Welcome to our Worldbuilding Wednesday! On Wednesdays, we will discuss the creative process behind different facets of the Twinverse, from as lofty a concept as the entire cosmology, to specific characters and their role in the setting. Worldbuilding Wednesday is meant as a behind-the-scenes column to give insight into how the setting itself changes and evolves, beyond just the events of the books.
With North Star out in both paperback and Kindle formats, it's time to touch upon one of the book's main topics. This is a foundational concept in the Twinverse, but it is also used on a smaller scale in many fantasy worlds: the loss of history.
Content warning: there could be mild spoilers for North Star here. Read at your own risk!
In most fantasy worlds, as in the real world, there are elements of history that are lost to time, identified only by the odd monument or ancient ruin, or perhaps by strange manufacts that cannot be connected to any known culture. In fantasy worlds, this can expand to magical items, non-human remains, feats of sorcery beyond what is commonly known to be possible today, and so on.
There are multiple reasons why lost history can benefit a world and the stories set therein. It provides a sense of depth beyond what is immediately needed for the story, giving the reader a chance to feel that the world is living and breathing. This is of course true for known history as well - it prevents the reader from feeling that the world only exists within the spotlight the characters walk in. But lost history adds a sense of mystery that may provide the writer with hooks, and may encourage the reader to connect the dots on their own, giving them a sense of satisfaction.
However, the essential element here is that whatever lost history is there, it has to make sense. If a reader manages to connect the dots from the elements scattered in the story, the picture that forms should be believable. As a result, we come to the "curse of the writer": you may need to create that lost history, at least in broad strokes, so that whatever little clues you sprinkle in your tale manage to fit into what you made and can be believably connected.
Take the Twin Worlds, for instance. The past history of the setting was deliberately erased over thousands of years by the Ledhrorn, so whatever happened in the first three Ages is essentially unknown at the beginning of the Fifth Age. Even significant portions of the Fourth Age were excised (typically when they involved a humiliation of the Ledhrorn, or a kingdom powerful enough to challenge them). But ruins still exist undiscovered, copies of ancient books may still be found if one is lucky, and there are connections that can be made to rebuild the history of the past.
This is a major theme in the Twin Worlds, as described in North Star as well. But for the theme to work, the author needs to know what's in that lost history. Using the example of North Star, I need to know why the Saelvir live in Freyfthor - is that their original home, or did they move there? If it's their original home, how did people in the Twin Worlds learn about them? If it isn't, why did they move there?
(It isn't, and they moved to avoid a threat. More on that in future books).
Beyond that, if they live there, isolated from the world, how could the legends of the "ice spirits" form? Are they only about the Saelvir, or are these legends a conflation of two or more unrelated phenomena? And the mysterious explorer who found their city and wrote about it in his diary - who was he, and why did Ailanel dispose of him and store the diary (but not destroy it)?
None of these answers are actually given in the book, but I need to know them in order to write about these topics in a way that is self-consistent. And this is a small example - but there are larger ones as well, most of which I will not bring up because spoilers.
Either way, as you build your world, consider what elements should not be known, and what they left behind. It will enrich your story, make your world more realistic, and engage your readers in wanting more. If you plan to write a series of books, either interconnected or not, the gradual reveal of more elements slowly building up to a picture will give the reader great satisfaction. Especially if it's an Easter egg that doesn't need to be solved to enjoy the story, but adds to that enjoyment if solved.
Thank you for joining on this installment of Worldbuilding Wednesday. See you next week, and please don't forget to check out North Star on Amazon, available both as paperback and Kindle!