My Old Foe: Geography

and how it's finally making sense

Sep 24, 2024

#ProjectReaperFae is on the map (or several)!!

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Welcome back, friend!

It’s officially fall - which means I get to wear sweatshirts and loudly proclaim that “it’s the best weather for walking” to everyone in earshot. Whether or not I actually go on said walk is … *ahem* more likely with every passing day, perhaps? 😉

In other news, I have gone on not one, not two, but three excursions to Barnes and Noble and somehow managed not to buy more books. This makes history as the first time I’ve stuck to a book-buying ban because, well, *waves at my overflowing TBR* - my shelves are pretty much maxed out.

So here’s to reading from our TBR and soaking up every blissful moment of autumn. 🥰

What's coming up in this newsletter:

Writing Update - geographically inept, who? Not me
Reading Recs - jinn magic and secret identities 👀
Newsletter Exclusives - sneak peeks of my epic story bible

P.S. If this is your first newsletter from me, welcome! You most likely signed up on my website where I shared a brief blurb of my current story: Project Reaper Fae. However you joined, I'm so excited to have you come along on my author journey!

Ready for the magical version of geography??

As the girl who managed to get lost in my own backyard, it’s safe to say that geography is not my strong suit. However, when it comes to fictional geography, well I’m - you guessed it - still not so great. 😅

So imagine my surprise when I decided to attempt mapping out my mirrorworlds and they were actually making sense!

It turns out that in trying to fill out my story bible for #ProjectReaperFae, I’ve stumbled across the fact that my brain can understand geography, it just needs to be painstakingly visual. You see, before, I was making the mistake of approaching it the way most people have tried to give me directions (take three lefts, then straight until the big curve, and then a right), which always had me gripping the steering wheel in a panic as I try to figure out whether that curve I just passed was the curve or if it was just a slight bend in our notoriously hilly New England roads.

My brain is very visual-orientated, but it is also - alas - terrible at creating a mental image for something that I don’t have a strong emotional connection to yet. Like how my characters always form a voice in my head before I can picture what they look like. Sometimes, it’s still more of a vague “she has red hair and green eyes” and I’ll scroll Pinterest until I find the images I can “recognize” her in. In other words, I need to see the big picture of something before I can narrow in on the details.

So this time, instead of trying to figure out where the towns and cities are and how many roads connect to where, I decided to go big: What does this world look like from space? Are there any planets in real life that I could use as a model?

When I first started writing about the mirrorworld, I played with the idea that they are the other planets in our solar system, but I chucked it pretty quickly in order to be more “original.” Which is even funnier now that I’ve gone back to that idea and the creative juices are flowing stronger than ever. I have so many ideas! My histories, cultures, languages, etc. are falling into place in a way that I have never experienced before.

Based on my initial big picture (above), I now have 21 other maps that are either close-ups of each planet or are a specific island for each trial in my books. Once I finish polishing those, I can get started on my countries, cities, and roads.

Geography is finally starting to make sense, and I’m having so much fun incorporating it into my worldbuilding. 😊

What is something in your life that you’ve realized you’re not actually bad at? Hit reply (or comment below) to let me know how you learned to approach it differently.

Reading Recs!!

This book has been on my TBR for what feels like forever. I’ve been a huge fan of Bethany Atazadeh’s YouTube tutorials for a while now and absolutely love all of the great writing/Publishing advice there. You would think this would have made her book series jump to the front of my reading list, but I am a terrible mood reader. 🫠

Thankfully, I decided to take my hardcover copy along for a weekend camping trip, and I am so happy that I did! The Stolen Kingdom sucked me in from the first page and had me racing along with the heroine to save her kingdom from an evil only she can see. Thanks to her own gifts (and an awesome crew of thieves), she goes on an adventure of a lifetime and risks it all to save her father.

I had so much fun reading this book and I can’t wait to dive into the sequel, The Jinni Key. ❤

If you’re looking for a fairytale retelling with all the adventure, romance, and bravery without spice or gore, then you will love this! ⤵️

Add it on Goodreads

✨ Newsletter Exclusives ✨

My story bible just keeps getting better! I have been adding so much to this chonk that somehow I’m already over 200 pages and that’s mainly just the blank templates that I have yet to fill out. The chances of this baby reaching 400 pages or more is pretty high, and I am honestly so stoked to get this into my greedy hands ASAP.

So far, one of my favorite templates I’ve created is the different style character sheets for my Heroes, Villains, and Side Characters. If you want to see these, click the link here and check it out! Also, if this is something you’d like to have for your own characters, let me know and I’ll send you the template link for you to customize on Canva. 🥰

Please note that this link and the offer for the templates is only available to you because I like to share exclusive goodies with my newsletter subscribers. So please don’t share it!

In Case You Missed It…

I’m finally getting a grasp on geography and am using this new found power to make my series bible for #ProjectReaperFae even more epic. 😎 This means I’m going to have a ton of maps that I should be able to start showing in the next few months.

What is something in your life that you’ve realized you’re not actually bad at? Feel free to hit reply and share your thoughts with me. I read all my emails and love hearing how you’re doing/what you’re thinking. 🥰

Until next time,

happy reading,

Lydia