The World Behind The Eternal Prince

When I started writing The Eternal Prince, I never really thought about Valentine Kingdom as a place created only for one book. The book was the beginning, but the world around it quickly became much bigger in my mind.

There are places, people and ideas that may only appear for a short time, while others can become important much later. I like that because it makes the world feel like something that exists beyond one story.

The Story Does Not Show Everything

Alexander is the person we follow, so naturally the reader sees Valentine Kingdom through his experiences. But that does not mean everything in the world revolves around him.

There are places he has not seen yet and things he does not understand yet. I do not want to explain everything immediately either. Personally, I think a world becomes more interesting when the reader slowly discovers it instead of receiving an explanation for every little thing.

Some details may look small in one book and become important much later. Others may simply exist because they make the world feel more complete.

Places Are Part of the Story

I also spend a lot of time thinking about locations. A forest, a garden, a road, a room or a gate can become memorable without needing some enormous event to happen there.

Sometimes what matters is simply how a place feels.

I like imagining where everything is, what surrounds it and how someone would experience being there. The reader does not need a map and explanation for every location, but I still want the world behind the story to make sense in my own mind.

That also gives me much more freedom later because I am not creating everything only when I suddenly need it.

The Eternal Prince Is the Beginning

That is really how I see The Eternal Prince. It introduces Alexander and opens the first part of Valentine Kingdom, but it does not explain the entire world.

There is much more I want to explore over time, and I actually prefer doing it slowly.

I do not want Valentine Kingdom to feel like a world that was created for one book and then finished. I want it to keep growing with every story.

The Eternal Prince is simply where the reader enters it for the first time.