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Introduction
Over the past few years, I’ve nominated an annual
blogging theme for my Supernatural Underground posts – and this year’s theme is Magic Systems in Fantasy.
My secondary theme is “Fun With Friends”, with the aim being to talk with fellow authors about the magic in their writing.
As with most authors, I’m a reader as well as a
writer – and like many others readers I was swept up in the magic of Kristin Cashore’s
first novel, Graceling.
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So it feels very
right to bring you another interview with Kristin today, which although it highlights Winterkeep, also focuses on the magic of Kristin’s
Graceling Realm world.
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| UK Cover |
.Welcoming Kristin Cashore: In Conversation On Magic Systems in Winterkeep & the GRACELING REALM Series
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HL: Welcome to the Supernatural
Underground, Kristin. I'm so pleased you're able to be with us today, to talk
magic in Winterkeep and your Graceling Realm world.
The Graceling
Realm series involves several
realms, from the Seven Kingdoms, the Dells and Pikkia, and now the Torla
continent that includes Winterkeep. How important is the associated magic in
making each realm distinct, but also connected?
Kristin: It’s true that as I’ve expanded my world to
include new realms, I’ve given each part of the world a distinct kind of magic
— and you’re absolutely right, I’ve tried to make the different kinds of magic
feel connected, or all-of-a-piece. I’ve created thematic links between them, in
the hopes that my readers will be more willing to come along for the ride.
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With the first book, Graceling, I established
a world where occasionally, a person is born with an extreme skill of some
kind, and that person is marked by having unmatching eyes. Sometimes those eyes
are quite ordinary eye colors like brown, black, gray, hazel, or blue, but
other times, a Graceling might have an eye of a bright and unusual color, like
red, silver, gold, purple, copper. And the skills, called Graces, can be a
variety of things, from something creative, like baking or drawing, to
something physical, like swimming or fighting — to something mental, like
mind-reading or mind control. |
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Then, when I wrote Fire, I established a
world full of “monsters” — animals shaped like the regular animals we know
(mountain lions, horses, insects, raptors), but vibrantly, unusually colored,
and with the power to control minds. My main character, Fire, is a human-shaped
monster with vibrantly-colored hair and the power to control minds. I suppose I
felt that such a world could believably exist side-by-side with a world where
some people have dramatically-colored eyes and have a range of magical
abilities, including mind control.
Most recently, with Winterkeep, I’ve
established a world that contains telepathic sea creatures called silbercows
(who happen to be bluish-purple) and telepathic “blue foxes” (though only the
kits are pure blue; the adults turn gray). So, I’m continuing the theme of
significant colors, of telepathy, and of powerful animals in the natural world.
Humans, of course, are animals in the natural world, so it’s made sense to me
that some of these powers rest in humans, while some rest in non-human animals.
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I suppose I chose these particular magics because
I’m drawn to them for one reason or another. But I also wanted to create a sense
of consistency, so that the world has a sort of familiar internal logic. I’m
not sure if it would work, for example, to establish a new setting where people
can teleport, or time travel, or step through a painting into another part of
the multiverse (as happens in my unrelated novel, Jane, Unlimited). That
would be too much of departure from the kinds of magic I’ve established.
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As I continue to write in the Graceling Realm
(which is my intention), it’ll be interesting to see the dramas and conflicts
that arise between characters as the magics of different parts of the world
begin to mix more. I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I’m excited to find
out.
Helen: I’ll put my hand up for being very excited to
see what happens, too. I also love the connection between color and magic,
which creates a bright thread through the Graceling Realm books. In Winterkeep you’ve not only introduced a realm that has unique
powers associated with the natural world, but one that is geographically
distinct. To what extent is this a ‘shift’ away from the earlier Graceling
magic?
Kristin: It’s a shift in that this is the first Graceling
Realm book I’ve written in which the magical power resides only in non-human
animals. There are some Gracelings in the book — humans with magical powers —
because they’ve traveled to Winterkeep from other parts of the world. But in
Winterkeep, humans aren’t born with magic. The telepathic silbercows and blue
foxes possess the only magic native to the Torlan continent. But again, humans
are animals and part of the natural world — we (most of us anyway) merely like
to imagine ourselves separate! — so while I’m not going to pretend there isn’t
a distinction between a human with magical fighting abilities and a sea
creature who can talk with her mind, I do see them existing on the same plane.
