Desire to Fall takes
place in the city state of Velli on an alien world. There is nothing
quite like a shiny new planet to build on. But I don’t build first
and plot second. I plot and build and make the characters all at the
same time during my pre-writing phase. I like to call it organic
world building. Others might not be so kind if they saw my note
books…yeah I plot and build with pen and paper. I then have to
stick tabs on the side of the pages so that I can find important
details fast.
When I started
planning this book I knew 2 things:
The women had wings
and the men didn’t. Ménages were biologically necessary.
Those two things
would direct my world building as I had to answer why and how those
things worked. How did men and women get together if they didn’t
occupy the same habitat (I might have gone a bit overboard and delved
into the pre-history of my aliens back to when they were hunter
gatherers). If the women have wings they aren’t even occupying the
same evolutionary niche as the men.
Is my science
background showing? Maybe just a little
So my tribes of
women would swoop down and grab a man…the men in return would hunt
down a women…but women are dangerous and conception needs blood
(something in the blood triggers ovulation). No sensible man would
get with a woman on his own.
Biology and back
ground established my next big decision was how advanced do I make my
people?
The story I wanted
to tell was about the upheaval surrounding a major engineering
project (oh dear now my engineering background is showing.) So I gave
them a level of technology about the same us….only different
because they wouldn’t have invented everything that we have because
their biology is different.
Why invent cars,
when half your population flies?
Gun powder never
happened so there are no guns.
With a population
that is fairly stable (given the complexity of breeding) their world
is very different.
When world building
it’s also important to look at what the taboos and crimes are. How
have they effected civilization? Wing clipping became very important,
as did the flip side of the trafficking in male blood.
While I did give
them a religion it doesn’t play a huge part in the story. A bigger
issue the way they form breeding bonds and marry. There are rules in
place for what is acceptable. Of course my characters went the
unconventional way.
The world I created
for Desire to Fall has become my biggest world to date. Everything
from sports games to fad foods to music. The things we enjoy in our
lives they also had to have.
I never realized
when I started how big it would get—and as with most world building
I have pages and pages while the reader gets just a taste—but
without putting in the effort to really know my world the story
wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting.
***Views expressed are solely those of Shona Husk and not the SFR Brigade***
Desire to Fall
Kya Hawl is an
architect on the Precinct One redevelopment, a prestigious and
contentious project in the city-state of Velli. While she is happy
with her part-time female lover, Judge Elmi Chadee, she wants more.
She wants a family and children, for that she needs two men willing
to put their life on the line to breed.
Tref Xant and his
partner Dru Macon seem like the right guys; however, Tref has secrets
and Dru is about to deploy to Precinct One, one of the roughest
precincts in Velli. The redevelopment can’t come soon enough. Tref
would like to see the place burned to the ground. But even that
wouldn’t be able to erase his memories of growing up there.
With Dru away Tref
finds himself falling for Kya. Jealousy sparks between the men. A
triad can never form as Dru wants Elmi and she has sworn off unions
after her sister ran away to join the Terrin Sect.
As riots erupt and
the redevelopment is threatened Dru realizes he has to fight for what
he wants--something Tref learned long time ago. A four-way
union--while unusual--would work. But will the women agree when they
learn of Tref’s past?
SHONA
HUSK is the author of the Shadowlands, Court of Annwyn and the Face
the Music series. You can find out more information about Shona at
www.shonahusk.com
or follow her on Twitter @ShonaHusk, Facebook
www.facebook.com/shonahusk
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