R.M. Archer's Blog, page 17

Sanderson’s Third Law: When Should You Create a New World?

If you’re constantly coming up with new story ideas, you might also come up with a lot of different settings in which to set those stories. The question is, at what point is it appropriate to create a whole new world and when should you just build on whatever you already have?

Sanderson’s Third Law of Magic states,

“Expand what you already have before you add something new.”

Now, these are Sanderson’s Laws of Magic. He has magic systems in mind. But this one, at least, is applicable to much of writing and today I want to explore how it interacts with worldbuilding as a whole.

Why to Expand First

First off, why is Sanderson’s Third Law good advice for worldbuilding as a whole?

For one thing, it makes worldbuilding a lot easier on you as the author. Would you rather have to juggle seventeen completely separate worlds, none of which are very deep; or would you rather have three or four worlds that encompass several more specific settings which interact with one another and lend depth to their home world as a whole?

Fewer worlds are easier to keep track of and make it easier for you to keep your worldbuilding notes together. One binder that contains several settings and the ways in which they’re connected is easier to keep on hand than several notebooks about entirely separate settings.

Now, in some ways it is more complicated to connect your worlds. When you connect settings, you do then have to develop how they interact and impact one another, which can supply its own challenge. However, I’ve found that in the end connecting settings not only simplifies things but also forces you to exercise your creativity in problem-solving as you develop those connections and interactions.

Connected worlds are also fun for your readers down the line. It’s a lot of fun, as a reader, to spot a cameo mention of another story or character as you’re reading one of an author’s works. (Hannah Heath’s Torn Universe is very well-done in this area, among others.)

Essentially, expanding on what you already have is simpler, fosters more creativity, and can be more fun.

When Expanding Works

When deciding whether or not to create a whole new world for a particular story, the most crucial consideration is what your purpose is for a given world. What particular tone do you want to maintain with this world? What sort of themes do you want to explore through it?

To use my worlds as an example, each has a particular focus point. Esleon is designed to be a futuristic, fantasized version of Earth, which gives it some limitations. Aleruus is, at its core, a classic Medieval fantasy world; it has elements that set it apart, but all of its pieces have to align with a classic fantasy tone. Deseran, meanwhile, is primarily an exploratory world; I can explore all sorts of cultures and concepts in Deseran, which makes it easy to add to and tie new ideas into.

If I come up with a culture of nocturnal elf-like beings with advanced technology, that could go in Aleruus, but it fits better with Deseran. There’s no way it would fit in Esleon. Whereas if I want to explore real-world homesteaders in a world they’ve been able to shape to suit them, it’s not difficult to adjust Esleon to support that. If I want to write about vampires in Gothic London… Well, that does genuinely warrant its own, separate world.

But so long as your new concept works with the purpose of one of your existing worlds, it’s likely best to tie it in with what you already have. It will not only give you an easy place for this new concept, but it ought also to help fill out the tone and purpose of the world you tie it into.

When Expanding Doesn’t Work

All of that said, there are times that it doesn’t work to just expand on what you have. As Sanderson says, “Expand what you have before you add something new” (emphasis mine). Just because expanding on what you already have is the first step doesn’t mean there’s never a place for adding something new.

There are generally two reasons you might want to create something new rather than expanding on what you have. First, like I already touched on, you’ll want to create something new if your new idea truly doesn’t suit anything you already have. If your idea would undermine the tone or purpose of your existing worlds or just doesn’t fit, it’s time to add a new world.

Maybe vampires in Gothic London can be finagled to fit with Esleon’s “magic” system… but the tone is all wrong and it would alter the overall idea of Esleon for readers. Sometimes just because you can doesn’t mean you should. When considering whether or not to connect settings, your core question ought to be “Does this support what I already have?”

The other reason would be if your new concept requires so much adjustment that it would alter firmly established pieces of the world you’re looking to add to. For example, if you already have a novel set in this world and adding this new concept would drastically change the worldbuilding established in that novel. Now, sometimes it’s still better to make the changes; sometimes they strengthen the world and/or the stories set there, and so the changes are worth it. But there should be a lot more thought involved if you risk changing a lot. And if you’ve published a story in the world… changing established worldbuilding elements is usually not a good look.

To Expand… Or Not to Expand?

