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I am thrilled to feature one of my good friends, J.M. Tibbott to share a special guest post! She is a friend, mentor, conspirator and so on who has been a true inspiration along my journey. I love her books AND her incredible covers, which you can see at the end of the blog.
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| www.jmtibbott.com |
My fave cozy mystery writer, Diane, asked me to tell her readers about the way in which I created the fantasy world in my Pridden Series.
There were nineteen steps I followed. Faithfully!
1.
Begin writing; I wrote the prologue and the first chapter.
2.
Understood I needed to create the world. Realized to my horror I
didn’t know what the people in my book would act, because I had no idea what
would affect them.
3.
Action: I beat my head against the wall, which proved too painful
4.
2nd Action: Ate chocolate and had a nap.
5.
I needed a map: The best way to determine
the challenges in the world, was with logical maps.
6.
Action: I found a fantastic map creator on the net and faithfully
followed all his six lessons.
7.
Result: I couldn’t stop drawing maps.
8.
Next action: ate chocolate and took a nap.
9.
Result: Spent the next six months whacking my head and saying “Oh,
s—t, I forgot rivers, mountains, lakes, etc.
10.
Action: I needed animals. Big ones, small ones, nice ones and
horrible ones.
11.
Result: Luckily coming from South Africa, I was familiar with all
sorts of animals, both benign and terrifying. We had scary tarantulas, black
mamba snakes, lions, rhinos, and hyenas. (I actually lived there?) Many became
the basis for the creatures who appear in my books.
12.
Action: Celebrated by having a glass of wine and eating chocolate.
13.
Make the world seem real: I needed language, religion and cuss
words.
14.
Action: I hated the thought of making up a new language, so I used
poetic license and allowed everyone to speak English, although I did use
cadence to differentiate between the inhabitants of the fantasy world and my
heroine.
15.
Result: I definitely needed to celebrate, so I poured out wine,
munched on a box of Godiva chocolates, and relaxed in my massage chair.
16.
I needed appropriate names: This was a biggy. This was a
fantasy, so I could choose any names I wished. However, I hate it when a writer
creates names with mostly consonants and I don’t know how to pronounce the
result. When I read Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot, I struggled, and had to
keep going back to figure out if the character I was reading about was the same
one who had appeared before. With all the surnames, adult names, and
diminutives, it was difficult to follow, since I am not a Russian.
17.
Action: I decided all the names of my characters would be spelled
phonetically. For ideas on names, and because of my own background, I used the
Welsh/English and Cornish/English dictionaries. I now had appropriate names for
my antagonist, allies, false allies and all those minor characters that
populate a saga.
18.
Result: Sangria, chocolate and a happy dance.
19.
Final Need, Action and Result: I wanted challenges for my heroine,
Kat. (Drink wine) Kitty? (More wine and some chocolate. Cat? (Wine)
whatshername? Oh, rats, nap.
J. M. Tibbott
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