On 1 March I started a Romance in Fantasy post series on the Supernatural Underground by looking at the novel of The Lord Of The Rings, chiefly because it’s influenced fantasy literature and the epic fantasy subgenre so profoundly.

All of which got me thinking about the three The Lord of The Rings(LoTR) films as well. Then last Friday, on an unexpected road trip, I heard a review of music soundtracks and their composers, in this case Howard Shore. The piece of music featured was Evenstar, from the first film in the LoTR trilogy, The Fellowship Of The Ring:

Evenstar

Arwen Evenstar

Evenstar is a beautiful piece of music and I really enjoyed listening to it again.  But I was also thinking, “How can it be eighteen years (this year) since The Fellowship Of The Ring was first released?

It really does feel very close to yesterday… “As far away as yesterday and as long ago as forever”, to paraphrase Ursula Le Guin.

I remember waiting for the film to come out with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Anticipation because I love the story and wanted to see it on the big screen; trepidation because I dreaded that it would be Truly Awful, as so many fantasy films before it had been.
.

Meetings in dark places: Aragorn as Strider

The feeling of delight when Fellowship was not awful remains as fresh as if it truly were yesterday that I saw the film. Favourite moments include the first appearance of the Black Riders; the hobbits first encounter with Aragorn in his guise as Strider, the flight to the fords, and waking in Rivendell.

Of the three LoTR films, Fellowship is still my favourite, partly because of those feelings of relief and delight. I also think it works the best because the main characters are together in the fellowship.

Still my favourite…

In the later films, we have to follow three and then four main threads: Frodo and Sam; Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli; Merry and Pippin together, and then Merry and Pippin separately. This made the films longer, which in turn led to some sequences being featured over others, which is always difficult for the avid reader and fan.

Still, it was great to rehear the Evenstar theme again and recall those moments of delight—eighteen years later! 🙂

The Wall of Night Series map; artist Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is traversing the full range of gazetted locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now the series has resumed to traverse the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

Like the previous entry, the Ship’s Prow House, today’s entry is a new listing, i.e. Daughter of Blood specific. 😉

UK/AU/NZ

—

Ships’ Shrine: The House of Sea’s memorial to their lost ships, located in the Sea Keep
.

“But,” Nimor repeated, “if the essence of a lost ship had returned, especially after so many centuries, it could not be kept hidden. The whole of Sea would be alight with the news. Yet I heard nothing before I left.”

USA

“You weren’t meant to!” Affronted, Faro nearly threw off Khar’s restraining hand. “Che’Ryl-g-Raham made me wait until the very last night before we left with your company, and then go to the Ships’ Shrine just before dawn.” He remembered how quiet it had been…creeping along the dock and into the dark shrine where the likeness of another ship’s prow had awaited his coming, its watchful eyes open. “I put my hand on it, exactly like Che’Ryl-g-Raham said, and a light came out of me and went into the shrine. Pha’Rho-l-Ynor’s name vanished off the plinth at once, and I could hear all the other ships, speaking to me from around the harbor: welcoming me.”

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 60 — Old Blood

Last month, I signalled my decision to make 2019 the Year of Romance (#YOR) on the Supernatural Underground by talking about Romance in Fantasy Fiction (#RIFF.)

Friday being the 1st of March, I kicked the series off with Post the First, titled:

Romance in Fantasy Fiction: The Lord Of The Rings Effect

In some ways it may seem an unusual place to start when the theme is romance, especially when you consider this paragraph from the lead-in:

Not quite like this in the book…

“The reason I want to start with LoTR is because it’s so hugely influential, particularly in the epic fantasy subgenre. And yet it’s also a story in which romance is almost entirely missing-in-action—a trend that has come to characterize the epic fantasy subgenre as a whole.”

I hope, though, that once you read on you’ll agree there’s not only method in my madness, but my rationale may even be rational. 😀

If you enjoy the read, please pass the word along. If you prefer more romance in your Year of Romance, then I hope next month’s book and post will be closer to your aspiration. 😉

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate the books in which the character appears.)

