Worldmaker of Yand-Polaris by Andri E. Elia is the celestial sequel to her first installment, Worldmaker of Yand-Yildun. This time, savage invaders from space, the k’tul, have all but destroyed the protagonist’s home world of Yand. Fleeing the aftermath of that war, Yanara, Worldmaker and Celestial Wizard, brings her wife, Mandolen, and her husband, Frost, to a bronze moon orbiting the fifth planet of the star Polaris B. In this idyllic place of three suns, the three of them only sought to lick their war wounds.
Instead, along with their families, they start a new life and new colony. Filled with magic and new adventures, the challenge of colonizing their new home blends with unraveling threads of Yanara’s darker past … tying her to the k’tul. What secrets will they discover? Will they find the peace they so crave, or will the vengeful k’tul find them again?
Want to hear more from Andri? She did an interview with us for her first book, too! Read it here for another great Q&A session. To learn even more and get hooked on these books, read our review of Worldmaker of Yand-Yildun here and Worldmaker of Yand-Polaris here.
Q: What, if anything, did you change in your process when writing this second book?
A: My writing process was essentially the same. I employed a lot of dialog and allowed the characters to influence the direction of their subplots. I weaved that through the main storyline, which I set from the beginning. Because of this, some surprises come from the subplots. For example, Yanara’s relationship with her adoptive mother.
Q: On that note, what did you learn from the experience of having written one before and working on a sequel?
A: I learned to write dialog quite organically. I had to work at it at the beginning of the first book, but now it flows on its own. I also learned how to showcase Yanara’s superpower. It’s not very easy to write. I tend to hyperbole because it’s so much fun to write about her bends and her wormhole mastery. I tried to “contain” it, so to speak, without losing any of the magic. But don’t worry; there are some pretty wild rides…
Q: How (without spoiling anything, of course!) did your characters evolve?
A: They lost everything in the K’tul Wars but each other, which made them more interdependent, more loving. Frost has to deal with guilt from the event with his daughter. The boys are now teens. They played a huge role in leading the planet’s defense at a young age. I wove that into their characters, along with their unique abilities and their relationships with one another and in romance. Mage boy is now fiery and flamboyant; Snowfox is still sweet, but haunted; Hawklord, a young lord, a leader. And Wolfpack, well, he’s something special. You said no spoilers…
Q: Did you have any particular plot points planned that you ended up rethinking as you wrote?
A: Yes. The subplot with Yanara’s adoptive mother. I was taking it another direction, but in the end it took a turn on its own. It’s much better this way. It stays true to the characters’ personalities and behaviors.
Q: What was it like to write a whole world into being as your characters pioneer their new planet?
A: It was so much fun! From the stars neighboring Yildun, Polaris A is a supermassive giant, but Polaris B looks delicious. It’s older than Yildun so any orbiting planets would not be as mountainous and volcanic. This provided the settlers with expansive fertile land for agriculture. Mining and Fishing were their next priorities, leading to the settlements of New Chanshal and Comi keys. The monsoons and mudslides are the effects of the moon’s clime from Polaris A being a Cepheid variable. But three suns? And I gave Turunc a couple of moons. Can you imagine the horizon? The sunsets?
Q: Can we expect more magic from this one? Any favorite magical moments to look out for?
A: I explored the magic of the wormholes; the way Yanara navigates the stars. I based the concept in science. But of course it is magic that makes it work. A great scene is when Yanara “falls” into the black hole in Cepheus. Lots of fun getting out of that one, with a lot of help from her kids.
Q: What advice would you now give your past self just starting the series?
A lot happened off-screen because everything was told from Yanara’s POV. In Polaris, I introduced a minor, second POV. See how you like it. It’s a bit startling, alien. I also went back and wrote a book of shorts, telling the backstories and much more action not narrated by Yanara: Frost’s backstory, the battle of the Final Bend, its aftermath, the battles on Yenda and a couple of sweet romances involving the kids.
Related Posts:
A Mighty Wizard Defends Her Planet From Genocide While Raising Unconventional Family
The Worldmaker, the Wordmaker: A Conversation With Andri Elia
All the Best Things Have Wings: 7 High-Flying Fantasy Adventures
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About Andri E. Elia:
Andri E. Elia is a Ph.D. Scientist. She enjoyed a career as a research scientist inventing new composite materials aimed at lightweighting vehicles in order to lower emissions and combat climate change, to save our planet. She is also an astronomy buff. The author immigrated to the U.S. as a result of a war in her native country and is a naturalized U.S. citizen, of which she is very proud. The author says, “I love this beautiful planet of ours. Let’s all do our best to help it retain its beauty for the generations to come.”
