Discover The Worlds Within The Jar of Dreams
Welcome to my second home, the worlds within The Jar of Dreams.
I have walked the bustling, dusty roads of Xhadur and travelled through the mystical Lands of Vaniya for over twenty years. Longer than any place that I have called home each day, I sit down to write in the small hours before work and am transported to the court of Khan Babingada, to the mysterious city of Duzkah, to the treacherous waters of Hell's Needles, to the endless deserts of Naj and beyond.
Draft image of the cave on the cursed island of Umlak.
Before I pick up my pen or open my Mac, I do a simple practice that clears my often-busy mind and opens the portal to the worlds that exist beyond. In the realms of imagination, I adventure within and alongside Tarun, Mehran, Ishkari or the great shaman Yananda. I see what they see, hear, smell what they smell, touch, feel what they feel, and experience what they are experiencing. Nothing is planned. I have no active thoughts. I just enjoy travelling these lands where everything reveals itself.
I have watched the rise of the great Khans, climbed the Tan-Kun mountains and crossed the Oceans of Zalpaz. Being in the experience of this story writing itself through me has been one of the most joyful experiences of my life, and I am excited to share it with you soon.
Draft Map of The Worlds Within The Jar of Dreams
There is something magical about maps in books. When I was ten, I first read The Hobbit. I was encapsulated by Tolkien’s Middle-earth from the moment that my eyes saw his map. As I read, my imagination took me to Hobbiton, the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood. These places became real to me, and the map was the place where I turned back to as I traced my progress with Bilbo. I hope this map stirs your imagination and that perhaps, even without the book in your hand just yet, your imagination takes you by the hand as you begin to picture what these worlds look like.
An early draft of the map. You will find a more complete map inside the book.
Xhadur - The Birthplace of Tarun and The Jar of Dreams
The ancient town of Xhadhur is where we join Tarun and his epic tale.
Since birth, the dusty streets of Xhadur and the banks of the old river Dundhai had been Tarun's playground. After school, he would play for hours on end with his best friend Suni. Their imaginations turned the murky waters of the Dundhai into the high seas of far-flung oceans. Suni and Tarun would jump aboard the floating logs and fight the enemy pirate ships in their minds as they weaved their way downriver. Tarun lived with the free spirit that only the child within knows, transforming everything around him from the mundane to the mystical.
Then one night, everything changed.
A dark shadow visited Tarun as he slept. The same darkness that had been growing over Xhadhur and its neighbouring city, Hymez.
The shadow belongs to a creature beyond Tarun’s worst nightmares. A dark djinn that devours the dreams of its victims, replacing them with a black mist of fear that strangles their free spirit and their mind.
As he wakes, Tarun feels an unfamiliar weight inside of him. Not knowing what it is, he pushes through the day, but a strange set of circumstances soon reveals to Tarun that he has only thirty moon rises to reclaim his dreams, or face being under the control of the dark mist of fear forever.
We join Tarun as he sits at the crossroads of an uncomfortable choice.
Stay in the familiar surroundings of his life with his family and see if the dark prophecy of the fear is true, or step out into the unknown and places forbidden to him until this moment in his life.
Draft image of Xhadur and the bridge over the river Dundhai. On the far bank, we see the city of Hymez.
What Places Would You Like to Learn About?
I hope you have enjoyed this first window into the worlds of The Jar of Dreams. It is great getting all the messages from you as we get closer to publishing The Jar of Dreams. Send me a message and let me know which part of the map you would like me to zoom in on next:
- The Tan-Kun mountains
- The mysterious city of Duzkah
- The cursed island of Umlak
- The endless deserts of Naj
- The islands of Nugin, ancestral lands of the Hekati
- Naz-Djek and the spirit realms
- Hell's Needles
- Anywhere else that you fancy
Until next time, keep dreaming.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q. How do you find inspiration for world building?
A. The biggest tip that I can give you when fantasy world building is to get out and explore the world that you live in. If you are open to it, there is inspiration everywhere; watching the mandibles of an insect can transform in your imagination into the jaws of a terrifying creature, the accent of someone talking next to you in a cafe can add texture to a character and the language they speak.
Q. What makes a fantasy world feel real?
A. The best fantasy worlds feel as though they have a history that stretches back, long before the story begins and that they are alive beyond what the reader discovers in your book. Ancient wars and natural disasters leave scars on the present-day communities, landscapes shape the cultures that live within them, people’s values influence their actions, and the magic systems influence everything, either in subtle, or more obvious ways.
For the Jar of Dreams, I spent four years world building; creating the history of each city, town and village, of the Lands of Vaniya and the Spirit Realms accessible through magic portals, and building the religious, belief and magical systems that shape the world and the people within them. On top of the places, I created a series of languages and dialects that Tarun (the protagonist) discovers on his epic adventure.
That is when fantasy world building becomes exciting to me, when the reader senses that there is far more to the worlds within The Jar of Dreams than just the part that they can see.
