"Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us... So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them. Male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:26-27

Reading those words brings me joy. I'm created in God's image! As a woman, I'm not a derivative of a derivative (man). No, I was created directly in God's image, an equal, complementary partner.

God is the designer and creator of the universe, the source of all wisdom and language, the righteous judge of character and actions. Because God created me to be like Him, I possess the ability to think and create, the desire to communicate with others, and a capacity to distinguish good from evil.

Writing high fantasy literature lets me mimic God in several ways.  Like God, I become the architect and engineer of a new world (see the map of the land of Hoi, above) and of unique characters (such as Grandmother Upstairs and Whimsy Gatan). Writing provides me with a way to connect and communicate with others, to share and sharpen my understanding of the world. The heart of the story demands a struggle between good and evil. In essence, I--like God--become the Begetter. From the viewpoint of my audience, I'm a supreme and invisible over-king.

When I first started writing Penny and the Seer's Ballad, I toyed with the idea of making the Begetter an actual character in the story (something like Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe); I also toyed with creating a triumvirate to reflect the Trinity (Grandmother Upstairs to play the part of the Father; Yo He to play the part of the Son; and Qiao Miao to play the part of the Holy Spirit).

Then I realized that logistically I would have problems creating a believable story line: Where is the conflict--the struggle--if an omniscient, omnipotent being is always there to fix things? And so the Begetter had to recede into a vague and elusive obscurity of sorts. He is a character of mystery, and it pleases me to reveal His uniqueness in stages. After the Begetter's name crops up several times, Penny learns the following:

“My family came from a faraway land ruled by the Over-King, the Begetter," Grandmother Upstairs began. "Perhaps you have heard of him?”

Penny’s eyes grew big, and she moved her head with a quick short nod.

“Good,” said Grandmother Upstairs. “The Begetter is not someone that anyone sees in person very often—at least not anymore, but nevertheless, he is a dear, dear friend of mine. I grew up with him as a child and came to love him with all my heart. He has strange ways that are nothing at all like our manner of doing things. We still keep in touch after all these years, though I often move from place to place. He sends his messages through the birds.”

“Like a carrier pigeon?” Penny asked.  “Gigi did a report on them for school.”

“Well, something like that,” replied Grandmother Upstairs.

“How do you know the messages are from the Begetter?” Penny asked.

Grandmother Upstairs laughed with a trilling tinkle. “My dear, I simply recognize the manner of his message. You would too, if you had spent some time with him.”

“But how?” Penny asked.

“How?” Grandmother Upstairs echoed. “It is something like your drawing of me, Penny. You captured something unusual about the way I looked. Neither Qiao Miao nor I had to ask you whose picture you had made. We both knew – we recognized that unusual manner. It was that way with the message yesterday morning.”

“Yesterday morning?” Penny asked. “When I was on my way to school?”

“Yes. It was quite urgent too. He insisted that I quit making banana castles and go immediately to the spice shop to rescue a small package of peony. I see now that he meant you. He has quite a sense of humor; it is one of his traits that delight me the most.”

“He knew about me?” Penny asked, astonished.

Grandmother Upstairs nodded. “Now, I assume that since he specifically said to rescue the small package of peony – that something important happened to you yesterday. I am most curious to know what.”

Although the first draft of my novel is basically finished, I have a lot of work to do to make this part of the story line consistent and cohesive. It's not easy playing God. It's actually lots of work!