The novel I’m working on currently is my primary project, besides this blog, and is something that’s been in the works for quite a while now and it’s taking up a lot of my time. Time I gladly give it, however!
It’s also my first attempt at a novel which is, to say the least, a daunting experience.
If you, like me, have only written very short stories in the past, then suddenly taking on the task of writing a 90.000-word novel seems almost impossible.
Originally, the novel actually started out as a roleplaying game.
I had done a lot of work on the worldbuilding, characters etc but when it came time to start working on rules, I found myself at a loss as I simply didn’t enjoy that process.
I did, however, have one very short playtest with some friends, to see what others thought of the world design and they seemed to like it.
However, I knew I never could complete the game if I didn’t enjoy the game portion of it at all, so the logical step, at least for me, was to turn the whole thing into a fantasy novel instead.
I knew from the start that I wanted something different from the classic fantasy, as much as I love Tolkien, I have become a bit bored with that sort of high fantasy, and with my love of the Dark Souls/Bloodborne games, my interest in the Dark Fantasy sub-genre slowly grew.
I knew I wanted the story to take place in a world where black powder weaponry was more prevalent, so based my ideas and designs on 16/17th century Europe. I also wanted it to be more of a post-apocalyptic setting, as I love that genre and thought it a shame that it hadn’t been combined with Fantasy more often.
I wanted a world that didn’t know magic, where elves, dwarves, dragons and orcs were nowhere to be seen.
A world, that when supernatural elements were introduced to it from an outside source, it would wreak havoc on it.
Most importantly, I wanted different characters, grey characters, that are neither purely evil or purely good. Why settle for black and white when there are so many shades of grey to choose from (no, I know what you’re thinking and don’t even go there!)
Fantasy today is rife with young farm boys who grow up to become mighty warriors, defeating evil and rescuing the maiden and I would have none of that.
Instead, I would have a soldier, in his late 30’s, how is heavily scarred mentally and emotionally from years of war and who deserted the army.
And so, the character of Erhart and the novel Call of the Crow was born.
A world where a great civil war has become part of everyday life, having raged for over 40 years but is suddenly ended, in a way that no one could have expected, giving way to a new era, known as “The Time of the Long Madness.”
Erhart finds waking up alone in a forest, with no memory of how he got there, but finds that the world he does remember is long gone.
People have died by the tens of thousands from horrible suicides and murder, much of the population driven insane, madness spreading like a plague. And some turned into horribly deformed parodies of mankind.
Erhart must now make his way through an unknown hellscape, to return home to his wife and daughter, while desperately trying to retain his sanity on the way.
So there it is, my first novel, and although I’m only 15.000 words into it I am enjoying the process immensely.
Creating this world from scratch with all it’s cultures, religions, people and conflicts have been so much fun and I will be sharing much of my worldbuilding with you on this site.
So that is it for now, there are pages to be written and monsters and nightmares to be confronted.
I’ll see you next time and don’t forget to praise the sun! \o/
Writer At The Threshold 