It’s been three years since I released Firestone, the first book in the Lore of Tellus series. Since then, I have completed two more books, Orbis & Tempus, with the fourth book now in creation. The world is growing! If I had known then how much of a success it was going to be, I wouldn’t have believed it. I've been overwhelmed by the positive responses I’ve received so far, from the readers that I met at the book fairs and markets, to those who bought copies of the book online, and I thank everyone for taking the time to purchase and read the book.
It’s always a concern when you accomplish something as big as writing a book, whether anyone will enjoy reading it. I went into this with my eyes open, knowing that the books I have written, and plan to write, may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But my aim was, and still is, to always produce something that most people would enjoy reading, and give the reader a place to escape the real world, even if it is just for a short while.
So where am up to? Well, as I have already mentioned, I have the first three books in the series written, and I am 25,000 words into book four. Following on from that, I will write the fifth book in the series to finish it. Not only that, I have also started planning the World of Tellus, which will include other stories set in the same world as the Lore of Tellus.
I get asked all the time about where I get my ideas from, and how I found the inspiration to write. In my previous post, I mentioned I had the words “the raindrops fell against the windowpane,” which kept repeating in my head, but I still didn’t know what to write about, only that I had to do it. I picked a subject I was interested in, which was Steampunk and fantasy.
This is where the researching began and still continues to this day. It wasn’t long before I was knee deep in books about magical beasts, folklore and myths, and began building a world to set my story in. I continued to stick with the steampunk theme, then built from there, letting my mind go crazy.
It was around this time that I did a course in writing, “How to Write Best-Selling Fiction,” by James Scott Bell, which certainly helped me to plan out where I was going to go with all of my ideas. One of the main lessons I learned from this was that planning was the key to getting this right. I had to know where I was going in order to progress.
There was a lot more to writing than just typing away at the keyboard, so with this in mind, I put the writing on hold to set out where I was going with it all. This was one of the best steps that I have taken so far, though it didn’t mean I had to set my ideas into stone, but it did mark out a course and direction for where I was heading.
I have each book roughly mapped out, so that I know where I am going to start and finish. It does not mean that I have to stick rigidly to the plans that I have made, but I have certain way markers set out ahead of me to aim for to keep me on track. Between those markers, my mind is free to roam wherever it wants.
This is the hardest part to explain, but for me it’s like a carpet rolling out in front of me, and I join the characters as they go through the world. I can see it, smell it, taste it, and all I have to do is write it down as I go along. There are some days that are better than others, depending on how I’m feeling health-wise, but on a good day I can reach over 6000 words. As I mentioned before, I’m not always aware of what I have written, and it can be a nice surprise to read over the day’s work.
Along the journey through the world, I will meet new characters and visit new places, all of which will need researching and creating as I go along. I try to take inspiration from places that I’ve visited in person, to help create the world of Tellus, but again, my mind will build on this to make it fit the world I am creating. Carrying a notebook and pen with me is important, as this is where I can write down all the ideas that come to me, some to be used now, some saved for later. Either way, I always write them down, otherwise I will forget, and the ideas will most probably be lost forever.
Where I get my ideas from is not an easy question to answer, especially when my brain races ahead of me for a majority of the time, but I hope this has gone some way to explain how and where I get my inspiration for the Lore of Tellus. I will park it here for now, but look out for my next post, where I will talk about the characters in further detail. If you have any questions you want to ask, feel free to contact me via the details below.