Guest Post from L. Blankenship author of Disciple Part 1

Where do you get your ideas?

The dreaded question… I sat down and tried to make a list, once. Then I switched it around and tried to make a list of places I didn't get ideas, since that seemed a lot quicker.

 

I wrote down "Dentist's office" first, and then I wrote down "Church"… but had to cross it out, because actually I did get an important idea for Disciple while I was at church. (Yes, only one.)

All of the Bible readings that day had to do with the Good Shepherd and the sermon focused on that, too. The Good Shepherd does this, the Good Shepherd does that. Naturally, the snarky part of my mind said: "You know, the Good Shepherd leads his sheep out behind the shed with a butcher knife, too."

Instantly, I envisioned a sheep wailing: "The Shepherd is deaaath!" and a big piece of the religious beliefs in Disciple clicked into place, in my head. The community is thought of as a flock of sheep, because their past is rooted in sheep-herding and hunting more than farming. When they die, the Shepherd can find them worthy or unworthy. The eldest ram and ewe of the Flock (commonly called Father Duty and Mother Love) teach their lambs how to be worthy. The Father and Mother also chose the saints to lead the Flocks in person.

Or that's what children are told, in Disciple. That's the simple version of it.

So my answer is: I get ideas everywhere except the dentist's office. That's not his fault, though. 

About the author:


L. Blankenship is the alternate identity of a mild-mannered graphic designer. She started writing animal stories as a kid and it’s just gotten completely out of hand since then. Now she’s setting out to publish her gritty fantasy and hard science fiction adventures. L grew up in New Hampshire but currently lives near Washington, DC.
Visit L on the web at http://discipleofthefount.blogspot.com

About the book:

The saints favor her, else-wise a peasant girl like Kate Carpenter would never be apprenticed to the kingdom's master healer. But her patron saint also marks her ready for the duty of tending to a mission that must cross the ice-bound mountains. Their little kingdom faces invasion by a vast empire and desperately needs allies; across the snow-filled pass, through the deathly thin air, is a country that's held off the empire and may be willing to lend an army.

Kate knows about frostbite and the everyday injuries of wilderness travel. She can heal those.

She's not ready for the attentions of a ne'er-do-well knight and the kingdom's only prince, though.

And she isn't ready for the monsters that harry them night and day, picking off their archers first, wearing the party to exhaustion, pushing Kate beyond the limits her healing abilities.

She must keep them alive, or her blood will be on the snow too.