Welcome to Keltorin a dark and troubled world unlike anything you've ever seen before, from cruel Kings to vicious tribal warlords, strange creatures that stalk the nights and terrifying beings with unspeakable power.
Keltorin has a long and complex history, with many factions and civilisations all struggling to survive in a hostile and unforgiving world.
With cruel and harsh rulers whose reign crushes those born less fortunate, forcing them to live as slaves in impoverished derelict communities - with no rights and privileges and no chance to escape or find a better life.
Where the priests and priestesses profess the will of the god's to control the inhabitants of massive kingdoms, they wield unimaginable power and abilities - which they use to coax the people and their rulers to bow to their supreme abilities, or suffer the wrath of the gods.
I have been writing this story on steemit for over a year now, it has become a massive part of my everyday life and my steemit life too.
I wanted to give readers a unique opportunity to watch my process of writing this saga, unlike with most novels and ebooks where you have to wait for a polished finished product - with my story you may only have to wait a few hours to get the next juicy morsel.
Just before I joined steemit I had a vague idea of a fantasy story I wanted to write, at this stage I had no where planned to write this so I just grabbed a book and wrote down the ideas that came to mind.
I had never published my own writing before and had no idea what my random thoughts would become over time, I spent small amounts of time on it at first - just a few lines or a possibility of a plot line and not much more, no realistic full vision of what I wanted to create.
I knew what I liked to read, the authors and genres that spoke to me but I had never tried to write a book before - at most I had some short stories and bunch of songs, but never a novel.
So as time went on I actually ended up scrapping the majority of my main storyline, finding that what I thought was a brilliant idea didn't work in the reality of the world I was building - soon the image of the story or should I say saga, began to reveal itself to me.
I have to say that the sheer size of what I know my story will one day be, is a little overwhelming to say the least - it has become so much more than I ever thought it would be.
When I joined steemit I finally had a place to organise my ideas and present them to the public, I was nervous besides never having written like this before - what if I made a mistake with my main storyline, I could destroy my masterpiece before even beginning.
So I decided rather than put out the main story, I would first publish a spin off story set in the same world and even sharing some of the main characters - but with the focus on a new lead.
I dove right in my second ever post on steemit was the first chapter of my spin off story, once I started writing it I couldn't stop - every moment I had spare I was writing out my ideas and plans.
The Spin Off Story - Set In The Future:
After I wrote the seventh chapter I realised if I continued to write the story from this point on, I would start to expose massive plotlines and possible destroy the magic of the main story - which I was and still am writing obsessively.
When I wrote these seven chapters I didn't know where the story was going to go, but over time I realised this was leading to something too big to just give away now - I couldn't have known that what I wrote would directly tie back to my main story, I think I'm lucky it has but it was not the plan.
So at this point a knew I needed to take another approach, I had folders upon folders now filled with notes and details on a whole range of topics - I just needed to pick one and tackle it.
So my next idea to help keep me actively posting on steemit, was to write about world itself - so I started with hand drawing a massive world map.
The map was a massive help with the story, it really helped with visualise the path characters would have to take to travel somewhere - or where wars were fought and how borders and boundaries affected different cultures and races on Keltorin.
It took me days to complete the map and by the end of it my hand was killing me, but I think it was so worth the effort - in creating the world at least a physical representation of it, I was able to understand how different groups may interact.
This is when things really started to change with the development of the story, things really kicked up a gear because it made sense how different groups could be - any conflicts they may have endured, the story just started flowing and so far it hasn't stopped.
What had started out as a few notes on a scrap of paper soon became a book, then I found myself creating family trees that spanned back generations - I created cultures and traditions for these beings and gave them a history.
I soon started creating character profiles and individual back stories to rationalise certain motives characters may have, I love stories where the reader not only has to think for themselves - but you feel as though you can relate to their reasons no matter how absurd they would seem otherwise.
I have not only brought to life the 22 gods of Keltorin, but I have also based a calendar system around them and their influence - this is when I realised I really had jumped all in, I just hadn't realised how deep all in was.
