Believe it or not, the Whistlands as a world has been with me a while. It spent fifteen years rattling around in my brain before I finally finished The Cyneweard in 2016. The first hints of it came back in 2002. I was a junior in High School and was in the midst of writing what was then a fairly popular fanfic for Final Fantasy X. I wanted to write my own novel but kept butting heads with reality. I didn't really like writing in reality because I had to follow its rules and research its trappings. So I said, "I'll make my own world." Thus began a story set in the world of "Millewhist."
Those of you who've read The Cyneweard will know that Millewhist is a city in my Whistlands world. That's the funny thing about ideas, they morph over time. Anyway, Millewhist was going to be the town where my epic fantasy story started. Back then, there were no guns. No Cyneweard. No Chop. No Alchemists. It was just going to be another hum-drum Lord of the Rings-esque fantasy romp with a chosen one and a magic mcguffin and lots of other tropey crap. Glad I got rid of that.
There are lots of other origins of things that wound up in this world as well as what has made it to the novels, but I'll leave that for another post.
