Archive for Author Spotlight
Lorena Bathey is visiting us today to discuss world-building for her current work in progress about Marilyn Monroe, as well as past and future novels. She is set to write historical fiction next, which involves all the fun research! 
How I Make My World
by Lorena Bathey
The world an author paints is usually quite vivid. As we create stories and develop the characters within we step into a world of imagination and make-believe. Oftentimes this place is a version of a world we either once lived, wish we lived in, or currently reside.
In my books it varies on what comes first, the world or the character. In my style of writing they are closely connected and whichever comes first the other follows quickly behind.
I get the idea of my worlds many times from places I’ve been. My next novel, Coaster, was created when my family and I went on a mini-vacation to Magic Mountain in Los Angeles. Standing in line I got an idea for the book and wrote the premise on the drive home.
My books show like movies in my head so I have to see where I am. That usually means, I’ve been where I am writing about or I can go and set the scene. My first two novels, Beatrice Munson and House on Plunkett Street were places I had been or lived in, so it was easy for me to create the world the protagonists inhabited. I just embellished to fit the world to the character.
The novel I’m working on now is about Marilyn Monroe, so I took a road trip to Los Angeles so I could get a picture in my head of Marilyn’s world. I visited her home, studios, cemetery, and even went to one of her favorite restaurants. It greatly aided in the feel and integrity of the book. Before that I had been pasting things together from the internet and books. Don’t get me wrong, we are so lucky as authors to have the internet to be able to look something up when we need it. But there is nothing like being in a place where your character either was or could’ve been. It makes it easier for me to write them there.
So far all my books have been set in current or recent past times, but my next book is a historical fiction. This has meant I have become very enamored of research. I had a taste of this wonderful tool with my Marilyn Monroe novel, but with the next book it is imperative that I do exhaustive research on the time of Thomas and Martha Jefferson. This research has given me a whole new respect on the way these people lived. It was HARD work living in colonial times and women and men had to be partners in a way I think we’ve lost along the way. But what’s so important to me is that the facts of where the book is set are accurate.
Whatever world an author creates it has to be believable. If you, the reader, don’t feel that the character would live there or that the world is credible than the book isn’t going to work. That is why writing has so many levels. You have to read your stories and make sure that the setting works or the characters won’t evolve and your book will fall flat.
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Meet the Author
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Growing up in Northern California, Lorena Bathey attended St. Mary’s College in Moraga graduating with a degree in English. Lorena started writing her first book, Happy Beginnings: How I Became My Own Fairy Godmother when her world fell apart and she needed to process the massive changes in her life. Lorena found characters were visiting her mind and wouldn’t leave. She was introduced to Marissa, Andrea, Lily, Deidre and Beatrice and her first novel, Beatrice Munson, came to life. After finishing that book she was inspired to write more novels and she knew that pursuing her passion was the best way to live her life. So a writer she became. Today Lorena has written three novels, Beatrice Munson, House on Plunkett Street, and The X. She has two more novels in editing and beginning research on a historical novel.
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ATTENTION AUTHORS: If you would like to write a guest post for World-Building Wednesdays, please contact Ash at ash@smashattackreads.com or on Twitter @SmashAttackAsh. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Today’s world-building experience comes from author Nina Croft, a writer of romance in speculative fiction. She is bringing us the dirt on her new series, The Order, that takes place in London! WIN! Listen closely for a chance to win a copy…
Alternate Realities…
I write all sorts of romance, but usually with elements of paranormal or science fiction and sometimes with both. And I’ve come to realize that one of the things I love about writing speculative fiction is that absolutely anything can happen—as long as you make it believable.
That’s where the world-building comes in.
For me one of the pleasures of reading is to suspend reality for the duration of the book. I need to believe that vampires are real and other worlds exist. The last thing I want is to be pulled out of my new world by something that can’t possibly happen. So the world-building has to be consistent and convincing.