You’ve asked if your new idea suits a world you’ve already created. You’ve determined whether or not it supports the tone and themes you want to focus on in that world. Now it’s up to you. Will connecting this idea to an existing world simplify things or make things over-complicated? Will it support your themes or undermine them? Only you know the answer to those questions.

Do you tend to connect your setting ideas, or create many separate worlds? Which have you found to work better for you? Do you have a favorite of your settings or cultures?

Need someplace to keep your worldbuilding notes organized? Sign up to the newsletter and check out the worldbuilding template!

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National Indie Author Day*

November 12th is National Indie Author Day! As an indie author who loves to support other indie authors, I jumped on the opportunity to celebrate and support indie works and I may have gone slightly overboard. That asterisk in the title is because I have events planned to span the entire almost-two-weeks between now and the 12th. And I am so excited to share them with you!

Here on the blog, the big thing is going to be GIVEAWAYS! I have four giveaways set up, all of them featuring exclusively indie books. I’ve got something for just about everyone, so stay tuned for those! I’ll be posting those on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday. And giveaway entries are designed to support indie authors in and of themselves, so these giveaways are a great opportunity to bless and connect with indie authors even if you don’t win!

On my social media, I’m also hosting an Instagram challenge centered around indie books! It starts today and runs all the way through the 12th. If you’re a social media challenge type of person, you can find the challenge on my profile @rysaarcher!

I’d also love to see how you want to support indie authors for National Indie Author Day! If you write a blog post or something along those lines and want to share, you can add your post to the linkup below!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

What are some of your favorite indie books? Do you have any anticipated indie releases? (I can’t wait for Hannah Heath’s next Torn Universe story!) Let’s chat indie in the comments!

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October 2021 Wrap-Up

Another month is nearly over and another is upon us. Personally, I’m ready for October to be over; it’s been way too gloomy for my liking and I’m ready to move on. But I’m not sure I’m ready for the holiday season to be here already; not because I don’t like the holidays, just because I’m so unprepared. XD

Anyway. Let’s look back on October.

Writing

The productivity patterns that I had in September completely fell apart after I finished editing Calligraphy Guild and my brain has been a little all-over-the-place this month, but I’ve still managed to make a lot of progress on a few projects.

I got a few more chapters of my non-fiction project done and I’ve now finished 2/5 parts. The next two parts are the ones I’m most excited about, but they’ll also be the longest and most complicated so I’ve been putting them off due to my lack of mental energy. ;P

One of the things that most sapped my mental energy this month was a project to redo my newsletter entrance sequences and get it linked to from a bunch of my blog posts. The end result has been more interaction on my emails and being able to connect with my readers more, which has been awesome! But it’s taken a lot of energy behind-the-scenes, and I’m not even quite finished yet. So, to everyone who has responded to my emails, thank you. You’re why I’ve kept pushing through this project. I want to serve y’all, my readers, and this seems to be the way to do that at the moment, tough as it is until I’ve gotten everything set up. I’m excited to have everything fully set up and be able to devote my attention solely to interacting with y’all.

If you’re not on my newsletter list yet, you can sign up here.

I’ve submitted a few posts to Kingdom Pen this month, which has been a really fun process! I’ve been wanting to write for them for years, but I haven’t actually sat down and done it. They’re running a contest centered around guest posts for the next few months, though, which finally pushed me out of “park,” and their editor Kathleen has been great to work with! I’ve learned a lot from guest posting and I’m super excited to continue contributing there. :)

And I released my worldbuilding course a few days ago!!! I am so excited to be able to share The Worldbuilding Toolbox with all of you! This is a worldbuilding basics course designed to help you learn what makes good worldbuilding, how to develop a worldbuilding process that works for you, and how to keep your worldbuilding info organized as you work. If that sounds like something that would help you, you can check out the course here! If you enroll, you’ll get lifetime access for just $15.

I started a short story earlier this month, too, which I’m excited for in theory but I’ve found difficult to execute the way I want to. I have two short stories on deadline for December (this one and another one), so I need to sit down and make a plan for each of them.

