of silver and spice tea // sweet characters and sweeter plots

Hey y’all!

The last few weeks I’ve been working on a short story. Wait, let me back up.

About a month ago, I got a few emails from various bloggers I follow about a collaboration they were doing called the Symphony of Words contest. I immediately was intrigued and clicked their stuff to find out more.

here is Charis Rae’s (one of the bloggers) post about the Symphony of Words contest.

Basically, you signed up to do this contest and then they sent you a song to work with. (Mine happened to be Silver by The Gray Havens. It is one of my favorites, but that is beside the point.) You were then released to write freely, to a maximum of two thousand words.

I turned my story in last Saturday, but just because I can’t share my story right now doesn’t mean I won’t tell you about it. 🙂

To give you a simple description of my short story,

This story is about Sidra, a girl who is friends with an old painter and curator of an ancient land named Ozias. He, along with his helper and mentee, Mavi, has been holding secret sessions with Sidra about a city across the sea called Acreseles. It has been forbidden to talk about the city. The Council of Thesiot forbids people from knowing about the city, or even the ocean itself. The three have been planning to escape for years, and now they must. The Council has heard about them. But is Sidra ready to leave everything she’s known for a City she’s never seen?

*from my email when I sent in my story*

I have loved this song for a really long time, and when they said “hey your song is Silver”, I kind of had a little God moment. I really had been wanting to write something related to this song for a while now and it felt like He was just like, “Here!!” It definitely could end up being a longer story someday. I wouldn’t be surprised if that ended up happening. 🙂 We’ll see.

This song has a very strong storytelling aspect to it. The imagery and characters exploded right from the chorus. 

We will cross any water, any water, and if we find there’s a song that’s getting stronger, we will sound our last silver songs, and we will know if they belong.

Silver, The Gray Havens

The song talks about how everything in the old country is silver, and that everything was meant to stay as that bland silver. I really wanted to explore that theme, especially since silver is valuable but considered second-best in regards to gold.

This is why I nicknamed the Isle of Acreseles, the “Golden Land”. They are aware that there is more out in the world besides their home, and they are willing to risk that to go out and find it. 

I think that is one of the things I loved about writing this. There was a certain element of truth to how it all played out, and it was really refreshing to run with.

Each of the characters had different viewpoints that I wanted to get across. It is from Sidra’s perspective, but there are heavy influences from the other two.

Sidra is the main character. She is warm, comfortable, lovable. That sounds dorky just listing off adjectives, but I don’t really care. This is my baby Sid. She likes Ozias’ spice tea, good books, listening to Mavi talk about his dreams, and watching the ocean from the cliffs of Thesiot. Sidra looks really good in red-orange colors. It compliments her brown eyes.

Mavi is the most precious bundle of casual bookworm you will ever meet. He is all thunderstorms and rugged backpacking photography. He isn’t mean, he’s just reserved. Some have described him as a “king without a crown.” He is the one who taught Sidra to like books. Mavi likes Sidra, reading every book he can lay his hands on, organizing Ozias’ library, and stealing Sidra’s spice tea. He very much dislikes cleaning Ozias’ paint brushes. He looks veeeeery good in dark green.

Ozias is the wizard-grandpa-historian-painter. No one quite knows what he is entirely, but at this point, they don’t really care anymore. They just know that his special spice tea recipe rivals every other woman’s in Thesiot. Sidra speculates that that is why he is a wanted man. Ozias likes his “children” Mavi and Sidra, watering his hanging plants around his home, teaching Mavi and Sidra about the Isle of Acreseles, painting his many canvases, making Mavi clean the paintbrushes, and reading. He likes all colors. He is a magical being. XD

These characters are some of my favorites. There are only three, at least for the time being, and I love them very much. Gah, I can’t wait for you to meet them someday soon. 🙂

Of Silver and Spice Tea was so fun to write, because of the fantastical but serious idea that I wanted to get across. There are more things in life than what’s in front of us. What the culture tells us is everything usually isn’t everything. If you want the more valuable things in life, you have to reach for them. Truth is not subjective. You have to dig deep and take risks if you really want to know the truth. There is no “my” truth. There is simply The Truth. Of Silver and Spice Tea is about That Truth.

As a parting gift, I give you my playlist for Of Silver and Spice Tea.

I especially love L E P E R S. So good, guys.

Well, that’s all I have for you today! I’ll be letting you know how the contest turns out and also probably posting the short story in a month or so!! Stay tuned for that! 🙂

Now go forth, mis amigos and amigas, and smile. Your day is just beginning. Make the best of it. Don’t procrastinate. Work hard. Make me proud. 🙂

Love you all,

Madeleine