My guest today is Jennifer Estep. She's a USA Today bestselling
author of the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series, the Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series, and
the Bigtime paranormal romance series.I'd say she might know a bit about successful world building in a story. I had a chance to pick her brain a bit about world building in her Mythos Academy series.
Most of us associate world building to paranormal and Sci-Fi. How important is world building to a story?
JE: World building is always important in a story, no matter
what genre you’re writing in. You always want to transport readers to another
place, whether it’s a small town, an alien planet, or a medieval castle. You
want to make folks feel like they are right there in the story with your
characters, having a burger and fries at the local diner; or exploring a hot,
muggy, tropical rainforest; or even feeling their toes go numb as they trudge
through a mountain blizzard. You want people to connect with your characters,
and bringing your world to life is one way to help do that.
However, I would say that world building is a little more
important when you’re writing a fantasy/sci-fi book. Readers who enjoy those
genres expect to see a lot of magic, sorcery, science, technology, etc. You
have to create a world where those things are possible, and then make readers
feel like they are in the middle of your world, whatever and wherever it is.
While you were writing Touch of Frost, did you already have
an idea in mind for a setting/location for Mythos Academy or did you have to do
some research for it?
JE: The great thing about writing fantasy is that you get to
create your own world. I didn’t really do any research about the
setting/location. I knew that I wanted Mythos Academy to be a private/boarding
type of school with a Southern, mountainous setting, so I came up with Cypress
Mountain, my fictional suburb that’s supposedly near Asheville, North Carolina.
After that, it was just a matter of deciding what sort of
buildings the academy needed and how I could use the buildings and their
descriptions to give the whole campus a dark, creepy, mythological feel.
Is Mythos Academy patterned or inspired by any
building/structure you've visited or come across?
JE: No, the academy isn’t really patterned on any specific
building. But several years ago, I visited the Parthenon in Nashville,
Tennessee, which I thought had some really cool architecture. Visiting the
Parthenon reminded me how much I’ve always liked mythology
and made me think that it would be fun to write a mythology-based story
someday. And now, I have.
How do you decide what to include in your description of
Mythos Academy (buildings, etc)? Was it difficult to write Mythos Academy at
all?
JE: It wasn’t too hard for me to dream up the academy. Since
it’s a school setting, I knew that there needed to be some school-type
buildings, so I designed an upper quad where students spend most of their time.
The quad features five buildings – the Library of Antiquities, the dining hall,
the gym, the math-science building, and the English-history building.
Basically, these buildings tie in with everything that
students would normally do, as well as some things that only the Mythos kids
do. These buildings give students a place to eat (the dining hall); a place to
go to classes (English-history and math-science); a place to train with weapons
(the gym); and a place to study and socialize after classes (the library).
There are also student dorms on campus, along with some other outbuildings.
I decided to use these buildings because I thought I could
stage a lot of different scenes in and around the various buildings –
everything from Gwen doing weapons training with the other students in the gym to her
wandering through the library to her walking across campus late at night.
Complete this: Mythos Academy would cease to exist if _____
is missing. (Can be a person, place, an object, etc.)
JE: The Library of Antiquities. The library is a seven-story
tall building with towers, parapets, and balconies. Gwen says it looks like
something out of an old, Gothic horror movie. The library is also covered with
statues of mythological creatures like gryphons, gargoyles, dragons, chimeras,
and more, which adds to the creepiness factor. Inside, the library features
hundreds of thousands of books, along with glass cases that contain artifacts
that have been used by various gods, goddesses, heroes, and more – things like
armor, weapons, jewelry, etc. There are also marble statues of gods and
goddesses on the second floor balcony of the library.
The Library of Antiquities definitely the centerpiece of the
academy and where a lot of the action in all the books in the series takes
place. It’s also a place where the kids can Hang Out and Be Seen, as Gwen puts
it.
Any advice for writers on how to effectively build worlds
for their books?
JE: I think you just have to think about your story, your
characters, and go with your instincts. What do you want your setting to be?
How will it impact your characters and the overall story? Where are the places
that your characters are likely to interact? What can you do to make these
places special, interesting, unique, and memorable? How can you give a house or
restaurant or graveyard a distinct look, feel, and personality of its own and
make it almost become another character in your story?
Those are some of the things that folks might think about
when it comes to world building. Also, you don’t have to go overboard on the
description of a house, restaurant, etc. Small, subtle touches here and there
can really add up and give your world/book a lot of atmosphere and personality.
Jennifer, thank you so much for taking time from your busy schedule to be here and share your thoughts on the importance of building a believable world regardless of the genre we write.
Touch of Frost Available July 26th
Gwen Frost is an outsider at Mythos Academy, a school of myths, magic and warrior whiz kids, where even the lowliest geek knows how to chop off somebody's head with a sword. Gwen is an outsider both to the students of the Academy and the rest of the world. But when her gift of psychometry - the ability to know an object's history just by touching it reveals dark undercurrents and danger afoot, she has no choice but to get involved. EXCERPT
BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, Borders
Available in both print and e-format. You can also read the prequel, First Frost for 99 cents from the above on-line stores in e-format..
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Jennifer Estep is a Southern gal through
and through. Sassy, sarcastic, and just a tad crazy. She happens to think the greatest thing ever created was a
library. Indoor plumbing is a close second, though. She has a bachelor’s degree
in English and journalism, and a master’s degree in professional
communications. Currently, I’m an award-winning features page designer for a
daily newspaper.
Jennifer has worked as
a features writer and page designer for a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper and
has more than 10 years of journalism experience. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and
other writing groups.
.
Jennifer’s books have
been featured in Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Southern Living, and a variety of
other publications. You can follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter.
