My Adventures in Worldbuilding
There’s something about worldbuilding that is so immersive, so fun, that I keep doing it time and again. And I don’t mean just adding to the existing worlds and universes I’ve already written stories for. I keep creating more worlds entirely.
I have too many ideas to cram into one literary universe, and some of them won’t work within the rules of those I’ve already created. New worlds arise to accommodate my new stories, and I’m now up to…at least four distinct universes for books that have been or will be published. There are dozens of others featured in stories that will never grace my readers’ eyes.
I realize I’ve discussed elements of my worldbuilding in the context of individual books, but not as an overall theme. So here goes.
The Relics of War series, Serpentus, and The Ballad of Alchemy and Steel
All of these stories are set in the same world, at about the same time in that world’s history. I initially started working on what became The Relics of War in the late ‘90s, way back in my teenage years. It started out as the story of Arianna Janis (a character some might recall being mentioned in the final trilogy), but evolved into something far more expansive.
I started my first worldbuilding journey with this series and began by making notes about the world, its various people and cultures, its gods, its magic… The first notebook I used for this purpose is now so tattered the cover is missing. I’m not sure what happened to it over the years. My notes later encompassed a second notebook, which at this point in time, is also stuffed with typed notes and the outlines I used to write the series published in 2022.
Flipping through this notebook brings back a lot of memories. I used to make notes in it during class (particularly if I was bored, which happened a lot in math and English.) And it was during those boredom-fueled sessions that I wrote a significant portion of the original drafts.
Not only did I find my love of writing in those years, but I discovered a love of worldbuilding as well.
The Caein Legacy and The Mage War Chronicles
I took a significant departure from notebook-based worldbuilding in my twenties and early thirties, but made a return when I started writing Exile. I was bursting with so many new ideas for this series that I couldn’t possibly remember them all. I also had access to fancier notebooks by that time.
Both series are set on the same world, about a thousand years apart. The Caein Legacy was conceived first; The Mage War Chronicles didn’t start to coalesce as a real idea until I was writing Harbinger. There was so much to this world that I wanted to explore, so much history a certain someone discusses with Andrew that I couldn’t leave it at that. I wanted to fill up that space in the world’s history, and thus, The Mage War Chronicles was born.
The world for these stories is vastly different than that of The Relics of War. There are dragons. The magic has stricter “rules” and isn’t nearly as powerful (in most cases.) And the Corodan are just freaking cool. No, I won’t apologize for my love of giant insects. There’s also an aquatic race (which you won’t get to actually see until The Mage War Chronicles starts to publish, but I loved writing the underwater scenes.)
I loved exploring all of this world’s possibilities. But I wasn’t finished building worlds there.
Wraith and the Revolution
I’ve mentioned this one is a standalone, but it’s also the longest book I’ve written to date. And it’s sci-fi (space opera.) Because I’m a scientist outside of writing, this book was so much fun to work on. I could incorporate some real world science for the first time, but also play around a little bit with some creative elements.
There’s a sentient species evolved from plants, the Botanaari. They’re green (yep, photosynthetic), but like a Venus flytrap, they have a highly insect-based diet too.
I tinkered a bit with a possible future Earth in this one as well. I’ll admit I’ve painted a pretty bleak picture of our home world, but it sets the stage for our main character’s story. Oh, and there are cyborgs. And plasma weapons. And multiple other planets to visit. It has its own notebook too.
I’m planning to publish Wraith and the Revolution in mid-2025, and I can’t wait to share more details about it with all of you. (First glimpses of everything from character art, to cover design, to early chapters will be available through my newsletter. You can sign up here: Newsletter)
And finally, my (maybe) standalone fantasy WIP
Yep, I’m back to writing fantasy again, and on yet another new world. This one is more modern day-esque, with cars and “dragon tech” that powers everything from video screens to portable communication devices and ghost-hunting equipment.
Yes, you read that right. Ghost-hunting equipment. The idea for this story came up as my husband and I were watching a ghost-hunting series based in Ireland a few months ago (unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of the show right now.) I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic, since every single episode of every show I’ve watched has come up with pretty much nothing concrete to support their claims. But I started to think, what if I made a ghost hunting theme set in a fantasy world? It could be a lot of fun.
And it so is. This is probably the most light-hearted book I’ve worked on to date, and…it’s sort of looking like it might be more of a romance than I originally planned. (Blame the necromancer. It’s his fault, not mine.)
And since I’ve started to use my fancy notebooks, this one has its own too. I’m planning for this to be a standalone, but there might be more, just because I’m having so much fun with these characters and their possibilities.
I have no idea when this one will release—I don’t even have a title for it yet—but it’s in the works.
Over the course of my life, I’ve done a lot of worldbuilding. It’s fun, and I don’t think I’m going to stop any time soon.
