WRITING 'AFTERBIRTH' Pt. 2
First introduced in The 13th Brother, the Zodiac is the group of supernatural warriors that Nara found herself a part of upon her 'merging' with Asia (now together known as Gemini). Although I had originally planned to introduce them all in The 13th Brother, I felt it was such a rich concept that it was worth saving and highlighting them in the following series.
Once of the first ideas I had for Afterbirth was that I wanted to open the story somewhere other than Earth. For the last 4 series there's been a lot of talk about the other side, but we've never seen it. Since things are nearing the end, it seemed like a good time to finally go there. Originally, my idea was to have the Zodiac all sitting in a boardroom like they were having a corporate meeting, but of course somewhere in time and space. But it didn't really convery the 'otherworldliness' that I wanted, and I was worried it might be a little confusing. I figured the best way to get the point across was to just put them on some planet that may or may not be in the spiritual realm. It leaves things open to interpretation, plus gets the point across that they're not on Earth.
Anyway, on to the fun stuff.
Probably the biggest revelation in Afterbirth was the inclusion of my characters Eve and Zaya, from my other books Lost Books of Eve and Black Harvest, respectively. This is an idea I had been toying with for a while, and have even been dropping a few hints along the way, the most obvious being the origin of Nara's nemesis Bolabogg in Lost Books of Eve. Beyond that, there are 3 specific instances of the books referencing the others.
In Black Harvest, there is 1 reference to Dead @ 17 and 1 reference to Lost Books of Eve. In The 13th Brother, there is 1 reference to Black Harvest. There may be others, but those are the ones I remember intentionally including.
First person to correctly identify all 3 will get a free sketch or a signed book, your choice! Please post your guesses in the comments!
Next up in Writing 'Afterbirth' pt. 3: Who's Who in the Zodiac!
