I am so excited to finally share my story for the Bloomburrow set for Magic: the Gathering!
When I was first approached to work on this, everything about it appealed to me. So cute! So wholesome! Adventure and community and nature and talking animals? Sign me up! But I was also intimidated, because I’d never read a single Redwall book, and I knew at a glance that it would be a huge touchstone for a lot of people, even if it wasn’t the only one. I armed myself with Mrs. Frisby and Tolkien and Diana Wynne Jones and Frog and Toad and other pastoral vibes, and went to work.
Thanks to the outline and guidance of the story leads, what I got to write was one of my favorite stories ever. Helga, a neurodivergent frog artist with a gift for prognostication, struggles to find her place in the world. Mabel, married mouse mother of three, leads her team of neighbors on a long and dangerous journey with her family’s magical heirloom sword for protection. There’s fighting and spells, fun and drama, giant beasts representing forces of nature, and through it all, there’s hope and light and friendship and love. There’s small people without big powers being brave and helping each other as best they can, even when it’s hard.
And, of course, lots of descriptions of food!
I did so much research on the actual animals I was writing for this, from basic stats like their typical sizes and colorations, to their body language cues and what sounds they make, to, as noted, what they eat. It was super fun coming up with particular gestures and quirks of movement and voices for each character, as well as the overall speech patterns and narrative style. Ensemble casts are always a challenge, because you want everyone to shine, and I’m really happy with all the special moments I was able to give the individual characters.
I also dug into the various plants perhaps more than any sane person should. What would be flowering at a given time? What sorts of things grow in particular climates? How big would a certain flower be in comparison to a mouse or rabbit or frog? What part of the plant is edible or would make a good tisane? I went down so many rabbit holes for this, pun extremely intended.
Perhaps what I most loved was being able to write two things that are personal to me: neurodivergence and family. I channeled a lot of my own experiences and those of my friends into Helga when it came to struggling with attention issues and hyperfocus and underachieving. I, too, zone out at inconvenient times, or disappear into my work and forget to do important stuff, especially eating. I am so clumsy; my super power is getting things caught on other things, even when it seems physically impossible to do so. If I look at a cable, it tangles up and is guaranteed to trip me at some point. And I have imposter syndrome and rejection sensitivity that gang up on me at the worst times and make me want to walk into a lake and burrow into the mud and never talk to anyone again. But I persevere, and so does Helga!
I’m also a mom and a wife, and while I’m not nearly as cool as Mabel, I love my husband and kids and wanted to avoid the kinds of sitcom stereotypes we often see for family relationships. Many of us have issues with partners and parents, but in this specific story, I aimed for aspirational and happy and healthy to fit the overall tone. I showed the kinds of love and deep affection and tender moments that I wish we could have more of, in fiction and the real world. When my husband read it, he kept recognizing bits of our lives that I peppered in, and being able to do that was such a source of joy for me.
I’m hoping to do a full behind the scenes write-up of stuff at some point, the way Seanan McGuire does for her stories, but for now I’ll gladly answer anyone’s questions to the best of my ability, either here or on socials.
And for the record, if I was in Bloomburrow, I would probably be a birdfolk. Caw!
enjoyed listening. Very good
Really loved the story!!! Helga especially was just so relatable, and that description of food in Episode 1 was definitely making me hungry – all of the pastoral moments were lovely to read.
I am curious if you have anything to say about the dragonstorm(s), or if that’s something we’ll just have to wait and see about.
Ca-caw!
Alas, I know nothing about the overall dragonstorm arc beyond what’s in the story. The story team keeps stuff super secret even from us writers! I’m excited to see what happens, too.
Great to hear from you about the story and how you relate. It was charming and amazing, we wish we had more than just five chapters to get cozy in your style. The individual mannerisms and turn of phrase you gave the various species was darling and I cannot gush enough about your choices. I think my only grievance is that the setting uses the word ‘ossuary’ incorrectly. It’s a place for the storage (and sometimes made from) bones. C’mon Wizards. At any rate I hope you continue to get work, and look foreward to more that you write and do!
Thanks for the writing, this history is delightful, warmth and pure!
Hi Valerie, I absolutely loved your story for Bloomburrow, even more so because the aesthetic of the plane didn’t appeal to me at first – your characters and narrative really helped not only bring the plane to life, but helped me fall in love with its inhabitants! Like I cannot express how much I love how Mabel just wants to be a baker and be with her family but is *so* ready to put on her ass-kicking boots when the need rises.
I’m an (extremely) amateur writer myself; I’ve only been doing it for a few months while I’m between jobs, but I’ve really enjoyed doing it. Is there any advice you wish you had gotten when you were first starting out? So far I’ve just been writing a bunch of short stories that would fit into an overarching narrative that I’ve spent time mapping out. I’m really quite happy with how’ve they’ve turned out so far, but I find myself wondering what the hell I’m going to do with it if I ever finish it.
Once again, I loved the narrative you’ve woven! Ral cursing Jace for forcing him to go to a plane where he has to be an otter will never not be hilarious.
Ral is gonna kill Beleren*!!
I wish more people had told me to lean into my own weirdness when I started out, so that’s the thing I tend to tell people most often now. Take chances, make mistakes, get messy. Your early writing time is when you figure out your process and your interests and aesthetic preferences, without having any pressure to produce any particular thing or stick with your Brand or whatever. Have fun with it!
*not literally but he’s going to imagine doing it if nothing else
Hi, this has been my favorite MtG story I’ve read! I see that you hadn’t read the redwall series, but even then you nailed the feeling and overall vibe that those books inspire (at least for me). I was already excited for this mtg set, but as someone who loves stories and lore for things, this was a wonderful gem and I hope we get to alder more of the world ( and of Helga and Mabel!) soon. Thanks!
Also, loved Ral in this and how he didn’t know what to do with his tail, made it easy to see how a human would have a hard time with a new appendage!
Your story really brought the magic to Magic the Gathering. Thank you so much for this wonderful tail!