But whereas I’m a total plotter—I spend ages getting to know my characters and I outline my novel scene by scene—I’m going to admit that I only do the bare minimum of world-building before I start to write. That minimum usually includes just the where and the when. Most of my world-building is done as I go along or even after I’ve finished the first draft. Often, I find I have to go back and change facets of my world throughout the story so that things don’t seem contrived or worse—impossible. I also usually have add in descriptions of my settings as I tend to get caught up in the action as I write and skip over anything that might slow me down.
My latest release, Bittersweet Blood (book one in The Order series) takes place mainly London, a city I lived and worked in for a number of years. I think it can give a real sense of authenticity to write about places you know well. Then all you have to do is give them a little twist to create an alternate reality.
When I started Bittersweet Blood, I had the urge to write a vampire story, but I also wanted the book to be part of a series and I didn’t want to limit myself to vampires only. So my world had to include a whole range of supernatural creatures to give me lots to choose from in later books. But London might have gotten a little chaotic with all those paranormal races battling it out and so The Order of The Shadow Accords came into being. The Order is the organization that polices the supernatural world and makes sure the other races, mainly demons and the fae, don’t misbehave too badly and bring attention to themselves or destruction to mankind. The Order is run by vampires but they’re willing to employ a few other things as well, witches, warlocks, werewolves…
So I guess my world-building process is; I decide what I want to do, and then I build a world that enables me to do it. Of course things get a little more complicated as the series goes on and my characters have to remember the rules developed in earlier books. But that just makes things more interesting.
What do you think should come first—characters or world?
Let me know for a chance to win an ecopy of Bittersweet Blood.
International eBook giveaway. Ends 4/5/13. Winner chosen randomly.
Congratulations, Mary P!
Tara Collins just wants to be normal. Everyone else wants her dead.
Tara’s eccentric aunt raised her to be fearful of the world and follow the rules. But after her aunt’s death, Tara is ready to take control and experience life for the first time. But she quickly discovers that everything she’s been told is a web of lies. Determined to solve the mystery of who she is truly, she hires private investigator to help her uncover the truth.
Christian Roth is more than your average PI. A vampire and ex-demon hunter, Christian lives among the humans, trying to be “normal.” But recently, things seem to be falling apart. There’s a crazed demon hell-bent on revenge hunting him down and a fae assassin on the loose with an unknown target. Plus, the Order he abandoned desperately needs his help.
As the secrets of Tara’s past collide with the problems in Christian’s present, she finds herself fighting her attraction to the dark and mysterious investigator. Falling in love does not fit into her plans at all, but Tara soon learns that some rules are meant to be broken.
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Meet the Author
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Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of 9-5 work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain.
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ATTENTION AUTHORS: If you would like to write a guest post for World-Building Wednesdays, please contact Ash at ash@smashattackreads.com or on Twitter @SmashAttackAsh. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Author Jess Macallan is here today to talk about the world-building in her urban fantasy series, Set in Stone. One of the reasons she likes to write in the UR/PNR genres because of the world-building! It is one of the huge reasons I love to read those genres! ♥
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Thanks so much for having me at Smash Attack Reads today! I’m celebrating the release of the second book in my Set in Stone series, Stone Cold Revenge. The world-building process was interesting and challenging from the start.
One of the reasons I write in the paranormal and urban fantasy genres is because of the world building. It’s one thing to create characters, but setting up an entire world is another matter. Authors like Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison and Julie Kagawa have always inspired me with their edgy worlds that seem to blend the everyday with the otherworldly. Fantasy authors like Maria Snyder and Tamora Pierce create new worlds full of intricate details. The Set in Stone series is of the former variety.
Shadow elves, gargoyles, oracles and phoenix coexist with humans, although without their knowledge. One of the reasons I did this was so Elle, the heroine, would feel the conflict of being pulled from her preferred, yet ordinary life, and thrown into a world she’d been magically influenced to forget.
