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Welcome to Lunaria! Part IV
Government and Groups of Influence Welcome back to our series on Lunaria! Thank you for tagging along as I share about the different elements of the world I’m building. This is a great exercise for me to make sure I have all my details straight, but I am also hopeful that you will enjoy this deeper dive into the world. I also hope it will make the books come alive even more when you begin reading this fall! So let’s dive in. Government The Royal Family Lunaria is a monastic kingdom. The royal family rules over the kingdom, and power is passed down from parent to child. In theory,…
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Welcome to Lunaria! Part 3
Exploring Religion and Magic Magic and religion are intimately linked in Elemastra. Typically, people worship the god of the elemental gift they are most dominant in. So those with strong magic pray to Farrig, those with earth magic pray to Xantara, etc. But each of the gods also has special domains that they keep watch over. Each territory in Elemastra also sees the gods and magic in slightly different ways. I will tell you a little about how Lunaria sees the gods and then how they see and interact with the different elemental magics. The Gods Farrig Farrig is the god of water. He is also considered the god…
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The Maps of Elemastra
They’re finally here! After hours of playing around and conquering the learning curve, the first maps are finished. Will I update them as I improve and learn more? Probably. But here is the ‘finished’ product. It is my pleasure to present to you the map of Elemastra, and a closer look at Lunaria. Let me know what you think in the comments below! Elemastra Lunaria
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Welcome to Lunaria! Part 2
A Brief History of Lunaria The Kingdom of Lunaria was formed after the Great Schism. When the people of Farlothen first came to Elemastra, many wandered or sent out explorers to determine where to settle. They came upon the Source Well, the site of the Schism. On this hill, a relic of a people of ancient times, they discovered five stones. Each stone represented one of the elements–Farrig’s Tear, the stone of Water. Phira’s Heart, the stone of Fire. Xantara’s hand, the stone of earth. Kazeh’s breath, the stone of air, and Aetheron’s eye, the stone of spirit. Once plucked from their resting place, the stones awakened the magical connection…
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Welcome to Lunaria!
Part 1: Geography and Wildlife Today I’m going to be sharing a little sneak peek into Lunaira, the northernmost Kingdom of Elemastra and the primary setting of the first trilogy. So let’s get into it! Note: I will add a map of the Lunarian territory to this post when it becomes available Geography Lunaria, as I mentioned, is the northernmost kingdom. But, instead of being cold and icy, it is warm and primarily tropical or subtropical in climate. Think of the Southern Hemisphere and how the farther north you go, the hotter it gets. Same concept. The geography of Lunaria changes and shifts. On the West coast, we…
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Building Elemastra
Nano Update: As of the day I am writing this, we are more than halfway through Nanowrimo. The clock is ticking, Thanksgiving is approaching, and that means that the finish line is almost here. How has my writing gone? Well…not as expected. I thought it would only take 2 days to reread my manuscript, another 2 days to review the plot and that I would be writing within 5-6 days of Nanowrimo. Add in a last-minute road trip and general procrastination, and I didn’t finish even reading the manuscript until 5 days into the month. Then I took a week to review the plot and read Save the…
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To Nano or Not to Nano
To Nano or Not to Nano That is the question we ask ourselves all through October. And it’s a tough question. Do we have time? Do we have a story calling our name? Will winning give us the boost in confidence we need to move forward? Or will losing be the straw that breaks our fragile ego and sends us into a hopeless spiral? To help you answer this question, or at the very least give you even more to ponder, I’m going to be sharing today about my experiences with NANOWRIMO so far. So sit back, relax and let me tell you about a long time ago in…
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The Pros and Cons of NANOWRIMO
Image Courtesy of National Novel Writing Month Gentle people, it’s that time again. We are deep into ‘Preptober,’ when writers the world over are gearing up for the most magical time of year: National Novel Writing Month. Never heard of it you say? Well, you can recognize it by its sweet symphony: the wailing and gnashing of teeth from those haunted spirits of writers stuck in eternal writers block and the triumphant cackling of the novelists who managed their daily word count–and only had to sacrifice their sanity to achieve it. But in all seriousness, Nanowrimo (pronounced Nah-No-Wry-Moh not Nah-No-Wree-Mo apparently) is an exciting time when people try to write…
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A Work in Progress
One of the difficulties of being a writer is that there is such a long time before the piece you’re working on is ‘done.’ When is a story ready? When has it been told? Does it have enough emotion, enough action? Does it make sense to others? There are a thousand questions a writer considers while drafting and revising. But the primary one that teases their mind as they revise is…is it done? I think many writers will tell you that there is no magic moment when a manuscript is ‘finished.’ Looking back on any previously published work, they will see things they wish they had done differently, gaps…
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Where I’m Going
Now that I’ve told you–briefly–what I’ve been up to the last two years, let me talk to you about where I’m going. The truth is–I have no idea. It’s terrifying. I have a direction. I have a goal. But I certainly don’t have a map. No GPS directions, no ability to check if I’m on the right path. I only have my heading and the ability to take it one step at a time. Here is what I do know. I have tried every job under the sun and none of them felt like they fit. I’ve come to accept this. It’s probable that, despite the fiction that we were…