As you’re world-building, you need to create a place that’s recognizable enough for readers to join you, but also different from what other authors have done before. How do you balance that?
I’m a huge history lover! Because of that, I’m always drawing inspiration from history, cultures, and civilizations. As a world-builder, I find it helpful to look at how our own world came to be, and then use that as inspiration for my novels.
For example, in my Ravenwood series, I based the Dominia Empire on Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. I studied how he led his people, how he inspired his people to fight, and how he went about conquering the lands.
In my steampunk novels, I use a lot of pieces from the Victorian era to shape my worlds—from the rise of science during that time period, to the clothing styles, to modes of transportation (both real and made up).
I find combining something familiar and my own imagination helps ease the reader into my worlds.
How difficult is it for you to create a fantastical world infused with a biblical worldview? What are the challenges?
I am a finite human being, which means I will never be able to show God in all His glory and the facets of His being. That said, I always strive to present God in the most theological accurate way, and I want my readers to walk away from my stories with an overwhelming awe of God in their hearts.
I also portray sin as a brokenness in our lives, which only God, not ourselves, can heal. It is when we come to God and realize our need of Him that we can finally break free of our past and move forward as new creatures. That is how I infuse a biblical worldview into my stories.
Do you find it hard to include a biblical perspective and be accurate when writing speculative fiction?
I don’t find it hard to be accurate. I am a visual person, and so when I teach, I use visual ideas to help people grasp biblical concepts.
Naturally, that comes into my writing as well. I don’t preach in my stories, I show who God is, what sin is and what it does to us, and what sacrificial love is by telling a story. The great thing about fantasy is you can actually show it.
What is the most difficult part about writing for you?
Writing the first draft. I’m a really slow writer, so it takes me months to write the first draft. That means being disciplined enough to sit down every weekday and write.
Sometimes it feels like I’ll never finish the story. But after a couple of months, and as I approach the ending, it’s all worth it.
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