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I suppose that in Winterkeep, I’ve created
telepathic animals that are humanesque, in the sense that they have complex
communications systems, societies, and interrelationships — but then again, a
lot of animal species have those things. We just don’t understand them, and we
have power over them (which includes the power to misinterpret them, and define
them as we see fit). Humans do the same with all parts of the natural world,
trees, rocks, water, the elements: We are the ones who decide what these things
are, what they mean, what they need, and, too often, what they’re “worth,” and
how they can be exploited by us. It’s possible that I’m drawn to create magic
that resides in non-human animals and non-human spaces, in addition to magic
that resides in humans, because I’m distressed that we humans in the real world
fail so often at acknowledging that we’re part of a system, over which we have
power we usually wield badly. I wonder if subconsciously, I’ve created a world
in which I’ve tried to make the power a little bit more even? Or the humans —
some of them, anyway — a little more conscious of their place in the system?
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Whatever the reason, my silbercows and blue foxes —
and to a limited extent, my monsters — have a one-up over humans, in the sense
that they can communicate freely across species. They don’t actually need words
and languages, just ideas. However, as in the real world, their fates are
inextricably bound up with the decisions of humans.
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Helen: Winterkeep is also a “winter world”
(which I love!). To what extent was the world and its magical elements shaped or
influenced by your Arctic Circle Residency in 2018?
Kristin: My Arctic Circle Residency was one of the
absolute best experiences of my life. For two weeks in October, I lived on a
tall ship with a bunch of other artists and a small, excellent crew, sailing
around Svalbard in the Arctic Circle. Every day, once or twice, we climbed into
zodiacs and visited the land. It snowed a lot. I saw glaciers, mountains,
whales, walruses, fresh polar bear prints on a regular basis. I saw the
northern lights; we sailed through sheets of ice; seals visited us while we
were in the zodiacs. We learned to work the sails; I climbed the mast (which
was terrifying!). Also, our ship, the Antigua, was easily the most
beautiful home I’ve ever had.
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| Winterkeep: early planning |
Winterkeep
was already in revisions at that point, so while the experience certainly
influenced my rewriting of parts of the book that take place on a ship or
descriptions of some of the landscapes, it would be disingenuous to say that
the trip strongly influenced the book. However! While I was on the trip, I was
planning my next Graceling Realm book (in revisions now), which is from the
point of view of Hava. That book was deeply influenced by my Arctic
residency. I don’t think it would exist if it weren’t for my incredible two
weeks in the Arctic.
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Helen: I am so glad to learn there is another
Graceling Realm novel coming soon! And I love the way Winterkeep ends with a question, “Are you ready for a little magic?” Yet sometimes magic, like other
aspects of storytelling, can surprise the author. Where there any surprises for
you in the magic of Winterkeep? Or
the other Graceling Realm novels for that matter?
Kristin: Magic creates so many problems for authors!
Or at least, it does for me. When you’re writing a book, you’re trying to
create challenges that are difficult for characters to resolve. People are
keeping secrets from each other, or they face difficult physical or mental
challenges. But — if your book is full of characters who can read minds, then
suddenly it becomes awfully easy for those characters to figure out the
secrets. If it contains characters who can control minds — suddenly those
characters have an enormous advantage over everyone else. If it contains
characters who win every fight — how are those fights ever going to be
interesting?
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I especially had this problem in Fire and in Bitterblue,
each of which contains a (different) powerful mindreader. At one point in Bitterblue, I had to go so far as to
give my mindreader a serious illness, just to get him out of the way for a
while! The illness fit the character and worked at that moment, so I think it
ended up okay — but that’s the challenge. You have to find solutions for the
problems you’ve created for yourself, solutions that fit the character and the
world. Solutions that the reader will go along with.
