Story Details
Published on 2019-10-15
Categories Fantasy
The starry oak was one of the rarest of the great trees, and it had a sizeable hollow—almost a perfect circle. It was too small a passage for an ordinary man. For a dwarf, though, even in armor, it was only a tight squeeze.
Author Details
Anna Madden lives in Fort Worth, Texas. Her fiction has appeared in DreamForge Magazine and Upon a Once Time (anthology, Air and Nothingness Press). She has a Bachelor of Arts: English degree with a creative writing emphasis from the University of Missouri—Kansas City. In free time, she gardens, mountain bikes, and is a first reader for DreamForge Magazine and Dark Matter Magazine. To learn more, follow her on Twitter @anna_madden or visit her website at annamadden.com. About Two Brothers, One Stone. (Spoiler Alert - you may want to read the story first!) I wanted to write a story about someone climbing down the inside of a tree, but I had no real plot or characters to go with it. I had a tree and half of an objective (climbing down it) but not the who or the why. It made sense to create a retrieval-type situation. I settled on a gem deposit beneath the tree which a brightsmith hired a dwarf to collect. Tungsten’s character developed as that dwarf. Tungsten has a bit of myself within him: that despair at personal failure and how he buries his own truths. Also, he’s a reminder to value those closest to me and not take them for granted. I pictured him in armor, then wondered, why would he be wearing it? I also realized it would be better to have a second character with him for dialogue, to help get the backstory delivered, and for extra tension. I have siblings, and we’ve had our arguments, so the problems between these brothers seemed easy enough to contrive. Originally, my dwarves stumbled upon the fallen comet by accident. This was a bit too convenient or random though, so I had to go back and make their objective purposeful. As drafts developed, the largest issues I struggled with were Aster’s character and landing the resolution in a way that felt earned. Both were mentioned as feedback in a personal rejection elsewhere. As Scot’s notes show, they remained weak points despite my own attempts to fix them. I’m grateful to him for his suggestions on how to give Aster more agency, and also, a bigger role to play in the partnership that develops between all three characters by the end.
Two Brothers, One Stone, by Anna Madden
Author Details
Anna Madden lives in Fort Worth, Texas. Her fiction has appeared in DreamForge Magazine and Upon a Once Time (anthology, Air and Nothingness Press). She has a Bachelor of Arts: English degree with a creative writing emphasis from the University of Missouri—Kansas City. In free time, she gardens, mountain bikes, and is a first reader for DreamForge Magazine and Dark Matter Magazine. To learn more, follow her on Twitter @anna_madden or visit her website at annamadden.com. About Two Brothers, One Stone. (Spoiler Alert - you may want to read the story first!) I wanted to write a story about someone climbing down the inside of a tree, but I had no real plot or characters to go with it. I had a tree and half of an objective (climbing down it) but not the who or the why. It made sense to create a retrieval-type situation. I settled on a gem deposit beneath the tree which a brightsmith hired a dwarf to collect. Tungsten’s character developed as that dwarf. Tungsten has a bit of myself within him: that despair at personal failure and how he buries his own truths. Also, he’s a reminder to value those closest to me and not take them for granted. I pictured him in armor, then wondered, why would he be wearing it? I also realized it would be better to have a second character with him for dialogue, to help get the backstory delivered, and for extra tension. I have siblings, and we’ve had our arguments, so the problems between these brothers seemed easy enough to contrive. Originally, my dwarves stumbled upon the fallen comet by accident. This was a bit too convenient or random though, so I had to go back and make their objective purposeful. As drafts developed, the largest issues I struggled with were Aster’s character and landing the resolution in a way that felt earned. Both were mentioned as feedback in a personal rejection elsewhere. As Scot’s notes show, they remained weak points despite my own attempts to fix them. I’m grateful to him for his suggestions on how to give Aster more agency, and also, a bigger role to play in the partnership that develops between all three characters by the end.
