Note: This post first appeared in my newsletter on 1 April 2023.

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Writing Black Witch Rising has led me down some interesting pathways.

The interactions between Puck Aefre and Nessa, for example, have been incredibly illuminating.

While writing a particular scene in which Puck demonstrates some powerful magic, I realized that Nessa had no true, consistent role model for magical usage. Auntie O doesn't really count: she's a bit too flighty and doesn't use magic for much more than divination.

With Puck, Nessa has a chance to see how magic works on a different scale. She's always thought of herself as weak because of the twin effects of having her magic bound at a young age, thus rendering her nearly incapable of using it, and her (mistaken) belief that she's only a half-witch.

Her views on this are changing, in part because of Puck's ease with her own magic.

Being powerful in that way levels the playing field. When you're a small woman facing much more physically powerful creatures (vampires and werewolves, for example), it's easy to place yourself on a lower, lesser rung.

But witches in the Crossville Supernaturals world are not powerless. They are, in fact, equally as powerful as vampires and werewolves, in their own way.

Many witches know this intuitively, or have learned it over time through continued practice and exploration.

Nessa was largely robbed of that practice and exploration, her "one puny rune" being the sole exception.

I did not deliberately build her this way for the sake of social commentary; Nessa came to me believing herself a weak half-witch, and then showed me her story. I'm not a huge believer in message fiction, but I don't mind taking advantage of a natural message when it's delivered to me on a silver platter.

I have never believed that women were less powerful than men, only powerful in a different way, and that does seep into my fiction.

Nessa is coming into her own power as a woman and a witch. It's a beautiful thing to see.