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I suppose I’ve written
enough of these books at this point that I’m never exactly surprised when my
magic creates tangles for me, but it is often hard to predict where it will
happen. In Winterkeep, the telepathy of the blue foxes was complicated
by the fact that blue foxes, by nature, often lie to humans and to each other.
So, humans have particular ideas about how their telepathic power works — but
that’s because the blue foxes have been lying to the humans. How their power actually works is a whole other story. Conveying that to
the reader got very thorny while I was writing! With every revision, I tried to
simplify and clarify the foxes’ magic more. It’s a lot of work to get the magic
in your books to seem seamless to the reader. I’m never surprised that it’s a
lot of work, but I’m often surprised by where the tangles arise!
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Helen: One of Bitterblue’s defining characteristics,
in a world shaped by magic, is that she
doesn’t possess magical ability – abilities in which, conversely, heroines like Katsa and
Fire excel. I have always enjoyed that contrast, which manifests again in Winterkeep. How central do you feel
magical elements need to be in, in order to make fantasy storytelling rock?
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Kristin: It’s funny, some of my favorite fantasy
series don’t contain magic at all. I always think immediately of Cynthia
Voigt’s Kingdom books, which, incidentally, have influenced every book I’ve
ever written that takes place in a wintry landscape. I think it really, deeply
depends on how the author chooses to use the magic in their world, and how
careful they are as they weave it into the fabric of the story. There are many,
many fantasy stories about a character who doesn’t know they have magic — or
doesn’t understand some part of their magic — then gradually, over the course
of the story, that character comes into their powers. Whether that book feels
seamlessly magical, a natural sort of magical coming-of-age, or whether it
feels like the growing magic is merely a plot device to keep things moving,
depends entirely on the author’s choices. I think that a book can have as
little or as much magic as the author wants, and that magic can be central or
not, as long as the author has thought it through!
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I will add that in the case of Bitterblue, like you,
I’ve always enjoyed her contrast with so many of the other characters. Of
course, Bitterblue is a queen, so she does possess a lot of power! But in terms
of her physical abilities, she’s just a regular person — so I relate to her.
And I relate to the feeling of being a regular person surrounded by
extraordinary people, and trying to figure out my own role. I suppose fantasy
is a great place to explore that kind of dynamic. Feeling incapable is part of
the human condition.
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Helen: Bitterblue is a favorite character of mine, for all the reasons you’ve just illuminated. Nonetheless, I do feel considerable anticipation that the next book will return to a character with
Graceling powers. Thank you so much, Kristin, for visiting Supernatural Underground today and sharing your insights into the magic of your Graceling Realm worlds. I feel quite sure readers will enjoy it as much as I have – and be equally delighted to learn that Graceling Realm #5 is on its way.
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To find out more about Winterkeep and the GRACELING REALM series,
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| Photo credit: Kevin Lin |
About Kristin Cashore:
American writer Kristin Cashore grew up in
northeast Pennsylvania and now lives in Massachusetts with her husband. She
earned her master’s degree from the Center for the Study of Children’s
Literature at Simmons College in Boston.
Her epic fantasy novels set in the
Graceling Realm (Graceling, Fire, Bitterblue, and Winterkeep)
and her standalone novel Jane, Unlimited are all New York
Times bestsellers and have won many awards.
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Rocking 2021 with “Magic Systems in Fantasy” on Supernatural Underground: Previous Posts
January 1: Happy New Year – Ushering In A Year of Friends, Fellow Authors, & Magic Systems
January 5: An Interview with AK Wilder – Talking Magic In Her New-Out Crown Of Bones (AMASSIA #1)
February 1: An Interview with T Frohock – Talking Magic In A Song With Teeth & The LOS NEFILIM Series
March 1: An Interview with Courtney Schafer–Talking Magic In The "Shattered Sigil" Series
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About The Interviewer:
Helen Lowe's first novel, Thornspell (Knopf), was published to critical praise in 2008. The second,The Heir of Night (The Wall Of Night Series, Book One) won the Gemmell Morningstar Award 2012, and the sequel, The Gathering Of The Lost, was shortlisted for the Gemmell Legend Award in 2013. Daughter Of Blood (Book Three), was published in 2016 and Helen is currently completing the final novel in the series. She posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we
