World building inspirations – Moondancer

There are endless resources for ideas, information, and inspiration when it comes to world building. Cultures, science, current and historic events, are some of the core places I know many authors go to for their world building ideas. One of my favorite resources for my own world building has to do with human and nonhuman relationships (people to people, animals to animals, people to animals, as well as differences in social interaction between people of different social classes, regions, cultures, age groups, etc…).

One of the aspects of relationships I find myself thinking about most when I was first building the world of the Guardian Circle has to do with unexpected behavioral changes, for instance a person everyone always thought of as being quiet, nice, kind, suddenly and without warning and a drastic behavioral change that turns him or her into a monster. There a lot of psychological explanations that people come up with in our world, environmental excuses, traumas from the person’s past, and so on, but sometimes, no logical reason can be found for these behavioral changes.

In my world, which in many ways is very similar to our own with twists and turns here and there to allow the reader to feel like they're in a familiar place, but at the same time to give space for the magic, for the paranormal to exist in the shadows and the secret places behind the mundane world. In my world, when a good person suddenly turns monstrous, those that are knowledgeable of the shadow places, of the unspoken magics, they know what is to blame. It is called, the Void.

***

“Tell you what you know about the Void.” I turned my attention fully to Neman. My determination must’ve showed on my face because Neman seemed surprised and took a step back from me.

“The Void?” Neman blinked and glanced toward Aegolius. “Why do you want to know about that? Nasty business. Ancient evil sort of stuff. Not something one talks about in polite company.”

“I wasn’t being polite, and I’m not making small talk. I want to know about the Void, and I mean now.” I deliberately took a step forward, and Neman stepped back again, successfully intimidated. “So you know anything about it, Magi, or are you trying to cover up the fact that you don’t know shit?” Neman frowned, and I suppressed a grin. Best way to stir up the scholarly types and get them yapping was to challenge their knowledge. Just like my brother.

“I know ‘bout the Void. More than most I’d wager,” Neman said. “That doesn’t mean I know half of what needs to be known. Like I said, the Void, it’s ancient. Older than the written word. Some say older that even the Fae themselves. I don’t know. The Clan, you know how the shifters are, so wrapped up in their pockets of war they can’t see the big picture; they don’t even know the Void exists. My people have studied it, but half of our scholars see the Void as just another type of magic, the magic of the shadows, while to others like me the Void is much more. We see it as a force of destruction and chaos, once a part of the balance of the natural order, now threatening to undo all creation.”

“Older than the Fae, could that even the possible?” Aegolius asked, eyes narrowing at Neman. “No. The Fae have always been, a part of the land, the sky, the oceans, the fiery core of the earth, we are part of it all, part of life. Before that? There was nothing.”

“Yes. Nothing. That’s the Void. The nothing before life, before substance. At least that’s the theory.” Neman responded to my brother, but his gaze never wavered from me. I found his unusual level of attention disconcerting, but my obvious discomfort didn’t seem to slow the Magi man down. “Long ago it was simply part of the balance, the negative for the positive, the shadow for the light, but somehow, no one knows why, that changed. The Void began to want, began to desire power, chaos -- who knows what all they’re after. What we do know for certain is the Void is interfering with life, with free will, not just of the humans, but the free will of all of us. They seek out where there is weakness and that becomes the point of infection.”

(excerpt from “Seeking Light in the Shadows” by Moondancer Drake)

***

An author's take on characterization-Moondancer Drake

To me the people, the characters, are the heart and soul of the story. If I don't care about the characters I am reading about, the story itself cannot hope to hold my interest. Maybe this is why when I'm writing, the characters are the first thing I consider, in fact generally they are introducing themselves to me before I've even thought about writing a story.

I write about strong women, largely because those are the characters and the women that drew my attention growing up most. Women like Uhura from Star Trek, Rita Moreno on the Electric Company, Whoopi Goldberg and everything she ever did (including Guinen, be still my heart), and later on of course Xena. There have been many strong women throughout my life that taught me, that inspired me, and even impassioned me to do the activist work that I do, and to write the stories I write. Many of these women live on in part within the characters that spearhead my stories.

Characters come to me in very many ways, sometimes she’s some woman I meet that strikes me in some way, a picture I find, that sparks an idea, or even most often in dreams. These women take over my thoughts, complicating things often in the middle of writing some other story, and it's up to me to get to know them. For example…



This is Sage. This character began for me simply from running across this picture on the Internet. Slowly, who she was unfolded into what was supposed to be a secondary character in a YA story, now is destined to have a paranormal adventure romance of her own. She's a mother, a lesbian, an artist, and a craftswoman. She's been hurt, but is strong and does what she has to do for her family and for the people that depend on her. For many people she is the rock of the community. You see, all this and more just from a picture.

Characters touch people, shared experiences, familiar ideas for backgrounds, admiration and often times sympathy, these are the things that draw the reader into the story, then grab the imagination into the reader has no choice but to finish the story, they just have to know what happens this character they care about. I'm not missing everybody writes with this much energy into creating characters like these, but this is why I do it.

