Tag Archive for 'faerie'
Klose tagged me in a favorite stories meme, and, since this actually involves generation of some new and potentially interesting content, I took on the challenge. And a challenge it most certainly was. I’ve been writing original fiction for close to ten years now–I started my Faerie stories over seven years ago–so there’s quite a lot of material built up. Considering only stories I have in digital format, there are more than 545,000 words from which to choose. Nearly 300,000 of those words are story material–I didn’t count background materials on language, history or culture–for Faerie. As such, I considered individual bits of my Faerie material as fair game in the “list your five favorite stories” prompt.
So, without further ado, my five “favorite” stories, in no particular order of preference (because, seriously, just choosing five was plenty hard enough):
Where Have You Gone? — Faerie
This was just a piece I wrote for myself in which Nijelyn laments Jeassinae’s death, but it is without a doubt one of my favorite pieces of all time. I love the imagery of it, and somehow it just melts my heart every time I read it. But then, I am a sucker for angst and romance and Nijelyn.
Leaving Home - Taratia
This particular take on the Taritans stems from a story I wrote around the time I was graduating from high school (and which exists in that form somewhere out on the Internets but I’m not saying where though Google knows). Actually, I’m currently re-writing parts of that original short story as they occur to me. The part of the story I love the most, though, is the part that pertains to the time when Ellira was in Osgalath. I love exploring what she went through to hide herself and Ilarwyn among the humans. While most of this story has never been posted publicly, there is a little portion of it up under the title of “Rainy Days”.
The World It Does Regret (LJ, protected) - Faerie
This is actually the tail-end of one of the completed sections of the re-written version of The Fairie’s Daughter. It concerns Jeanne’s childhood–in particular, the depths to which her mother and grandmother sink in order to keep her out of Faerie. It’s a piece of which I’m very proud, in part because the final sections always get me, emotionally.
Witch’s Child - Aelphlond
One of my main reasons for including this story in my list is because it is one that I’ve been writing on and expanding recently. Most of what’s available for public viewing concerns Taealwhyn’s childhood, but I’ve been dealing with her adult years in my recent bouts of writing, and I’ve been extremely pleased with the results. The only posted portion of the story dealing with her adult life is here.
Tales And Toy Soldiers - Faerie
This is one of those happy few pieces that, despite having been written six or seven years ago, is still a scene that I love to come back to and see again. Not only did I capture a dynamic of Jeassinae’s story that I’d been struggling with, but I really set a tone for Jeassinae’s interactions with her family. And I love the game with her nieces and nephew.
Honorable Mentions: Disappointed, wherein I learned to love Richard again, and Nightmares, Tears, and Ghosts, which I love for confronting Jeanne’s feelings after her father dies and for being a homage to the nightmare I had that started everything as far as Faerie is concerned.
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For anyone unable to access the material on LJ or who really, really wants to see some of the stuff that hasn’t been posted publicly, begging, flattery, bribes, and/or an e-mail address might get you what you want.
They rode far in the first day so that they had passed the foothills completely and now could see the three major mountains of this region: Carhyrad, Matyharis, and Denaityr. First stood Carhyrad; they would reach its feet tomorrow and hopefully pass by it in the course of the day after that. After Carhyrad stood the tall, white peaks of Matyharis and Denaityr. [...] Jeanne stood at the top of the rocks, looking toward their peaks as the last daylight reached from behind her and bathed their snowcapped crowns in red and golden splendor. [...] For a moment, she felt as though she were someone else, long, long ago that had stood in this same place… looking toward the future, but the feeling passed before she could understand it [...] — The Fairie’s Daughter
Today my classes broke my brain. By the time I got home, my mind was so miserable over a myriad of items conspiring to stress me that I felt like there was only one possible course of action: giving in to the little, insistent voice that demanded I attempt rendering a particular Faerie landscape. Well, because tensors are evil, I gave in. The final result didn’t turn out quite as I’d originally envisioned it, but I’m pleased, nonetheless. This time I rendered two slightly offset images of the same landscape and Photoshopped them together into a wallpaper for myself (or others, if anyone has a particular interest in the landscape done like one of my photo wallpapers).
The quote above served as the inspiration, but those will a careful eye will note that this view is actually in the opposite direction of the one Jeanne’s looking at in the passage. The largest mountains are to the west of the camera, whereas Jeanne was viewing them at sunset from the east. And, yes, I realize that I’m ridiculous.
