Welcome to one of the February 19th stops on the blog tour for Rising Shadows by Phillip Blackwater, organized by Storytellers on Tour. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, guest/interview content with the author, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Worldbuilding
Doing the worldbuilding for my novel is probably what I had the most fun doing. Since I’ve been writing my book for the past five to ten years (it was just a hobby at the beginning), I had a lot of time to think about my world.
First and foremost, I am a fan of classic fantasy. I need my Dwarves, Elves, and Humans. But I didn’t want them to be the generic types that have been overly done. I also didn’t want my world to be just the typical medieval European setting.
What I did, and really for anything in my novel, is ask myself questions and answer them. No, I’m not crazy! I am just a logical person, who tries to find reasons for things to happen, and for things to be. And I would do that constantly during writing, when my characters arrived at a new place, or met new people or races.
I think the best way to show how I did my worldbuilding is to take an example, like the Dwarves. We all know what the Dwarves are: small, love gold and mining, and live underground. But why are they the way they are? They mine, but what do they do with the resources? They are not conquerors, so all the iron they get doesn’t serve to fuel a war by smithing weapons and armors. They are not merchants who buy everything in the world with their mountains of gold. So why do they dig and mine so much and what do they do with the resources?
This first question I asked myself could have led the Dwarves to be conquerors or merchants, and it could have been a completely different worldbuilding (and an interesting one). But I kept asking myself more questions, because other races mine too, so why do the Dwarves live underground, and not other people?
There are many causes as to why they would prefer to live underground, and I took note of all the reasons I could think of, until I couldn’t think of any other. And then I sat down and took the most logical explanation to me (I am very rational and will almost always go with the most logical explanation). The answer I chose: they are afraid of the outside world because of religious beliefs.
But the thing with worldbuilding, is the deeper you dig, the more complex and interesting your worldbuilding will be, and so being afraid because of religious beliefs wasn’t enough for me. I then asked myself another question: what is said belief? And then repeated the same process, of writing down all possibilities, and taking the most logical one (And when logic is not an option, I just went with the more badass one). My answer for that question: that the moons, the sun, and the stars will one day fall on the ground, and only the people living underground will survive.
And then more questions arose, like: where does the belief come from? how does the belief impact the Dwarves on their daily lives? If the Dwarves have lived underground for centuries, or thousands of years, shouldn’t their bodies have adapted in any way?
And each question asked led to even more questions, cascading in possibilities, answers, and even more questions, going deep into the religion, architecture, and physical appearance of every race of my world. For my Dwarves, I ended up with a sort of communist colony of Dwarves, with their way of life focused solely on the efficiency of mining deeper by having them being placed in a caste system and doing it out of the fear that the world would collapse on them. They also don’t do much with their resources, since it is not their goal. My Dwarves also have particular physical traits: small eyes because they are not used to the sun, and large hands with nails that are hard as steel to help them dig. Though not all of it is directly written in the novel, it is somewhere in my encyclopedia.
This way of worldbuilding might not work for everyone though. I was just fortunate (or not?) to be able to have these extremely normal conversations with myself during a way too long shower or drive. Maybe you can try brainstorming with fellow writers, or people that love the genre you write in. Yeah, maybe that could work too … and be more normal.
Anyway, it was a long process, but one I enjoyed doing a lot, and that I think did a good job at. But that will be for the readers to judge.
About the Book
Rising Shadows
The Pillar of Creation Book One
by Phillip Blackwater
Published 14 August 2020
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Page Count: 404
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
As tension rises between the southern and northern nations of the small continent of Exitium in the world of Anteris, the Elves turn to their eastern neighbors, the Humans, for help. They wish to learn the ways of combat, which they are not accustomed to, for they have always wielded a power far greater than forged steel. The Shards of Creation, mystical artifacts of great and virtually infinite power, have always been their prized weapon, but times have changed. They now face the same threat as the Humans: the southern nation known as the Ethula.
Wariel Ritch, general of the Human army, will take upon his shoulders this burden. But when a shadow of a past long forgotten threatens what little stability is left in the world, he will have to leave everything behind to stop it. Medregal Tergrast, an Ethulan king, dead for a thousand years, plans his return to the world of the living to gain back his former glory and finally fulfill his destiny by gaining control of the Shards of Creation. But is he really the threat people make him out to be?
In the meantime, in the bowels of the Human Kingdom, the reign of Dana Crystaloak is put into jeopardy when people around her start questioning her decisions. If she falls, war could break out across all lands.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
About the Author
I am a fan of fiction, mostly fantasy, sci-fi, and post-apocalyptic (amongst others), and in all its forms, whether it is books, video games, movies, or tv-shows.
The first time I truly realized how much I loved fiction, was through The Lord of the Rings’ movies (like probably a lot of people). Since then, I traveled to so many different worlds: Halo, Mass Effect, Warcraft, Elder Scrolls, Witcher, and Fallout (to only name a few). It made me want to explore my own imagination and see what worlds I could create. This is what led me to writing.
What can you expect from my books? I don’t bother myself trying to be a flowery writer. What I want when people read my books, is for them to have good time and some fun. This is what truly matters to me.
When I’m not writing, I am: A husband. A father of three cats. Reading, gaming, or watching movies and tv shows. A big hockey fan. And when I’m done with all of that, I’m a big geek and collect a lot of stuff (No, I’m not a hoarder, I swear!).
Website | Twitter | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
Check out the tour schedule post for information on how to enter the giveaway! Phillip Blackwater is giving away an eBook copy of Rising Shadows, open internationally.
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