Author Spotlight Jocelynn Drake and Givewaway

Worldbuilding

 

When it comes to writing novels in the urban fantasy genre, one of the most exciting and interesting parts is the chance to create my own world for my characters to inhabit. Here I can let my imagination run wild as I make up new rules and break old traditions. It is when you’re designing your world that you get to decide how close your novel’s world will resemble reality. It is here that you decide what is normal. It is when you are building your world that you get to play god.


But don’t let the power go to your head because there are a few tricks to successfully building a working world.






1. The devil is in the details






It may be hard to believe but you need to know more about your world than you will ever appear on the written page. If your world wildly diverges from reality, or is not even set on planet Earth, it is important that you know the history of your people. Have they suffered through many years of war or is their world a peaceful place? Is magic commonplace or is it taboo? Does religion have a major impact on their daily lives? What type(s) of government rule the lands? Are the vampires in the coffin or out of the coffin? While the answers to these questions might not have an impact on the plot of the story, details such as these spread throughout the novel can add more depth to your world. Also, details such as these can give you a deeper understanding of the motivations of your characters. The more details you know about your world, the lusher your description will be.

2. Are you even human?






A major part of worldbuilding is deciding what species and races will inhabit your world. Furthermore, you have to decide the limitations and gifts of each creature that walks, flies, or swims through your world. When I created my vampires, I had to decide which of the dozen or so old myths I would adhere to and which I would throw out. I needed several limitations to balance out all the gifts I was going to give them. For me, one of the key concepts with the vampires was finding balance. If they were going to be fast and strong and nearly immortal, then they also had to be vulnerable to the sun, dependent upon human blood, and completely unconscious when the sun rose.






When I created the naturi, I had to give them a natural enemy or they would too easily dominate the world. So, the bori were born in order to maintain a balance. Another key factor with the naturi was establishing a hierarchy within the various clans. Among the naturi are five clans: light, wind, earth, water, and animal. The light clan is viewed as the cream of the crop because their queen is from the light clan. The next highest is the wind clan because her Consort is of the wind clan. Meanwhile, the lowest of the clans is the animal clan because they are viewed as the foot soldier of the various clans. Knowing this dynamic makes fights scenes easier to design as well as sets up for potential subplot structures as the various clans fight amongst themselves for power and control.

3. Rules, rules, rules










Finally, one of the key things to building a believable world is establishing and abiding by various rules. Just like the real world has basic rules such as gravity and Newton’s laws, as well as laws of morality such as the 10 Commandments, your world needs to have rules in which the people must abide by. That’s not to say that rules aren’t made to be broken, but you have to be very sure that if you break one of your rules that you have a very good reason, which you present to your readers. It is particularly important that you set up a series of rules regarding your magic system. If characters are casting spells willy-nilly without consequences, then it becomes too easy for them to get out of dangerous situations, thereby eliminating any tension from the scene. Forcing your characters to play within the rules of a world not only makes the world more believable, but it also makes the story more interesting.






In order to keep all your worldbuilding straight and your rules in order, be sure to take excellent notes. Some authors fall back on spreadsheets, while others write essays and elaborate case studies. These notes will of great value when you are searching for that bit of history or odd rule that you thought up. It could also assist in your plotting of a book.


Now for the bonus giveaway. Just me a comment below on which has been your favorite Jocelynn Drake novel so far?

Contest ends this Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Only those in the U.S and Canada can participate this time to win this book.

Thanks!

Vampires Gives Us What We Need by Guest Author Roxanne Rhoads

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

13 Nights of Horror - Something Wicked This Way Comes. . .

Welcome to the first annual 13 Nights Of Horror.



On this first night of Horror..



We are going to have a special guest author blog!



