Characters, Magic, and Memories
It’s been another two months and a lot has been adjusted. First, who the main characters are and what they look like! The second is a graphic I created to explain the magic system of the worlds. Lastly, I did a lot of reorganizing in the real world and found some of my old stories from grade school and high school. Younger me did a lot of writing.
Main Characters of Collision
The biggest revision for Collision is the fact that it does not deal with a parallel universe. This means that Elise is the only Elise you will encounter. Some characters may carry a physical resemblance to each other as a nod to the parallel universe idea, but they are not the same. Elise lives in Somniera, while Raelynn, the new addition, lives in Alteniera. If you have been following my Instagram or Tiktok, you will have seen Elise already!
As you can see, Raelynn and Elise bear a resemblance to each other in coloring– a la Prince and the Pauper. This will have quite a part to play in the story, and I can’t wait to write it! I still need a last name for Aleksi, even if it is never mentioned in the story. Elise’s last nas have also changed: Conway turned into Cohen.
Aleksi, Elise, and Raelynn (names subject to change) were created in ArtBreeder. They are not exactly how I see them in my head, but I feel they give the right impression that they would if you met them, even if some details were tweaked. (For example, Elise’s eyes would be lighter and her eyebrows a little less sharp. Aleksi has lighter, amber colored eyes.) I haven’t decided whether you will be able to read Raelynn’s point of view in this book, or if she will get a separate book. Depends on the demands of the story and editing process!
Magic System
For the time being, some of the types of magic will remain hidden. They are extremely rare, and some characters wish to keep their abilities hidden, even from the readers (for the time being). Displayed in the following graphic are the types of magic that are the most common.
As you can see, the core types of magic are: light, air, earth, water, and shadow. The blending of two types of magic gets ice, plants, reflection, and emotion magic. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, of all the types of magic, water is the most common, playing on the fact that the human body has so much water in it, making it the one all humans are born with. However, this doesn’t mean that they will be able to use this water magic to the degree that people consider “true” magic, and magic is genetic.
This leads to the ranking system of magic. The amount of magic combined with the ability to wield it brought about a system to categorize people’s magic levels.
Apprentice → Scribe/Scholar → Prefect → Magister/Master → Adept/High Mage/Grand Master(Magister) → Archmage
Most people fall into the apprentice or scribe/scholar levels of magic. This means, if they had light magic, they could create a small light. Again, more will be explained either in the books or future blog posts. I will also be adding this graphic to the Books section of my website, along with updating the description to reflect the change from having a parallel world.
Memories
Lastly, I still have the files for a lot of my old works, including ones for a story I called Artesia. As a play on that old name, I used it to create Alteniera. The gateway between Alteniera and Somniera is also modeled after an old story I called Behind the Waterfall. The name itself is a dead giveaway, but it won’t be literally behind a waterfall like it used to be. You’ll see in the descriptions of the gateway itself. 😉
Hopefully the next time I post here, I will be halfway through my (7 billionth) rough draft of Collision. As it stands right now, I am 500 words away from 40,000 words! (Some of those are old scenes I pulled from older drafts and need major revisions.) However, I want to get all the new scenes added first before fixing old ones.
Until the Stars Fall,
Vivian Hale
Current Song: City Nights by RetroBlue ft. Peter Jessy