Defining my world

Recently, I undertook a major project for my website.

I’ve always wanted to produce a glossary for my Lucardian world, primarily for my readers but also for myself. Currently, I have completed eight books set in Lucardia (five published and three yet to be published). On top of that, I have about 25-30 other projects I would love to write in this world (6 that I must write). Thus far, I have written approximately 3,500 pages, which includes hundreds of named characters and places, as well as creatures, religions, organizations, symbols, objects, and more. It is a massive amount of information, and even though I created it all, I often find myself confused. For example, sometimes, I write a bit of lore, cut it for length, and then forget that I cut it. I keep detailed spreadsheets, but that doesn’t help my readers, and it all could use some better organization.

With Koen: Quills from the Raven’s Nest’s release through Grendel Press approaching, I need to give new readers a helping hand. Thus, I decided to create a place where all this information could find a home, a place where interested parties could explore. It seemed a simple task- boy, was I wrong.

First, I needed to create a place for this glossary. This led to a rethinking of how I present my books and a reorganization of my website menus. Initially, each series or standalone had its spot on the menu, but it was getting crowded, and I needed a central hub to provide details about my worlds. So, I created a My Books! page. On this page, I could then separate the works in the Lucardian world from the rest and allow interested parties to explore. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a start.

So, I now have a home for my glossary. I decided to start with characters. Between all my books, I estimate there are about 350-400 named characters in my Lucardian world thus far. Not all of them are important, and many are sparks that are subsequently extinguished, but I try to keep track of all of them, as you never know who will lead to a larger story or if they will find their way back onto the page. But for the glossary, I wanted to focus on the ones that are in the spotlight, recur throughout the books, or will likely play a future role in the stories I have yet to write. Seems simple, right?

I set off going through my lists (I have one for each series or standalone) and began adding them to the page. I’m currently at ninety-eight entries. That is quite the crowd bumping around in the old noggin, and I likely have a few more that may not be speaking characters but play essential roles in Lucardian history (should be over one hundred).

Ok. I have a start, but I didn’t just want a list. As a website, it should be visually appealing, so I endeavored to create a picture for each character using the descriptions in my books. True, not all have detailed physical descriptions, but they certainly have personalities and actions that translate physically.

But ninety portraits is a lot. I am somewhat artistically inclined, but I don’t have the time to produce a portrait for each, and my books don’t make enough to commission an artist, so I used AI. Even still, this took forever. First, I had to find sufficient details from my books to produce a prompt for image generation. Then, as the first image was never right, I had to tweak it until the AI produced something close to what was in my head.

I won’t lie. I am impressed with the outcome. It was a thrill to see some of these faces appear visually. Something that really wasn’t possible just a few years ago. Now, you can even animate the pictures- freaky!

But that was just step one. Now, I must write a 3-5 sentence blurb that captures the character and their relationship to the story. Here is where I am now, and I have finished thirty-six of them as of writing this post. Not bad, but I have a long way to go.

After I complete the characters, I want to do the same thing with places, significant events, religions, organizations, groups, creatures, objects, and so on. As I mentioned earlier, it is quite an undertaking that should take me about a month, perhaps more, if things get busy. I received an update from the Editor-in-Chief at Grendell Press about Koen this morning, and it may be arriving sooner than I expected. Promoting that book will take priority for some time. I will keep you updated.

I can’t help but think back to when I wrote Dawn of the Lightbearer. Who knew that story would grow into this? My wife is currently reading Jezelle: Thief of Oaks and is loving it. She, too, feels it may be my best work thus far. We were discussing the role of the Red Cloths in that book and went down the rabbit hole of how their plots and machinations feed into all the stories. She asked me where all this stuff came from and whether I knew where it was going to go when I started. I wish I could say that I did, but that would be a lie. I am very much on this journey, too. I have glimpses, but until my fingers move over the board, I never quite know where I will end up. Currently, that means cataloging 100+ characters *shakes head*

Cheers!