New Zealand's South Island - an inspiration for epic fantasy!

I love creating worlds for my epic fantasy novels. Blessed (or cursed!) with a vivid imagination, there's nothing I like better than sitting down with a sketch pad and building a world that has never existed previously.

When creating a fantasy world, I firmly believe that you should have a reasonable sense of geography, as well as some knowledge of history and culture. I recently read a fantasy book that had the main character traveling from icy tundra to searing desert in just five days on horse-back! I've also read far too many rip-offs of clearly recognisable settings: ancient Rome and medieval Venice come to mind here. My favourite fantasy worlds are all richly developed; you believe that they could actually exist. Thought has gone into the details.

I had great fun creating Isador for my first epic fantasy, The Children of Isador, but I wanted something different for my next book. I wanted a landscape I could recognise, and sights and smells that were familiar to me. With this in mind, I created Palâdnith. Take a look at the map I drew - those familiar with New Zealand should recognise it!

I grew up in the South Island of New Zealand - in Dunedin (or Dunethport if you're looking for it on the map above). Palâdnith shares many similarities! Although the people and culture of Journey of Shadows are firmly rooted in epic fantasy, the landmarks, flora and fauna are distinctly New Zealand's.

New Zealand's landscape is varied, and can change dramatically in just a short distance. The climate is temperate; mild-maritime on the coast and continental inland. I centered my story around the Realm of Omagen, in reality the province of Otago - an area of New Zealand that I know very well. The coastline around Dunedin is lush and green, with silver beaches, the deep blue Pacific Ocean and extinct volcanoes. A couple of hundred kilometres inland, the landscape changes to dry, rock-studded terrain with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains. You can see such landscape is an ideal setting for epic fantasy!

Landmarks such as the Rock and Pillar mountain range, with its unusual topography: stacks of stone and great rock tors, make a special appearance in the story - as do the Canterbury Plains, the Southern Alps, Central Otago and Southland. The next book in the series will take place in the temperate rainforests of Fiordland (or Westhealm if you're looking at the map above).

Basing a fantasy world on a place I know well, was a great help to the actual writing. As I based my novel on a real landscape, I feel that my depiction of this fantasy world is all the more credible for it. I tried to remain true to the geography - although I definitely let my imagination loose when it came to creating the cities, towns and people who inhabit Palâdnith. I also had a lot of fun creating the place names within this fantasy world - once again the product of a fertile imagination!

I hope that if you do read the book you enjoy Palâdnith, and appreciate its inspiration!