* * * * *
Bibliography:
“Astronomers identify structure so huge it disrupts cosmic uniformity,” World Science News, January 11, 2013, https://www.world-science.net/othernews/130111_LQG
“The Cosmological Principle,” https://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr162/lect/cosmology/cp.html
From Middle Earth to Beinan: Building New Literary Worlds
December 14th, 2012. Peter Jackson releases the long awaited “Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” nine years after Aragorn became King of Gondor in Jackson’s film adaptation of “Return of the King.” Hobbit mania is sweeping the world, along with a renewed interest in reading the novel.
Whatever you may think about Peter Jackson’s adaptations, the best way to appreciate the works of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien remains the books themselves, books that taught me a great deal about what I feel works in science fiction and fantasy literature.
As a philologist (a person who studies language in historical documents), Tolkien observed how little “English” mythology was truly native to England. Tolkien decided to amend that by creating his own mythology for England. The results are the cherished books so many of us love this beinor.
Tolkien’s goals were noble. His books are some of the most influential in modern American and English literature. I too am strongly influenced as a writer by Tolkien. This increased with time as I received my bachelor of arts, then continued reading and studying on my own across my adult life.
Tolkien accomplished what so few writers have ever attempted: he created a COMPLETE WORLD. From Numenor to Middle Earth, Tolkien took the time to figure out not just his characters, but the entire history and cultures behind them. Tolkien knew before penning his Fellowship of the Ring chapter “At the inn of the Prancing Pony” EXACTLY who this “Strider/Aragorn” fellow was – then took the time to tell us in the appendices for the Lord of the Rings. Tolkien told us about Elrond’s daughter Arwen, about Aragorn’s time living in Rivendell, about his exact connection to Isildur. Tolkien could do this because he took the time to figure it all out.
What this taught me as a writer is the importance of working out a complete world rather than borrowing from others. Tolkien taught me to write a solid foundation built on research and study and to take the time to do my homework.
I know that the fruits of this may be a little jarring to a few people who are not used to an author going to that much trouble. It must be a little challenging for people who are not used to Tolkien’s style to enter a story and immediately be hit with words like “yen-ars” and “beinors,” but I think it makes the story more believable. After all, we live in a world of many languages just here on Earth…of course a society on another planet has a different word for day or year than we do, just like they have different religions, different styles of building, and a different way of looking at the world.
Don’t get me wrong, it is very hard to create an entire world of your own when you are writing. I spent an entire MONTH working out the math and science for my planet Beinan before I started writing even the first chapter. Without that work, I couldn’t know what colour the sky was or why my characters thought and acted the way they do. I had to do my homework.
But here’s the secret for all of you thinking about writing a book of your own someday: the work I spent in that first month saved me enormous effort later in the process. It allowed my characters to flow across the page. During much of book one, “The Great Succession Crisis” I felt like a court reporter, just writing down what people said and did. Taking the time to build my foundation made all the difference in the world.
Of course you are really the best judge of how well I did. Perhaps I did a terrible job in your eyes. I don’t know. But I do know that as someone who loves literature, loves science, loves history, and loves learning above all else that at the end of the day what is on the page is something I feel comfortable with sharing with all of you. With all my heart, I hope you will grace me by visiting my planet Beinan yourself. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you this beinor. I am deeply honoured by your presence!
--Originally published on Sienna Logan’s “Lost to Books” blog on December 26th/27th, 2012 as a guest post to her blog.
Also available by Laurel A. Rockefeller:
Fiction
The Poisoned Ground
Good-bye A672E92 Quintus
The Great Succession Crisis
The Ghosts of the Past
Princess Anyu Returns
The Complete Data Files (companion book)
Non-Fiction
Boudicca: Britain’s Queen of the Iceni
Catherine de Valois
Empress Wu Zetian
Mary Queen of the Scots
Queen Elizabeth Tudor: Journey to Gloriana
Gwenllian ferch Gruffydd, the Warrior Princess of Deheubarth
Empress Matilda of England
Preparing for My First Cockatiel
Many titles are also available for the stage. Perfect for backyard play, community theater, and educational use.
Select titles also available in audio edition.
About the Series
The Peers of Beinan Series began in November 2010 with the first drafts of what would become the Legacy of Princess Anlei Trilogy, the core novels at the heart of the book series. Originally imagined as fan fiction to the 1983 television series “Benji, Zax, and the Alien Prince,” the first draft originally told the back story to how and why Prince Yubi left Antars for exile on planet Earth. Some of this story remains in the unpolished draft chapters for “The Great Succession Crisis” and “Ghosts of the Past” that is found in the companion book “The Lost Tales.”
But the original idea was not meant to be. As the story outline expanded from one book to three, a universe wholly different from Joe Camp’s canon for BZAP emerged. The fan fiction idea was abandoned and the Peers of Beinan came into its own with tales of paranormal romance grounded in the author’s extensive background in medieval history along with tales of murder and terror that hallmark “The Ghosts of the Past.”
Original music, themes of hope in the darkest of situations, and the particularly vicious quality of Peers of Beinan villains all reflect the author’s formative years growing up in Lincoln, Nebraska USA. Those interested in the largely private details of the author’s biography should look to the second half of “The Poisoned Ground and the Healer Consort,” and the entirety of “The Ghosts of the Past,” and “Princess Anyu Returns” where those years are most intensely reflected in the plot and villains.
Through all the darkness, there is always hope and light. All it takes to break free of the most difficult times of your life is the belief that you will do so and the persistence to see it through until all that is sorrow and pain melts away into beauty, joy, and love.
Bright blessings to you and yours today and for all the days to come.
--Laurel A. Rockefeller
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