Thursday Thirteen – 13 reasons to read my new book, Worlds Collide.

I’m totally stoked about my new novel, which my author copies for just showed up in the mail today. I thought I’d share some of that excitement with y’all. More TT fun can be found at Dreamtime and Xakara's Blog

13) World Collide has an ass kickin’ shape shifter heroine!

12) You know you love vampires that don’t sparkle…we got those too.

11) The story happens in Madison, Wisconsin… you did know that’s where the cool people live, right?

10) Did I mention the sexy female vampire heroine? The very, very sexy female vampire heroine!

09) Worlds Collide has got adventure and suspense!
08) One of the heroines is a veterinary student. What’s sexier then an animal lover, especially one who can turn into an animal?

07) For those of you who read Natural Order, there’s at least two characters from that novel who have guest spots in Worlds Collide.

06) The villain is deliciously nasty.

05) Who doesn’t adore a culturally diverse setting with empowered women?
04) The romantic elements of Worlds Collide are sensual without being overly graphic.

03) Did I mention our ass kickin’ shape shifter heroine must chose between love and duty? What will she do?

02) You know you can’t get a story from me without a bit of humor thrown in too.

01) Worlds Collide is a love story, a story about fighting for what’s right, and a story about inner strength and courage. Come join the adventure!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun!

Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

A Tidbit for Sampling from Moondancer Drake

Since this is my first post at Beyond the Veil, it seems appropriate to introduce myself. I’m an Eastern band Cherokee, a two-spirit woman (Native LGBTQ), a mother, a practitioner of earth-based spirituality, an environmentalist, an activist, in fact there are many sides to Moondancer.

The reason I say all this is that as a writer all these ingredients that make up who I am, are part of everything I write. Being a Native American woman growing up loving speculative fiction yet never finding anyone like me in the stories I read, all the fiction I write now is multicultural. My real live experiences and passions effect my writing as well. In the city where I live so many people are separated, segregated, in fact from very young our Western culture is taught to be selfish, to “look out for #1”. Culturally and personally I believe strong and supportive communities are crucial to a society’s well being, even to a personal physical and mental health. I love reading about women living in strong, supportive of communities where belief systems like mine (and other non-mainstream spirituality’s) are fully accepted and even embraced. As a writer of paranormal fiction I can create these communities I wish I lived in. I can fight the fights against the evil of this world that we also often feel helpless against by bringing that evil into my world and having my heroines fight it there. It’s an empowering feeling for me as the author of the stories, and I hope for my readers as well.

Currently I have two published novels; Ancestral Magic and Natural Order, a new ebook novella called Seeking Light in the Shadows, as well as numerous short stories published in anthologies. Today I thought I would leave you with a taste from my new urban fantasy coming out next week or so, Worlds Collide.

***

Once she was in place on the garage roof, Rune pushed the ladder away from the edge and watched it fall back to the grass with a low thud. She wouldn’t need it to get down and didn’t want to draw attention to her presence. Rune hung her torso over the gable of the garage and peered into the window below.

Beyond the glass, one man walked across the room with his armed wrapped around a busty blonde. Past him, Rune could pick out five more women and another ten men moving about the flat. They all looked normal enough, but that was the trouble with vampires — as long as they fed well, the leeches looked just like everyone else. It was their scent — a rancid mixture of sweat and old blood — that made them stand out to a hunter like herself. Vampires didn’t sweat, because they had no need to; neither heat nor cold affected them in any but the rarest of cases. The sweat she smelled was from the humans on whom they feasted.

Laughter from the back of the room caught her attention. A group of four vampires was gathered in a corner of the room. Above the din of the music, Rune could just pick out the sound of a woman’s voice behind them. A vampire roared with amusement, taking a step forward, and Rune realized it was his laughter that had first drawn her attention. That was when she heard the woman scream.

Rune grabbed the edge of the gable and lowered herself, dangling by her arms. There was barely enough time to shift before she swung back and crashed through the window. She landed on the carpeted floor, legs bent and spread in a combat stance. She had not taken the form of a wolf this time. The eyes of many of the vampires widened with fear to suddenly find a werewolf in their midst.

Pandemonium raged as the smarter of the vampires hurtled for the door. The bouncer took a step back and the crowd scrambled past him, stampeding down the stairs. He glanced at Rune, the group in the corner, and back again. She braced herself for the charge that never came as he swore under his breath and dashed out the door.

Smart man. She grinned and turned back to those remaining.

The vampires fanned out from the corner and Rune glimpsed the three people on the floor. The man’s body was stretched out on a wide strip of wood flooring just beyond the carpet, while his two female companions hugged each other and shivered, eyes closed.

“You know, Farrell, I’ve always wondered what shifter tastes like.” The vampire ran a hand over his shaven head and licked his lips hungrily. “You boys help me bag this one, and we can all have a treat.” Pete and Jumala glanced nervously at each other, but didn’t move forward.

Her eyes narrowing malevolently, Rune snarled at the bald man, “You’ll never live to find out, parasite.