Guest blogger -- Jennifer Estep author of Spider's Bite!
Jennifer Estep is my guest blogger today! Come to think of it, she's my very first guest blogger. Too cool! Jennifer is the author of Spider's Bite, which was the first book I've written a blurb for. Great book, I loved it!
And you can have a chance to win an autographed copy. Leave a comment and include your answer to the question Jennifer asks at the end of her post and you'll be entered to win. The winner will be chosen at random and will be announced in tomorrow's blog.
Now, without further delay, here's Jennifer!
Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to say thanks to Lisa for letting me guest blog. Thanks so much, Lisa!
So today I thought that I would talk a little bit about world building in fantasy books. For those of you who don't know, I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Spider's Bite, the first book in my new Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, was released on Jan. 26.
I love fantasy books -- all kinds of fantasy from epic to urban to young adult and everything in between. And one of the main reasons why is world building.
Ah, world building. Isn't that we all read fantasy in the first place? To get transported to a medieval kingdom where wizards rule with an iron fist. Or perhaps whisked away to a fairy tale land where an idealistic princess is fighting to save her people. Or even to take a trip down into the sewers of corrupt city, where trolls, gremlins, and other creature features lurk.
Of course, there are some differences in world building, depending on what kind of fantasy you write, especially when it comes to urban versus epic.
Urban fantasy tends to take place in a dark, gritty city or modern landscape that's full of things like vampires, fairies, shapeshifters, and other nasty beasties that snack on humans like they're potato chips. Usually, urban fantasy focuses on one heroine who has to use all of her wits and magic to fight her way through this city and all the big bads in it who want a piece of her.
For example, in Spider's Bite, my main character is Gin Blanco, an assassin who runs a barbecue restaurant in her spare time. When Gin gets double-crossed on a hit and framed for a murder she didn't even commit, she's out for revenge. And she'll use every weapon in her arsenal to find out who set her up and why -- including her Ice and Stone elemental magic. Good thing too, since Ashland, my southern metropolis, is also home to vampires, dwarves and giants, along with Air and Fire elementals.
Epic fantasy tends to be more, well, epic in scope, with massive battles, intricate court politics, and powerful magic that can change the entire world. Wizards, witches, mages, sorceresses, goblins, orcs, assassins, thieves -- in epic fantasy, you have a whole cast of characters of varying skills and power levels duking it out.
For example, in Lisa's Magic Lost, Trouble Found, you've got Raine Benares, a sorceress who gets stuck wearing a powerful amulet that she can't take off and that everyone and his brother wants to get their hands on, including a very nasty goblin shaman who makes Hannibal Lecter look as harmless as a wet kitten.
But no matter what kind of fantasy you're writing, you have to be careful with the amount of your world building -- because it can be too much of a good thing. It's always tricky finding a balance between explaining your magic system enough so that readers understand it and all the rules associated with it and not bogging down the story with endless details.
I know that's one of the things that I always look at when I'm writing, especially as I get deeper and deeper into writing the Elemental Assassin series. It's tough to explain my magic system in enough detail for folks who maybe haven't read the series before and yet still keep things interesting and moving along for readers who have enjoyed the previous books and know how things work already.
One of the things that I really like about Lisa's books is that she gives you all the great characters, cool magic, epic fantasy world building, and important backstory without bogging down the action. And who knew that goblins could be so darn sexy? ;-)
Simply put, if urban fantasy is a snapshot of one city, then epic fantasy is a painting of an entire country. And both are only limited by an author's imagination, which is one of the great things about fantasy in general. If you can dream it up, then you can put it in your book for readers to enjoy.
What about you guys? How much world building do you like in your fantasy books? What are some of your favorite magic worlds? Share in the comments.
Greetings and salutations! First of all, I want to say thanks to Lisa for letting me guest blog. Thanks so much, Lisa!
So today I thought that I would talk a little bit about world building in fantasy books. For those of you who don't know, I write paranormal romance and urban fantasy. Spider's Bite, the first book in my new Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, was released on Jan. 26.
I love fantasy books -- all kinds of fantasy from epic to urban to young adult and everything in between. And one of the main reasons why is world building.
Ah, world building. Isn't that we all read fantasy in the first place? To get transported to a medieval kingdom where wizards rule with an iron fist. Or perhaps whisked away to a fairy tale land where an idealistic princess is fighting to save her people. Or even to take a trip down into the sewers of corrupt city, where trolls, gremlins, and other creature features lurk.