Today Joe, one of my fellow first-years, introduced me to a program that I’m certain will be responsible for many hours of work that gets left undone. It’s a very good thing that I did half of my 737 homework before downloading Terragen because otherwise I would have been profoundly unproductive. That said, here are the first results of my fiddling. After generating the images with Terragen, I used Photoshop to punch up the colors a bit and convert them to JPGs. Clicking on images will give you a full-size (i.e. wallpaper size) version.
It’ll be interesting to see if I’m able, in the future, to generate some of the specific landscapes I have in mind for Faerie and other stories. What a very dangerous pasttime this is!
In my packing, I came across a couple of items scribbled on paper that I’d completely forgotten:
“It is the warmth of light that dances in a Fairie’s heart and brings her joy with each new day.” — from a Post-It note
And, secondly, a poem I don’t remember writing, but all the same, I signed and dated it. Shared with apologies because I’m no poet.
Alo Nalá Seno Erus
In their beds the children cry
Silken tears
For the starless night that clouds the sky.
They whisper of old, of
Forgotten fears:
Does darkness again stretch forth his hand?
Once threatened the young no
Longer forget
The darkness they never saw.
In their hearts a light unsullied
Is kept
Where shadow’s touch shall never fall.
Though fear may tread there still
And close they cower
Fleeing an enemy that dares not strike.
For high above a star peers out
With silver power glowing.
Praises, songs, and cries of joy
From lips of young are flowing.
A Kalis dé Jaera, Star of Hope,
They whisper. So promises are
Kept to them and darkness held away.
Their light his touch will never mar.
For to them an oath was made:
Adotair morienor netrim
Nalá seno erus.
Though darkness falls,
Light shall come again.
-Nicole Sharp, 22 May 2003
And now back to my previously scheduled packing.
I finally got around to one of those many things I always tell myself that I’m going to do. This time, it was that I scanned in and adjusted some old Faerie-related artwork and posted it on the site. So, for any of you who have wondered what Faerie wings look like or what sort of geography Faerie has, you can wonder no longer. I should note that I am, by no means, an artist, which is part of why I’ve avoided additional attempts of trying to depict scenes from the stories. That said, I did start drawing a new version of Jeanne’s sword Ilarien on my dry erase board one evening this week when my mind refused to let me sleep without doing so. I may sit down after this and try to sketch out the remainder of the sword.
In the meantime, if anyone is inclined to attempt drawing characters and/or scenes, I would love to see the way you envision them. If you have something you’re willing to share, I might even put it up on the site!
ETA: I did draw a new version of Ilarien. The, uh, resemblance to a katana is purely coincidental. Really.
Title: Memory’s Paths
Arc: Faerie
Rating: R for violence
Written: 2003?
Summary: Ilaria learns about some of her mother’s darker memories.
Author’s Note: This piece begins with a quote from Ilaria that is a part of some random asides on her life that I wrote in memoir format. The comment intrigued me so much that I wrote this short story, in which much about Jeanne’s life is revealed after her death to her chervari. In particular, I like the scene detailing Jeanne’s challenge to Veklond and the death of Róenon (Nijole’s brother) in Dreskara.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: A Much-Needed Excuse
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG
Written: Summer 2003
Summary: An excerpt from the newest version of The Fairie’s Daughter in which Jeanne learns the truth about her mother.
Author’s Note: This re-introduction to Jeanne’s mother is actually much different from the original. Although I like this version quite a bit, I do lament the loss of one detail. The original piece included reference to a nightmare Jeanne has immediately before meeting her mother. This was, in fact, a tribute to the nightmare I had that originally inspired the Faerie stories.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
Title: Disappointed
Arc: Faerie
Rating: PG
Written: Summer 2005
Summary: Richard considers the effects of Adryana’s absence.
Author’s Note: In the first draft of The Fairie’s Daughter, Richard was an abusive father. When the story was redrafted, I needed a more sympathetic Richard, but I had to be careful to keep him from turning into his brother, Marcus. This piece, inspired by the lyrics from The Frames‘ song Disappointed, was one that I wrote on a whim while listening to the song, but it soon became the cornerpiece of the new Richard’s character and motivation.
These characters, stories, and ideas are the original, copyrighted work of Nicole Sharp and are protected under a Creative Commons License.
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