For today's Fantasy Chat, we have the talented T.F. Walsh here talking about world building.
Hi Cherie, thanks for having me on your
blog. Today I want to chat about world building.
What I love about writing fantasy is the
ability to create things out of nothing. The trick is to make it appear
believable by borrowing items from history and even today’s world.
In Cloaked in Fur, the story is set in
Brasov, Romania in the Carpathian Mountains. It’s a real place. It exists. My
friend actually grew up in Brasov. But where the reality ends and fantasy
begins is with the introduction of werewolves in this setting. And why not?
It’s a place seeped in folklore, and many tales associated with Dracula come
from this location. The backdrop is perfect.
And to take the world building
further, I created three types of werewolves with a bloodline that links back
to the royal kings from the Kingdom of Hungary in the 1300s. My plan was to
differentiate each werewolf kind with names that weren’t too complicated, but
almost self-explanatory. So, a moonwulf is a half wolf, half human. The moon
still controls them once a month. Outside the full moon, they can’t transform.
Now, for those creatures who have complete control over their transformations,
I’ve named them wulfkin. And lastly, the monstrous, bloodthirsty werewolves who
have zero ability to hold back their appetite are called dracwulf.
Of course with any wolf pack, rules and
hierarchy plays a huge part. And the rules I introduced are crucial to the
story and Daciana’s undoing. Plus, they set things in motion for book 2, which
I’m very excited about.
The fun part about world building in
fantasy worlds is that anything new introduced will have a ripple effect on
everything else. And that’s where it gets fun, allowing you to take the story
in so many directions.
What
do you love about world building in a story?
Cloaked in Fur is Available Now
As a moonwulf, Daciana never expected to
fall in love with a human. Hell, she never imagined that she’d abandon her
pack, endanger everyone around her, and break the worst rule possible. But she
did.
A rogue werewolf is killing Daciana’s
friends, and she sets on capturing the creature. She’ll do whatever it takes to stop the
beast. The police and her boyfriend, Inspector Connell Lonescu, are starting to
question her involvement in the murders, which is endangering the pack’s secret
existence. But when the pack alpha kidnaps Connell, revealing the awful truth
about the creature and its connection to the pack, Daciana must choose between
saving the man she loves and saving her pack family from certain death.
Paranormal
Suspense With Strong Romance
To Purchase: Amazon / Amazon UK / Nook / iTunes / Crimson Romance Books
Publisher: Crimson Romance
T.F.
Walsh emigrated from Romania to Australia at the age of eight and now lives in
a regional city south of Sydney with her husband. Growing up hearing dark
fairytales, she's always had a passion for reading and writing horror,
paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult stories. She balances all the
dark with light fluffy stuff like baking and traveling.
***
The next installment of Writers4Writers is Monday, August 19th and will feature Carrie Butler and C. Lee McKenzie. Check their sites for Tweets and FB posts to add to your feeds. Just copy and paste and you’re done. 