I’m still anxiously awaiting the return of Calligraphy Guild from the editor, but in the meantime I’ve gotten a marketing plan worked out, I’ve made a handful of graphics, and I’m reading through a print copy of this current draft! It was so exciting to get my book in the mail and get to hold it in my hands, even if it is only a mock-up. And it’s FLOPPY. I don’t know if y’all know this, but I love floppy paperbacks, and I’ve actually been hoping that Calligraphy Guild would print on floppy paper, so this was like… a teeny tiny petty little answer to prayer that made me ridiculously happy. XD There’s no way to know if every copy will be like that or not, but here’s hoping and praying!

Reading

I haven’t gotten a whole lot of reading done this month. I’m in the middle of several books, but I haven’t finished much.

Currently reading

Calligraphy Guild (I’m about 2/3rds of the way through)The Tolkien Reader (just finished “On Fairy-Stories,” which is an excellent essay)Phantastes by George MacDonald (almost halfway through)Archenemies by Marissa Meyer (I’ve discovered I need a mix of classic and modern literature or else my brain finds one or the other to be too much)

Finished

Plato’s Critias and Timaeus dialogues (these were fascinating)Renegades by Marissa Meyer (modern YA literature that explores topics in a nuanced manner!)A children’s collection of Robert Frost’s poetry (I’ve determined I like his work)

I’m trying really hard not to fall into the paralysis that comes of knowing you can never possibly read everything you want to read as the stack of books I’m borrowing from my parents grows taller and taller. XD

What’s Next?

I’m not doing NaNoWriMo next month, which some of you might have guessed by my silence on the subject, lol. I might see if I can get my non-fiction project to 50k next month, but I’m not going to push myself to make a word count as long as I make substantial progress. I don’t have any big fiction projects to work on for November, so… *shrugs* No specific NaNo participation for me this year.

For those of you who are participating (either with the official organization or some other way), I’ll be here cheering you on!

My hope for November is to figure out a new rhythm that allows me to get things done without burning out, since I seem to be struggling with that lately, lol. And I should be getting Calligraphy Guild back with edits in the next couple of weeks, so I’m super excited for that! I’m looking forward to seeing the proverbial red ink. XD

How was this month for you? What are you most proud of? What’s been the most fun part of the month? What are you most hoping to accomplish next month (big or small)? I’d love to cheer you on!

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Building Underworlds, Divine Dwellings, and the Afterlife

Today we’re stepping back into the mythology and religion of your world to talk about underworlds, homes of the gods, and the afterlife. How much of this is myth and how much is reality will depend on your established rules regarding the metaphysical aspect of your world.

The Underworld

Hades, Hell, Hel, Sheol… All of these evoke images of darkness and death. Which is why this point is going first, ’cause it’s the one we least want to dwell on. Your world’s underworld could be ruled by a god, or could be devoid of gods or leadership. It could be physically under the world, it could be an alternate plane, or it could be somehow adjacent to the basic world. It could be a place all dead go when they die, it could be a punishment for the wicked, or it could be a dwelling for demons (or some combination thereof).

Is there any way to access your underworld? If so, who can use it and how is it used? Is it open only to deities (or half-deities, if there are such beings in your world)? Is it open only when someone dies? Perhaps at certain times of year? Do people enter in efforts to bring back the dead, a la Orpheus and Eurydice? Is it possible for such efforts to succeed, or are they doomed from the start?

How is your underworld referred to by people in your world? Is it feared? Written off as myth? Considered taboo? Does it have a name?

Divine Dwellings

These are generally the opposite of underworlds: divine paradises fit for the gods… since that’s who lives in them. Do gods in your world dwell in the ordinary world, or somewhere set apart? If on earth, then where? Do they blend with humans so that they can get a personal view of the world, or do they live on unattainable mountain peaks? What happens if they’re discovered? If they live apart, then how does that separate place relate to earth? Is it accessible? How? How often? By whom?

Does this divine dwelling serve as a resting place for the righteous, as well, or solely a place for the gods? Do the people in your world even know about it, or is it secret? If they know about it, is it viewed with awe? Suspicion? Hope? Anticipation? Fear? What is this dwelling called?

Are there more than one of these places, maybe for different gods in a pantheon? Or one for the gods alone and one for the gods to commune with the righteous fallen?

