The Idea for the Scrolls – How it Developed

In ATLANTIS: BEARER OF FRUIT, one of the first mystical items discovered is the Rataka Scroll of Water. While I was working on the third draft of this novel, I happened to see a trailer (movie preview) for the NARNIA film DAWN TREADER. A clip of an old man unrolling a scroll caught my attention. From the TV preview, I thought the scroll was floating in air even though it actually falls to the floor in the movie.

After seeing that, I became dissatisfied with my plain papyrus and decided that the magical element had to be beefed-up. I went back, rewrote all the chapters with the scroll, and made it so the scroll floated in mid-air. Next, I decided I had to outdo the NARNIA scroll even more, so I decided that each scroll (Water, Fire, Air) would be made out of the element it represented.

A new scroll is revealed in each of the three novels. As you have seen in the first one, the Scroll of Water floats in mid-air, is made from liquid, and passages popup above its surface with the letters made from water. The scroll also speaks and as it reads the popped-up passage, the letters splash back into the surface of the scroll. 

A big thanks the creator of the NARNIA TV Trailer, which made me think I was seeing more than I was. It motivated me to do better.