Questions About A Desert of Bleeding Sand (A Desert of Bleeding Sand #1)

by Lucia Damisa (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (4)

I think your book is magnificent and I’m convincing all my friends to read it! On the world building topic —because your world in ADOBS is so intricate, how do you decide which names to make up in a historical fantasy, and which to use as is? Also, which are the real places that exist? Thank you!

Lucia Damisa Hiii!

Amazing question! So one of the reasons why writing ADOBS was so fun and in a teeny way, easy, was because it really is historical and it was fas…moreHiii!

Amazing question! So one of the reasons why writing ADOBS was so fun and in a teeny way, easy, was because it really is historical and it was fascinating to have bases to build upon, instead of having to create places out of thin air like with other stories I’ve worked on. For book 1, I wanted to tell this part of Nigerian youths’ story and to keep things as real as possible, to be able to point and say ‘look these horrible things happened and I didn’t just make them up’. Basically I didn’t want the facts and grit to be buried under fancy madeup magical places. (Not that there’s anything wrong with fancy madeup places; I have written and love a bunch of them myself! And book 2 also takes that turn in a way!)

I wanted to keep the realism as much as possible. So even for the other, magical kingdoms I write about, they truly are places that oppressed Nigerians in nearer history (around 1800-1900s). Some before Nigeria’s tribes amalgamated just as it happens in the book. I just used their historic names—when they were still kingdoms instead of countries, and ruled by kings instead of presidents, when they were still colonized instead of independent.

Historic names that they’re no longer known by, even though some are easily recognizable and others I had to dig really deep to find. So it’s heavily a historical fantasy.

I dug deeper for some place names because these —slavery, colonialism—are things their earlier rulers and people did and not people of the 21st century. And I want to avoid scenarios of people feeling attacked because, as I said, they and probably not even their parents did these things. I wanted to keep focus on the message of the book. So I recreated that conflict while also keeping the history true. And bringing the message to the forefront that sure, these kingdoms/nations might have magic/technology that Nigerians don’t, but rulers, don’t discount us youths. Even with limited resources we still have the passion, the brain, and determination to do great things if we just get the chance :)(less)

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Also!! How do you make your world feel so lived in and real? I feel like I’ve walked the spice-and-sun scented streets of Ari’el and drank Zair’s mother’s cinnamon teabags! I feel like you could drop me at the hill in Ari’el and I could find my way around the Sand Palace, or all the quarters. Also I would totally be part of the Kwali tribe if I was in Ari’el!

Lucia Damisa Omg this is one of the best compliments I could get. Thank you sooo much!! Making a world feel real and lived in involves gathering lots of little det…moreOmg this is one of the best compliments I could get. Thank you sooo much!! Making a world feel real and lived in involves gathering lots of little details to place in the world. It is the small details that paint the big picture. At first when I started world building I focused more on how a city, for instance, looked in a snapshot. From a bird’s eye view. I wanted everything to be pretty and sparkling.

But I soon realized that with only big-picture stuff,I made these worlds that were pretty but felt almost shallow. Empty and decorative. And I saw that those books whose worlds intrigued me went beyond the surface to the tiny details and those were what made the world feel alive and animated.

So that’s my answer; look for little details!(less)

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Hi Lucia!!! Thank you for hosting this Q&A! I connect to Zair’s isolation and loneliness, even if not at quite the same scale! But youthhood and school isn’t always easy to navigate. I feel this story speaks to people who don’t fit in, in a deeper way. Can you say how you were able to bring this to life?

Lucia Damisa I am so so glad you feel so about Zair’s journey!! I think with fantasy books, we generally love tropes like rags-to-riches and lonely-to-popular beca…moreI am so so glad you feel so about Zair’s journey!! I think with fantasy books, we generally love tropes like rags-to-riches and lonely-to-popular because these are great arcs. BUT during these recent years of my writing journey, I learned a key lesson (one that probably should’ve been a given haha). To write from experiences because that is what makes a story feel most profound.

I can’t exactly remember what made me decide to make Zair from the desolated tribe, but I do remember those moments when I began to connect with her character and feel the last barricade of strangers-just-meeting-each-other fall away. I remember moments when I channeled certain personal experiences/feelings to understand how she felt in situations, how she got through them, and what her thought process would be like. In high school and long after, when my full personality formed—reader, information lover, introvert type—I began to (in the amazing words of Oh from Home) ‘fit out’.

I come from a place where people are boisterous and highly extroverted, and if you’re not these things, you’re seen as odd. Or dull. So I felt like a misfit for a good chunk of my youth. Long story short, I’ve deeply shared Zair’s feeling of being an outcast and the haven she finds in her immediate family, and that’s why it was possible to write Zair as I have :)(less)

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Did you plan to do rivals to lovers from the beginning, or did the characters naturally fall into it?

Lucia Damisa Hiii! Absolutely. The rivals to lovers aspect was the first thing I had before the rest of the plot came to me. I had just found out about the trope, …moreHiii! Absolutely. The rivals to lovers aspect was the first thing I had before the rest of the plot came to me. I had just found out about the trope, after only knowing of enemies to lovers. I loved the competition and sabotage and distrust that came with it. I wanted to explore that, and for a while I didn’t have a world or story to put the characters in so it just sat with me. Eventually, the inspiration for the rest of the book came and I finally had where to place my rivals!

Thank you for the question!(less)

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