A Personal Setting

Three days ago I published the final epilogue chapter of Ezaroth’s Incantation, completing my second novel.

I’m committed to completing Mythos Ascending before starting any new projects, but I’ve only got five chapters remaining at this point. With Ezaroth’s Incantation finished, I’m starting to speculate what my next work could be that I publish on Wattpad.

I have the glimpse of a new idea which I’m starting to gradually develop into an actual story. I’ll be trekking once again into the romance genre as I’ve done with my previous novels, but I want to try something a bit different with this particular novel.

It occurred to me recently that the last six stories I’ve written have taken place somewhere outside the world I live in. Either in a realm of pure fantasy, a sci-fi future, or in the past few centuries. This was an ironic discovery, as I’m generally opposed to using stories as an escape from reality. I had to ask myself - why haven’t I written a story that takes place in my reality?

In an attempt to curb my hypocrisy, I’ve decided that my next novel will take place in the present day, in the city I live in. I will be cheating a bit by incorporating a few fantasy elements which are integral to the overall story, but the setting will very much be the world I inhabit. What some might refer to as an “urban fantasy.”

I was skeptical about setting my story in such a personal environment, especially since Toronto doesn’t garner much interest on the world stage the way that American metropolitan cities do.

However, my concerns all but evaporated when I reread Brian Lee O'malley’s Scott Pilgrim vs The World. A story that unabashedly takes place in, as he brilliantly describes it, “the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada...”