Like Calls to Like

Are you familiar with the laws of magic?

Before our modern age, there were rituals practiced throughout the world. There were similarities between these magics as well. Certain rules that appeared so frequently, they seemed to be embedded in us internally.

They are the law of similarity and the law of contagion.

In summary, the law of similarity means that like calls to like and things that are similar attract each other. It can also mean that the cause of something will elicit a similar effect.

Then, there is the law of contagion. This means things that have been in contact can still have an effect upon each other, even after being separated.

These two laws come into play in the mechanics of the Island Whispers magic. Rather unconsciously, I might add. I didn't learn about these two laws until this year.

The Magic of Island Whispers
Magic is woven into the very existence of every living thing. In essence, magic is energy and some have more of it than others.

• Vampires don't have a lot of energy; they have to steal it from others. Once they've drunk the blood (life/energy) of a creature, they can perform magic and their own natural abilities are heightened. 
• Angels naturally are able to work magic, but can be affected if they use too much at once. They use "light magic" which requires drawing upon their own energy. If they don't have enough strength, then they won't be able to perform the magic.
• Demons also have innate wells of magic, but on a much lesser scale. The magic in their blood calls to fire, which is their element, and they can wield it if they've got the mental strength. Much of their magic relies on their mind/will.
• Merpeople also have innate magic, but it is rare. Magic is like a recessive gene and appears every so often in a family. Magic can be cultivated through practice, but still requires that spark to work it.

Keith is another story. He is a syran. A being literally made of energy which means that most everything is possible. Magic is inside him and is a part of him more so than any of the others. All of the others have specialized magic - magic that speaks to the core of them. Keith's core is magic, thus he can wield it in ways that aren't possible for the others.

Essentially, the law of similarity governs the magic of each creature - "like calls to like" - thus, magic of angels is like them: air, sunlight, weather, a bit of chaos, and sympathy. Likewise, I think you can see how the magic of the other three correlate with their base natures.

Sometimes these ancient ideas come to us naturally because they make sense. They follow the rules of the world and can be believed accordingly. It reminds me of Carl Jung's philosophy on archetypes and a collective unconscious. There are themes present in our minds that are also present in our history. 

Who do you call?

Have you ever scrolled through your contacts list and tried to figure out who to call? It could be for any reason, but mainly just wanting to talk to someone - to hear someone else on the other end. Sometimes I have those days where I just want to hear from somebody.

It's funny that I have over 200 contacts listed, but I'll scroll through the list several times. Usually I can't decide and I end up calling no one. The problem is that I overthink it. Perhaps you've done this as well. You look at their name and think so-and-so won't want to hear from me. They probably will wonder why I'm calling or they'll think something is wrong, because I usually don't call them.

Or my mind will say, don't bother them. They have a lot on their plate. They're probably stressed or working on something. It's not worth it to take up their time.

These are the sort of self-defeating thoughts that come into my mind when I just want to talk to someone. And it is so difficult to work up the courage to hit that call button.

What if they don't answer?

Sometimes, I just leave a message so that they don't think there is anything wrong or just to explain why I called them out of the blue. It's usually an awkward message too.

One of those, "Hey! I know it has been a while and this is completely random. Just wanted to check in and see how you're doing, but you know, well I suppose you don't - anyway, goodbye. I mean, nevermind...bye!"

Then I cringe for several minutes wishing that I could delete that message. Since it seems to be a pattern with me, you would think that I'd come up with a way to break it. Unfortunately, my awkwardness has not left me and I am probably doomed to leave many more strange messages on  voicemails.

On the other hand, those times when I do call can often help me reconnect with people that I haven't heard from in a while. Usually I find myself scrolling through my contacts, because I need someone to talk to me and I need someone to listen. Those are the rough days when everything happens and you just feel like nothing is going right.

So, I look for someone to talk to. However, I'm faced with that gnawing fear that I'm not worth the time of the person on the other end. Some of my characters have those relationship issues. In Island Whispers, Adam lives in isolation so that meeting Monica makes his world brighter and makes him feel better. For the first time, he gets to speak with someone unaware of his power - someone that sees him for who he is and wants to talk to him. He can't speak to his family because of the tragedy with his mother and the whole of mer-society is afraid of him. He doesn't have face-to-face connections and it hurts him.

In our world, we have so many different technologies to communicate with others across distances, but we're lacking in those face-to-face connections too. There is a reason that many people feel lonely and perhaps there are small ways in which we can fix that. Small ways like figuring out who is on our call list. It might be worth it to ask yourself, who do I trust and who can I call when I just need to talk?

Offer your time to others as well! If there are people that you really care about, let them know that you will always be willing to hear them and that you'll pick up or call them back. Don't assume that they know. It's good to have that reminder that someone cares and supports you. If we all do our part to strengthen our connections, maybe everyone won't feel so alone.

Book Review: April

Oh my gosh, I love this book! This was one of my favorite books from childhood. I read this so many times and Cimorene is just the type of heroine I want to read. I found this copy of the book in a used bookstore. I just had to get it because it is a hardcover and the cover design is different from my other copy. Patricia C. Wrede is a genius and this book has everything: wizards, dragons, princesses, a witch and lots of cats.