—

UK/AU/NZ

USA

Girvase: a knight in training, in the southern realm of Emer

“A clangor shattered the morning’s peace, followed by voices shouting. Still half asleep, Carick fumbled the shutters open, shading his eyes against the early sun. Girvase and Hamar were circling each other in the center of the yard, swords in hand, while their comrades yelled from the perimeter. Carick recognized Malisande and Alianor, looking down from the loft, while Raher, Audin, and Jarna stood just inside the gate. The two combatants continued to cut and thrust, their faces intense with concentration. When Carick leaned further out, he could see Ser Bartrand striding down the hill, with Col, the Master Archer, beside him.”

~  from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 14 — Maister Gervon
.

UK/AU/NZ

USA

“The tune he whistled beneath his breath was from one of the Emerian songs of springtime love. For a few moments he could have been back in the small gray castle with Audin and Jarna working close at hand, while Girvase and Raher sparred in the yard and the damosels called out encouragement. “

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 7 — Fire and Water

The Wall of Night Series map; artist Peter Fitzpatrick

Last week I posted On Worldbuilding, in which I talked about approaches to speculative fiction worldbuilding in a general way, in response to a question on Good Reads. This week I thought it might be fun to take a closer look at what (I believe) informs my own worldbuilding.

In particular, last week I mentioned that the “body” of worldbuilding having a “spine”, such as a period in history, which can then provide a guide in terms of events, personalities, culture, technology, clothes, social mores, and potentially landscape as well. (If one models the world on the place where a distinctive society or culture evolved, or formative events took place.)

This UK cover deliberately referenced the world’s Historical influences

Another “spine” could be the importance of geography and the natural world that strongly imbues the iconic and highly influential Fantasy works of JRR Tolkien and Ursula K Le Guin.

I re-mention history and the natural world specifically, because I believe they are probably the two strongest influences on my own worldbuilding. While I don’t “consciously” pre-worldbuild, which I believe authors such as Julie Czerneda and Brandon Sanderson both do, I am deeply interested in history and have always read widely in terms of both nonfiction and fictional works on the topic.

The aspect of the world referenced in this cover is the influential dream scape

Similarly, I am deeply interested in the overlaps between environment, landscape, and culture. And when a person spends a lot of time exploring, reading, studying, and thinking about any topic, it’s hard to see how that would not have considerable influence, however subconscious, when embarking on fictional worldbuilding.

In terms of my published work, I believe the historical influence is most evident in Thornspell, which evolved as a Middle European-style kingdom very much in the style of the Holy Roman Empire and its affiliated states in the early Renaissance period. The period is recognized in terms of clothes, technology (which includes armour, weapons etc) and the broadbrush of how the nobility live.

The main character is a prince so that’s why the focus on  the nobility, although the background of the world includes references to how other sectors of society live. There’s even the occasional reference to wider influences such as the evolution of swordplay, technology such as telescopes, and games such as tennis.

Keeping the focus “fantastic” .

But because Thornspell is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty from the perspective of the prince, the main focus of the story and the world remains on the fairytale and its resolution. So I do not delve further into the wider events of the period in developing the story, such as the threat posed to Middle Europe by the might of the Ottoman Empire, or the divisions within Christianity as the Protestant religions emerged to challenge the hegemony of the Roman Catholic church.

All fascinating stuff, but beyond the focus of the story I wanted to tell and so not part of the worldbuilding for this story.

The dark world informed the original US cover for HEIR

The wider conflicts that characterized this period and others throughout history, not excluding our own times, undoubtedly inform The Wall Of Night, but I have not drawn on any one particular period or conflict to inform the story, and by extension the worldbuilding. As discussed last week, a distortion of the natural world – that of a twilit, windblasted, and storm ridden environment – forms the primary “big idea” for building the world of Haarth. The environmental influence has remained strong as the world has evolved, because of the magic that imbues the world itself and takes different forms depending on the land and landscape in which the protagonists find themselves.

The historical influence does noticeably creep back, in parallel with the natural influence, in The Gathering Of The Lost (The Wall Of Night, Book Two.) In the realm of Emer, in particular, I have drawn – again, very broadly – on (what we now know as) France in the Dark and Middle Ages periods. So in terms of backstory, Caer Argent as the “isle of Emer” is based on the “Ile De France” as the ancient heart of the French kingdom.