Of course, there are some differences in world building, depending on what kind of fantasy you write, especially when it comes to urban versus epic.
Urban fantasy tends to take place in a dark, gritty city or modern landscape that's full of things like vampires, fairies, shapeshifters, and other nasty beasties that snack on humans like they're potato chips. Usually, urban fantasy focuses on one heroine who has to use all of her wits and magic to fight her way through this city and all the big bads in it who want a piece of her.
For example, in Spider's Bite, my main character is Gin Blanco, an assassin who runs a barbecue restaurant in her spare time. When Gin gets double-crossed on a hit and framed for a murder she didn't even commit, she's out for revenge. And she'll use every weapon in her arsenal to find out who set her up and why -- including her Ice and Stone elemental magic. Good thing too, since Ashland, my southern metropolis, is also home to vampires, dwarves and giants, along with Air and Fire elementals.
Epic fantasy tends to be more, well, epic in scope, with massive battles, intricate court politics, and powerful magic that can change the entire world. Wizards, witches, mages, sorceresses, goblins, orcs, assassins, thieves -- in epic fantasy, you have a whole cast of characters of varying skills and power levels duking it out.
For example, in Lisa's Magic Lost, Trouble Found, you've got Raine Benares, a sorceress who gets stuck wearing a powerful amulet that she can't take off and that everyone and his brother wants to get their hands on, including a very nasty goblin shaman who makes Hannibal Lecter look as harmless as a wet kitten.
But no matter what kind of fantasy you're writing, you have to be careful with the amount of your world building -- because it can be too much of a good thing. It's always tricky finding a balance between explaining your magic system enough so that readers understand it and all the rules associated with it and not bogging down the story with endless details.
I know that's one of the things that I always look at when I'm writing, especially as I get deeper and deeper into writing the Elemental Assassin series. It's tough to explain my magic system in enough detail for folks who maybe haven't read the series before and yet still keep things interesting and moving along for readers who have enjoyed the previous books and know how things work already.
One of the things that I really like about Lisa's books is that she gives you all the great characters, cool magic, epic fantasy world building, and important backstory without bogging down the action. And who knew that goblins could be so darn sexy? ;-)
Simply put, if urban fantasy is a snapshot of one city, then epic fantasy is a painting of an entire country. And both are only limited by an author's imagination, which is one of the great things about fantasy in general. If you can dream it up, then you can put it in your book for readers to enjoy.
What about you guys? How much world building do you like in your fantasy books? What are some of your favorite magic worlds? Share in the comments.
posted by Lisa Shearin at
7:40 AM
34 Comments:
For the piece I've been trying to write, I've been working pretty hard on worldbuilding, but mostly on the crazy magic system. It was a sprawling continent at the current draft, but I might change that next time. The sequel is a single city. When I'm reading, I like both styles of worldbuilding (deep into a city, or sprawling across countries), as long as it has an engaging magic system. There are other ways to draw my attention, but that's my first thought. One of the best fantasy settings I've read is Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind. And of course, I'm sure everyone who reads this loves Raine's world :)
I really love world building. It is so interesting to be transported to a different place and seeing how it works. Favourite Worlds? Um... I love Ilona Andrews Kate Daniel's world with the magic and technology swinging back and forth. Obviously Raine's world, I love the court politics that makes it all the more realistic.
I love Ilona's books. Also Rob Thurman is fabulous.
Hi Jennifer! It's good to see you here. :)
I have to confess that for being a fantasy lover, I'm just not that big on magic and magic systems. What I love are the creatures. If someone puts thought into their elves and ogres, they have me. And if they base their ideas on old folktales and superstitions, I'll roll over and purr.
My love of folklore came from reading Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles as a kid. His excellent forwards that pointed me to the Mabinogion. (May have spelled that wrong. Too lazy to go upstairs and check the title.) Lloyd's Cauldron Born are still my measuring stick for freaky undead beings.
The level of world building really depends on the mood of the story, but badly developed Fae are, for me, a huge turnoff.
I guess it depends on the series. In some situations, having a huge, new world works well (Raine's, for instance). But in most books I enjoy these days, just changing our existing world to fit the needs of the world in the series works just as well for me.
I also love the idea of magic and technology existing in the same world, kind of how Ilona Andrews writes it.
I'm even OK with the world pretty much existing as is, but adding the supernatural to it, like in the Mercy Thompson or Cal Leandros series.