Lynsay Sands

Something
 Wicked
This
Way
Comes 

I was asked to write something about Halloween and although many things came to mind, I dismissed a lot of them thinking they weren't scary enough, or not interesting enough, or. . . well you get the picture. Then it came to me. . . Please keep in mind that I like Halloween and in the spirit of this particular holiday, I have even gone so far as to get the latest crazy Halloween decorations. For example, I have a witch on a broomstick that cackles if you get near it, a skeleton that dances to one of the latest hits, hanging bats, screeching black cats and even black hairy spiders that drop on you if you walk below them. These artifacts of horror are fun and funny because they’re so unreal. I mean, you would never actually see a hand crawling along the floor after you. . . that’s absurd, right?! Well, let me enlighten you; some of these things aren't so unreal, and they are not so funny in real life.

Last Christmas, just a couple of days before that lovely holiday, Mr Sands and I needed to go shopping. We lived in an old century home and the interior trim, doors, stairs and bookshelves were all this dark, cherry-stained wood. This house was a fine example of ornate woodworking at its best but on an overcast day, it was dark! So as I was saying, we needed to go shopping. It seemed like all we had been doing in the last few weeks approaching Christmas was fight the holiday crowds for more Christmas stuff that I’m sure we didn’t need. So my purse, which also happened to be a very dark colour, was on top of my bookcase in a corner. It had been there since the afternoon before and when Mr. Sands began tapping his shoe impatiently, I quickly threw on my shoes and grabbed my purse to leave. Ouch! I felt a sharp pain on the fleshy part between my thumb and forefinger. Letting go of the purse, I shouted and shook my hand frantically, probably resembling someone having a seizure, but that seizure ended abruptly when a small black object hit the floor a few feet away. I stood there for a good three seconds as my brain calculated what I was looking at and what had just happened.






 

- There was a small, stunned black mass on the floor that looked like a mouse with wings.


- It was a bat, I deduced with surprise. A bat had been perched on my purse and I'd picked it up with the purse. . . and it had bit or scratched me in retaliation


- I looked at my hand and sure enough, there were puncture marks between my thumb and forefinger. He bit me.


- And everyone knows that Bat bites mean Rabies shots!
















 

I began to screech, not in terror at the bat who was really rather cute, but in outraged horror at the possibility that I might need rabies shots. I DETEST shots of any kind. There, now you know, I'm a big wussy girl when it comes to needles. I howled and shrieked and the bat began to flap its little wings weakly (no doubt in panic at my panic) and Mr Sands came running to see what all the commotion was about.






Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Me, being a writer who happens to write about vampires . . . well, gees, of course I'd be bitten by a bat. But really, I don't have batty vamps. I have nano vamps. Shouldn't the damned bat have bit someone else, someone who actually incorporates bats in their vamp stories? I thought this was highly unfair, myself. And while it's a good laugh now to think about it, it certainly wasn't at the time as we waited in the ER with my bite and the bat in a box to see someone. (By the way, hospital workers are rather strange. They all wanted to see the poor little thing until they found out it was alive in the box. Like I'd kill a poor defenseless bat! Sheesh. I was hoping they could take a blood test on it and let it go. He really was cute.)

Anyway, the bat was sent for testing and I was sent home to spend the entire Christmas holidays fretting over whether I’d have to get rabies shots. You know the really painful shots that they give you in the deltoid muscle of your arm on four separate occasions. . . shudder. It may be a funny story to tell after the fact but I don’t want to ever go through anything like that again. I’d much rather stick to the cheesy, fake Halloween decorations that need batteries cause reality is just. . . too real!

And NO, I am not a vampire. . . LOL.

Sincerely,

Lynsay Sands

Now you guys are going to love this:



For your chance to win a copy of Lynsay Sands' latest
release of The Renegade Hunter!

To enter just post below your favorite vampire character of The Argeneau Series.

This contest will begin at 3 pm Central Time.

Only for residents of the U.S and Canada.

Winner will be announced on Friday, October 23rd,2009.

First Annual - 13 Nights of Terror!!

Starting Tomorrow
 The 13 Nights of Terror!

There will be plenty of chances to win lots of prizes. We'll have few guest authors blogs with chances to win their books. 

There also chances to win other surprise gifts. Be sure to check us out this October 19th for the first day of our first annual 13 Nights!!