The worldbuilding focus was continued in the US cover for GATHERING

Similarly, the role of Ormond holds echoes of the respective roles of semi-autonomous states such as Burgundy and Aquitaine in the development of France, while the “spring songs” nod to both the influence of the troubadors and the celebration of legendary figures such as Roland, Oliver, and Aude.

But because Emer is not France, those of you who are also history fans will understand, even from the one paragraph above, the extent to which I have “slipped” time periods and woven filaments from them together into a new whole that is Emer. The events, too, are not based on any particular historical events in any given period, so in that sense I really am talking historically influenced worldbuilding rather than historically guided storytelling or alternate history, both of which occupy distinct places (subgenres) in speculative literature.

Made-up worlds… Artist: PJ Fitzpatrick

As for the landscapes, whatever the historical influences may be, the description of the Argent Vale in The Gathering Of The Lost owes far more to Nelson in New Zealand than any region in France… (Just sayin’) 😉 As for the Northern March, while influenced by many wild and bleak landscapes I have experienced, when it comes to the particulars of the WALL story, I needs must own up – dear readers, I made it up! 😀

“The Heir Of Night” map: artist, Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is designed to traverse the full range of gazetted locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now the series has resumed to traverse the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

Today’s entry is a new listing, i.e. Daughter of Blood specific. 😉

—

USA

Ship’s Prow House: a private residence in the Southern Realms’ town of Grayharbor

The ship’s figurehead that gave their destination its name was set over the door of the largest house in the square. It always made Faro shiver, because rather than being the depiction of a heroine or hero out of story, it was a fierce-eyed mer-horse with a long horn spiraling from its forehead and ears pressed flat to its skull so it looked at least half serpent. The colors of the savage head and horn, and the scaled body, must have been brilliant once—gilt and scarlet and deeps-of-the-sea green—but now had grown faded as the flaking paint on all the house’s woodwork. The door was banded in iron, and despite the heavy hand on his shoulder Faro still took in that both the hinges and lock looked new.

UK/AU/NZ

The hasps on the shutters, too, he noted, squinting up—and saw that some wag, a ’prentice lad most likely, had left a worn chisel blade stuck into the figurehead’s spiraled horn.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 2 — The Serpent Prince

Recently on Good Reads (GR) I was asked a question about worldbuilding. I’m not terribly active on GR because there’s only so much social media a gal can do in a meaningful way and still write books and deal with realtime life, so questions are a relatively rare event. 😉

In this case, Zainab’s question was about worldbuilding and I thought required a little more thought than just a dashed off reply. I also thought others might find it interesting, so decided to share m’terribly important thoughts as a blog post. 🙂

Zainab was nice enough to say some complimentary things about my worldbuilding in the WALL series [twinkles] but I’ll focus on the key question:

“Can you give any tips on how to construct a…how do I put it…believable world? I’m finding it a bit trying…”

From one perspective this is a hard ask, because my worldbuilding is more intuitive than cerebral. By which I mean that I perceive the world really vividly and that’s what I write and develop in concert with the action of the story, rather than sitting down in advance and nutting out the detail of the world.

However, I still think there are some key elements incorporated into this approach that I can identify and which may help other worldbuilders, even those who prefer a more cerebral approach.

May include maps… (Design by Peter Fitzpatrick)

Experimentation:

Just as we’re all different in other ways, so too with worldbuilding: there isna going to be a “one size fits all” approach. If in doubt, though, try experimenting – approaching the worldbuilding in several different ways, e.g.:

• Think about the most compelling aspect of your world and write an opening scene that explores that and see how your thinking and the story evolves from there;
• Storyboard your world, i.e. sit down and map out how the world works in advance, using not only maps of terrain but also images of how it looks re landscape, architecture, people, their clothes etc
• Have some key headings such as: planet; continents; countries; geography; landscapes; vegetation; creatures; people; societies; culture; religion; technology; water, food, and other key resources. (And so on.) But even if you don’t feature all or any of them exhaustively in your story, you as author have to have an idea how they fit together – or even to consciously decide they don’t matter to your particular story at all so you can dispense with worldbuilding altogether.
• Daydream it: think about your world even when you’re not actually working on it. Allow it to colonize your mind and ‘doodle’ your ideas even when you don’t have time to write or world-build in earnest. (Keeping a notebook of some kind is really helpful for this.)

