Stealing Magic
by Alex C Vick
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today I have author Alex C Vick here to tell us how she does her world building. I also have the blurb and an excerpt from Stealing Magic.
Firstly, thank you very much to Jo of Mixed Book Bag for
inviting me to write a guest post today!
The subject is world building. My books are contemporary
fantasy, which means that it’s an ongoing challenge for me. Of course, all
stories require world building to some degree, but there’s an expectation with
fantasy that you’re going to give the reader something brand new to discover.
On the one hand, that’s great, because you can let your
imagination have some serious fun. On the other hand, it’s tough, because all
this new information has to blend seamlessly with the plot and the characters.
If your magical fantasy world keeps interrupting the story, your reader is eventually
going to get fed up with it. No matter how amazing that world might be, or how brilliant
the new spell you’ve just invented (and dropped into your character’s lap out
of nowhere!).
I cannot claim to be any kind of expert on world building. I
absolutely love doing it, but it shines a very unforgiving spotlight onto my
writing skill. As with most things about being an author, I’ll be learning for
the rest of my life. But right now, a few books into my series, there are three
things that work for me.
1.
Believe
Bear with me on this one! I’m not suggesting that I think Androva and Imbera,
the two worlds I’ve created so far, are real. But in my head, when I’m writing,
they are. I know how they look, how they sound, and what it feels like to live
in them. I’m there. If I ever struggle, it’s usually a sign I won’t be able to
write that part of the story very well and something needs to change.
2.
Plan, and keep a record of
it
Even if you're not a natural planner (and I’m not!), you should know a lot more
about your world than will ever make it onto the pages of your book. And you should
try not to contradict what you said about it ten chapters ago.
3.
Remember your reader
I write for a Middle Grade audience, which means that I need to strike a careful
balance. There has to be enough description for my
readers to believe in the story, but not so much detail that they get bored.
And I’ve learned to leave some gaps, too. I’m fortunate to have a couple of advance
readers that are in Middle Grade, and sometimes they tell me they’d rather
imagine certain things for themselves. They actually don’t want me to describe
it for them.
No author approaches world building in exactly the same way,
and different readers like different things. What are your favourite imaginary
worlds, old or new? If you could spend one day in a world of your choosing,
which would it be?
Thank you for reading, and thank you again to Mixed Book Bag
for featuring my post!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Middle Grade Fantasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Shannon thought there was no such thing as real magic. Until
that day. The day that changed everything.
Put yourself in her shoes. Would you open your eyes, if you were the one that heard them? Two magic-takers from another world, arguing about whether they can collect what they came for before you wake up. It sounds like a crazy dream, or a practical joke.
But what if the air around you started to vibrate with an invisible force field? What if, all at once, it felt scary, yet familiar too? You would have no way of knowing that this discovery would set you on a path no-one from our world has taken for centuries. Towards a deadly enemy, and a fight you will almost certainly lose.
All you know is that your heart is beating so fast you're worried they will hear it, and your brain is starting to buzz as the force field reaches it. Would you open your eyes?
Join Jax and Shannon as they live through the most exciting and terrifying ten days of their lives!
Put yourself in her shoes. Would you open your eyes, if you were the one that heard them? Two magic-takers from another world, arguing about whether they can collect what they came for before you wake up. It sounds like a crazy dream, or a practical joke.
But what if the air around you started to vibrate with an invisible force field? What if, all at once, it felt scary, yet familiar too? You would have no way of knowing that this discovery would set you on a path no-one from our world has taken for centuries. Towards a deadly enemy, and a fight you will almost certainly lose.
All you know is that your heart is beating so fast you're worried they will hear it, and your brain is starting to buzz as the force field reaches it. Would you open your eyes?
Join Jax and Shannon as they live through the most exciting and terrifying ten days of their lives!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
“I knew it!” shouted the
voice triumphantly.
Shannon nearly jumped out of
her skin at the unexpected words. Abruptly the force field seemed to snap back
inside her head, leaving her hands and the surface of the tree completely back
to normal.
She scrambled to her feet to
confront the owner of the voice, knowing already who it was.
“Jax, I presume?” she said,
as calmly as she could manage, though her heart was still jumping from the
shock, and she was already half-smiling in amazement at what was happening.
Jax, standing with his hands
in his pockets, and smiling the same mischievous, slightly mocking grin that
she remembered from last time, raised his eyebrows.
“You have the advantage over
me, Terran,” he said. “I don’t know your name.”
“Shannon,” she answered.
“And you knew what exactly?”
Jax gave a half-bow.
“Pleased to meet you Shannon. And I knew you were a magician.”
Shannon’s mouth fell open.
Before she could reply, he continued.
“I shouldn’t even be able to
travel here on my own. You see this symbol on my shirt?”
He pointed to the star, the
centre of which was spinning again just as it had the week before.
“It wasn’t until I met you
that it started to spin. It’s not supposed to be able to do that until I come
of age. In four years’ time.”
He paused, to make sure she
understood the significance of this fact. “Who are you? Why is this happening?”
Shannon laughed. To think
that Jax was the one asking questions of her!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Alex writes
contemporary fantasy books for a middle grade audience and older. There are
three (self-contained) stories in the Legacy of Androva series so far, with a
fourth on the way. You can contact Alex, and find more information about Androva,
including a character interview, at http://www.alexcvick.com
Alex lives in the
South of England with her husband and two daughters. When she's not working, or
writing about magic, she also loves reading and photography.
Stealing Magic
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXQEPYR
Stealing
Magic will be $0.99 during the tour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Alex C Vick will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
I really enjoyed reading your post on world building. That is such an important part of stories and I am always amazed at how well it is done.
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was a lot of fun to write, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
DeleteI just wanted to say thank you so much for featuring my book and my guest post today!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your book's release, I enjoyed learning about the book and author! Good luck on the tour and thank you for the awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed the post, and best of luck with the giveaway!
DeleteThanks for sharing the great post, I enjoyed reading it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's great to hear!
DeleteThanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Good luck with the giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteHope you had a fantastic weekend! Looking forward to checking out this book!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ally, I had a great weekend, I hope you did too :)
DeleteI really appreciate you stopping by, and I can't wait to visit your blog!
congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win
ReplyDeleteThank you Lisa, and good luck with the giveaway
DeleteI enjoyed the interview and excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for stopping by
DeleteThanks Ally! I am really enjoying the tour so far!
ReplyDeleteExcellent guest post! Looking forward to checking this book out!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ally, I'm really glad you enjoyed the post!
DeleteI really enjoyed reading the guest post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you Nikolina, I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to visiting your blog very soon!
DeleteGood luck with the release!
ReplyDelete--Trix
Thank you so much for following the tour, I really appreciate it!
DeleteShared on G+, enjoy the Sunday! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, I really appreciate your continued support of the tour! Hope you have a great Sunday too :)
DeleteThis sounds like a fantastic book! Thanks for hosting.
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed following this tour and look forward to checking out this book!
ReplyDelete