The Afterlife

First off, does your world have an afterlife? Does your core culture believe in one? Do they believe in both a punishment and a reward, or just one? Do they believe in any in-between? Do they believe in something like reincarnation? If so, does that interact with a more permanent afterlife or is the cycle of reincarnation perpetual? If there is both punishment and reward, where is the break between them? What earns a positive afterlife? Faith? Works? For whom? Are there any who are barred from the afterlife, either from eternal bliss or from moving on altogether? Are there ghosts in your world?

Where does the afterlife take place? In the home of a god? In an underworld? In someplace in-between? Is there a temporary place before a more permanent one is instated at the end of the world? (Is there an end of the world? Maybe I’ll write a post about fantasy apocalypses.)

Remember that all of your answers ought to align with the underpinnings of your world and/or with the religion and cultural values of your particular culture.

Have you considered these elements of your world before? Does your world have any of these elements, or is it strictly a one-plane world? Let’s chat in the comments!

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Fantasy News & Communication

Hello and welcome back to Scribes & Archers. The weather for today is looking rather crisp, with a chance of flying newspapers. But let’s head over to Worldbuilding with recent news updates. Worldbuilding?

Okay, not the best intro, but today we’re talking about how communication, and especially the news, works in your world. The title says fantasy, but this can apply to any fictional world. And I’m a little brain-dead today, so please bear with me.

What’s in the News?

Let’s start with content. What is considered newsworthy in your world? Politics? Local events? Crime reports? Entertainment? How does this change from culture to culture based on their values? Maybe your education-centric culture shares routine updates on things that have been discovered/learned from visiting foreigners, while your theocratic society values sharing religious revelations and newly-realized religious laws.

Are all of these categories talked about together in one format, or do you have to get a separate news source for each?

How does the content of each category change depending on your culture? What might be in the political news of a kingdom vs. the political news of a republic? How will local events be different in a big city vs. in a small town? How will entertainment be different in a culture that values warfare vs. a culture that values art?

Who Writes the News?

Whether your news is physically written or simply retold, who is responsible for spreading it? Is news taken directly from the source, such as a religious organization or a school? Is it shared by grandmothers and nosy neighbors? Are there specialized journalists?

Your culture will trust particular people with its news based on its values. A theocratic society might trust its religious leaders that are considered infallible, while a community-centered culture might understand that word-of-mouth isn’t always reliable but still value the intention of their neighbors in sharing news and simply take things with a grain of salt.

Who your culture trusts with its news might also shape its values and practices. That theocratic society might learn to simply take the news as fact no matter where it comes from, since their religious leaders are considered infallible, whereas that community-centered culture might be more aware of the need for research and checking with the source when presented with new information.

Also keep in mind that whoever spreads the news has the ability to shape the news. Some places might have very faithful news-sharers, while others might have journalists who spin the news to fit a particular narrative, whether that be merely for creativity’s sake or for corrupt ends. Who is responsible for your culture’s news will shape how the news is presented and perceived.

Who Gets the News?

Is news something that everyone can access, or is it limited to certain groups of people with inside access or access to a particular news format? Is news conveyed publicly, through a newspaper or bulletin or TV program, or is it private through letters or personal discussion?

Are the limits on news access intentional or incidental? Do the leaders of a totalitarian government control who has access to the news so that they can shape the thoughts of their people? Or do the people of a community-centered culture end up leaving a certain town or group out of the loop due to oversight? Or does limited access to a certain format leave some people unable to access it? Maybe newspapers are expensive to make and sell, so the poor have to rely on word-of-mouth to get the news.

How is News Conveyed?

What format does the news come in? Are there TV news programs? Newspapers? Carrier pigeons? Word-of-mouth? Posted bulletins (in one central location or spread throughout an area)?

Why this format? Is it the cheapest? The most accessible? The most reliable? The easiest to manipulate? Which of these factors are important will depend, again, on the values of your culture and of those responsible for spreading the news.

How is this format distributed? Maybe word-of-mouth news comes mostly from your neighbors, but there’s also a designated news-sharer who travels around town spreading news. Or maybe your culture uses newspapers, which could be sold at stands around town or could be delivered.

Also consider what kind of jobs this might create. Printers? Delivery boys? Newsstand vendors? Reporters? Pigeon-keepers? Professional memorizers? Bulletin-posters? Journalists?

Is News Communication the Same as Regular Communication?

Is news communicated just the same as anything else (writing, speaking, video, letters, carrier pigeon, etc.)? Or is news special? Is it special on purpose to set it apart as news, or is it simply more effective to mass-communicate through another method other than the norm?

