The Tricksters: Part 1 Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

It's been a year since The Tricksters got published. So I thought I'd take a break from the novel I'm working on and expound on the very first chapter that introduces my readers to Jarthland. Thank you to those of you who have given my debut novel a chance. And to those of you who haven't, for giving this post a chance. A post that might get you interested in a shire called Verndoy.

BUTTERFLIES

Chapter One presents Harles' love of butterflies to the reader. Years ago, there was a sudden surge of butterflies in our front garden. We were never able to pinpoint the exact reason why, but that happy memory always stuck with me, and no doubt played a role in creating this aspect of Harles' characterisation. I also love that line in Queen's The Show Must Go On: My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies. Now there's a song I've sang in both good times and bad. And if I had cast Harles as the main character of a contemporary novel, maybe he would have sung it too. (But without sounding tone deaf or mentally disturbed.)

If you also love butterflies, rest assured, they do make an appearance twice later in the novel in ways you won't expect. And, no, whatever you thought there is wrong. All will be revealed later in the story…

Chapter One also introduces the reader to Harles' tendency to grab the bedcovers over his girlfriend's feet to make her laugh, as well as his observations about the lack of moonlight in that part of the area. These aspects are appropriate and natural within the chapter, but both come into play later in the story, again, in ways you will not expect. I trust that my goading so far has influenced you in some capacity. (Infomercial: "The Tricksters is just a click away.")

EARLY IDEAS

One of my earliest ideas was to call my main character Harles. It was there in my head, along with Demetrius the dog-sized hamster, long before I even started making notes for the first draft. This may have been influenced or reinforced by constantly hearing 'Charles' in the news of the day – Prince Charles becoming King Charles. As well as my wife sometimes mentioning her hairdresser, Charles. Whatever the reason, the name Harles remained fixed in my head, and there was never a point I imagined the character with any other name. This presented me with a problem though – Harles is pronounced differently in different parts of the world. So, I explained how the citizens of Jarthland pronounce it in a short sentence in an Author's Note: Charles without the C. And that was that.

Although I would point out that one of the reasons why I'm yet to explore an audio version of the novel is out of concern that some of the names may be mispronounced. Although again, technology is so advanced and tweakable these days. If I do head down that road, I promise not to pick that AI voice that always sounds contemptuous and cynical on YouTube. Unsolved Mysteries needs to investigate why everyone picks that same voice. Imagine that guy reading a fantasy novel after getting out the wrong side of the AI bed. 

"Then Harles told his friends: I appreciate you." Now leave.

(You chuckled because you know exactly which voice I'm talking about.)

DESS AND MARGA

Harles' girlfriend's name is Dess. In Chapter One, I've therefore simply used 'girlfriend'. Later in the novel 'partner'. Centrally, the story reads smoothly. I didn't want the narrative or dialogue to sound pseudo-historical or boring. By the same token, I never overdid things in the other direction. ("My Daddy will be back from Troy in a sec to buy me a new pair of tracksuit pants.") As for Dess herself, her name is pronounced like 'less' but with a D. Dess is her full name; it's not short for anything. I only realised that readers may mispronounce it after my mother read The Tricksters and referred to her as Dezz.

Margarit is how I spelt Marga's full name. In Jarthland, it's simply pronounced Margaret. Catalan and Eastern European readers are welcome to pronounce it in their natural accents. However, I personally went with the 'i' in the last syllable to have a cool spelling for a fantasy novel. My choice of 'Margarit' and 'Marga' came about in part through inclination, and in part through research. Both the name and its shortened version have various meanings. It is too early in the novel to expound on these. If the Google leprechaun grants you three keywords, don't take them. Rather hold off until you've completed The Tricksters. Then you'll know why I asked you to do so.

LORD THURMRIL

A few drafts in, I decided to check my characters' names. This was to make sure they did not already exist in the world of movies, novels, and video games. Some did and got tweaked. However, Lord Thurmril's original name had to be tweaked fifteen times over the space of several hours. I wanted it to sound like it had been at the outset of my first draft, so only played around with one or two letters at a time. I took the chance to read about the fantasy and science fiction characters whose info appeared on the screen, to ensure his characterisation too was unique. And learnt about some creative works I'd never heard of before. Bing, a search engine sometimes viewed as inferior with reason, was invaluable in this process. And the only 'Thurmril' that showed up in the end turned out to be a decades-old Australian newspaper that had been uploaded to the internet as a PDF document. Google had picked up 'Thur' for Thursday and the abbreviation 'ril' the full word and context of which I forget.

