Building The World of Selkirk
Greetings friends of
the Paranormal Romance and More blog! I am so excited to be taking over the
blog today for a guest post, and sharing my fantasy novel with you all. I
thought there’d be no better way to share my work with you then to share how I
went about building the world my characters and their feral elves inhabit.
The first thing I
did was decide if Selkirk was going to have magic or not. You’d be surprised by
how crucial, and hard that was to decide. And sure, most people’s reaction is:
“MAGIC! Yes, all day everyday, magic!” which is usually my first reaction, too.
But for the world of
Selkirk, I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted a fantasy world that didn’t
lean on magic to conveniently explain complicated situations, or get my
characters out of trouble. So what fantasy world doesn’t have magic, but is still
in the fantasy realm? One that includes fantasy creatures, whose abilities lie
in their biology, not a talent to manipulate reality. Hence why Selkirk has
some brutal, feral elves, sentient trees, nomadic clans, a king and queen, but
not a lick of magic.
Next I had to decide
the geography of the area. I know that sounds tedious, but it’s actually pretty
vital. Otherwise things get muddled and your characters wander in circles
through geological areas that make no sense. I actually sat down and drew a map
of Selkirk, figuring out where all the towns were in relation to the cities,
where the rivers and lakes were located, and even mapping where important
events or people were located, so when my characters travelled, I knew exactly
where they were, which really helps readers figure out where everyone is, too.
Then I figured out what country I wanted to base Selkirk on so everything from
the climate to the food fit as well (spoiler: I based it on Scotland).
Once I knew how the
world functioned, and how the land of Selkirk not only looked, but felt, it was
easier to plop my characters in and have them react in a realistic way. Their
colloquialisms, the clothes they wore, their tolerance for the wet and cold,
all became little nuggets of detail that helped make my characters feel
complete, and that’s all because I built (or, drew in this case) the island
nation of Selkirk from the ground up and populated it with creatures that fit
nicely into not just the plot and story, but the world as a whole.
This process is one
I’ve used a few times as Selkirk is just one of the countries that my
characters visit over the course of the entire series. While each country is
unique with their varying geographies and customs, they all still fit within
the larger world as a whole, one where the fantasy creatures and religion
adhere to the universal truths I have established. And no magic, sorry.
So, in a nut shell,
that’s how I go about world building and how the lands in “The Monster of
Selkirk” all came to be! I’d love to know if you have any questions about my
process. You can reach out to me on Facebook or my
website, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for letting me take over the blog
today, and I hope you enjoy “The Monster of Selkirk Book I: The Duality of Nature”!
The Monster Of Selkirk
The Duality of Nature
Book 1
C.E. Clayton
Genre: YA Fantasy
Print Length: 329 pages
Publisher: DevilDog Press
Publication Date: April 18, 2017
ASIN: B06XSXB14F
Book Description:
Monsters come in many forms, and not everyone knows a monster when they see one. After three hundred years of monstrous, feral elves plaguing the island nation of Selkirk, everyone believes they know what a monster is. Humans have learned to live with their savage neighbors, enacting a Clearing every four years to push the elves back from their borders. The system has worked for centuries, until after one such purge, a babe was found in the forest.
As Tallis grows, she discovers she isn't like everyone else. There is something a little different that makes people leery in her presence, and she only ever makes a handful of friends.
But when the elves gather their forces and emerge from the forests literally hissing Tallis's name like a battle mantra, making friends is the least of her troubles. Tallis and her companions find themselves on an unwilling journey to not only clear her name, but to stop the elves from ravaging her homeland.
About the Author:
C. E. Clayton was born and raised in Southern California where she worked in the advertising industry for several years on accounts that ranged from fast food, to cars, and video games (her personal favorite). This was before she packed up her life, husband, two displeased cats, and one very confused dog and moved to New Orleans. Now, she is a full time writer (mainly in the fantasy genre), her cats are no longer as displeased, and her dog no longer confused.
More about C.E. Clayton, including her blog, book reviews, and poetry, can be found on her website: http://www.ceclayton.com
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