Hey Guys,
A guest post from the inspirational Evelyn Puerto discussing worldbuilding for newly released Fantasy novel and how she’s managed it. So without further ado, I’m gonna let her take it away.
Enjoy.
Worldbuilding
If you’re a lover of fantasy, then you know the delight of immersing yourself in a book and the world where the story takes place. I still remember finishing the Narnia books and longing to be able to open a door and find my way there. Or wishing that Middle Earth existed, and I could actually spend some time in it.
Now that I’ve published two fantasy novels, I have a deeper appreciation for the art of worldbuilding. While I won’t go as far as creating my own language, I did try to make my world uniquely my own, what one reviewer called “a remarkable fantastical dystopian world.”
Many have asked me how I managed build my world. The short answer is that it’s a process.
Although I wish it did, the world of Tlefas didn’t spring into being overnight. I worked on it on and off for six year before publishing the first book in the series. The first few years were a lot of trial and error. Lots of lame and boring ideas.
Then I discovered that there are lots of tools out there for worldbuilders, some helpful, others not so much. After sorting through several, I found some that were truly amazing.
One of the best is Janeen Ippolito’s Worldbuilding from the Inside Out. Her book provides a guide for thinking through a world and a culture, helping the writer come up with a logical society bolstered by rich detail.
For example, every culture needs a way to keep time. Educate the young. And take out the trash.
Beyond that, every culture has its own games. So I created one that traders would play while they’re on the road. Same for marriage rules, religion and art. The climate and geography also shape the culture, as do other cultures in the world.
Ippolito’s book helped me think through some of these issues. Much of this brainstorming hasn’t made it into my books (yet), but it has grounded the world in a system that makes sense.
Then I stumbled on two books that are entertaining reads for just about anyone, worldbuilders or not. The first was What Kings Ate and Wizard Drank: A Fantasy Lover’s Food Guide. This was a priceless reference work on thinking through food issues in a vaguely medieval culture.
The author rightly calls out writers who have their characters eating strawberries in winter, when the technology of the day doesn’t include hothouses or a means to transport perishable foods from warmer climates when the berries are out of season. It gave me a springboard for thinking through what people ate, how food was prepared and what adult beverages they made.
The second resource was Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders: A Writer’s and Editor’s Guide to Keeping Historical Fiction Free of Common Anachronisms, Errors & Myths. This entertaining little book not only helped me avoid a few mistakes but spurred my own imagination in new directions.
In case you’re wondering about the title, it has to do with the fact that in much of the world, women didn’t wear underpants until the advent of indoor plumbing. Think about it. If you need to do your business on the side of the road, it’s a lot more modest to shift your skirts and squat, rather than try to remove a tight-fitting garment and replace it. Medieval Underpants is packed with all kinds of entertaining facts like that.
Armed with those resources, I was able to refine my world. And then I got to thinking. How could I make my world more unique? Everyone has a king. What else could I call my ruler? What about the Prime Konamei? Mayors are boring. But an Ephor—that’s not someone you run into every day.
Just making those little changes added a dimension of fresh wonder to my world.
So on and on it went. I’d write some, come up with world building elements to flesh out, and add to what I knew about Tlefas and its residents. I’m gratified that so many readers found it easy to lose themselves in the world I created.
If you’d like to explore it more fully, check out Flight of the Spark and Flicker of the Flame.
Evelyn Puerto reads just about anything and writes in multiple genres. When she married, she inherited three stepdaughters, a pair of step-grandsons, and a psychotic cat. Currently she writes from South Carolina.
She’s the author of the award-winning Beyond the Rapids, and the first two books of the Outlawed Myth YA fantasy series, Flight of the Spark and Flicker of the Flame. To follow her adventures in writing, stop by www.evelynpuerto.com and subscribe to her newsletter. Or follow her on Facebook or Bookbub as @evelynpuerto.
Links:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L4H3DRY
https://www.facebook.com/Author.Evelyn.Puerto
https://www.bookbub.com/welcome