Devin's World

As I’m getting closer to the release date of my novel Tale of the Dragon Champion (which is so exciting!), I thought I would share some of the goals of this story and the inspiration behind it.

First, as a student of international relations and literature, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the world that we live in and how it came to be. Literature has been incredibly interesting in the ways that I have been able to consider new ways of writing, new perspectives, and types of literary criticism.

As such, I know better than anyone that author intent is either crucial or completely irrelevant depending on your perspective. However, I am of the opinion that my ideas and goals may at the very least give a new insight to the story and what I was hoping to do with this story.

This story started as a little bit of escapism about ten years ago, and developed immensely as I grew up and began learning about history, politics, philosophy, international relations, psychology, and more. I wanted to understand these concepts better and found that I could test them in new ways in this dragon-world I had imagined.

Now of course, it is a real story and the first full book will be released next month on April 22nd, and I am already working on the second book in the series and a prequel that will add so much to this world.

I thought I would start with the goals I have for the series, and then talk a little more about the inspiration. I will be keeping this spoiler-free, and keep the discussion rather surface-level, as this is a series that I hope will invite a wide-range of discourse and analysis. You’ll see…

Goals

When I set out to write this story, it was definitely a stock-standard fantasy, but as my interests grew over the years and I was introduced to an array of different ideas and concepts, my world and characters developed with me.

Even so, at the most base level, I wanted to write a good story. All my big ambitions for the book and my ideas mean almost nothing if the characters are boring or two-dimensional. The same goes for the world, the history, the magic, and the plot. If people don’t actually like the story, or at the very least, find it interesting and compelling, then it doesn’t matter how many political theory concepts I sprinkle in, how cleverly I have constructed each character, nor how interesting my questions and themes are.

Yet, I found that having all of these other components were also key to my writing process. Over the years I have studied the history of empires and colonial nations, I have learned about power politics and conflict studies, I have seen how international relations theories (made up and faulty as they may be) are practised and used to justify so many strange things. The world is a fascinating place, especially politically, but much of this is hidden.

In my discussions with people – even incredibly well-read or educated ones, I have discovered how little people know about these concepts and practises. Though I recognise I am biased towards these topics as my area of study, I believe it is so important for people to consider these bigger questions, as they quite literally form the world we live in. I wanted to present these ideas in a way that people could easily understand and empathise with, a way that would challenge them to consider the advantages and disadvantages, and which would help explain the actions we observe in the international system today.

Another key goal of mine, especially as I grew more immersed in the world of literature, was to challenge myself to write good characters. Now I have many beloved characters from my years of reading and just generally being a nerd (all of the Batfamily, Darth Vader, Annabeth Chase, Emma Frost, Zoya from S&B…the list goes on). I wanted to create characters that were iconic, complex, and beloved! Each of my favourite characters has so many layers to them, so many parts that make them them! I learned what I could about character types, psychology, decision-making, traits and so on, and I have adored getting to do this for so many different types of characters, especially those who are so different from me!

Insofar as my overarching goals for the series, I think every author wishes that their book might become the next best thing. I would love for that to be the case as well, but mostly because I believe there is a real space for this kind of story nowadays. There is an idea that culture tends to swing like a pendulum, and with the rise of somewhat simpler TikTok books, I am hoping that something like this story with challenging themes and questions might inspire people to think more deeply about what they are reading. My hope is that amongst the epic story and host of characters, people will be challenged to think about what the story is really saying (not that there is a singular answer to this – I’m always a fan of stories that have people discussing and debating forever!).

In this way, I would love for this series to become a sort of ‘classic’ of its own. Something that will stand the test of time, that will remain in people’s minds and discussions for years, something that is gripping, well-written, and which inspires many. I also love how Star Wars has kind of taken the original series and created a bunch of spinoffs and allowed other writers to work on fleshing out the world. Who knows, maybe once I’ve finished my main series, other writers can add more to the world and expand on things that I don’t get time to!

Inspiration

Now onto the fun inspiration! I drew from so many ideas, concepts, and histories to build up a realistic world. Much of it is actually from real-world histories that I have studied and found fascinating.