I wanted to blend magic abilities and mythological creatures with current day surroundings so readers wouldn’t have to stretch quite so far to escape into it. I also wanted Elle to be like you or me so I could challenge myself with the question: what would we do if we were suddenly thrown into a paranormal society where our version of normal didn’t exist? (Normal being a relative term, of course). I knew I wanted gargoyles, but the shadow and light elves were a later addition. I cast my heroine in a potentially dark role to see how she would handle it, and where she’d eventually go with it.
When I go to coffee shops to write, I’m mostly there to people watch. Each new face offers an unlimited potential in a new world. What magical abilities could they have? What drives them to cause harm or help? My imagination also kicks into overdrive when I see abandoned buildings, old houses, or even a shiny new high rise. What creature would live, work, or hide in any of those places and why?
World building is challenging for the sole reason that it’s only limited by the writer’s imagination. Which also happens to be our most dangerous and powerful weapon. The fun part is slowly building the parameters of those worlds, adding mythological and supernatural beings, giving them abilities, and creating their territories. I’m constantly jotting down ideas for different worlds, some of which I may never use, and some of which I may ultimately blend together.
I hope you’ll read about Elle’s world and follow her as she learns what being a shadow elf and weaver is all about.
Thanks to the readers at Smash Attack Reads for letting me share the Set in Stone world with you.
Meet the Author
Jess lives in the Inland Northwest with her husband and three children. She thrives on creative chaos. Curiosity drives her to try new things as often as possible. When not writing or chasing trouble, she teaches yoga, writing classes, reads, experiments with new recipes, and gardens. The only things she takes seriously are chocolate, tea and world domination. But mostly chocolate.
I love connecting with readers, and I hope you’ll find me on
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ATTENTION AUTHORS: If you would like to write a guest post for World-Building Wednesdays, please contact Ash at ash@smashattackreads.com or on Twitter @SmashAttackAsh. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Cathy Yardley has written sexy reads and fun chic lit, but today she is here to share her thoughts on building the world for her new Urban Fantasy book, TEMPTING IS HELL, which she describes as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets The Office.” Sounds like a winner to me.
Dr. Strangeworld
(or how I learned to stop worrying and love world-building.)
It took years for me to get the guts to write an Urban Fantasy.
I’d loved so many series that had some incredible world building: Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, with the hierarchy of Fae and the Never-never, for example; Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunter series, which reinterpreted both Greek mythology and her own take on vampires, demons, and shifters; Seanan McGuire’s Toby Daye series (and her absolutely fantastic new Incryptid series) with their quirks and lyrical details.
I couldn’t even bear to think of J.K. Rowling and the utter intricacy of her wizard’s world. I’d curl up in a useless ball.
But as I thought about it, I realized: I had done world building. True, I’d only written Chick Lit and Romance, in contemporary settings. But even if they were grounded in reality, I loved showing readers a different side of “real” places.
I wrote about Los Angeles through the eyes of a twenty-two year old “farm girl,” from the glitzy to the sordid.
I wrote about a homeless DJ working the industrial clubs in San Francisco.
I wrote about a half-Asian working at a manga publisher in Tokyo.
They were often fish out of water stories, meant to showcase a world that most people weren’t familiar with. The details, the “peek behind the curtain,” was what made the world real. Describing the way that Tokyo reports sightings of cherry blossoms blooming the way a weatherman describes a highly anticipated heat wave, for example. Or the ethics of “how to couch surf.”
The details, the mechanics of the world, were what made it come alive.
Most of all, it was showing the character, a fully fleshed character, negotiate her adventures in that world, that helped make the whole thing sing.
When I pitched TEMPING IS HELL, I called it “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets The Office.” I’ve served enough time as a temp in various cube farms to be able to ground the details in a mundane reality: if you’ve spent any time as a temp, you know that they put you at an empty desk, with a generic password and often vague directions. I grounded the corporate details that any office-grind worker would be familiar with – and used that to springboard the fantasy elements.
Then I put in my heroine Kate, a filter-free, anti-corporate Berkeley graduate, into a stultifying corporate atmosphere… with demons. Not that she knows that they’re demons. All she knows is, there are guys in the basement who are going through mountains of paperwork, with no breaks, little food or water, under the cruel supervision of a tyrannical boss.