I celebrated with toothy drum sounds and air drumming the laptop, particularly the top of the screen at the end. (Avoid me in public.) And now I can't imagine Lord Thurmril being called anything else but Lord Thurmril.

Jarthland consists in part of shires and fiefs, fiefs making up a shire. I did both preliminary and ongoing research throughout the novel. This included watching tons of videos about the Middle Ages, the 1800s, the history of counties, and so forth, as well as reading up on these topics through Google. Ultimately, though, it was a happy balance of that and modern life and offhand 19th-century knowledge that got my creativity to put across on paper the fantasy world I envisioned in my head. Here in South Africa, for example, we have provinces that are divided into municipalities. Wherever you are in the world, your country has the equivalent or something similar. And in Jarthland, fiefs make up a shire. Further, the homes and jobs of Verndoy are varied, not just farmers tilling the ground.

Part of that research included ranks of nobility. Different countries, different centuries, different ranks. Throughout this, I gravitated to Lord Thurmril being a viscount. Historically, this is feasible. But I would have had this aspect anyway, following my creativity within fantasy rather than the exactness of the past. Peerage lists in general can contain anywhere between five and twenty different ranks, depending on time and place. So I imagined Jarthland's list of fantasy peerage running somewhere in the middle, with viscount being about halfway down. I viewed Thurmril as the clever and direct ruler of the fief in which Harles lives, but also, at times, down-to-earth and approachable. Further, while viscount means 'vice count' in real life, Thurmril is the sole ruler of the fief; nobody's vice. I did not want the fief to be governed by a cliched or stereotypical duke or count we've all seen in movies, animation, and books a bit too often. Throughout the many drafts of the novel, I thoroughly enjoyed blending creative liberties with my vision for Jarthland and the plot. I remember picturing the Mediation Building (MB) as having a wild-west-like appearance on its lonesome spot on the outskirts of town.

I also remember researching the history of beds for two days with the possibility of describing those of the novel's central baddies, only to focus in the end on Harles briefly mentioning straw mattresses in a disagreement with Trabarp. But that scene was pivotal to the plot, and I don't regret those two days at all. (Yes, yes, I know. I need to get out more.) As an amusing aside, YouTube played a bed advert every time I put it on after that.

KINGS AND QUEENS

The novel contains no king or queen. Harles is clever enough to know that if he asks someone to assist him in taking on the baddies, it'll be his friends. And, in the unlikely event that the Bureau of Knights exists, them too or instead. A journey of a week or two to get to a king or queen would have been cliched. Further, royalty would have just been bamboozled by the chief baddies, Trabarp and Raah. All that time and effort would have been in vain. 

I considered dialogue in which Harles mentions the futility of going to the king or queen, but that would have involved paragraphs of writing that had nothing to do with the storyline. Who they were, what they looked like, how old they were, if they were home or away, if they had small or adult children, both courtiers and advisors, so on – none of this would have come into play when tricked by the tricksters. So early on in my writing process, I made the decision not to mention a king or queen at all.

AGE

Lastly, a note on age. In my previous post on The Tricksters as well as in my Author's Note contained within the book, I expound on why I don't want anyone younger than thirteen to read it. By the same token, anyone older than thirteen can. Think of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Princess Bride; movies like that. Same thing. You might have enjoyed those movies with your spouse, your friends, your kids. You or they weren't 'too young' or 'too old' to watch them. Or think of the seriousness or humour of Terry Pratchett fantasy novels. They're not suitable for kids. However, anyone older than thirteen can read those same Pratchett novels. As, thereafter, it's not about age; it's about preference. In short, The Tricksters comes with an age restriction, and it is not a children's novel.

HUGS

My wife tells me that when she read The Tricksters the situations made her laugh and want to read on, and she saw it as a movie in her mind's eye. Now this could be like a mother telling her son he did just fine in the school play even though she spotted his flaws during the performance. Anyway, I'll take that virtual hug after a 'long evening' of working on The Tricksters. And I hope my words and that of my wife influence you to buy the book. If you aren't certain if you want to give it a try, the ebook is available; you don't have to buy the more expensive paperback.

Whichever you pick, you don't have to give me any form of hug afterwards (large emoji eyes), you just need to have a laugh and forget about your worries for a while (melting, smiling emoji appears).

Happy Birthday again for Friday, Lynn. How these years go by far too quickly…