I guess, all in all, I'm pretty easy to please. :)
Alok -- I like creating cities myself. That way, I can add new places for the characters to visit in every book but still hit all the old familiar spots as well.
I haven't heard of Rothfuss. I'll have to check out that book on Amazon.
Alex -- I've read the first Andrews' book. That's yet another series that I need to catch up on.
Lisa -- Thurman is another author I hear everyone raving about. I need to try that series too.
Chicory -- Thanks! Have you tried the Goblin series by Jim Hines? His hero is a goblin, so you might want to check that out if you like creature features.
I have fond memories of reading The Book of Three and the others in that series. I love the world building and mythology in those books.
Jade -- I think epic fantasy like the Raine books just naturally lends itself to creating a whole new world. After all, you have to give your bad guy whole empires to conquer before the heroine stops him. ;-)
I kind of meh about magic and technology in the same world, mainly because I like fantasy books much more than I do sci-fi. I'd rather read about magic swords than laser guns any day of the week.
I've always loved fantasy and science fiction. To this day one of my favorite books is, "A Wizard of Earthsea."
It's great to have new worlds to explore with lush landscapes. But to tell you the truth, all this is secondary to the story and character. If I don't like the main character, I won't read it. Raine is a great character. She's sassy, smart, and competent. Stories where the character has to use their wits and courage to overcome obstacles instead of relying on some "Deus ex machina," are very appealing. Magic or technology is enjoyable if it is secondary to the resourcefulness of the main character. Guess the magic is in the story and character for me. :)
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Awesome guest post! I'm a great lover of world building! Sometimes the lengths to which authors' imaginations go to to dream up such wonderful worlds, creatures, magic, gods, politics, etc is just amazing! Politics and rules/boundaries of magic especially, they just boggle my mind.
The only time I get annoyed with world building is when the authorseems to force it on you. I read a book once where the main character had lived in her urban fantasy world, knowing all about it's creatures and magic etc, her whole life. We readers didn't, and the author decided to go into pages of explaination right smack dab in the middle of a fight scene. I was jolted right out of the story, and then I had to go back several pages, after the world building was done, to find out what was originally going on. It didn't flow too well. It was annoying then, but now that series has become one of my all time favourites - it was just a one off.
My favourite worlds in high fantasy have got to be those in David Eddings' Belgariad & Elenium series, Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy (I can't gush enough about how much I love the politics in all the follow on series Hobb wrote to this one), Midkemia from Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga, and of course the world Lisa created.
In urban fantasy, I love Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress world, Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer/Dorina Basarab world, Suzanne McLeod's Spellcrackers.com's London, Richelle Mead's Vampire Acacamy world, and Rachel Vincent's Shifters world. I'm sure I could go on, but I think I've mentioned enough. For urban fantasy, my love is mainly on how well the author goes in to making the mythical creatures their own. How many vampire novels are out there? But there's always something different, another author's take on the classic mythology. I just can't get enough of the different variations of mythological creatures. I love it!
Thanks again for such a great post!
Jim Hines Goblin books are awesome. I forgot to mention Terry Pratchett as an author who puts an enormous amount of thought into his various species. He's one of the only people I've read since Tolkien and C.S. Lewis who have awesome dwarfs.
World building is very important in fantasy novels for me. I like it to be interwoven in the book rather than knowledge dumps in the middle of scenes. My favorite urban fantasy worlds are Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series alternate Atlanta and Kim Harrison's world. Both mesh parts of our current world and come up with what it would look like after a drastic event. I like reading from authors that re-invent the world we live in, it's great.
Mel -- I agree. If I don't like the main character (especially if the book is first-person), no amount of cool world building or magic doodads will make a difference.
Jo -- Thanks! The Elenium series by Eddings is one of my favs too. I love the whole "whose turn is it to make breakfast" joke. ;-)
I'm looking forward to reading Frost's new book set in her Night Huntress world. I think it came out today.
And Robin Hobb is someone that I've been meaning to read for forever now. Too many books too little time!
Chicory -- Pratchett is another great one. His books are so absurd and so funny at the same time. I really like the librarian who's an ape.
BTW, I have a Goth dwarf in Spider's Bite. Another dwarf runs a beauty salon. ;-)
Heather -- I really like the Hollows series too. Jenks is a really great character in that series. And in real life, Kim Harrison looks just how I imagine Rachel Morgan to look.
