Previewing Changing Skies, Book #2: Hidden Moon
BY JAMES OF THE STORY TEAM
Second books in Warriors arcs are often the most challenging to plot. Their placement has them following a book that has (hopefully) grabbed readers’ attention, with a story that has them intrigued and eager to know more – about the point-of-view characters, about the problems that are now facing the Clans – but that also precedes four additional titles that will make up the larger story. As a creative team, we are tasked with telling a story that makes good on the promise of that first title but also leaves us plenty of material to explore in subsequent books. Even after more than a decade of working on this series, this conundrum never gets any easier to solve!
One of the ways we in the Story Team make life a little easier for ourselves is by approaching the development with character, rather than plot, at the forefront of our minds. The question we usually ask ourselves at the start of development is not, What happens next? (Although – full disclosure – we do ask ourselves, and each other, that question, with varying degrees of helplessness evident in the pitch of our voices!) No, the question with which we usually begin is, Where are our characters at, emotionally, going into the start of this story? We realized early on that what was driving each of them was a search for purpose.
With that in mind, let’s check in with the five Clans, as well as our point-of-view characters, going into this still-very-early stage of our ninth story arc, Changing Skies.
THE WIDER CLANS
In Hidden Moon, we see that the Clans are considering the possibility of leaving the lake territories in search of a new home, just as they did all the way back in The New Prophecy. The sudden silence of StarClan in the wake of increased Twoleg activity (destructive renovations and development) cutting off access to the Moonpool has them worrying that their time by the lake might be at an end. If individual cats are struggling with a lack of purpose, then the collective groups of cats are facing the prospect of a lack of guidance and direction. Older, veteran cats will know full well the dangers of such circumstances – they will fear the five Clans being brought into conflict, as well as the individual Clans’ prospects of maintaining order and structure, without StarClan’s guidance. What happens, for example, if an appointed leader is not able to receive their nine lives?
We are about to find out…
MOONPAW
Poor Moonpaw! It feels very unfair that a cat so young should be dealing with the kind of emotional difficulties that would weaken the resolve of a warrior many moons older than her. Realizing that only she can hear the voice in her head led her to consider abandoning her training as a ThunderClan warrior, to train instead as a medicine cat. Despite showing an affinity for medicine and healing, she remains uncertain, as well as unsettled by the voice’s persistence. Things came to a head when the voice (who has appeared to her in the form of a pale orange cat, reflected in the lake water) aided her in locating Sunkit after the orange tabby tom went missing, along with his littermates, only for Sunkit to claim that he was following Moonpaw out of the nursery. This revelation, combined with what she learned from Bayshine and Thriftear about her unfortunate littermate – an orange-furred kit who did not survive – has her very confused, and understandably worried about her sanity, but she can’t help wondering if the lost kit is trying to reach her from StarClan, for reasons currently unknown…
In Hidden Moon, Moonpaw is troubled by dreams of the orange cat, whose voice took on a malevolent edge toward the end of The Elders’ Quest. Her guilt at being the kit who survived, as well as the unexplained “disappearance” of StarClan has her wondering if her sibling, whose name she learns later on in this book, might somehow be “stranded” between life and the afterlife.
TAWNYPELT
We were intrigued by the possibility of including Tawnypelt’s perspective in this arc because we felt that hers would both contrast with and complement that of Leafstar (who we knew pretty early on in the development of The Elders’ Quest that we wanted to feature as a POV character for the first book). Where Leafstar is a long-time leader of the Clan who is now questioning her suitability for the role, Tawnypelt (a character first seen in The Prophecies Begin) is a respected veteran member of ShadowClan who is neither leader nor deputy, nor quite ready for the elders’ den. We felt that this lack of a clear identity – and with it, a sense of purpose and direction – in her Clan would create an interesting story arc for Tawnypelt. Her natural inclination to take charge of situations would potentially bring her into conflict with her son, Tigerstar, the leader of ShadowClan. And if this wasn’t enough of a strain on their relationship, Tawnypelt has also served as a sounding board for her grandson, Birchfeather, as he formulated his plan to leave ShadowClan for SkyClan, and his new love, Ridgeglow – something that Tigerstar and Dovewing take very badly when the truth is revealed. Things got even worse for Tawnypelt when she was “rumbled” in the act of sacrificing prey caught fair and square so that Birchfeather can pass the first of his SkyClan trials.
She has also been without a mate for many seasons following the death of Rowanclaw, her longtime mate with whom she had kits. This prompted us to ask what it might take for her heart to open up to the possibility of late-in-life love – and if so, with whom might she find that love? The team very quickly settled on Crowfeather as the tom who was not only the one who could conceivably spark “certain feelings” within Tawnypelt, but who also came with the sort of baggage (his status as WindClan deputy, his history of doomed romances) that made any path to love a potentially treacherous one. In Hidden Moon, we see Tawnypelt continue to ponder the possibility of opening up her heart to another cat, while also tussling with her feelings of guilt regarding moving on from Rowanclaw. While walking in dreams with Tawnypelt, Rowanclaw has insisted that he simply wants her to be happy, and early in Hidden Moon, she thinks to herself that she doesn’t need Rowanclaw (or his permission) to be happy, so what could it be that is holding her back? Our new book takes time to explore Tawnypelt’s myriad conflicting feelings over exactly how she is going to fill the newfound voids in her life.
STARLINGPAW
We’re taking the slightly unusual step of switching our SkyClan POV character in this second book from Leafstar to Starlingpaw. As will hopefully become apparent as Changing Skies progresses (the team has just finished plotting the fifth book in the arc), it was always the plan for Starlingpaw to become a very significant character in the world of Warriors. The reason we opted to tell The Elders’ Quest partially from Leafstar’s point of view is twofold: 1) We anticipated that being in Leafstar’s head as she started to lose her grip on her leadership of SkyClan would make that story far more compelling than if we were in Starlingpaw’s; and 2) We knew that the death of Kitescratch would be a real punch (claw) in the gut if seen through Leafstar’s failing eyes. (While the scene would have still been potentially dramatic and affecting from Starlingpaw’s perspective, it would have lacked mystery and suspense.)
Tawnypelt might be a cat who is grappling with her own lack of purpose but, as Hidden Moon opens, she is unaware that she might have unwittingly stirred a strong sense of purpose in the heart of a young SkyClan apprentice, Starlingpaw. Believing that Tawnypelt’s semi-lucid mumblings during a period of convalescence in SkyClan’s camp are a message meant only for him, this young apprentice becomes convinced that he is the only cat taking this threat to the Clans seriously. How will an unexperienced apprentice “wake up” the older, more experienced warriors around him?
One more Easter egg for savvy fans to look out for in HIDDEN MOON: a kit named Shykit is born, who just MIGHT eventually become a warrior named Shyfrost, the name chosen for a character by one of the Hub contest winners. (Don’t worry, Rufus, the other name chosen, will make an appearance later in the series!)
We are as thrilled as always to have another Warriors book out in the world and hope that Hidden Moon serves to whet appetites for Chasing Shadows, due out in the spring!
PS – It is almost the one-year anniversary of my post that marked the 20th birthday of my family’s cat, Mille, for whom the kittypet-turned-ThunderClan warrior was named, and I have the sad duty of letting our readers know that, two weeks ago – 30 days away from her 21st birthday – Millie went to StarClan. She will be much missed, but we’re thankful for the more than two decades we had with her. May StarClan light her path…
