"A World To Call My Own": Guest Post by A World Apart author David M Brown

I am proud to welcome David M Brown to Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf today to talk about the very important topic of World Building!

A World To Call My Own

Although I’d always enjoyed creating writing at school it was something of a surprise when I started writing for pleasure in 1999, while studying at college. The world of Elenchera, where each of the novels in the Elencheran Chronicles are set, began as a map I drew on the spur of the moment. I’d been inspired by the RPG series, Final Fantasy, as well as the Norse myths and the Icelandic Sagas. All of those influences collectively instilled in me this aching desire to create my own world. A simple map drawn in pencil traced over with a biro and finally coloured in with crayons was how I began. It was that simple.

I wasn’t sure how to go about building a world but help wasn’t far away. I read a book by Orson Scott Card which had a useful chapter on world building. I took from that some valuable lessons but my main source of inspiration came from Cassell’s World History which offered a timeline of our own history beginning with the earliest fossil records and continuing to the present day. It was an indispensable guide and not only gave me an idea about how civilizations are born and built but I took from it many ideas for events in my own world and even storylines for future novels I intend to write someday.

I would eventually spend more than ten years world building and I learned that all the hours are necessary in fleshing out a fictitious world and making it feel as real as possible. In the first few years of world building I had dozens of maps and many ideas for novels. I couldn’t wait to get started so I simultaneously wrote novels while world building. This turned out to be a big mistake. From 2000-2006 I wrote four novels, three I sent to agents and publishers and had no interest. The fourth I was determined would make up for the mistakes I’d made with the previous three. In the end I edited the fourth book so much that I diminished it and it was never read by anyone.

After this experience I returned solely to world building. I realised that any novel I wrote in Elenchera could not work until the world building was finished. Wherever a novel is set, its location and period of history, you need to be able to fully immerse yourself within that moment. Not only that, you need to know the history of the characters and the places they visit. When I wrote those four previous novels I was making up history as I went along and just hoping it would slot into the Elencheran timeline when I switched back to world building. This was never going to work.

By finishing the world building first I was able to pick any location and know all I needed to. If I set a novel in Land A I would know that that land traded peacefully with Land B but was often at war with Land C and so on. The smallest details such as who ruled a particular land, the sort of race that had settled there and when the towns, villages and cities were first founded, I needed to know all of it. When I began a new novel, Fezariu’s Epiphany, which I published in May 2011, I was more confident and comfortable with what I was writing. I could introduce new characters at will, new storylines but the important thing was I knew the historical context. I didn’t need to ask why because I already had the answers I needed.  

That’s one of the big lessons I learned from Orson Scott Card. Although a fantasy world allows you to define your own rules and make a truly unique place you still need to be able to answer whatever questions readers may have about the flora and fauna there. I believe I’m now in a position where Elenchera and I are a good team. We know each other well and thoroughly enjoy working together. 

Title:  A World Apart
Author:  David M Brown

Reading Level:  Adult
Genre: Fantasy

Release Date: June 16th 2012

Find the book: Goodreads | Amazon US  | Amazon UK

Demetrius makes his first mistake when he lets his best friend Halcyon marry Eleyna, the love of his life, without saying a word. On the day of the wedding, he walks away from the Elencheran town of Dove's Meadow and joins the army.

He makes his second mistake when the pirate Black Iris tricks him into letting dozens of men, women and children die in a fire. Demetrius is imprisoned in grief and disgrace.

But he can atone. The Black Iris is dead. The Ivory Rose has risen to the top of the pirates and is leading brutal raids on the coast. If Demetrius can capture and kill her, he'll win his pardon.

And then Demetrius discovers the Ivory Rose is Eleyna. He must decide which will be his third mistake: losing his last chance at a pardon or destroying the one woman he's ever loved.

 

Excerpt: Chapter 6: Eleyna and Halcyon (29617)

Demetrius made no response, he was lost in a battle all of his own making now. The challenge of Halcyon was forgotten, he had overcome that, but he now had to succeed in a new struggle – to be a soldier. Demetrius had decided to turn his back on the shepherd life that his father desperately wanted for him in favour of following and emulating his grandfather. Deep down, Demetrius hoped that if he made his grandfather proud then Granicus would reveal the most sought after secret in all of Dove’s Meadow – why Granicus had chosen not to join the Order and bring untold fame to the town.  

Demetrius heard another rumble of thunder and between the Green and Pirels Mountains he saw lightning strike briefly. His clothes were now sodden and his feet were uncomfortable in his shoes but Demetrius was beyond such constraints. Dove’s Meadow didn’t feel like it was just below him to the left. Instead, it was almost as if just the narrow walk along the perimeter wall existed and that losing his balance either way would see him fall into a void of nothingness. Everything hinged on Demetrius’ continued steps.  

Granicus had once told Demetrius of one of the rebellions he had fought when he was in the army. The rebels had lined up to take on the might of the Himordian army on a sodden battlefield with rain, thunder and lightning doing nothing to turn any man or woman from the conflict. Demetrius imagined he was in that moment now, facing the same dangers that his grandfather had faced. He could already feel the same rain falling on his face, he could hear the frightened horses being steadied by the cavalrymen, the squelchy mud under the feet of the infantry and the impending violence that was about to converge on the untarnished fields.  

The Himordian army had decimated the rebels that day and Granicus had walked away from the battlefield covered in blood. Even after the rain had washed much of it away, traces still remained by the time Demetrius’ grandfather removed his armour and reflected on the many lives he had taken. 

Demetrius found himself closing his eyes as he played out these vivid scenes in his mind. He continued to walk along the now sodden crenellated wall, always stepping forward carefully and trying to remember four steps, step over, four steps, step over. Demetrius maintained this pattern and even with his eyes closed, imagining his grandfather’s past, he never once lost his balance or wavered. He was immersed in this personal duel, the wall beneath his feet being the enemy he had to defeat, and the elements were simply irrelevant. You had to adapt to your environment quickly and overwhelm your enemy. The land around you should never be an excuse for defeat. Granicus’ lessons, instilled in Demetrius from the moment he first walked, now echoed in his mind.  

David Brown could be considered a fantasy fanatic, especially since he has spent the last 10 years developing a 47,000-year history for his fictional world of Elenchera. When converting his obsession into literary form, David commits himself to a rigorous writing and editing process before his work can meet his approval. Combined with the critical eye of his wife and a BA Hons in History and English, David's dedication leads him to his goal of inspiring readers through heartfelt stories and characters.

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