The Unseen Iceberg: Building a World from the Atoms Up
Hello everyone!
I’m taking a short break from the scheduled content today because I hit a personal milestone this week, and it’s one that has me feeling reflective. I finished an entire, functional calendar system for the world of Atlantis Unbound. It’s complete with 13 months, a 7-day week with its own "conlang" names, and a complex 8-year leap cycle.
And I realized… it feels good. Even if it means new (and MORE) edits for The Sea Queen’s Shadow, it’s just going to make it more epic!
When most people think of a writer, you think the job is just writing the book. But when you're building an epic fantasy, you quickly learn that the manuscript is just the tip of the iceberg. The real work, the colossal, unseen mass of that iceberg, is the world-building. It's the part that no one may ever see, but it's the only thing holding the story up.
The "Fractured Echoes" Rabbit Hole
It all started with a simple question: "What if all our myths are just the fractured echoes of a forgotten history?"
That one question sent me down a rabbit hole I haven't emerged from since. It wasn't enough for my lost queen to just "be from Atlantis." I needed to know why. Why did their magic feel different? How did they measure time after a cataclysm that reset their civilization 10,000 years ago?
That led to the calendar. I couldn't just use "January." It had to feel ancient, rooted in their world. So, Hiemis (the time of winter) and Noctis (the time of night) were born. But a lunar calendar drifts, so I had to build a leap cycle. And what would they call that leap month? Saeclum, "The Age," a special time for festivals.
Then, the days. I couldn't have them using "Sunday." So, an entire conlang for Old Atlantean had to be born: the language that birthed Greek, Latin, Egyptian, and so many others. Solis for the sun, Kresdiem for the day of strife. Before I knew it, I wasn't just writing a book; I was an amateur linguist and a fantasy astronomer (and with a mirrored sky… that’s a tall order!).
The Real-Life "Juggle"
And here’s the part that's less magical: this all happens in the margins.
I'm often asked how I find the time, and the honest answer is, "I don't." You have to make the time, usually by stealing it from something else. Like sleep.
My days are a chaotic, beautiful, exhausting mess. There's my full-time job. There's school. There's home life: making sure the dogs are walked and my (very patient) husband remembers what I look like. And then there's this.
There's the writing (Book 2 is in the planning stages!), the self-editing (the endless, painful, necessary slog), and then there's the entire "author platform" side. Building the website. Making the maps for it (ohhh yes, I have a BEAUTIFUL map of Atlantis! The whole continent. Yes, it’s a continent). Creating a Facebook page and trying to figure out what to post. Then hitting over 800 likes out of the blue!
And now, I've joined the online serial world of Wattpad and Royal Road, which means a whole new community to engage with and chapter deadlines to meet.
It's a constant, dizzying spin of balancing acts. Some days, I'll be in a work meeting, nodding along, while my brain is in the background trying to figure out the logistics of a magical battle in the Stygian Mire. Other days, I'm trying to study for an exam, but my fingers are itching to finish a blog post or respond to a really insightful comment on Reddit.
It's a lot. Sometimes it feels overwhelming. But then, a few magical things happen…
The "Why" That Makes It Worth It
This week, after I posted my Sea Queen's Shadow chapters on Royal Road, I saw that I'm over 650 reads. I got my first batch of newsletter subscribers: real, live people I don't know. People who were so interested in my world that they wanted to hear more.
I've been terrified to put my work out there for so long, but I've been participating in forums on Royal Road and Reddit, and the community has been incredible. I've had wonderful, insightful conversations with other writers and readers. I'm finding my people.
And the best part? All this networking and "showing up" has started to... well, let's just say it's started to get my work in front of some very interesting people. I've had some "whispers" of interest from people in the biz, and the initial feedback has been more validating and motivating than I can possibly describe.
It's a long, exhausting, and terrifying road. But when you see that first stranger sign up for your newsletter, or you finalize a piece of lore like a calendar or a language and it just clicks... it feels good. It feels like you're not just building a world from scratch.
You're building a home.
Thank you all for being here with me. Your support is the fuel for the fire.
All the best, T.L. West
