Fantasy stories transport us to other worlds with the power of words. It is the nature of the genre that some of those words will be wholly new inventions of the author. We writers aren’t trying to be difficult, and (most of us) don’t enjoy forcing you to memorize made-up terms. It is all part of the process of immersing you in the world and suspending your disbelief.
One of my aims with “The Elect Stories” was to write a Fantasy Adventure novel that doesn’t get bogged down in exposition, but instead stays on the move, delivering only the details that the readers need, and only when they need them. I am all for world-building, but I am also aware that you, generous reader, have chosen to spend your limited reading time in my world, and I want you to feel confident that any details that I’m asking you to store in your brainspace will actually contribute to a satisfying story. One way of achieving that was to find a way to define most of these new vocabulary words in context. I have made every effort to create a world that is deeply detailed without requiring footnotes, a glossary, and character breakdowns just to get by. BUT…
Amazon Kindle offers a pretty cool feature called “X-Ray,” which provides glossary definitions and character profiles in an non-intrusive way. New or unfamiliar terms have been defined and sorted into the categories, “characters” and “terms.” The interface varies depending on whether you are using the free Kindle app or a dedicated device, but with “X-Ray” you’ll never have to worry about mixing up your Yesidreels with your Reeshons. (You don’t want to do that.) You’ll also get all kinds of cool bonus world-building information if you’re not, as Jeff Lebowski once said, “into the whole brevity thing.”
The X-Ray feature is currently available for Chapter One! If you have previously downloaded the chapter, just press “sync”on your device or app to load the new content!
