I am working on a setting for "gothic romance" stories, period late 18th to early 20th century, for the Holly and Hawthorn series, which I want to rewrite... I have so many projects though. 😅
The idea is that it is like our world, but there is a second world overlain over it, like Faerie in works like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I'm partly being inspired by, but I didn't want that second world to map on to any particular mythology. Magic on this side of the veil is based on patronage from the powerful individuals from the other side, or tied into artifacts from the other side, or based on contracts and traces of magic the other side has left on this world. In JS&MN, I really liked the idea that Norrell was using magic based on old contracts made by the Raven King, who has the true personal power--so in that vain.
This also allows these patrons from the other world to be benign, neutral, or completely terrifying. I was more interested in telling stories from the mortal world, especially this awful little warlock Dickory Kingfisher, and this awful little rich girl magician Charlotte, from opposite ends of our period--Dickory from the late 18th century, and Charlotte who was born in the 1870s--and their respective patrons and affiliates. I hope I make something decent out of it eventually.
(I realize that if this was a YA, Charlotte and Dickory would fall in love. I am actually distressed by that realization. But this is me and they're both gay, so no.)
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The idea is that it is like our world, but there is a second world overlain over it, like Faerie in works like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I'm partly being inspired by, but I didn't want that second world to map on to any particular mythology. Magic on this side of the veil is based on patronage from the powerful individuals from the other side, or tied into artifacts from the other side, or based on contracts and traces of magic the other side has left on this world. In JS&MN, I really liked the idea that Norrell was using magic based on old contracts made by the Raven King, who has the true personal power--so in that vain.
This also allows these patrons from the other world to be benign, neutral, or completely terrifying. I was more interested in telling stories from the mortal world, especially this awful little warlock Dickory Kingfisher, and this awful little rich girl magician Charlotte, from opposite ends of our period--Dickory from the late 18th century, and Charlotte who was born in the 1870s--and their respective patrons and affiliates. I hope I make something decent out of it eventually.
(I realize that if this was a YA, Charlotte and Dickory would fall in love. I am actually distressed by that realization. But this is me and they're both gay, so no.)