Writing and Creating Your World

I am finding writing enjoyable again. After a period of time when writing a sentence or paragraph that meant anything to me appeared to be an almighty struggle, I seem to have hit upon an ever evolving story within my head that gives me a purpose.

Perhaps I have an affiliation with fairies, as this story involves a deeper look into the fairy world.

The most enjoyable part so far of piecing together this story, which is constantly turning over and striding forward within my mind, has been the research for all things fairy.

There are numerous websites when you Google things such as fairy lore, or mythical fairy names, and  this has introduced me to such wonderful delights as the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, and dark fairies.

The Seelie Court appears to be the central governing body for all things fairy. If you are a member of the Seelie Court then you are a fairy with goodness and mischief in your heart. It is generally allied to the summer and the spring, and usually you would be likely to see Seelie Court Fairies at twilight.

Of course, there is always a flipside, and the Unseelie Court is just this. The Yang to the Seelie’s Ying, this contains the dark fairies and gives us a glimpse into the seedier side of fairy lore.

Then there are those who are not associated to any court, and live a life free of court traditions and any ties to a law of any sort.

This provides a rich backdrop on which to draw on when it comes to creating a world in which the story that I propose will take place. I am looking for a harder, tougher, more real world in which my fairies will find themselves. Competing against humans, angels and immortals, all struggling for survival and relevance in a world that is corrupt, greedy and warmongering.

Much like the current world that we live in.

Taking this as a start, I want to form a universe in which to place my characters that is both believable and magical, and this is what forms the majority of my thinking as I am developing the world inside my head. I picture it as being raining on a frequent basis, very dark, with very little in the way of hope or positivity as our characters are brought to life. These are people who have made some difficult decisions along the way, are weary of the life that lies ahead and make mistakes. They may be magical in the way that they have been formed, and heavenly in their birth, but the world has given them a cynicism that forms many of the decisions that they make.

Much like modern life, in which we are worn down by poor decision-making by our leaders, or by lack of faith, or by consumer pressure, or by sheer boredom of what is presented to us, these are mystical beings tired of the journey.

So there has to be something to wake them up, and what better something than an event which threatens their future.

Needless to say, that with all this world-shaping within my head there has been very little writing going ahead; but it is a necessary process in which to create a setting that you as a writer believes in.

The writer has to believe in what they are producing if they expect a reader to share the same experience.