While building a fantasy world that was realistic yet different, I caught myself falling into the trap of using a Medieval English setting and immediately stopped that in its tracks. Instead, I challenged myself to create a diverse world without specifically British or European influences. This can be challenging at times, because these countries had such a huge impact on the (contemporary) global political landscape, but it was well-worth it. For one, I was able to build more unique countries and people groups, and for another, it helped me to expand my own knowledge of different histories!

For example, the first two countries we are introduced to in my fantasy world are Soltse and Kerzov. These are two incredibly distinct countries, inspired by a mix of Middle Eastern and Slavic influences respectively. As the north-eastern country, Kerzov is inspired by Eastern European countries, in the landscape, history, and mythology. In comparison, Soltse is inspired by the range of climates, landscapes, philosophies, and beauty of the Arab-world.

In doing this, I wanted to be respectful to the history of these places, and to be mindful that my work did not include harmful depictions of them. I wanted to create a diverse world, and that involved a lot of careful research and planning.

Of course, I believe it is important to recognise that at the time of writing this, there is a range of conflicts occurring in both regions that have inspired these countries (Palestine-Israel conflict and the Ukraine-Russian war). After they broke out, I was fearful of publishing this book with all the influences that it held, but ultimately believed that for the story I wish to write, it is even more relevant and necessary. Power is a central theme in my story, and conflict often plays a large role in power-struggles. I don’t believe literature and art should be suppressed because it may be controversial – in fact I believe the best art pushes us to think more about these things. I hope that people are able to read this story and truly examine both my own characters and their choices, as well as relate it back to the current events were are witnessing today.

My story is not necessarily about right or wrong, it is about something happening, and people reacting to it. You may agree with that or not, but at its core, this story is designed to make you think!

Historical influences

• Tsarist Russia (1547-1917) certainly informed the Khan-Tsarin royal family, and there were a few influences from the various British and French royals over the years as well.
• Mythology – Slavic myths and the Greek/Roman pantheon of gods, I absolutely loved Percy Jackson growing up, and was definitely inspired by the strange gods. However, as I got older (and likely because of my love for Gothic literature), I found that I wanted a slightly darker twist to the gods. Each of them certainly has a dark side, but I found myself more interested in that. I won’t say too much, but that was a big focus for me.
• Revolutions! The Russian and French revolutions were certainly big ones that inspired the downfall of the Khan-Tsarin Empire, and the conflicts that followed.
• The Liberation of Kerzov is a complete mélange of all the freedom struggles I have read about over the years, from South Asia, to the Middle East, to the Maghreb, to Sub-Saharan Africa, to South America, to the United States. Each of these taught me that success in the struggle comes from strategy, so I spent a lot of time thinking about what military strategies would be developed in this world. It meant thinking a lot about the logistics of fighting the beasts, which became more complicated the more I wrote.
• Magic does not play a prominent role in this first book, though it will later in the series so I worked to make sure the right seeds were planted. Essentially, magic is available to people in this world, but few choose to use it despite living in a world where dragons, phoenixes, basilisks, and krakens roam… What could make someone fear such power? You’ll have to read to find out.
• Architecture – this is something that became increasingly important to my story the more I worked on it. In a world where beasts with immense power and magic exist, one has to consider how people would actually live there. Of course, not every person everywhere is going to spend their days living in terror of these beasts (think about it: guns, bombs, nuclear weapons exist here, but I doubt you have a full action plan to combat all of those threats…). Yet, in major cities, this was a consideration I had to make. As such, you’ll read about the solutions people came up with to live in relative safety.

There you have it! Let’s call this my ‘beginners guide’ to some of the most important inspirations behind my book. It’s not everything, and it sure doesn’t cover the depth of the story, but my dream for the book is that my readers will be the ones to analyse and uncover all that is being said.

Thank you for reading! I do hope I’ve won you over to the mystery and intrigue of my new book Tale of the Dragon Champion. Check me out on Instagram for more information and writing tips, and I will see you next time!