The demons, for their part, had never met someone who wanted them to unionize.
I’m looking forward to exploring the world more, especially as more of the logic of “soul currency” becomes a turning point, and stakes are raised. And as I gleefully type, all I can think is: why the heck didn’t I try this sooner?
Meet the Author
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Cathy Yardley is a fiction addict, closet foodie, identifies as a geekgirl and loves being an author. You can learn more about her on her website. And don’t forget to connect with her on social media!
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ATTENTION AUTHORS: If you would like to write a guest post for World-Building Wednesdays, please contact Ash at ash@smashattackreads.com or on Twitter @SmashAttackAsh. We would love to hear your thoughts!
Today, I am happy to welcome author Stacey Kennedy to the blog! Stacey has written numerous paranormal books involving witches, werewolves and ghosts. She is stopping by the blog today to share her love for world-building with us!
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I’m so excited to stop by Smash Attack Reads and chat about world-building. What can I say? I love building my own worlds! So, what’s my process? Well, it’s exactly that a process, which goes a little something like this:
World-building is tough, especially if the idea for my story is so far out there! But personally, I like those ideas, such as having a romance with a ghost. It makes for fun world-building. So, how do I take an idea that no one would believe and make it believable?
I prove it.
It doesn’t matter if I write werewolves, witches, or even ghosts, I believe it’s important to make the world real. The characters have to interact with their world to give the reader the sense that this new world I’ve created actually exists.
I try to give lush descriptions. Create laws the characters have to live by. And I try to be as darn creative as I possibly can!
I think it’s important to create the setting in a way that allows the reader to feel like they’re a part of it. What does the town look like? What does the character think of it? How does it smell there? Little details that make the reader feel like they are there is always a good thing.
Another thing I believe is important is explaining away the norm. If I write vampires that can go out into the sun, it’d be unbelievable if I just threw that out there and didn’t comment on why my vampires are different from normal vamps. Truthfully, I like to create my own rules and whatnot, because I feel the story and the world become all my own, and well, I love that.
While writing my story, I try hard to make my characters realistic. I’ve always felt that emotions are a huge part of writing that allows a reader to connect with a character. For an example, if a character can converse with the dead, it’s important to show right out of the gate how she deals with this.
Since it’s an unusual gift, the character would have a strong reaction to the talent they have. Do they like it? Hate it? How do others look upon it? Or do they not know? Is it a secret and needs to be hidden? If so, how is this secret kept, and how does the character feel about the burden of such a secret? I think this is the foundation for creating a relatable character.
In addition, I always allow my characters to be emotionally involved in their world. If my character can see ghosts, and she dislikes the ability, I allow her to show her frustration. I never make a character just go with the flow and accept everything that happens with a smile. If it’s an unusual situation, any normal person would have a huge emotional response—anger, sadness, or even exasperation. The thing is, when characters are too strong or too easy going, I think it takes the realness away from them because everyone has emotions.
I always say, the stronger the emotion, the better.
For me, I think the key to making a world believable is to show the reader why they should accept it. I present all these little details right out in front with descriptions, interactions between the characters and their world, and always big emotional responses. I believe all of this is what makes a strong world, and are a few of the tricks I use when I’m writing a new series.
Meet the Author
Stacey Kennedy’s novels are lighthearted fantasy with heart-squeezing, thigh-clenching romance, and even give a good chuckle every now and again. But within the stories you’ll also find fast-paced action, life-threatening moments, and a big bad villain who needs to be destroyed. She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband and two children. If she’s not plugging away at a new story—which is rare because her muse is annoying—you’ll find her camping, curling up with the latest flick, or obsessing over Sons of Anarchy, Games of Thrones, Supernatural and Dexter.
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ATTENTION AUTHORS: If you would like to write a guest post for World-Building Wednesdays, please contact Ash at ash@smashattackreads.com or on Twitter @SmashAttackAsh. We would love to hear your thoughts!