The first chapter sets it off right. First off, I love all of the chapter titles. They are so entertaining. They make you want to read further just to see why they were named that way. Who could resist: "In Which Cimorene Refuses to be Proper and has a Conversation with a Frog." All of the chapters begin with "In Which" there is an almost storybook/fairytale way that the chapter information is related and yet a frank-no-nonsense way that it is stated. 

When books break away from traditional themes, it makes them more entertaining and unpredictable. Cimorene is a princess but, unlike all her other sisters, she does not want to be a princess. Not when being a princess means she isn't allowed to fence, do magic, or even cook.

Now this book was initially published in 1990 before the 2000 age of spunky princesses who defy the norm. So, Cimorene was ahead of her time. She wanted to be different in a world of convention that wanted to silence her.

The Cute and Complex Code for Children

Little humans are so interesting.

I have been a babysitter and I've worked with summer camps before so I've had my share of experiences with little knee-high people. They're all unique and their minds work in fascinating ways. I'm currently in child psychology so you see where this post is going.

There are so many different theories around child development. It depends on what school of thought you choose to focus on. The beginning debate is nature vs nurture, but there are also other issues that you might not have considered. Is development continuous or discontinuous? Meaning does development occur in stages or is it gradual? What role do children play in their own development? How do our genes and environment interact to influence us? As you can see, there are many things to consider and we're only scratching the surface.

You might be familiar with the conservation task. If you aren't, I found a video which shows the experiment. It's adorable and sad. You'll see. Here is the video: Piaget Conservation Task. Children learn different rules about the world at various times which is why their logic might not line up with an adult's. It's something to consider when you write young children. There are definitely going to be differences in cognition and that will in turn influence how they act in situations.

Communication is so important and children are avid learners of language. If you ask Chomsky, they have an internal language acquisition device that helps them. We'll save the theorizing for coffee shop talk, but the way in which children begin speaking that is what I am interested in. Holophrastic speech is defined by one word containing a wealth of meaning. The child might say, "Up," which is a clear indicator for, "Pick me up. Now."

Then children move onto telegraphic speech. Telegraphic speech gets its name from the old communication of telegrams. Do you know what telegrams are? They were the original text messages. Short bits of information could be sent over long distances. Because of the hassle of sending and receiving messages, sentences used only the necessary words. Children do this too. For example, when my mother was pregnant with me, she was driving to the hospital and my sister sat in the backseat saying, "Juice," and "More juice." It is the "More juice" that defines telegraphic speech. Children use two words to communicate ideas just as my sister did.

Children have adorable ways of communicating with us. It's worth it to listen to them. Here is a video of a poor little boy whose heart was poked, as you'll see it's very upsetting: "You Poked My Heart" Video.

Have you interacted with young children? What have they said? How do they act when they're happy? Sad? Frustrated?

The Tidbits, Easter Eggs, and Suggestive Hints in Stories

When you're creating your characters, you have to build them up and to do that you have to know a lot about them. Sometimes the things you know are inconsequential and likely to come up once and never again. Other times the things are the bits that great scenes are built upon.

It's easier to give you examples than to explain it. I'll give you two examples that I think were done well.

(1) Harry Potter and (2) The Throne of Glass series.

Search your memories (if you've read them). If you're familiar with Harry Potter, then you know about the feud that Severus Snape had with James Potter. It was legendary. We heard about these moments through lots of characters before we actually saw it ourselves.

When the moment came, it was through Snape's own memories that we discovered the truth. James was horrible to Severus and while the memory was one-sided, it was easy to see where the hatred began. Even Harry is horrified by his father's actions and for once pities Snape. But would it have made as much as an impact if we hadn't gotten hints of this before? Most likely yes but, for readers, the story is enhanced by these dropped tidbits.

Now, for the Throne of Glass series, there are many mentions of things that we don't see in the main novels. However, Sarah J. Maas does not disappoint. Instead, she wrote The Assassin's Blade which is a collection of short stories. Celaena had made mention of her journey to the Red Desert and her stay with the Silent Assassins, but then we got to see it. She told us of rescuing two hundred slaves, but then we got to live the adventure alongside her. We knew how important Sam was to her and then we got to know him and love him as well.

Maas managed to bring those stories to life, which had been mere sentences in the scope of her novels. Maas does this so well that each of those stories adds to the later books and explains how things were stirring years ago in Erilea before the main story takes place. That is incredible planning and forethought, because every figure had some importance and every story brought more of the world to life.

This is what I want to add to my own writing because it takes a lot of skill and thought. You have to know your story and world well enough to know that there are events that don't take place during the main events of your novel (or novels as the case may be). These events are still important, but there may not be space to include them in the detail that they deserve.

I'm working on building a world this in-depth and understanding the origins of my characters from their rough childhoods to their rocky adolescence. Why rough and rocky? Let's just say that these characters have had their share of struggles and very little about their lives has ever been easy or happy. So that's where I'm at right now.. I'll keep developing my writing and techniques, and I'll definitely keep reading, because otherwise I wouldn't learn so much.