Karen Foley
Lynn Raye Harris
Ellen Hartman
Diana Holquist
Samantha Hunter
Shirley Jump
Dee Tenorio
Jeannie Watt
Welcome Guest Author Stephanie Julian!
At last month's RWA National Conference in Washington, DC, I gave a workshop on worldbuilding, "Mastering Your Domain," with Alyssa Day and Melissa Mayhue.
Being a relatively shy person (no, really, I am), public speaking is so not my thing and I hate making small talk. But I love to talk writing.
And I love to write, particularly paranormal series. Seduced by Two, the seventh story in my Magical Seduction series from Ellora’s Cave, was released in late June. I love writing series because it allows you to revisit favorite characters, to catch up with them every now and then and see what they’re doing.
And I adore writing paranormal series. There’s just so much more you can do with paranormal. You aren’t bound by the traditional rules of nature, except those you choose to follow and the ones you create yourself.
I chose to play with an Etruscan mythology in my books, mainly because no one else was, and my dad’s family is from Italy so it was a natural fit. Besides, I didn’t want to do the traditional Greek or Roman gods. I wanted to do my own twist. But how do you find that twist?
Well, when I started cruising the Internet for information on Etruscan mythology, I discovered the wild and wonderful world of speculative non-fiction. Sites dedicated to theories on who really built the sphinx and the pyramids and crystal skulls and the Piri Reis map.
I was fascinated by lost civilizations (yes, I mean Atlantis but also Ra and the Lost Mines of Murabeca and etc.), artifacts unearthed in Middle Eastern deserts that appeared to be ancient electrical equipment and cryptozoology.
I felt like I’d hit the goldmine of ideas. The very nature of their being sparks little ideas that grow into big ideas.
At the end of this post, I’ve listed some of my favorite places on the Internet to find weird and wonderful ideas. But I’m always on the lookout for more. If you have any, please leave a comment and let me know where they are.
Do you love paranormal series? Let me know your favorites and why.
If you comment, you’ll be in the running to win a copy of Shadow Magic, the trade paperback featuring the first two stories in my Magical Seduction series, Seduced by Magic and Seduced in Shadow.
Encyclopedia Mythica:
The mythology section is divided into six geographical regions: Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Oceania. Each region has clearly defined subdivisions. The folklore section contains general folklore, Arthurian legends and folktales from many lands. There is also a bestiary, legendary heroes, image gallery and genealogical tables of various pantheons.
Crystalinks Ancient and Lost Civilizations:
Good jumping off point if you’re looking for something to kickstart your creativity.
Pib Burns Cryptozoology:
Want to read about weird creatures? Here’s the place to find some.
World Mysteries: Another weird stuff site but full of interesting tidbits to make you go hmm.
Skeptic’s Dictionary
The other side to some of the weird stuff you’re going to find on the other sites.
Rick Richards:
A little bit of everything here, from Jesus to Mayan temples with lots of pictures.
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Welcome Stephanie!
So glad to have you here, and what a great list! I feel like you made it just for me *G*
I love reading and writing paranormal, and hope to do more of it. I agree, finding your own twist on things is the critical component, and I think I may have tripped over some of these resources in my own research, but I knew what world I wanted more or less from the start, so I was able to do some very specific searches (such as for my genie book coming out with Blaze in March 2010).
I wanted to make this workshop at RWA, but if I recall, wasn't it early morning? LOL Seeing as it took me about three hours to wake up, get out of my room, and find bfast, obviously I missed it, but appreciate you sharing here. :)
Sam
Thanks Sam
I really appreciate you having me here. And yes, our workshop was at 8:30 a.m. Very very early.
I love genies, looking forward to reading that one.
Yes!
Hi, Stephanie! Congrats on book 7! How exciting to keep working on a world you've been building! Do you have a finite number in mind, or are you working in this "universe" for now? Are you also working on other settings or stories?
I love a series for the reasons you mentioned--I like revisiting favorite characters and places, and sometimes getting to peek at after the HEA for some characters and seeing something build or pick up from a previous visit. I also enjoy all the interconnections and the richness of the community/world. I just finished reading Shelly Laurenston's Magnus Pack, which was fun! I've got P.C. Cast's Goddess series on top of the TBR...
Hi fedora
Thanks so much for stopping by.
I'm going to continue working in this universe for a while just because there's so much no one has seen yet. I am working on a new series that I hope will debut later this year. Werewolves. One of my absolute favorite paranormal beings.
Welcome Stephanie!
Congrats on publishing lucky number 7. I love paranormal as well as romantic fantasy. Two of my favorites are Nalini Singh' s Psy/Changeling series and CL Wilson's Fading Land books. I love books with fantasy elements such as magic so sounds like your books would probably be right up my alley. Thanks for guestblogging!
Hi Cherie
Nice to see you here. I love Nalini Singh. She's an auto buy for me. Not tried Wilson's books yet but I've heard so much about them I'll have to put them on the list.
Magic is so much fun to write. And dream about.
Mastering MY Domain
Ok I couldn't think of anything clever to put as a title but I wanted to say that I attended the workshop at the RWA convention and I thought it was a great meeting of the minds. I found your advice about finding old(er) texts and using the Internet to find inspiration to build your own world and characters very informative. I love studying mythology and reading folklore. After your workshop I started thinking more about writing paranormal and found a copy of a dictionary of mythological creatures. It's an encyclopedia really (meant for kids I'm sure) of all these different creatures from different cultures around the world, so I picked it up, blew the dust off it and started thumbing through it. It's called "The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures: the ultimate a-z of fantastic beings from myth and magic". And a great paranormal series? Let's see...JR Ward, Charlaine Harris, and I also like Patricia Briggs.
Hello PrplSkys
I am so glad you got something out of our workshop. That just makes it all worth it. And thanks for the books suggestion. I'll have to check that out.
I'm with you, I love the Black Dagger Brotherhood.
Hi Stephanie!
Say the word "worldbuilding" and I perk up like a daisy, LOL I've marked every one of the sites you listed. I'm working on my first UF right now and am a little vexed at the idea of the sky being the limit in creating my world. I know, I know, I'm a writer, but somewhere along the way I must have lowered the lid on some of my creativity. Slowly but surely it's creeping back out. :)
Good luck with your writing and Seduced by Two!
Cari
http://cariquinn.blogspot.com/
Hi Cari
Good luck with the UF. I really hope these sites perk up that creativity. I know how sometimes it feels like there's nothing left in the well, but you know it's there, you just have to dig a little to find it.
Thanks for stopping by.
Wow congrats Stephanie on
Wow congrats Stephanie on all of your success. I was at the Ellora's Cave yahoo group and saw you were blogging here today. IM so glad I came by and checked it out your work sounds fabulous. I would love to read your books.
Hey Sarabelle
Thanks so much for stopping by. Glad to see you here.
Hi Stephanie! Great list of
Hi Stephanie! Great list of resources, which I will be checking out. Lost civilizations fascinate me, too, and you're right--what a wealth of ideas can be had from both lore and the discovery of artifacts.
Right now I'm reading Lori Handeland's shapeshifters and love the series because of her ability to interject humor into dark subjects.
Jeannie
Hi Jeannie
I read Handeland too, I really like her take on the werewolf myths. Thanks for stopping by.
WINNER!
Sarabelle, Please send me an email at stephaniejulian@msn.com so we can connect about your free book.
And thanks everyone for stopping and saying hi.
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