World building is so incredibly tricky. I think for me, the struggle comes in finding ways to convey information in a way that is unobtrusive and interesting enough that the reader doesn't mind a little history lesson or a crash-course in a new magic system. I think it's a balancing act between what the reader needs to know in order to understand or appreciate the depth of the story and the world in which it takes place, while also bearing in mind that the world merely serves as the backdrop for the action.
Some of my absolute favorite worlds have come from Chris Wooding (particularly The Fade), who is probably the most imaginative world-builder and SFF writer I have ever read. Granted, he did have a LOT of explaining to do as a result of being so out-of-the-box, but his writing style and method of attack were so entrancing that it really made for one heck of a ride. He posted a great blog about this a couple weeks ago, for anyone interested: http://www.chriswooding.com/uncle-chriss-writing-tips-3-what-the-hell-is-a-jazzlewozzy/
Nice to meet you Jennifer!
World building is such a tricky thing- I had one agent LOVE my world building in my SF WIP- then an editor comment that it was too much ;). It's so dang subjective!
Myself, I like enough to pull me in, but still let my imagination fill in the gaps. Lisa's books are great at that, so are Linnea's. I also really enjoy Kim Harrison and Patricia Briggs. I guess for me give me the outline, but let me fill in the colors myself ;)
How much world building? I like enough that I feel the world solid. If I can imagine it as it's own character in a sense, I'm happy.
My favorite magic worlds (in no particular order) - Tolkein's Middle Earth, Discworld, Lisa's Mid (of course!), and some of the sci-fi/paranormal worlds that aren't quite fantasy and aren't quite SF.
Worldbuilding is one of the most important parts opf stories to me. I love to read what has been crafted, the mythology and feel of the world and underlying story behind the main story.
Truthfully, I will often read a story i am not fond of, if the mythology is compelling enough and the world is one I care about.
Robyn -- It is tricky to find a good balance between the two. And it only gets harder as your series goes along because then you not only have to find a way to explain the magic but also recap everything that's happened up until the new book.
The Wooding book sounds interesting. I'm getting so many great recommendations here today!
Marie -- Hi, Marie! I know what you mean. I like world building details, but not too many details -- I want to be able to use my imagination a little too.
Liana -- Pratchett's world has so many great, funny layers to it ... Isn't there some sort of guide to the Discworld universe out now? Or maybe I'm thinking about Robert Jordan ...
Illmantrim -- Yeah, sometimes the world building is more interesting than the characters. I know that I've read a few books over the years where I thought the magic was really cool and creative but just couldn't not get into the characters.
Teri -- I love the first couple of Narnia books. Neil Gaiman also has an interesting (and kind of disturbing) Narnia short story in one of his books .. the Fragile Things collection, I believe.
Great post, Jennifer-- and some great comments about world building.
When I read fantasy, I like enough details that I know why things are the way they are,and how the magic works, but I don't want blobs of details and explanations. If I can pick it up "on the go" I'm happier.
Rob Thurman's books are a good example: I get enough detail about this world that I can cope, not enough that I shove the book aside and say "later." Raines' world is also a good example-- Lisa keeps the action moving, but I don't get lost either. And when the characters are compelling, I'm willing to wait a little while longer for any explanations I don't get up front.
I struggle with this when I write: I'm in the midst of revising a young adult urban fantasy novel (among other projects, grin). It's set in my home town, Pittsburgh, so that helps, but I have to try and balance the "how did we get here" with the action-- and for teens that can be real tricky.
I love epic world building - my favourite so far has to be Raymond E Feist's Midkemia and the Hall of Worlds. Doesn't get much more epic than that :)
But I also love really well done urban / magical realism or speculative worlds. I haven't read Spider's Bite yet but one series that comes to mind in that category is the Dresden books.
I'm not an author, but I am a very avid reader and the author's ability to build a unique world with an easy to follow magic system is a must. I love it when yo9u are reading the story and the author slowly feeds you the details or the world and magic system so it just unfolds as you go creating a very deep reading experience. When authors try to do it all up front it tends to sound forced and be very boring. I think a well developed word ads to the plot and helps move the story along. As for favorite worlds there are way to many that I love to revisit over and over again. Lisa's books are part of the books I like to rereead. Others are anything by Jim Butcher, Terry Brooks, Mercedes Lackey and David Eddings,Jennifer Roberson and Orson Scott card to name a few. I realize that really doesn't narrow it down because man of them have multiple universes they write about.
Worldbuilding is really important, but you just want the right amount where you don't want to overwhelm the readers.
Some of the best world building in books are in Ilona Andrew's Magic series, Lisa shearin's Raine Benares Series and The better part of darkness by Kelly Gay.