Is news delivered the same way as other communication? Is the technology the same, even if the format is different? Or is it completely unique?

Have you considered the news in your world before? Who’s responsible for it? What is the most important category of news in your fictional culture? Let’s chat in the comments!

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Creating a Fantasy World with One Document

Y’all know I love World Anvil, but if you’ve read my worldbuilding process post then you know that I also make good use of one really long document that holds all of my initial notes when I’m working on Deseran. I call it my brain dump document. Today I want to talk about a couple of different ways I’ve used brain dump documents when creating a fantasy world in the past, and why I like to have them on hand.

Structure or No Structure?

When I mention a “brain dump” document, I’m guessing you picture a document with very little organization that just goes on forever. Well… that would be a pretty accurate description of my Deseran brain dump document. But I’ve also used a brain dump document for Aleruus which looks very different. You can view it here. If you look at that example, you’ll see that it’s much more structured, but still gives me flexibility to throw whatever new information I come up with into its appropriate category—or to add a new category, if needed. Your brain dump document can be as structured or as free-form as you need it to be to work with your process.

Write Ideas as They Come

With a brain dump document, you can go about creating a fantasy world in pieces as you think of concepts. If you have pre-written categories, you can simply find the appropriate category and jot down your new idea. (With this method, you can easily see which areas are most developed and which need the most work.) If you’re not using categories, you can simply write down your notes in the next available space and leave them to organize later. (The benefit of this method is that you can go straight from one topic into a completely unrelated topic without interrupting your mental flow to find the next appropriate section.)

Explore for Yourself

With a brain dump document, you don’t have to flesh out all the details of a concept right away; you can just note down what you know right away and come back to expand on it later. There are no empty fields to fill out or specific spaces forcing you to decide whether this detail falls under x field or y field; you can write things in such a way that they all flow naturally with one another at first… even if there’s a better way to organize them to find things later on. A brain dump document lends itself to unhindered exploration of a world, sort of like a traveler’s journal that will one day be reorganized into a memoir. You might have to structure things later for others to understand (or so you can understand it better), but a brain dump is just for you; it gives you an open sandbox to play in.

Creating an empty document to scribble my thoughts in is my favorite first step to creating a fantasy world; I think it might be why I’m able to enjoy building Deseran so much more than my more structured worlds. Have you ever set up a brain dump document for your world? How has it worked for you? Do you prefer more structure in your worldbuilding process, or do you like more freedom to explore without a guide?

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Work in Fantasy Culture

Fantasy often centers around a character doing something out of the ordinary. Something fantastical. But they have to start somewhere, as do the characters around them, and that starting point will often involve work of some kind. For that reason, if for no other, you ought to give at least passing thought to the work in your culture. But work can also reflect a lot about what a culture values, it adds to the backdrop of your world and creates easier openings for your characters to interact with the world around them, and it can simply be of value to show and appreciate ordinary work.

What is Work in Your Culture?

The first question to ask yourself when developing fantasy vocations is what your culture defines as work. Does only paying work qualify? Does only work that makes a full living qualify? Is work considered anything that keeps you busy? Is it anything that provides for your family? Is it anything that fulfills the perceived purpose of mankind? The values of your culture will influence your answer to this question. A culture that values self-sufficiency will likely require a job to fully provide for you and your family in order to count as work. A culture that struggles with crime rates and just wants to keep its citizens out of trouble will likely count anything that keeps citizens from being idle. A religious culture is likely to count anything that fulfills the purpose of their god(s).

Or perhaps only certain kinds of work qualify. Maybe manual labor is praised, but intellectual work is considered too intangible to qualify. Or maybe relational jobs aren’t considered worthwhile investments of time, but creative work is what everyone is encouraged to pursue.

Is work flexible? Can you shift your hours as needed? Can you choose to focus on a different type of work or a different project for a time before returning to the one you were working on? Or are timelines strict?

Answering this question will enable you to determine how jobs work and what your character(s) might do on a daily basis.

Where Does Work Take Place?