Approaches

In terms of the elements you’re exploring, though, and what you’re trying to achieve with your worldbuilding, here are a few more things to consider / play around with:

The Big Idea

I think it really helps to have a “big idea” that informs your world and therefore your worldbuilding. In The Wall Of Night series the original big idea was “darkness” – the idea of a “night world” in which the central protagonist/antagonist peoples are locked in age-old conflict. It was very influenced by my first reading of Norse myths (i.e. Diegotterdamerung: the twilight of the Gods) and also by books such as Alan Garner’s more Celtic influenced Elidor and – a little later – by Tolkien’s Beleriand in the backstory to The Lord of the Rings. (In its turn very influenced by Norse myth again, so there’s a certain circularity…)

As I grew up and my original world idea developed, I realized that a dark world, while atmospheric, made for challenging worldbuilding and difficult storytelling, so I revised the “darkness” back to more of a twilit world, with an accompanying stark and bleak landscape, that became the Wall of Night. I also originally thought the wall would be an actual constructed wall (like the Nightwatch’s Wall of Ice in A Game of Thrones) but the more I thought about it the more the “mountain range as shield-wall” idea took hold.

At which point I started writing, with the idea of the Wall shaping the Derai as they are first encountered, although as quickly becomes clear the Derai originally shaped the Wall, so “which came first” in terms of influence is by no means clearcut.

Other “Big Ideas” I (believe I) perceive in Fantasy worldbuilding, which pervade the stories, include:

• “Winter is Coming” – in George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice and Fire series (aka A Game Of Thrones)
• “The Everstorm” – in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive series
• “Land heirdom” – in Patricia McKillip’s The Riddlemaster of Hed series
• The four elements of fire, earth, air, and water – in Midori Snyder’s Orans’ Cradle series
• The language of music – in Anna Smaill’s The Chimes

Choose A “Spine” for Your Worldbuilding

If you think of a world as being similar to a human body, the spine is the central column, or core idea, that connects everything else.

Some of the key elements that are drawn upon for speculative fiction worldbuilding include:

• History: especially taking a particular period such as renaissance Italy in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana; the Carolingian era of European medieval history in Kate Elliot’s Crown of Stars series; medieval Korea in Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts Empire trilogy; and colonial North America in Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series.
• 

  Outstandingly influential worldbuilding

  Science: such as the strong emphasis on biology in Julie Czerneda’s worlds and again with Sanderson’s Everstorm and everything that flows from that; or music, its language and structure, in Anna Smaill’s The Chimes.

• Geography/Nature: outstanding examples include JRR Tolkien’s Middle Earth where a strong vision of nature and its forms shapes the characters’—and the readers’—experience of the world; also Ursula K Le Guin’s Earthsea and the archipelago, and Mary Victoria’s world tree in Tymon’s Flight (Chronicles of the Tree series.)

Live It, Breathe It, Experience Your World: Make It Sensory

In order for the world to be real for readers, it must first be real in your mind so that the characters can experience their surroundings in a real way.

One really important way of doing that is to remember that the characters must experience through their five senses, i.e. the reader must also know what the characters are seeing; hearing; smelling; touching; and – where appropriate – tasting.

Yet it is not enough to simply experience, the characters must also respond emotionally to what they experience. For example, in any given situation, does the character feel fear or horror, foreboding or doubt; happiness or confidence? Do they respond to stimuli with joy and delight, or disgust and loathing?

The reality of the worldbuilding will help you, as author, to know how your characters respond. It will also help your readers not only understand what’s going on for your characters, but to understand environment and world through their senses and perceptions, i.e. the world becomes real for all involved.

And that’s it: I don’t think there’s a great deal more I can say in terms of a few quick tips but I hope something in here will help. 🙂

.

© Helen Lowe, On Worldbuilding.

UK/AU/NZ

The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:

“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course!

(The quotes, together with the covers, indicate the books in which the character appears.)

—

USA

Gille:  Emerian knight in training, squire to Ser Rannart on the Northern March

The whispers, which had started to die down after the first few days, built again when reports of bolder raids by outlaw bands, this time accompanied by demons that were half man, half beast, began to filter in from outlying settlements. Lord Falk doubled the Normarch patrols in an effort to counteract the growing fear with bright steel and a show of strength, but the disquiet persisted.

