “metaforce.” Once I established this premise, I found I needed a vehicle through which metaforce could be channeled. It had to be something every living thing possessed, but also something unique to each individual.
I experimented with various terms until I hit on the word “matrix.” The matrix would be akin to the psyche, and it would be a thing of ephemeral, mystical beauty. In my world, it can only be seen by another practitioner of the craft, and is an intricate, four-dimensional pattern consisting of whorls, spirals, helixes, colors, and emotions. The more skilled the practitioner, the more complex their matrix becomes.
Having decided these things, the series title became obvious. It just had to be “Masters of the Matrix.” Brilliant title, I thought – I love it! (Can you see where this is going?)
I wrote happily on, oblivious to the slap in the face that was coming my way. Sometimes I just hate the film industry…. Ok, of course, you know it was the release of the Matrix films. I spat feathers when the first one came out – how dare they ruin all my careful planning, not to mention a perfectly good series title? Not fair! For a while I toyed with the idea of keeping the title – maybe I could capitalize on the connection? Thankfully, I thought better of it. Can you imagine how mad someone would be if they bought one of my books by mistake, thinking it was related to the films? And I could just imagine what agents or publishers would say….
Anyway, now I had a problem. The people in my world who exhibit this talent are not magicians or wizards in any sense of the word. Their powers owe more to Druidical beliefs, or that of Wicca, than to characters like Gandalf or Merlin. I knew I had to find a unique name for them, a term that reflected their knowledge, their artistry.
One of the best-loved books in my writers’ arsenal is my Roget’s Thesaurus. It was a 21st birthday present from two great-aunts. They are both gone now – my 21st birthday was a long, LONG, time ago – but I still frequent my Thesaurus. So when I exhausted all the obvious and immediate terms I could think of for my talented people, I dug through its many permutations and suggestions until I whittled all the possibilities down to two words. Artist, and Artisan.
Both these words carried elements (pun intended) of the skills my people possess, but both were too ordinary. I rejected them, but it wasn’t long until I realized there was nothing else. I had already decided against coining a brand new word. I wanted potential readers to at least have an inkling of what the term might mean. Eventually, in desperation, I tried altering the word artisan by exchanging the “i” for an “e.” It looked good to me, and so I decided to keep it.
In my fantasy series, Artesans who have learned to harness their metaforce are able to influence, or even control the four elements, Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. There is a fifth element – Spirit – considered by many to be a myth. The story opens with one of the main characters, Taran Elijah. He was born to the Artesan craft, yet is struggling to achieve his potential. He is driven and desperate, and makes some rash choices. His actions lead to some pretty serious consequences for his village and his friends. Yet they also lead to the uncovering of a potentially lethal plot. King’s Artesan, the latest in the series to be published, sees Taran in dire straits. Not only is he in danger of his life, but so are the lives of every Artesan everywhere.
King’s Artesan is the culmination of this first trilogy in the triple-trilogy Artesans of Albia series.
Cas,
Thanks for stopping by. I am sure you will find lots of new readers. :)
Laugh lots ... love much ...write on! :)
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