Synopsis

Alaena is a fantasy work, although exactly how much fantasy there is going to be is something I don't yet know. I can't do too much planning due to my exams, so I planning to discover the world of Alaena as I go along. I do know the basic synopsis of the story though!!! Exact events will unfold as they happen. It's promising to be quite an enjoyable adventure!!

Simply, Alaena is the story of the search for equality, and realising that anyone can make a difference. Set in a different world, the kingdom of Aetolia is peaceful, and ruled by a benevolent young King, his wife, and their baby son. The peace however is not to last. An army of younger sons, merchants and mercenaries (the Kinari), hungry for land and power invade Aetolia under cover of darkness, imprisoning all those they find in the palace, and slaying the Royal Family, but not before a maid escapes with the baby Prince. In the time following the invasion those of Aetolian blood are oppressed as the Kinari take over the kingdom. Also in this time, a prophecy is made, telling of the coming equality between peoples, brought about by the hidden heir of btoh the Aetolian Royal Line, and Kinari blood.

The story is picked up 400 years later, with a young, orphan farm girl, Alaena. Her father a Kinari drunkard, seduced her Aetolian mother, who died in childbirth. Alaena has lived her life so far discriminated against by both peoples, never feeling like she fits. Learning of a rebellion against the Kinari crown, she jumps at the chance to join the fight for equality, but finds it is not as glorious as she had presumed. The 'heir' that the rebellion are hoping to raise to the kingship of Aetolia, a young man (who has yet to be named), seems to Alaena, to be slightly out of sync with the rest of the rebellion. After a series of events, she exposes him to be a fraud, a double agent for the Kinari, in an effort to root out, and kill, the real heir to the Blood Prophecy.

Shortly after the young man's exposion, the rebels engage in a large battle with the Kinari. Regrouping, the rebellion is depleted in number, with many of their group either dead or imprisoned, and without an heir. On the run and in a race against the Kinari to find the heir, the rebellion discover a heirloom of the Aetolian Royal Family, one that is identified as the tiny ring passed to Alaena from her mother. Although her position is doubted by many of the rebels, including herself, Alaena and the rebellion rekindle their efforts to overthrown the oppressive Kinari rule, and eventually succeed.

Alaena is being written under the same concept I used for my English Extension 2 major work this year. Identically titled, the original concept for Alaena was modified immensely to become a touching short story and fit with the constraints of the module (8,000 words maximum). For NaNoWriMo I am returning to the original concept and writing it as it was meant to, and deserves to be written. As very little, if any of the short story material can be used for the novel, and anything useable needs to be re-written, I'm pretty sure it fits within the NaNoWriMo rules.

I can't wait to begin NaNoWriMo, though I have no doubt that it will be hard to simply turn off the inner editor and write. I very much doubt that Alaena will be finished in 50,000 words, but it's a start, and with that big a start, a gap year, and a silly desire to be published as a teenager, I have no doubt that Alaena will be finished, and hopefully, published. In which case I shall keep this blog going, so that you can follow Alaena's progress!!

Peace and Fantasy,
Lindsey