In preparation for Dead Magic’s release … which is apparently coming sooner than I’d imagined … I’ve decided to start adding some content. You’ll noticed on the top bar that I’ve added a new page called “Magnellum” which is the world in which Dead Magic is centered.
Also, on the sidebar (under the title Blogroll) you can see a link to a teaser/snippet page. That will actually take you to a page with ALL my books on it. You can click through and read teasers of each one that has been published to date. Including a small teaser page for Dead Magic, which I will edit and make bigger after its release. (Right now you can read the very first scene of the book.)
When I have an actual date for its release I will start another release party. (I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I’ve done one of those.) And I’ll do some Giveaway’s and throw out a bunch of free content delving deeper into the world of Magnellum.
In the meantime, the Magnellum page on the top bar goes through a list of the noble Houses in Magnellum. I won’t lie, the political spectrum of Magnellum was difficult to create. We get to see the noble society at its peak in Witch- Born, but in Dead Magic I got to dive into the history behind Magnellum and really work on the mythology behind what created the Witch-Born race in the first place.
It actually took me several passes at the manuscript before I was able to settle on something that both made sense and entertained me as a writer. (I mean, if I don’t find it entertaining then who else will?) I’m not going to spoil the book before it’s even come out, so don’t worry. We all know how I feel about spoilers.
However, as an author, mythology and world building are the two most enjoyable and most frustrating parts of the writing process. During the first draft I’m just having fun with the characters and running through what I call the “bare bones” of the plot. So at that point world building and mythology are a ton of fun.
When I get into the second pass of the book and start really looking at the mythology is when I get frustrated because it almost always needs to be fixed. That’s when the real work happens for me as a creator. I may know the characters of the story but I don’t really know the story yet, you know? So there are weeks and weeks of brainstorming what parts of the mythology need rewriting and — most importantly — how I can take that mythology and turn it into something intimate for the characters on the page.
Because a neat mythology doesn’t necessarily make a great story. That mythology has to work with the characters. It has to shake them up somehow, and that’s what I was looking to do in Dead Magic. I’m hoping I managed it. We’ll see what readers say.
As with everything I write, I wouldn’t ever publish anything because I always think something needs to be improved.
AJMaguire 