“Werewolves, evil spirits, and blood-drinking ghouls,” Raher said with relish, one evening in the inn kitchen.

Arn snorted. “Everyone in the inner wards says that even the Oakward is just superstition, a hangover from the bitter years that followed the Cataclysm.”

Girvase raised one eyebrow, while Gille and Ado, two of Ser Rannart’s squires who had returned to Normarch for their vigil, exchanged a glance. “I’ve always liked the stories,” Gille said finally. “The secret circle that pushed back evil.”

~  from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 16 — Summer’s Eve

What I’m reading right now, and yes, really enjoying! (thought I’d get that out there right away 😉 ) is Julie Czerneda’s Search Image, the first in her new science fiction series, the Web Shifter’s Library.

It’s not the first Web series, though, but the second, bringing back the central characters from the Web Shifters series, chiefly Esen-alit-Quar and Paul Ragem/Cameron.

Canadian author, Julie Czerneda, has written nearly twenty novels now, most of them science fiction, so I’m not going to hide my head when I admit that I haven’t yet read the original Web Shifters series.  I’m almost certainly going to, though, since (as above) I am enjoying Search Image. I’m about half way through and so far, it’s a fun, adventurous story with plenty of Julie’s trademark worldbuilding and biologist’s take on fascinating species.

It’s also a book I can enjoy in its own right, without having read the preceding series: in part because it’s a new story but also because the backstory for the established characters is woven in as necessary for understanding (and without infodumping.)

Julie & me, NatCon 2009

If you like your science fiction with plenty of alien species and also space travel, humorous storytelling and engaging characters, then I suspect you’ll enjoy Search Image as much as I’m doing right now.

In terms of other aspects of the book that may be of interest, Julie used the names of friends and fellow travellers from the NZ speculative fiction community—met while here in 2009—as the source of character and place names. My friend Joff is there, masquerading as “Joffre sorbet”, while there’s also a continent called Lowesland… #JustSayin’ 😉

I am reading the hard copy version of Search Image, published by DAW in 2018. The book was made available to me by a friend, the Joffre of the Joffre sorbet. 😉

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series is designed to traverse the full range of gazetted locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the series explored locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now the series has resumed to traverse the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

—

UK/AU/NZ

USA

Sea Keep:  chief stronghold of the Derai Alliance’s Sea House
.

Even so, there were stories… Kalan had heard that there were weather workers in the Sea Keep who paced its walls in savage weather, their physical forms fraying into the elements.  Behavior like that drew attention, but it might be possible for those with lesser powers to survive undetected, even amongst other Derai.

~ from © The Heir Of Night, The Wall of Night Book One: Chapter 3 — Whispers in the Dark
.

UK/AU/NZ

USA

He paused, glancing toward the upstairs voices. “If I leave tonight I should catch up with the heralds. I can ride with them to Port Farewell and take ship for Grayharbor, then find another there to reach the Sea Keep. But I need to say good-bye to the others first, and see Jarn.” He took the gauntlets from his belt, but did not put them on. “I will meet you back here afterward and we can settle any other plans before I leave.” 

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost, The Wall of Night Book Two: Chapter 51 — Reports From The Wall
.

UK/AU/NZ

USA

“There is a memorial with twelve sides in the Sea Keep, lying between the shrines to Terennin, the Farseer, and Ornorith of the Two Faces.” Che’Ryl-g-Raham’s eyes flicked back to Kalan’s, as if sensing that he had encountered a space enclosed by twelve walls before. “The sides are paneled in alternating black and silver, each one depicting a distinctive pattern of stars, none of which belong to this world.” Again she paused, as if inviting his comment. “I was taught,” she continued, when he remained silent, “that they chart every star system we’ve traversed in our war with the Swarm, until we came through the Great Gate. They may even extend all the way back to the beginnings of the Derai. I had the engraving made,” she finished softly, “to remind me of that possibility.”

From the stars we came—and she was a navigator, so more than anyone else in the Derai would be mindful of that tradition.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 11 — Storm Spear