Shhh….
It’s a secret.
I’ve been working on something new and different for quite a while now and it’s almost ready.
Elements of Creation: World-Building for a Fantasy Setting is a non-fiction, ground-up guide to creating believable, lived-in fantasy worlds for literature, film, television, and TTRPG.
This book is not a set of rules, rather it is an introduction to the myriad elements required to ground a world, and suggestions on how best to implement them. The rest is up to you.
Keep an eye out here, and on Facebook for more details, including preorder info and a final release date.
“Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.”
— Lloyd Alexander
I first heard this quote as a child, and while I did not wholly understand it then, it has come to be an important part of how I read, and write, the fantasy genre.
Fantasy is a lovely thing, full of magic, odd creatures, interesting characters, and dangerous adventures. In a fantasy book, you can become a knight fighting for the hand of the princess, a secretive thief in search of treasure, a king, a god, or a beggar. Books take us places and fantasy transports us to places that we could not normally go.
The best fantasy, as Mr. Alexander so eloquently stated, is not an escape but rather a mirror. The worlds which we enter in fantasy may seem to be utterly foreign, but if you stop and really examine them, they reflect our world back to us. They show our world through a different lens and in doing so, help us to understand it just that little bit better.
While it was never my intention to become a writer or novelist, I continually find my head full of stories that refuse to rest until they have been told. I seek with my writing to create fun and engaging stories, but also to create a mirror that may just help shed a little light on our own wonderful world. I’ll promise to do my best, and I hope you will join me for the ride.
Derrick Hall
April, 2022
Follow Enara as she embarks on the journey of a lifetime.
Fleeing from the soldiers razing her peaceful elvish neighborhood and imprisoning her neighbors, fifteen-year-old Enara stumbles into an ancient quest. Magic has gone missing, and only the prophesied hero can bring it back.
Haunted by dark and alarming visions, Enara is forced to partner with an unlikely crew, including a Minotaur and an enigmatic elven ranger, in order to save the elves, and the entire world, from destruction by a mysterious genocidal army that has cursed half a continent.
Achieving her destiny will force her to find her inner strength, but could mean sacrificing everything she’s ever loved.
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Enjoy a sneak peek at Qetran Odyssey
Watch the premiere trailer for Qetran Revival
Fantasy by a fantasy lover.
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