Photo | Art of Anne Bachelier …

Since I am experimenting with many things occurring in the plot line to add life there for the characters, why not consider death… at least I thought so.

Other people, authors, have characters die in their stories. I, as an individual, have never been fond of death. I do become upset with stories, when my favorite character in a story dies. My heart can be broken that way. Yes, I am the same person who cried after the long trip into work each morning along a two lane country road, when I had seen to much road kill along the way. But I told myself that I was writing an erotic magickal fantasy, so if someone died there was always a possibility of resurrection through some means, I assured myself.

Now of course there are probably books on the subject, and maybe really witty ones too about character death. But. I wanted to just see what would happened – naturally – to me writing such a situation and then living with it as an author. Or. If the characters would really allow such a thing to happen in scene or as an aside off scene within the story-line.

Like sex… I have let the characters decide everything from when sex would happen, with whom it would happen, where it may happen and ultimately what gender it would happen with. I decided that ‘death’ would happen the same way. Let the characters decide when the situation presented its self.

The art work by Ann Bachelier is very telling of how characters work by either putting on and taking up the scene or deciding otherwise. I would make a guess that this is actually just me making the decision, one way or another, for the character, but it does not feel that way at all. Like in the art work, the characters seem to either put on what is offered or decline for something else they wish to suggest to me.

In the case of the first death in my novel, it worked its way into being not so much death, but a new life.

Yvette Wong is confronted with what she had fought to avoid, any contact with Maleficia the dark magicians guild. She had had dealings with them on a personal level years ago. A very bad history, that included a lover. She was only involving herself in this confrontation due to her friend Candice being in danger. But as much as one does try to avoid a situation, the actions seem to attract the unwanted. Really, since Yvette is a practicing Wu Shaman, trouble easily came her way, since it was her path to help others out of the same.

Yvette is working on a hunch, she knows would be of highest importance to the magus, Alastar Whybow. She has taken upon herself a responsibility, that Candice could not, considering all that was happening to Candice at this time. Yvette had the tangible proof, she knew it looked like and felt like proof, which focused upon Candice’s life and possibly upon what was now happening to her friend. The worn notebooks of Candice’s Uncle Osbert, that had been found in the old house Candice lived in, were now wrapped neatly unattended by anyone in the luggage of the car. Candice was now being confronted with her own problems at the moment, Yvette thought. It occurred to Yvette that someone else who had been pursuing Candice, could also be the very person who could help her, before everyone else found her out. Yvette knew for a fact that there were at least 4 magus looking for Candice. Two she viewed as possibly trustworthy, if such a thing were possible, considering how arrogant and self serving magus are. At the least two of them were from a guild Yvette had had positive dealings with in the past – Physiologus. She had to trust her gut with her next steps in getting the notebooks to a safe place then with the help of Alastar or his familiar Boz retrieve these Latin short-hand written notebooks, so they would do some good for Candice, as her uncle had intended they would.

The scene was set for a confrontation between Yvette and the 2 magus, who she knew would be of no help to her friend.

What turned up were two additional situations for the story-line.

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Alastar Whybow was reacting to the news of the magus short-hand Latin notebooks. He knew the information contained in them would be pivotal to what he would do next. He also knew if he could not read them that Edita or even Gerard Kopt would be able to. Also Alastar trusted the heart and intentions of Yvette Wong when it came to Candice’s evolving situation as a unicorn rider. Alastar must be there in time and he sensed Yvette did not have much time to do what she wanted to, with Jorge and Gait of Maleficia so close. Alastar, also I knew as the author, was an excellent Necromancer, though he would cloud that issue, when it was presented by friends and peers. Death if timely in his presence would not elude his commands. Yvette would be safe, as Alastar’s skill was tested. We learn from this experience we can truly trust Alastar to come through, when the situation seems so very dark.

Second rushing into the story-line was the very dedicated Keeper of the Braziers of the River Styx, an old nature witch, Toni Cassini, he was alone, so far within his life. He was purely dedicated to the Stanhope family due to their joint work with the dead souls and death – their focus on who Candice is and will be. Suddenly, it felt, that Yvette needed to live to experience a possible life along side Toni within this work with Candice. They both were very devoted to the well being of Candice. Could this devotion, their care for the dead and nature, their magick – could this be the start of a powerful devotion toward one another?

Yvette’s death would not benefit Alastar or Toni – in the end it would devastate Candice, delaying her realization of who she is to become.

So, by the hand of Alastar Whybow, using his knowledge of the dark arts, Yvette’s life is spared. She not only lives through the emotionally devastating confrontation with the 2 Maleficia magus – who she hates and pities – she over came the fear they both presented to her in their efforts to do more than death to her. The reader also gets to know the Guild Physiologus, as the counter weight of light to the darkness, that has apparently been loosened already upon humanity.

The next part leads naturally to the healing encounters with Toni Cassini as he offers to Yvette through Alastar’s effort, nature’s renewal. A spark of caring and powerful use of practices to heal, at possibly great personal expense, are seen as the catalyst for what happens naturally between these two caring souls – love.

Ok, death would not have benefited or drove the point of the story-line any harder, than when Yvette had finally escaped it. So really, death did enhance the story-line and gave the characters soil to grow much reaction within.

So we will have to see where the death of a character can take us next time…