GUEST BLOG: Joshua Palmatier On Creating A Fantasy World

First of all, thanks to Deborah for inviting me to guest blog here today. I appreciate the offer!

Once upon a time I started a novel. I was in high school, I’d just decided that I wanted to be a writer, and so I tackled a novel (after a few half-hearted attempts at short stories). I had an idea after all, and I had a map I’d drawn in U.S. Government class, and I could see the world in my head. So off I went.

Ten years and five drafts later, I had a book. During those five drafts, the world and the map and the magic fleshed itself out, not to mention I managed to teach myself how to write. I sent it out and got rejection after rejection after rejection. Most of those were actually good rejections, saying the writing was good, but the idea behind the novel just wasn’t quite there, not for a debut novel anyway. It was disappointing . . . no, that’s a lie . . . it was heart-rending, but I sucked it up and started work on other books, other novels, other ideas.

And now, five published novels later, I’m looking back at that initial book. Why? Because the current series—in fact, all of the books I’ve written—have been set in that same world. My first trilogy, the “Throne of Amenkor,” was set at about the same time as that first book, but on a separate continent. The current series—including Well of Sorrows and the just released Leaves of Flame—is set on the same continent but at a much earlier time period than that first novel. However, both series are connected to that first book in significant ways.

That’s one of the most important things I’ve learned about writing over the course of the years: that everything you write, everything that you do, is useful in some way. Nothing is ever wasted. That first book, even though it didn’t find an agent or an editor or publisher to call home, is still to this day being used in various ways. I didn’t realize exactly how important a part it would play in the novels that I’m writing today.