Synchronicity
You know that feeling when you decide to do something and it seems like the entire universe tells you it’s the right thing? I just experienced that recently.
I’m launching a new series in December called Ash & Iron Saga. The basic premise is that in the twenty-first century, the descendants of witches burned at the stake are being hunted by the descendants of witch hunters and they must learn to work together because a third force is hunting both of them. Of course, it will include a forbidden romance between a witch and a hunter.
When I start a new series, I write a short novella prequel as a teaser to give away. With Ash & Iron, the logical prequel is the origin story of the witch and witch hunter who unleashed the third force. When I researched where the most prolific witch burnings in Europe happened, I found out it was in the Diocese of Trier, Germany from 1581 to 1593. During this time, 368 people were burned alive for witchcraft within the city of Trier alone. In the diocese as a whole, perhaps as many as 1,000 were executed. Two villages were left with only one female inhabitant each. So, of course, this is where I have to set the prequel.
And here’s where the universe comes along and gives me a sign. I had the idea for the book in September. The previous month, I had travelled along the Moselle River right through the Diocese of Trier. I walked the medieval streets and came home with dozens of photos of town squares and surrounding vineyards. All of the photos of Germany below are from my trip. When I took these photos I thought they were simply fond memories. I had no idea they would help me flesh out a book.
I decided to set the novella in the city of Cochem, which was part of the Diocese of Trier in the sixteenth century. One of the main economic activities in the Moselle Valley is winemaking, so I made the main character, Elisabeth Braun, a vintner. When researching where a witch might have been held in prison, I found that the Endert Gate, once part of the city walls, was a likely place.
Her trial likely would have taken place at the Rathuas, or Town Hall. The one that was standing in Elisabeth’s day was destroyed by the French in 1689, but the current one stands on the site of the original.
If that wasn’t enough of a nudge from the universe, my book club chose this for our October read. It’s about a legacy of inherited gifts from a woman tried for witchcraft in seventeenth-century England.
If this sounds like your thing, I highly recommend Weyward. I had to peel myself away from it so I could get some work done today.
As of the time of writing this post, Witchfire Covenant is in the editorial phase. It will soon be available exclusively to my newsletter subscribers.
Gratuitous photo of a wine vending machine in Cochem. This has nothing to do with writing, but if you ever find yourself in Cochem, you can get your wine at a machine. Be prepared to scan your passport to prove your age.
I did not try the vending machine wine, but all of the wine in the region is superb.