I had realised fairly early on this could be a great story, but I had no idea just how far this was going to go - how much detail would spring to mind and how freely the inspiration would come.
I had so many ideas it was overwhelming at times, but no matter how much my hand hurt I couldn't seem to stop writing.
This is only the collection of work I have managed to get on here, there is just so much of the main story I've already written - and that I just need to polish and ensure all story lines make sense, before I can post it on here.
So my next endeavours were to develop the different countries and kingdoms, information about their cultures, religious practices, relationships and trade, structures and a basic history.
My attention then focussed on the Kingdom of Valcanne, this is the Kingdom where my main story starts and where my ideas first sprang into existence.
I had a far more detailed vision at this time of Valcanne, it was going to be different to the other kingdoms - different in structure and lifestyle in general.
Valcanne has become my home in this world, if I had to cast myself I would choose to live and reside in this Kingdom - out of all the kingdoms it is the nicest and most pleasant in my opinion.
I instinctively knew, this was going to be a central location for the story and for a decent number of the characters as well - I found it so easy to write massive sections of their history and culture, so I decided to add them as well.
There are so many key events in this world history I feel I will be writing this for the rest of my life, just to cover all of the events I know occurred and have morphed the world and it's people accordingly.
After I had an idea of the world and some of it's Kingdoms and countries, I needed to start to flesh out other features in the world like the plants and animals of Keltorin.
I knew I didn't want to only have pre established fantasy creatures, I am happy to have them and use them but I wanted to add to the scope of beings and plants - what they are capable of and what impacts they could and would have on the inhabitants of the world.
So I started with some different animals, I took inspiration from animals in our own world - but I tweaked them somewhat and gave them their own unique features.
Along with animals I knew there would be crucial plants for medicines at the very least, these would be unique to this world and used by it's inhabitants.
On top of general medicinal value of plants I thought I would add some serious dangers, plants in our own world can be poisonous and deadly if ingested or handled incorrectly - this is a part of life that I wanted to recreate.
I have a watched a lot of nature documentaries and one thing I found is that some plants can be carnivorous, even in their sedentary nature plants can in a way capture and consume their prey - beware of the Willows Claw.
The thing is this is just what I have managed to add on steemit, I have written literally hundreds and thousands of pages of notes, character profiles, individual histories and backstories.
There is so much content I am holding back in fear of spoiling some of the main details of the story, there are species and histories that can't be revealed immediately - the story still needs to flow naturally, revealing some information as the journey continues.
There is just so much information in my head it makes things difficult to know what to write and when, I am now committed to a prequel to the main story - this story has evolved from the detailed backstories of some of the main characters, from the main story.
This new series I've given a subtitle "How Life Defines You", this is just a working title to help separate the main story from the spin offs - the first spin off was set in the future and had to stop because of an immanent information spoilage.
The new series is set in the past, before my planned begging for the main story - it is several years before the events in the main story begin.
There is so much more just to this one aspect of the story, since I have begun writing it I have found ways to tie in numerous characters from the main story - this has helped develop the main story even further.
I am focussed in a different Kingdom for this part of the story, Almain is nothing like Valcanne and that is one of the beautiful things - the characters behave differently to how they would in other kingdoms and countries.
This gives the readers a new chance to understand just how varied this world and it's inhabitants are, this is an entire world full of many species and beings - I want to show how different all of these cultures are and how this affects individuals and their actions.
Keltorin is a world so real and complex that each motive has and needs an explanation set in reality, yes this is fantasy but it is a world with rules and order and chaos - our own world is not simple or clear and views differ greatly, to me this is real life and life needs to be represented in a realistic way.
I have several more chapters written for "How Life Defines You" and ready to go, I will continue this series while I finish some of the major details of the main story - I will ensure the main story is told well and to do that I just need more time.
I am really enjoying writing the prequel, it is fleshing out the world and the characters - and maybe even clueing in the audience to some subtle details that won't be revealed for some time in the main story.
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