TL:DR

• Purchase Good Intentions, Book 7 in the Vernverse!
• Worldbuilding Tips
• Read the dwarf mourning ritual from Good Intentions

What's New in FabianSpace

It's done! Thanks to all of you who joined me in the publishing of Good Intentions. How fun was that? (Pro-Tip: When publishing a book in front of an audience, be sure you know which version of the manuscript is the most current! I did finally find it and updated everything.)

Whether you were there or not, enjoy this next installment in the DragonEye, PI mysteries!

When a friend of Sister Grace and a champion of the Faerie in the Mundane is found dead, Vern and Grace can’t believe it’s a suicide. As they investigate, they become entangled in a web of love, betrayal, and the worst of good intentions.

Buy Good Intentions now

Worldbuilding advice

At the Catholic Writers Conference-Live this year, I got to give out some worldbuilding advice. It’s one of my favorite topics, so I thought I’d share some of my philosophies with you.

I’m a character-driven writer, and I have known many authors who have gotten so caught up in their worldbuilding that it interfered with the story, so while it sounds counterintuitive, I firmly believe that you should not take worldbuilding too far. You need to understand your world and how it works, but only so far as you can write the story.

This also gives your characters room to tell you about their world. When writing, you should show the world through their eyes and only include in the story what they will need to know and experience. This means also giving them free rein to move about their world and bring you along. You’ll be amazed at what a good character will show you. Some of my favorite scenes, like the dwarf mourning ritual in Good Intentions, came solely from putting my dwarves in a situation and letting them tell me what they did.

Just like the only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once (Buckaroo Banzai), the world is there so everything doesn’t happen in the same place. A good world can birth multiple stories and can also grow with each new story. However, the world is there to serve the story, not the other way around.

A Sneak Peak into Good Intentions

Good Intentions is another serious DragonEye, but there are some fun bits. Here's the dwarves' mourning scene that I mentioned.

The dwarves had taken over the small party room, and trust me, it looked like an invasion. Chairs were overturned, and a small mountain of broken bottles took up one corner of the room, with shards scattered outward from it like a landslide of alcohol and glass. The place reeked of beer.

“Another round!” Urist slammed his fist on the table, making its contents jump. The liquid in the glasses and pitcher sloshed. The harried waitress was nonetheless prepared; she reached through the window that connected the room to the bar and pulled out six more bottles, which she placed in front of each dwarf.

Urist snagged his by the neck and held it up. The others followed. I saw the distinctive black heart over crossed swords on the label. I winced at what was coming next.

“Oh, Blackheart Stout, so roasty and dark, smoky in aroma, your thick head tickles the mustache as the tongue savors your creamy texture. Many a dwarf has thanked the Mundanes who devised this nectar to comfort us after long days in the mine! But our friend Guster Brody cannae enjoy it!”

“So neither shall we!” the others responded.

They pressed the bottles to their chest, then flung them, unopened, into the corner. Glass shattered and beer fizzed. Blackheart Stout did have a nice head. At the table, the dwarves raised glasses of cold water with lemon. “Guster, we suffer for you!” Urist declared.

“Suffer!” the rest agreed, and they guzzled the water until the lemon wedges smacked their teeth. Then, they slammed the glasses onto the table and hung their heads.

“I’m so sober,” the little one lamented. Must have been his first wake.

More Dwarf fun! Buy Good Intentions.