Happy early New Years, everyone! I hope your Christmas and holiday celebrations were full of all the good things. Today I’m so happy to introduce for your next Friday Fantasy Book Club a fellow Expanse author, Brett Armstrong. I met Brett after signing with Scrivenings Press with their speculative fiction line Expanse. He’s a humble guy who has a heart for bringing fictional history to life, and bringing a piece of God into his stories. He recently had a new novella released with two other incredible authors titled, The Near Distant. However, today we will be discussing his Fantasy series, the Quest of Fire.
Let’s dig in!
Question One: How much worldbuilding and plotting do you do before you start to write your book?
Answer: When it comes to writing in general, I usually don’t start writing anything until I can imagine a particular scene. I kind of have to be caught up into that story world for a bit and find myself asking more and more questions about that scene and world.
For instance, my latest Quest of Fire book, Desperation, began with me imagining a pair of children—completely alone– standing in the pounding surf on a rocky coast of a mist shrouded island as a long boat rowed towards them. I didn’t know who they were or what had gotten them to the island, but the first question of why they were alone on the island had a quick answer. Everyone else on the island was dead. As you might guess that drove so many other questions about why those people were dead and how the kids had survived. Who was coming for them?
With the interest to motivate me, in time, answers to questions like Desperation’s scene rouses become the barest skeleton of the story’s plot or something that drives the protagonist’s arc or significantly defines that world or the central theme to the story. From there, I eventually arrive at an overall view of the plot. To me, it’s like hiking in the mountains. Atop a ridge, you can look out and see the other high points along the way. Those high points are the story beats/major scenes and plot points. But down the slopes in the valleys are things I don’t know at the outset. The forests, rivers, glades, etc. that connect the major points and can drastically change the nature of the hike. Shortcuts, wildlife, precipices, danger, excitement, adventure, beauty…all sorts of things await. The term I often hear thrown around is discovery writing. I think that fits me. Quest of Fire has certainly been filled with discovery. From a simple questing story when it started as a short story assignment for a writing class to the sprawling world of diverse cultures, thousands of years of history, and strident themes that speak to my heart deeply and I pray do for readers as well.
I would just also add that worldbuilding and plot consistency are enormously important to me. From a practical standpoint, I keep notes on the world I’m exploring and as I discover new things, I write them down. For the Quest of Fire series, I regularly have to refer back to previous books, maps, and my Lowlands encyclopedia (a document that has things relating to the history, biology, culture, geography, politics, etc. Of the Lowlands that have and haven’t yet appeared in a Quest of Fire book). I draw pictures to visualize the characters and places and help the story become more tangible and real to me. I write philosophical quotes and songs and poems for the world of the Lowlands, to imbue it with contours that match our own world. My hope is that when readers pick up the book, they’ll get the same sense of depth and breadth and richness to the story world I experienced as I explored it.
Question Two: What has been the biggest challenge for you in being a published author?
Answer: Time management is an enormous issue for me. I’m a procrastinator and an introvert.
Question Three: Are there any secrets in your book or series that you’d like to share with the readers?
Answer: Oh yeah, there are definitely secrets. Some of them already foreshadowed, some to come. The trick right now is to pick ones I can share without giving anything away early. I can say that the story for characters from each timeline have some major bumps in the road ahead and some tragedy. Obviously at the end of Shadows at Nightfall and Desperation things don’t appear to be going well for those on the Quest of Fire. They’ve lost people dear to them and seem to have ruined everything. But if they can keep from letting despair drag them down, then somethings that have never been seen before in their world from its foundation on can take place. One of the key themes of the series is the choices we make and how we choose to act, whether we stand in faith or falter, what those choices imply for the generations after can be tremendous. There are some very dark things that both timelines will experience tracing back to the Lost Isle, Tislatna, and its legends. Those who have read Shadows at Nightfall know that the dwarf thane Ordumair II’s feral rage and fixation on vengeance inadvertently led to a lot of suffering. That hasn’t yet born out it’s full cost yet. What Anargen and his group do will of course impact what happens in Jason’s timeline either to inspire or caution him. Now with Desperation, there is a new cast of characters joining in and they’ll have a major role to play. And the Monarch Ilyron of Ecthelowall will become a much less mysterious threat in the background and more actively causing problems for everyone across the ages. I would also add that reading each book is kind of important, because characters and events that might seem minor on their own or transitory have a way of showing up again and having bigger payoffs down the road.
Your Quest of Fire series sounds amazing, Brett, and I can tell you’ve put so much work into bringing the characters and your story world to life. Thank you so much for sharing your journey into building the Quest of Fire!
For my readers, here are Brett’s links:
Buy the Quest of Fire Series
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