Hi Jennifer,
I look forward to reading your book. That's the great thing about Lisa's blog...she recommends other great authors. I totally agree that Lisa does a great job with the world building in her books. A little at a time, with no huge data dumps. I read science fiction as well with not only new worlds and universes but spaceships and spacestations. I loke to learn about everything a little at a time as it becomes part of the story.
I don't write myself but I admire those of you who such a good job of it.
I've been enjoying everyone's comments throughout the day. Sorry I haven't been commenting as much as I'd have liked, but today's been crazy busy. I'm on the third (and final) draft of Con & Conjure -- pushing toward the finish line.
I love reading about new worlds in my books. I think they are critical to the story and the character development. I read as an escape and love to know where I am going.
That being said, there can be too much scene development. I like to see some paragraph breaks in the books I read :)
My favorite worlds would be in the past (castles, faries, knights, wizards), but on a sci-fi note Anne McCaffrey is the queen of new planetary worlds.
Kinley MacGregor paints an awesome world in Sword of Darkness and Knight of Darkness.
robin@intensewhisper.com
Don't enter me in the contest! I already have two copies. (And the second one arrived the mail too battered to do a giveaway with, which is what I might have done.)
But I DID want to remark that I am glad to see you here, and that I flatter myself in imagining that I might have brought you and Lisa together. And I'm glad to see this post has so much interest!
This genre is new to me and I just want to thank you for explaining some of the elements. I was clueless to some of the terminology and you made it easy to follow.
Please don't enter me. I just wanted to say that I practically devoured Spider's Bite and I am looking forward to the next one :).
I like either really complex and different worlds or worlds that are really close to my own with one really big difference. I hate it when the world gets explained to much. in one book they spent so much time explaining HOW magic worked including the philosophy (and it wasn't in a prologe that I could skip, i had to read the entire thing) that i didn't even finish chapter 1 of the book, let alone understand the magic it was explaining. I like for worlds to be complex and creative, and i like for the explanations of the world to be woven into the story so it's natural (unlike the aforementioned book). so to put it simply i like a lot of world building but it has to be introduced without jarring me out of the story.
Hi Jennifer,
Very interesting subject! I am not a writer but an avid reader. I love fantasy books and the cool worlds that authors invent. I really liked Kat Richardson's urban fantasy books called GREYWALKER, POLTERGEIST, etc. It is amazing how the author creates an alternate universe and make it sound so real and believeable!
J.R.R.Tolkien's books are a classic example of a fantastical world where creatures of all sorts live together and it seems so real.
I judge a book by how much it inspired me when I am done and how it makes me feel. Fantasies rate way up there at the top of the list in my opinion.
personally if i can imagine the place in my head then im cool with it sometimes its too much id ont need to know every car every street and shop and such somethings i like to leave up to my mind to wonder peronally i dont have a favorite world tho if i had to chose id have to say the Eververse dont know why i just love stell and audras worlds
awesome post and congrats on being her firstguestblogger
Patti -- Thanks! I visited Pittsburgh a few years ago. I thought it was a really cool city ... except for all the one-way bridges. Trying to get from one side of the river to the other was a bit confusing!
Toby -- Feist is another author I keep meaning to read ...
Margaret -- Yeah, nobody likes reading an info dump. That's one of the things that makes writing fantasy so hard -- you want to explain things, but you don't want to put your reader to sleep either!
Van -- I agree. Those are all cool books/worlds.
Candace -- Lisa is super cool that way. ;-)
Robin -- I haven't read any of her Kinley MacGregor books, but I love Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series.
Tia -- Which copy was that? Just wondering.
Leni -- Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the post.
Ebooklover -- Awesome! I'm glad that you enjoyed the book. ;-)
Simone -- Yeah, the world building has to flow naturally along with the action and dialogue. Otherwise, your book is going to be clunky and awkward to read.
Michele -- Several folks have mentioned the Greywalker books to me and how good they are ...
Sinn -- Yeah, you don't want to go overboard with your descriptions. As much as I like fantasy books, I don't want to read pages and pages of description where the author describes every single blade of grass in a park ...
Jennifer - Pocket sends me lots of books every month, and they ended up sending me yours a second time. Unfortunately, it was somewhat mangled, or I'd have done a giveaway.
Worldbuilding is the best. ITs so much fun... Its your own world, what you want it to be not anyone elses, you can put a huge tree in the tiny courtyard if you really want to... Whatever your want!
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