Hello and welcome to New Stories, Old Truths on Track of Words, where I’m handing the reins over to author John French to tell us a bit about some of the ways he’s using his website to build a new fictional world, and give readers something a little different to look forward to. I’m a huge fan of John’s Black Library fiction, with his Ahriman series being a particular favourite, so when I spotted some new original fiction showing up on John’s website, along with some really insightful articles, I had to find out what was happening! Whether you’re a Black Library fan or just interested in SFF and the craft of writing, I really recommend you check out John’s website to see what he’s up to.
First though, over to John…
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John French: I have a website. Not a shock, right? Lots of writers do, but this is not another author site just telling you that a new book is out, or what I ate for breakfast. It’s stories and advice that you want, and that you need.
When I overhauled my website earlier this year, I realised I had an opportunity to do more than make it look better. I looked at the sites of lots of other writers and artists, and while there were a lot of great sites and content, I decided I wanted to do something different. Yes, I would let people know my news and work, but I wanted to give something to readers, something to entertain and something to inform, and for both those things to have some overarching drive and idea behind them. So I have been writing Letters From an Unknown Land, and articles on How to Write – How to Create. What are those, you say? Well, come this way.
Stories? Unknown Lands? Letters… What?
Letters From an Unknown Land is a series of stories all told as letters between travellers or correspondents in an Unnamed World that has suffered catastrophe in the recent past and is moving into a new and dangerous time. It’s fantasy, definitely fantasy, but done at a ground level so that you get to know the world from its lived texture, and then the story emerges.
Here’s a taste:
Down by the shore Horek’s boat sits high on the sands, its painted feathers flaking, the eyes on its prow veined with cracks. Wooden carcasses of other boats lie next to it, their planks slowly turning to rot. Horek’s fingers go to the copper feather at his neck, and he spits towards the water.
A row of black-hulled boats sit further along the sand. Each of them is the same shade of pitch, and their ropes are sun-bleached hemp. A fish is pinned to the prow of one craft. The flesh is still clinging to the bones, untouched by carrion. Horek does not look at the black boats as he works.
‘Times change, so do gods, perhaps.’
– from New Gods, Old Sins
So far, I have written instalments from the point of view of Kalik, a traveller, and… something else too, but as it goes on it’s going to open out. Letters from other characters will appear. The story of what happened and what is going to happen will emerge. Because there is a story there, oh yes.
It is a series and it’s heading towards answers and bigger questions. From the instalments that have come out so far you get a sense that there is magic in this world, and that there has been some form of calamity – lights in the sky, cities hollowed out by fire, dead gods. That there are these weird aftershocks of that event: wars, refugees, cults, old ways fading into a forming future. You get snapshots, eye-level insights, and you might ask: What happened? What was this calamity?
But there are other questions. Questions that might not seem important. Who is this character writing these letters? Why are they writing them? Who are they writing them to? Do you trust them? Should you?
Answers – that’s where these stories are going. Answers to questions big and small, and that you might not know you want the answers to.
How to Write – How to Create
I love writing, but I also love the mystery of it, the magic trick of it, the technique, the craft. I love that just as much, and I research and think about it a lot. How do you build a story? What’s the point of planning when plans always end up burning up on entry into reality? How do you handle ideas – too many, too few and everything in between? How do you survive doing this thing, that is frankly, quite hard?
I would not say that I have any answers, but I have learned some of the tools, methods, and rules of thumb that work. Some of them are not things that creators or authors think much about. We tend to be all about ideas and inspiration or planning and structure. We tend not to think too much about how you can come back to the same piece of work again and again, or how you can make or break that work by how well you are sleeping. I wanted to share some what I have found, in particular some of the tricks that are not considered that often but are so important. Take Notes, Build Your Routine, Save Your Darlings, Catch Ideas, Rest Now, and on…
Like Unnamed Lands, each feature of How to Write – How to Create works with the rest. The Take Notes article meshes with the Explore Ideas article that is coming out soon for example. Each principle and bit of guidance stands on its own, but it works even more effectively when taken with all the other parts.
A lot of what goes into the articles is from outside the writing. Like the story of Jodorowsky’s Dune which is fascinating but tells us something about ‘failed’ creative processes and what can spring from them – that we should save our darlings, not kill them – and that’s something that applies to us all. There are things from books on training for sports, and documentaries on science. Yes, there is a lot of ineffable magic to writing and creating, but there is also a lot that is not, and we can make ourselves better at those parts, and that makes what we create better. That’s the through strand of the articles, I guess – that there are things we can do to make it easier, to make it more fun.
Come and have a look, have a read, and see what you think.
I put all the stories and articles out early on my mailing list – you can subscribe here.
Huge thanks and shout out to the amazing Authenticity Digital who built my site, and Greg Smith for his editing wizardry.
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John French is an award winning script writer, novelist, and games designer. He has written twelve novels over a decade long career, notably the Ahriman series and Horusian Wars trilogies set in the dystopian far future of Warhammer 40,000, and five novels in the New York Times Bestselling The Horus Heresy series, most recently with The Solar War and Mortis. His other work includes cosmic horror in the Lord of Nightmares trilogy from Fantasy Flight Publishing, and detective fiction with The Last Visitor in Further Associates of Sherlock Holmes from Titan Books (writing as Stephen Henry). In 2018 he won a Scribe Award for Best Audio with his script for the drama Agent of the Throne: Blood and Lies.
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Huge thanks to John for taking the time to write this article for the 2022 Track of Words Advent Calendar, and to give us the lowdown on Letters From an Unknown Land and How to Write – How to Create. I’ve really enjoyed reading all of the stories and articles on John’s website so far, and I can’t wait to see where things go next – so I would definitely recommend taking a look!
See also: all of the John French reviews, interviews and articles on Track of Words
John’s latest Black Library release is the Age of Sigmar novel The Hollow King – check out the links below to order your copy:
*If you buy anything using any of these links, I will receive a small affiliate commission – see here for more details.
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