Mirrorheart (Book Two)



''After the Mirrorfall, a life hangs in the balance, as do the punishments for attempting a ressurection. ''


 * Ryan took Stef's body from the roof, made a wish, and waits for her to wake up - despite Death's advice to let her go. Emma, an agent from London, comes to review Ryan's performance, based on her opinion that he isn't fit for the job. Stef's consciousness is trapped somewhere unknown, as she waits for life, or death.


 * Resurrections aren't quick, easy or without a price - and presuming Stef can be woken, there's still the issue of keeping her hidden from The Agency, as someone brought back by mirror magic is too dangerous to be allowed to live.

Mirrorheart (abbreviation MH), book two of Mirrorfall, originally released in 2008, was rewritten and released in the latter half of 2009. Thus far, it is the shortest of the released MV books, though aside from the obvious plot implications, expands on several elements of the mythology, including Death, the Lost and the rules within The Agency.

Completed second half of 2009, containing 37 chapters (and 17 mini-chapters, the "SOS" sections).

Notes from the Author
MH is an odd book. And I'm not just saying that because the main character is dead for at least half of it. Whilst it is technically the first Mirrorfall book I wrote by the seat of my pants, it doesn't really feel that way, because I had most of it mapped out before I wrote it, and knew exactly where it was going to end, so I was working to a far stricter plan than I was with say, Mirrorshades.

I like MH, because it's where I finally "clicked" with writing Ryan. In the original MF (MF1.0), he was still a lot colder than he would be in the rewrite, and subsequently, the man you all know. Up until then I was still struggling to balance him between "aloof" and "warm", tending towards the former, but I realised over the course of writing it that since he was doing all this, it was ok to warm him up a bit, and I (hopefully) got him right during the rewrite.

Basically, it was an element of the original plan to not have Stef & Ryan as explicitly as a father/daughter relationship this early in the series, and instead have it be something that built up over time, leading to a kind of Darth-Vadery "I am her father!" moment in Book #7 - this moment will still exist - probably - but because of how things have developed, the impact will be less. I talked it out with a couple of people, and just decided to throw caution to the wind, and saw nothing wrong with just going for it - planting the seeds here, for the pay off in Mirrorshades. Besides, there needs to be more series with the main relationship not being a romantic one.

There were very few elements transferred over from what is roughly the same story in the fanfic series - that story basically has a couple of scenes that are roughly shown in MS, but the journey was a lot simpler - as there really only was the technical side of things, no magic, or element of going against duty. (The last line of MH was in fact, the punchline for the first fanfic story, simply because I'd enjoyed writing Stef and didn't want to have to create another character in order to write another story).

It isn't my favourite book of the series, though there are several sections of it that I just love.

The footchase through the Valley is fun, just because it's kind of first time I get to show off Brisbane, and now I giggle every time I go past that porn shop, imagine the little howler going for broke against the window. >_< Also the idea of Ryan jumping off the Story Bridge is just fun - and the trashmaids are one of my favourite creatures that I've invented, and trust me, if you've seen the Brisbane river, you will believe that it can spawn undead mermaids.

I also love the stuff with the Lost. They're seriously my favourite Court - maybe not as all out awesome as Madchester (seriously, Madchester rocks just because of the name), but because they kind of represent everyone's want to get lost within a fantasy, which is in part what this whole thing is all about. And there's nothing wrong with getting lost in a good fantasy.

"East of Neverland, West of the Lamppost" was kind of beginning of the end for me, and the beginning of a beginning. When I wrote this the first time around, my style kind of took a flying leap and evolved like a Pokemon up to the next level - it was, no arrogance intended, a lot better than anything I had written beforehand. It was one of the major contributing factors behind deciding to do the rewrite - and I don't regret it. It's still one of my favourite chapters - getting to combine all the elements of the fantasies that Stef loves, and having her grow up a little and decide that maybe she can give the real world another go, I just...really like it.

Plus it has Hook, and Hook makes everything better. Totally blame Talk Like a Pirate Day for Hook existing, I just thought it was a cute idea, and everything kind of grew from there. I think, had I been writing it now, I would have added a few more chapters of Lost/Hook in, but I think it's still pretty good as it stands. It says what it needs to say without delving into too much detail, which can be explored at a later time.