Thank you
to the Darksiders for hosting me here once more. This week, I thought I’d talk
a bit about some of the things I considered when developing and writing about
the magic of Tzamesch, where the Shadow Series is set.

As I wrote, I also found that there were different kinds of magic, with elemental magic playing a pivotal role in the story. I also learned that the difference had to be explained or shown so that the reader could focus more on the story than on wondering what the importance of those differences was. I decided elemental magic was different to ‘normal’ magic, but only to a small degree.
I had to
ask: How are gods and goddesses formed? Where do they come from? Where do they
go when they die? How do they die? and What role do mortals play in the
life-cycle of a god?
With the
books having such strong elements of deities and their interference in mortal
affairs, these were questions that required an answer in order for the story to
move forward.

The worship
of stone led to the discovery of metal, which led to the rise in importance of
smiths and inventors, which led to a gradual increase in the worship of a god
of smiths and a god of inventors and brought about a decline in the worship of
metal as an element. Likewise, an increase in the worship of a god of masons led
to a decrease in the worship of the element of stone. And so it went.

I also
revisited my idea about magic being tiring, and decided that if particularly
difficult spells were cast, or if the caster had to repeatedly cast spells,
then magic was tiring, and again came
the constant question ‘Why?’. It took me some time to answer that, but I worked
out that the reason wizards who attempt a magic beyond their ability, or who
draw on spells over a prolonged period, collapse or die is because they eventually
end up drawing on the magic inside themselves, for it takes a degree of magic
to sense and use magic. Spell-casters are, in essence, magical creatures, and
magic gives their souls a different flavour.
…and this
flavour is what enables other magical creatures to hunt them—another important
element in the story as the nemesis threatening the world uses his undead to
hunt wizards so he can use the power stored in their souls to fuel his escape
attempt.
So, how
does this illustrate world-building, and why is it important?

Some of this
background never appears in the book itself, but me knowing it exists helps me
give each occurrence a commonality so that the reader can start to make sense
of the world and feel a little more at home in it. This means the reader can
focus more on the story than on wondering why things work as they do in the
characters world. It reduces the chance they’ll be pulled out of the story
because something didn’t work as they expected, because it was different to the
last time they saw it. It helps the reader become immersed in your world, and
enjoy it more.
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C.M. Simpson spent the first twenty years of her life living in different parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory. Her father was a teacher who liked to travel, so he took teaching appointments in all kinds of places. To cope with the constant travel, C.M. wrote stories, drawing on the different landscapes she encountered and giving a hyper-active imagination somewhere to run. Seeing so many different places gave her a lot of food for thought as she stepped into the world of adulthood and she never stopped writing and exploring the worlds in her head.
You
can find her at: http://cmsimpson.blogspot.com.au/