I cast a spell over the west to make you think of me, the same way I think of you

The “Spellbound Railway” series started back in November 2010. I decided to break the rules of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) by taking a pre-existing story idea and writing past the 30 day deadline. I knew that I could write a 30 day, 50 000 word story, but I wanted this one to have the room to go longer and take more time than that.

I started with the idea of high school kids finding out that they could manipulate the world around them with their new magical abilities. It’s magic at the quantum level, nudging probabilities to create the effect they wanted. And if you try to explain exactly how your spell works or what your casting process is, your magic will stop working that way. This is loosely based on the quantum mechanics ideas : the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and the Observer Effect. And when I say loosely, I mean very loosely, because I am in no way a physicist.

The inspiration for the plot of the book came from the song lyric at the top of the blog post. I had the image of a very sad boy, standing on a rooftop with his eyes closed shut, desperately wishing for love in the way only a heartsick high school kid can. The end result of that process was WitchKids.

And the first book opened up a bigger set of questions. It brought in another quantum mechanics theory, the many-worlds interpretation. As I wrote the second book “Kingmaker” I began to map out the manifestation of many-worlds in my narrative universe, how the realities were structured and connected, and the effect that actions in one could have on the others. But even with the cosmic events in the background, there were still very pressing, immediate issues the heroes had to deal with, things that couldn’t get fixed with magic, like dysfunctional families and unstable romances.

And now we’re at the new novel “The patchwork Boy”. The heroes are reaching their final days in high school, teetering on the brink of being full-blown adults. And adult life is messy and unfair. I’m really in love with the story and I’m excited for everyone to get a chance to read it.

I hesitate to even think about the future of the series while I’m still slogging away trying to raise the cash to get the current book printed (here’s the link to the kickstarter, if you haven’t had a chance to back it yet to get your own copy of the new book pre-ordered). But I can tell you I know where the story is going, and it’s going to be a very bumpy ride for everyone involved.

When we dream of being more than what we are

A couple of things reminded me of the importance of art in our lives today. First, I was listening to the live tracks from The Hold Steady​’s 4 night stand at the Horsehoe tavern. When the crowd roared out as the songs began, I realized a live show isn’t about how successfully the artist reproduces the recorded version of the song. When it’s live, there will be missed notes, raspy vocals out of key, and unintended noise. But that doesn’t matter. A live show is about being in a room full of people who feel the same love for a song that you do. To be able to make eye contact with a stranger as the first few notes reach you, the tingling feeling shoots up through your body and the smile covers your face

The other one is sad but important. I hopped back on to twitter this morning and found out that the actor Leonard Nimoy had died. I was surprised that I felt a sense of loss from his passing, because he was “just a tv actor”. I struggled with finding the right words for my own moment of remembrance, because I was so dismissive of his contribution to pop culture and my life. But the way he brought Mr. Spock to life, the empathy and emotion he displayed in his character’s struggle, gave people, gave me, inspiration. The actor brings life to the words and makes something in their portrayal recognizable to us.

There’s no ranking system for passion and inspiration. If it moves you, encourages you, makes you think about being more than you are, it’s art and it is important.