Thinking About Plot

School will be starting soon, and I’m gearing up to do some author visits.

One of the class presentations I’m developing is about plot.  It started me considering how I created the plots of the five books of the Karakesh Chronicles.  Each book involves one or more characters on a quest.  For me this theme is no surprise, as I view life as a quest.  We may not all be seeking the same thing, but I believe we do have some common goals.

In the beginning of Awakening Magic (Book III), Prince Emric knows what he doesn’t want.  He must defy his family and the social structure, and make a great sacrifice to achieve the life he desires.  True to the quest plot, Emric encounters obstacles and setbacks as he moves toward his goal.

Book IV, as yet untitled, stars Demara, a girl whose father is a selkie. Her mother is a Traveler.  Demara longs to be a pureblooded selkie, and to be able to live with her father in the ocean.  She, too, encounters obstacles and opposition, and in the end, discovers what she really wants to be.

In the fifth book of the Karakesh Chronicles, the main character, Bimi Lightfoot, longs to find his birth parents.  Bimi wants to know who he is, and where he came from.  All he does know is that his mother is a faerie, and that she let Liri Flare, her cousin, give Bimi away.  As he searches for his parents, Bimi experiences his own transformation.

I’m looking forward to exploring the quest plot with students.  Writing with kids is fun and full of surprises.