Hello and welcome

Writing is a fascinating and varied activity. It’s a complex creation of plots and characters, and the technical understanding of the rules of writing. More than anything, it is about the author’s voice and her ability to tell a story. It’s a delicate balance of skills, to be sure.

Once a story begins, the writer leads the reader on a journey through a world of the authors making, throwing trouble and strife in all directions. The plot must engage both the reader and the characters. Ideally, we must fear for the safety -or otherwise- of each of our favourite characters as nasty things happen as often as the good. Each of these fictional creatures must grow and evolve until they’re as fallible and real as the people you see in everyday life.

The story must also amuse both the writer and the reader in equal measure. After all, how is the reader expected to enjoy this story if the writer does not? Or me, as a writer, I must feel the story as much as the reader might. So when something bad happens, I can cry with the characters, and laugh when they do. 

But a story is fiction. It is a world of make-believe, isn’t it?

Oh yeah. I like that bit; making things up for a living is an amusement that lasts literally for years. Best of all is making people authentic enough that others feel their joys and anguish with them.

Most crucial of all is the world building. Neither characters nor plot will tell any kind of story if the world is not full and rich in history and meaning. The world must be authentic enough to be believable; even when the author makes the impossible possible. Sometimes the only person who knows this world is the author. She is the creator, and in the pages of the story, small nuggets of this universe might come to light.

To make a world, the devil is in the details. For that we have research. I love to learn. I like to know that things I have learned through life can be used for more than just passing exams. More than anything, I like to take this knowledge and twist it into my own fictional realities. The power to take what is known and certain, then stretch it until the details fit into this new world. A world which may, or may not, be anything like contemporary reality. I like that. Playing God with places that do not exist. Or do they?

This blog will share with you how the words came together. There will be pieces about how the Towers of the Earth formed and grew. TowerVerse. Research, ideas, notes, commentaries, and not just what has already been written, but sometimes there might be clues as to what is yet to come.

Hold on to your hat, there be magic and monsters, science and speculation, fun and shenanigans.

I hope you enjoy my stories as much as I enjoy writing them. If you want to know what kinds of things I find interesting and meet other readers who enjoy the TowerVerse stories, both the Touch and Evie series, join the facebook group. All are welcome.

facebook.com/groups/NitaRoundBooks

I especially love it when people share what they like best about the world, or the people in it. These characters are my friends too.

Enjoy!