[When the Mad Muncle heard about Dina's debut YA fantasy, Dragon Fire, he couldn't wait to tell the world. That day has finally come. Not only does he get to share the goods, but Ms. von Lowenkraft has graciously provided a bit of world building wisdom. Enjoy.]
Dragon Fire
But some choices will kill you.
When seventeen-year-old Anna first meets Rakan in her hometown north of the Arctic Circle, she is attracted to the pulsing energy that surrounds him. Unaware that he is a shapeshifting dragon, Anna is drawn into a murderous cycle of revenge that pits Rakan and his clan against her best friend June.
Torn between his forbidden relationship with Anna, that could cost them both their lives, and restoring his family’s honor by killing June, Rakan must decide what is right. And what is worth living – or dying – for.
Born
in the US, Dina has lived on 4 continents, worked as a graphic artist for
television and as a consultant in the fashion industry. Somewhere between New
York and Paris she picked up an MBA and a black belt – and still thinks the two
are connected. Dina is currently the Regional Advisor for SCBWI Belgium, where
she lives with her husband, two children, three horses and a cat.
Dina loves to create intricate worlds filled
with conflict and passion. She builds her own myths while exploring issues of
belonging, racism and the search for truth... after all, how can you find true
love if you don’t know who you are and what you believe in? Dina’s key to
developing characters is to figure out what they would be willing to die for.
And then pushing them to that limit.
Excerpt (Chapter One):
In
the Arctic winter, the sun never rises.
In
the Arctic summer, the sun never sets.
In
the Arctic, the world is at your feet.
Chapter
1
The
Circle Tightens
The candle flickered in
the subzero wind but Anna made no move to protect it. She stopped on the hill
in front of Tromso’s three-year high school and watched the water of the fjord
shimmer below. Even though it was mid-afternoon there was no sun, just the
luminous reflection of the moon. The procession of students continued on without
her, leaving only the fading sound of crunching snow in their wake.
“You
seem as eager to go to Fritjof’s memorial vigil as I am,” June said, startling
Anna with her sudden appearance.
Anna
fingered the oval piece of bright orange coral that she had carried around like
a talisman since she was a child. She usually kept it in her pocket, but today
she wanted to feel its soothing energy closer and had it in her glove. She had
never liked Fritjof, and even though she wasn’t glad he had died, she wouldn’t
miss him.
She
turned to face June whose cobalt blue eyes were at odds with her otherwise
Asian features. June and her boyfriend had also been out on the mountain when
the avalanche claimed Fritjof. “I’m glad it’s not yours too,” Anna said. “I’d
really miss you.”
“It
would take more than an avalanche to kill me,” June said, trying to smile. But
Anna could feel her friend’s pain lurking under the surface.
“Hey.”
She wrapped an arm around June to comfort her. But as soon as her hand touched
June’s shoulder, a burst of energy exploded from her stone. Anna ripped off her
glove and the piece of coral went flying. “What the—”
June
spun around, pushing Anna behind her as if to protect her from an attack. She
scanned the area, her body tensed for a fight.
“Who
are you looking for?” Anna pressed her palm to dull the pain as she glanced
around the deserted hilltop. “Whatever it was, it came from my stone.”
June
relaxed her stance. “Are you okay?”
“I
think so.” Anna gestured towards the coral-colored sparks that crackled in the
darkness of the Norwegian winter. “What do you think it’s doing?”
“Don’t
know.” June crouched down to get a better look. Her hand hovered as a bright
green light flashed around the stone.
“Don’t
touch it,” Anna said sharply. Her stone had always had a special energy, but
never coral-colored sparks. Or green flashes of light.
“It’s
okay now.” June pulled her hand back. “Look for yourself.”
Anna
knelt next to June. The stone was dark and lifeless and she felt a sudden pang
of loss. She prodded it gingerly with her good hand, but felt nothing. She
picked it up. It was just a pretty bit of coral. The gentle pulsing energy that
she had liked so much was gone.
“Can
I see it?” June asked.
Anna
nodded, her throat constricted. The stone had always reminded her of her
father. Its energy was something he would have been able to feel too. The only
other person she had met so far who was open to that kind of thing was June.
Everyone else got freaked out, or thought she was crazy. So she had learned not
to talk about it.
June
closed her fist around the stone. “Where did you get this?” Her voice wavered.
Anna’s
attention flicked back to June. She never wavered. “I found it in the
mountains. Years ago. Why? What is it?”
“A
trigger.”
“A
trigger for what?”
