We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Zimba a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Andrew, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
I’d say that I’m a self-taught novelist.
Knowing the general structure of storytelling is fundamental. There are rules for a reason, so if you are breaking the rules know how to break them such that you get an even better result. Reading is important to understand different styles and find what approaches to storytelling you prefer. Take these learnings as an initial guide in developing your own style.
Film and TV study can help as well. In particular with TV where episodes are constrained by the commercial breaks and a certain number of total minutes, observe how the writers condense the key elements into these windows, and if there is some level of continuity between episodes, how to deliver a complete episode but still keep long-term storylines going and sustain anticipation for the next week’s show. Studying film and TV also helps with understanding ways to present exposition dialogue since film and TV don’t have a narrative voice the same way a book does.
Whatever amount of study, there isn’t a substitute for sitting in front of the computer or with pen and paper and just writing. My medieval fantasy novel wasn’t my first attempt at writing a book. I could have sped up my learning process if I had leaned in more in years past and just wrote, revised, and learned versus hesitating or waiting until I was inspired or 100% sure about exactly how I wanted to write something.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Hi Everyone! I’m Andrew Zimba ― medieval fantasy author. My love of history drew me to writing. I wanted to write a novel for some time and initially considered historical fiction. When working on that historical fiction novel, however, I felt like any character I created was being placed into a story that had already been told. Recounting historical events, as much as I love history, didn’t keep me motivated to write as I already knew the end of the story. I needed the challenge of telling an original tale. Envisioning a new place ― Ardalencor ― recharged my creativity and unleashed the freedom of possibility.
The first novel in my epic fantasy series is called In Times of War: A Tale of Ardalencor. It’s an immersive, multi-POV story that’s been described as Band of Brothers meets Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings.
The land of Ardalencor is beset by invasion and rebellion at the very beginning of the book. It’s a story of politics, intrigue, action, but most importantly a story about relationships and how people act towards one another when the chips are down. Some characters help those around them, while others are only concerned about themselves.
Book one ends in a cliffhanger, and I’m currently working on the second book in the series.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think of worldbuilding as working on a puzzle where there is no picture on the cover of the box, no edge pieces, and most of the pieces are blank until you pick them up. You’re creating an entire world, characters, and a story that ties it all together. It’s a labor of love, and you have to make an enormous number of decisions large and small about how the world works.
In creating Ardalencor, especially at the beginning, there were more than a few times when I would get stuck. I didn’t know how some aspects of the world should work or how different ideas could come together. This, of course, should be expected when creating something new. You’re exploring an uncharted world, but it still can be frustrating not having a map at the start.
Time, patience, and resilience are necessary in worldbuilding and writing. Sometimes ideas need time to marinate; sometimes you may modify or scrap ideas for different ones.
As I worked through getting unstuck on certain worldbuilding or plot points, I shifted my mindset. I dropped “I’m stuck” and switched to an “I’ll figure it out” approach. This shift helps keep the ideas flowing.
I started a Fantasy Worldbuilding Substack as a way to share worldbuilding lessons I learned as well as examples to help others.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Bringing my ideas to life. Embracing the creative process ― taking an idea and developing it into something more that I originally imagined. There is also a great sense of accomplishment to see the published book and to share the story with others.
Whatever your journey, if you have a spark to write, draw, paint, build, or whatever creative endeavor ― keep pursuing it.
Contact Info:
- Website: ardalencor.com
- Instagram: @ardalencor
- Twitter: @ardalencor
- Other: andrewzimba.substack.com