Happy and proud I am posting the first post from new monthly author blogger Jacob Flores!

Find Jacob his posts on the 29 th of the month.

Welcome Jacob 🙂

 

 

The Joys and Challenges of World Building or I Thought I Was the God in This World, but I’m actually Its Servant!

 

When the idea for the paranormal series I’m working on first struck me, I have to tell you: I was excited! With seven contemporary novels under my belt, I felt the need to try something different. My muse was pretty insistent as a matter of fact.

 

So I thought, why not? Let’s give this a go.

 

What do I want to write about? Magic.

 

What kind of magic? Oooh. Black magic, a perfect mixture of sinful and sexy.

 

But isn’t black magic evil? Not in my world.

 

Why not?

 

And that’s where the joys of world building begin.

 

Joy #1—You can create everything and anything

 

You are basically the god of your world, and the power is extremely intoxicating. Your imagination has the freedom to roam wherever it wants, and if you can imagine it, you can build it.

 

So since I wanted to write about black magic, warlocks were the most obvious choice. Not a lot has been written on them in the m/m genre, and that satisfied my muse’s desire to shake things up.

 

I made warlocks a species because in my world warlocks, witches, and wizards actually evolved from humans.

 

After I created those three groups, I re-created vampires, which I call vampyren, shifters, fae, sorcerers, and pretty much every magical creature I could think of, and with each group, I gave them my own Jacob Z. Flores twist.

 

At this point, I was high on my own omnipotence in this world.

 

 

Joy #2—You create the rules

 

Rules are the basic building blocks of any community, and we have to have them. Otherwise, there’s only chaos. But with world building, you can create whatever rules you want. What fun, right?

 

Well, yeah!

 

So one big rule was that the type of magic didn’t make you good, bad, or somewhere in between. It only defined the magical species.

 

Black magic simply explained that warlocks harnessed the chaotic and more aggressive forces of nature, and they went from being bad to being badass.

 

Ah, the power!

 

I then gave my magical world a governing body called the Conclave. It made the rules all magical creatures adhered to, and their most sacred tenets are for magic to remain hidden and for the Gate, the source of all magic in the world, to be protected.

 

All other laws enforced those basic principles.

 

Piece of cake, right?

 

WRONG!

 

Challenge #1—You created the past but what about the present?

 

You just birthed a vibrant society that is new and different from everything else out there, but guess what? There’s something wrong with it. All hell has to break loose in your world; otherwise, no one is really going to care.

 

So not only do you have to find the flaw, but explain why it is a problem now.

 

Um. Maybe not a piece of cake after all.

 

If the Conclave has been making the rules since the damn of the magical community, why in 2015 is their rule being called into question? What mistakes have been made? What enemies exist and why are they suddenly causing problems for the main characters?

 

Panic attack in three, two,…

 

Challenge #2—You made it and can’t break it

 

Remember all those rules you were so excited about? Well this is where they come back to take a big bite out of your behind. Now that you have to try to answer questions and solve problems, you can’t break the rules that you’ve established in your quest to find solutions.

 

That’s when I realized I’d gone from omnipotent to impotent.

 

I had no control here. The moment I created this world and set it free, I became a subject in its realm.

 

How could a relationship between Mason Blackmoor, a young warlock, and human Drake Carpenter even be possible? Magic was supposed to remain hidden. And if Drake learned about magic, would he and Mason be punished, imprisoned, or killed?

 

I had no answer, so what did I do?

 

Well, after a few stiff drinks, I did what I always do. I gave myself over to my muse and the world he helped me create. Like with most of my writing endeavors, I’m never in control. It’s the characters, the stories, and the world that take me wherever they want to go.

 

And as always, I am their most humble servant.

 

About Jacob Flores:

 

Jacob Z. Flores lives a double life. During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator. At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hardass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.

Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse. When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his daughter. They both represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.

 

 

 

Latest release:  “Please Remember Me” by Jacob Z. Flores

Blurb:

Successful lawyer Santi Herrera couldn’t be happier with the direction his life is taking. Not only is he on track to becoming a partner in his law firm, but he’s planning his wedding to Hank Burton, a south Texas contractor who has made a name for himself despite his humble beginnings. The introverted lone wolf Santi and the friendly, outgoing Hank complement each other perfectly. From the moment they laid eyes on each other, they were hooked, and as far as Santi and Hank are concerned, a happily ever after is their destiny.

But fate deals them a devastating new hand.

A construction accident leaves Hank with severe head trauma and brings him precariously close to death. When he finally awakens, Hank doesn’t remember Santi or the love they shared for the past three years. Santi faces the greatest challenge of his life. Can he respark a flame his lover can’t recall? And can he stop the diverging paths that fickle fate charts between them?

Santi has faith in the love he and Hank shared and in the words his father once spoke to him: “It’s never too late to fall in love. All over again.”