June
returned Anna’s searching look. “I have no idea.” She handed the stone back.
“So
how do you know it’s a trigger?”
“I
just feel it.” June picked up the candles that lay forgotten in the snow. “If
you’re okay, we should go.”
Anna
picked up her discarded glove and froze. In the middle of her left palm was a
star-shaped scar. She stretched her hand to get a better look. It was about the
size of a dime. She touched it. Like an echo under the fading pain, she could
feel the energy of her stone pulsing faintly in her palm.
“Here,”
June said, offering Anna a candle. She stopped mid-motion. “What is it?”
“I
don’t know. The stone…” She held out her palm. “Look.”
June
dropped the candles and took Anna’s hand in hers. Gently, she ran her fingers
over the slightly raised ridges of the scar. “A Firemark,” June said as if
talking to herself. “But how…?”
“What’s
a Firemark?” Anna examined the scar. It was almost silvery in the moonlight.
June
looked up, her fingers still on Anna’s palm. “It’s like a living connection
between two people. But… there was only the stone.”
“It
always felt alive,” Anna said. She touched the Firemark one last time before
putting her glove back on. It was warm and smooth.
June
shook her head. “But even if it felt alive, it shouldn’t have left a Firemark.”
Anna
shrugged. “Maybe. But I like it.” Anna closed her hand around the Firemark. It
felt like she was holding her stone. She smiled. She’d never lose it now.
June
re-lit the candles again and handed one to Anna. “Ready?”
Anna
hooked her arm through June’s. “I think so.” They walked silently through town
and across the bridge that straddled the green-black fjord.
“Do
you think it’s over?” Anna eyed the Arctic Cathedral that sprawled like slabs
of a fallen glacier on the other side of the fjord. It was lit up like a temple
of light.
June
shook her head. “It’s only just begun.”
“That’s enough.”
Khotan’s voice snapped like a whip across the barren land of Ngari in western
Tibet. “You’re not going to kill her. I will.”
[Hooked? You can read more at
Twilight Times Books.]
Guest Post - World Building
I
have always loved world building - and, as most kids do, I did it constantly,
whether playing with my friends in the trees or building homes for my stuffed
animals. What we were all doing, without thinking about it, was creating a
setting for our story. No story can happen without characters, and no character
can come to life in a void. They need a setting. The setting is the structure
in which the characters will evolve and the story will unfold. It shapes how the
characters view the world and how they react. Whether done consciously or
unconsciously, the world we create as writers informs the story problem and its
themes.
One
of the exciting things about world building is that you can create your world
starting from any point, be it the physical realm, the society, the character
or the story problem. But no matter where you start, at some point you have to
decide how your main character and his/her story problem fit into the larger
world he/she lives in. It is this interplay between the character and his/her
world that will help give a story the depth, and coherence, necessary to engage
readers and create a vibrant world that will live on in their minds well beyond
the end of the book.
Although
it is easy to see details of world building when reading about Middle Earth or
Starships, a contemporary novel set in a small town also has a distinct world
that the author has created – either by constructing a fictional setting or by
choosing which parts of a real setting to include or to omit.
A
world is a complex system of interdependent threads ranging from the physical
to the metaphysical and covering everything in between. Geography, population,
government, history, ethics and religion are just a few examples. The clearer
you are about the impact of each thread on your characters and story arc, the
more depth your world will have and the more alive it will feel.
A
river that floods, such as the Nile, can be seen as destructive or life-giving
or both – but it can’t be ignored. No matter how it is perceived, the river’s
cycle will affect how the civilization that it nourishes develops. Climate and
local resources influence everything from clothing to fighting techniques to
societal structure and religious beliefs.
Just
as in our world, the way fictional characters perceive the world around them is
shaped by the culture they grew up in, their past experiences and their own
ideas of right and wrong. This in turn will affect how each character can
evolve over the course of the story.
For
example, in The Game
of Thrones, Dany wouldn’t be who she is, or where she is, without the
past events that pushed her and her brother into exile. Of course, what she
chose to do afterwards was based on her own experiences and understanding of
the world around her and the potential she had within herself.
All
worlds, even ones with magic, have limitations – and limitations are often a
great starting point for introducing problems and increasing tension. And
tension, especially when it is innate to your world’s structure and your
character’s personal view of the world, is what makes a book something a reader
can’t put down.
What are your thoughts on world building? What do you
usually create first, the world, the characters, the story problem? I’d love to
hear from you!
Knight of Flame won a Gold medal for Contemporary Fantasy in Dan Poynter's 2014 World Ebook Awards! 
