Re-Visiting Starfire: The Prophecy & Prologue
Starfire didn't originally have a prologue. I had planned to start it right off in chapter one with Rathe standing on the transport ship and let all of the world & motivations be unveiled from there. However, as a side project during the writing of the novel, I took some time to write a short story looking into the key event from Rathe's past where he first gets the jerkrenak fang.
The short story was mainly a way for me to see how the events happened and lay out some groundwork for understanding Rathe's feelings about the event. Eventually though I decided that the story was quite integral to the novel and to letting people get an early understanding of Rathe's motivations and so I merged it into the story as the prologue.
Adding the prologue did create some big changes in the story as I wrote. For instance, I never really intended for the wounded hatchling to play any real kind of role in the main story. But when Rathe entered the merchant's shop and the Barniks walked out with a metal leg, Goshren's place in the story just sort of sprang to life.
Similarly, the prophecy at the start of the book wasn't really in my original plan. When I added it initially it was more to try and bring out the spiritual side of the book a bit more, something to show that there was a Greater Hand at work in the story than just the characters. I'm not sure how effective it is though, or if it is even a relatively good one, but it is there. And to date it's only been partially fulfilled.
By the end of the second book you should have a much better understanding of exactly how far reaching the consequences of Rathe's choice will be. Though it will be a long time before the prophecy is fully completed.
But that's another story.
The short story was mainly a way for me to see how the events happened and lay out some groundwork for understanding Rathe's feelings about the event. Eventually though I decided that the story was quite integral to the novel and to letting people get an early understanding of Rathe's motivations and so I merged it into the story as the prologue.
Adding the prologue did create some big changes in the story as I wrote. For instance, I never really intended for the wounded hatchling to play any real kind of role in the main story. But when Rathe entered the merchant's shop and the Barniks walked out with a metal leg, Goshren's place in the story just sort of sprang to life.
Similarly, the prophecy at the start of the book wasn't really in my original plan. When I added it initially it was more to try and bring out the spiritual side of the book a bit more, something to show that there was a Greater Hand at work in the story than just the characters. I'm not sure how effective it is though, or if it is even a relatively good one, but it is there. And to date it's only been partially fulfilled.
By the end of the second book you should have a much better understanding of exactly how far reaching the consequences of Rathe's choice will be. Though it will be a long time before the prophecy is fully completed.
But that's another story.
Comments