For much of history, work was centered in the home. People worked crafts from their homes, had shops attached to their houses, tended their own fields and gardens, etc. When the Industrial Revolution hit, jobs were moved out of the home and into factories. Now we have factories, offices, schools, hospitals, and any number of other public businesses; but we’re also seeing some people move back toward working from home as entrepreneurs, craftsmen, artists, etc. The question is, where does work occur in your world? Is it home-based? Are there guilds that people attend to work? Are there factories or schools filled with workers? How does this reflect what your culture believes about family, community, and efficiency?

Who Participates in Work?

Who is eligible to work in your world? Do families work as a unit, so children are involved in the family business? Do you get a job when you come of age? Do you ever get too old to be considered for work? Are there limits on those with disabilities, or are accommodations made? How does this differ depending on what kind of work your culture values? Are there low-scale jobs that people considered “ineligible” to work can still do? Is it considered acceptable for those not yet of age to get work, or is that a forbidden practice?

Do people who work together form a community? Or do they often keep their distance? How is this influenced by the work environment and by your culture’s overall values? How willing are people to make concessions for those they work with (tying back to the question of work flexibility)?

What is the Reward for Work?

Characters need money (or bartering items) to survive, so something they do must provide an income. But does all of their work provide monetary gain? Does some of their work produce food or needed items for themselves or others? Is some of it just for the satisfaction? Does their work further a cause? What do they do for money and what do they do for other reasons, and how does this work overlap or not? Is there a standard pay rate for work, or does it differ depending on quality of work, the funds of the person paying, or time spent working?

There you have it: some questions to consider when developing the work of your world. Once you have these basics laid out, you can develop specific vocations and use them to color your world. Now you’ll know where your character needs to go to get a sword or to refresh their foodstores on their epic quest. Most importantly, have fun!

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September 2021 Wrap-Up

Can you believe it’s almost October?? I don’t know if it’s the fact that I was gone all summer or just the usual shock that fall is already here and there are only three months left in the year, but it feels like this year has flown by. And this month somehow seems like it was super short and at the same time like it’s been a lifetime already!

Writing

I’ve made a lot of progress on writing projects this month! I finished editing Calligraphy Guild and got it sent to the editor last week! That’s probably the most exciting thing on the list (though not for lack of competition). I’m super excited to get my editor’s notes back!

I also finished recording my first worldbuilding course! It’s currently in beta-testing and I need to re-record one of my intro videos, but I’m aiming to launch it by the end of October at the latest. So far the feedback has been really positive and I’m super excited to share this resource with y’all!

I also wrote a short story and submitted it to a contest this week. The contest isn’t anything fancy, but I’m really happy with how the short story came out and I had a lot of fun aiming to build in symbolism and use a broader sample of my vocabulary in a way that I hope emulates the classic literature I’ve been enjoying lately.

Reading

It’s been so nice to be home with time to read again, lol. I’ve finished ten books this month and I’m working my way through Renegades by Marissa Meyer, hoping to have it finished by the end of the week as well. I’ve finished:

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (don’t shoot me down for having written a retelling without reading the source material, but this was my first time reading Peter Pan!)J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality, and Religion by Richard L. PurtillOn Stories and Other Essays on Literature by C.S. LewisThe Household and the War for the Cosmos by C.R. WileyMan of the House by C.R. Wiley (I’m not the intended audience for this book, but it seemed to be a sort of companion to the prior book on this list and I did still find it valuable to read. Both books were excellent!)Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson (reread)The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. JensenFrankenstein by Mary ShelleyGeorge Washington’s Rules of CivilityCompetent to Counsel by Jay Adams

As you can tell, I’m still not reading much by way of modern fiction, though Renegades has been enjoyable thus far and I have plenty of modern fiction unread on my bookshelf that I’d like to change to “read” soon, lol. But my most immediate TBR is still largely classics: I’m currently reading Plato’s Critias and Timaeus dialogues, and I’ve been anxious to reread LOTR. Other top items on the TBR include a collection of Lewis’s essays on theology and ethics, The Tolkien Reader (including Tree and Leaf, which I’m most excited about), and Phantastes by George MacDonald.

What’s Next?

I’m super excited for the release of my worldbuilding course next month! While I work on getting that finalized, I have a non-fiction book project I’m working on between drafts of Calligraphy Guild and I’m excited for that as well. It’s my first non-fiction piece of this length, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve adjusting to the expectations of a book, but it’s been quite fun so far and I’m enjoying the project. I’ve also been trying to improve my platform and make my online presence more appealing and valuable for readers and other authors, a goal which I’ll obviously be carrying through the coming months. (If you have anything you’d particularly like to see from my blog or social media, or if there’s anything I already do that you particularly appreciate and want me to keep, let me know!)

