Note from Cass: This is a guest blog #2 on how my husband created the world for my book focusing on the larger picture – the 12 Families. For more world-building posts, click here.
I mentioned last time that the world building was/is a collaboration between Cass and I. I tend to have a lot of ideas, change my mind and over develop things. She wants to write an engaging story. We really started with two things certain, one each. She wanted a real world variant (sometimes called low fantasy). I have to have consequences. In other words everything you change from the real world has a consequence.
OK, ready, set, GOOoooooooo!
I was lucky in that Cass had spent some time thinking in the context of narrative. There were twelve races. It was set in a town where more than one race lived. In the US. There were werewolves and witches, amongst at least half a dozen others.
This was great. I had something to work with, some things to immediately get into.
First up, the races. Hmmm… Races? Nope. Species. 12? Sure but…. Erm… there are a lot of animal species in the real world. How narrow do you want to be? If more races come from cross breeds, how does that work? Are we talking Half-Elves? Do we need to have genetics mapped out? (I shiver at this… cos you know. That seems like a dark path). So, no. not 12 races or even species. Families. 12 Families. I re-wrote what they were, changed them round, played with them. And at the end of the first pass was pretty content with how they structured out.
I am going to just segue into something else here. A little more personal. Working with your spouse on something for them, that you spend a decent amount of time on can be… challenging. Were there times that her reaction put my nose out of joint? Are there times when I am pretty sure she was screaming ‘arrrggghhh!!!!’ on the inside? Yeah and … yeah. I won’t claim we are better from having gone through the process. However, we have proven that we can work together. Also, we have not killed each other yet, even after the year that everyone had + the book. So that’s nice.
I will say this to anyone who is helping someone they are close to with a key part of their book. Be totally invested. Do your absolute best. Then walk away and leave them to it. You are helping them because you want to. Help them. To the extent they need. Come back around on the next cycle, refreshed and engaged.
If you are being helped, I would say be completely open about the ideas that come. Even, or better yet, especially, when they conflict with what you already thought or had written. Never close them down. Our best ideas have come from the third iterations, when frankly the first was never going to work for Cass. Also, over appreciate. They are helping you for free. Because you are important to them.
Anyway… back to it. We had our first pass of the 12 families. There are some with untold power, those that are old. At the other end, there are us, as in the humans of the real world. It hung together really well. Families had numerous species within them, defined by similar characteristics. Species are separate, ie not cross breeding, so no Half Elves (sorry Elrond, no room for you). I liked it, it was coherent and with bits and pieces I do not want to share (cos narrative) it created a good grounding for the world.
Of course, that state was a long way from final. I just did not know how much I was going to dive into it.
Next up was magic. Which I will write a few words on shortly. Until then.
P/