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve been able to make recently and I aim to keep learning and growing next month and beyond!

How about you? How was this month for you? Any milestones we can celebrate? Struggles I can encourage you in? Books you’re super excited to read? Comment below!

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Book Review: Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson

I wrote a book review for the first time in forever! This is actually a review of a reread, since I didn’t review this book the first time but it demanded a review. Adorning the Dark was a 5-star read in December of 2019, and it’s still a 5-star read now.

The first time I read this book I knew that it was beautiful, but it was like watching scenery fly by through the window of a moving car. I read it in one sitting, I didn’t look into the books or songs or poems mentioned throughout, I simply observed its beauty from the outside.

This read-through was more like taking a walk through a vibrant garden, taking time to appreciate each flower and wonder at the precise combination of elements that led to its flourishing. I paid attention to each chapter. I listened to the songs. I read the poems. I made note of the books. Because this isn’t just a book about Peterson and his art (though it is that, and it’s lovely); it’s a book about Christ in art. And as such, it gives credit to so many other artists who have also been moved by Christ and who reflect Him in their work. Rich Mullins, Tolkien, Lewis, N.D. Wilson, and so many others that I don’t know yet.

This book is a reminder that God creates beauty, and that He equips us to reflect that beauty through sub-creation. It’s a reminder that we who strive for that aren’t alone. It’s a reminder that God has a purpose for our work, and He has created others who share that purpose so that we might find community and spur one another on. It’s a reminder of how God’s beauty and love and guidance weaves through every part of our lives.

There’s a sense of wonder and awe in this book, a feeling of reading about a kindred spirit, and a yearning that is sparked for a greater Kingdom, that I just can’t fully describe. All I can say is: if you’re a Christian artist, you ought to read this book.

Have you read Adorning the Dark? I’d love to hear what you thought! If not, does it sound like a book that would interest you?

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All About You Around the Blogosphere Tag

Thank you to Kristianne at Whimsical Wanderings for today’s tag!

Rules:Answer the following questionsTag at least a couple other bloggersHave them answer these questionsQuestions:

What’s your favorite book/book series and why?

I’m pretty sure my answer to this question changes every time I’m asked. At this point, probably Lord of the Rings. It’s beautifully written, encouraging, it captures the value of everyday life and ordinary people perfectly, it pushes the reader to be courageous for the sake of those things that are important like home and family… It’s a classic for good reason.

Who is your favorite author?

Another one I think changes every time I think about it. Tolkien, Lewis, C.R. Wiley, Andrew Peterson, Nadine Brandes… What anyone who makes my list has in common, though, is a deep understanding of the power of good art and producing things that build God’s Kingdom.

What is your favorite food?

Cheesecake. That totally counts as food.

What gives you inspiration for your books?

Life? XD People I talk to, places I go, concepts I come up against in everyday life, things that are important to me, things I read, things I watch… I take inspiration from a lot of things, lol.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

For a couple years I really wanted to live in Tennessee. I still wouldn’t mind that. But Ohio was really nice, and I loved the rural area where I worked and loved getting to work on a farm and help tend animals and grow things, so I think wherever I end up I’d like to live someplace with space to work with the land and someplace with few enough trees to see lots of sky. (Ohio brought to mind the song “Big Sky” a lot, lol.)

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I’m an extrovert, but most people wouldn’t guess it since I’m usually quiet and I’m also able to be content with my own company. I can operate as an introvert for longer than most extroverts, I think, but I do get a lot more energy from being around people and having conversations than from being by myself.

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

I have no idea. I feel like I usually keep myself contained until I’m already familiar enough with someone that I don’t think they need a warning anymore and I’m pretty confident they’ll just take it in stride. Then they get the rambling conversations about random things that interest me, the frequent bursts into song, the philosophical and theological debates, etc. Some people reach that point sooner than others, but I tend to try to make it gradual so that I don’t need a warning label, lol.

Nominees:

Bleu at Lavender Bleu Books

Mattie at The Blossoming Writer

Syb at AtTaGirl

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