6. A Tale of Five Cities
The World That Was has been a long time coming and there are so many places that have been special to the creation process. I recently returned to Stockholm – a city responsible for lighting the fire under me that finally got TWTW over the finish line – which got me thinking about the other cities that have been important to the book’s creation.
Melbourne (2010-2012)
The idea for TWTW first came to me in a theoretical physics class at Monash University in early 2010. We were discussing electromagnetic conventions and how conventional current runs the opposite way to real-world electron flow. I had seen a number of these counterintuitive conventions based on historical precedent and wondered to myself what it would be like if we could go back into the past and change them. Suddenly the idea for TWTW was born. I noted some initial thoughts (creating my first proper Seed) but never really progressed the idea.
Canberra (2013-2018)
After I finished uni, I got a job up in Canberra and moved cities once more. It was great to start with a cohort of other grads and I found a group of likeminded friends who were keen to try out new hobbies. We started a writing group ahead of the 2013 Nanowrimo (it had one session before turning into a Crafternoon craft/board games/wine group). Some wrote poetry or short stories but I put the first proper words on the page for TWTW. I got 30,000 words into my draft before world events derailed my efforts and I had to focus on my first real crisis at work. In hindsight, the writing was pretty terrible and I had no idea where the story was going. The story staggered along during my time in Canberra, evolving slightly – the protagonist became a woman after an enlightening conversation about female safety with a colleague – but mainly just stagnating. I did address the problem of not knowing where the story would go, writing an overall outline for the story (the Roots) with a mate over many a Lemon Lime and Bitters (LLB).
Kuala Lumpur (Jan 2019)
It was on a holiday to visit our old home in Kuala Lumpur that I finally reignited the story. Sitting beside the pool, I tapped away on my iPad to fill an Excel spreadsheet with 300-500 words summaries of the book’s various chapters (the Trunk). I got about twelve chapters in before I received the exciting news that I would be moving to Vienna for a new job. The book lay forgotten during the excitement that followed.
Stockholm (Nov 2019)
With the dust settled from our overseas move, I had finally started to explore Europe. Visiting my brother in London had brought the story idea back to mind but a visit from my LLB friend really helped light a fire under me. This mate and I enjoy nothing more than spit-balling about all of our ideas for books, films and games. We flew to Stockholm to meet a mutual friend and spent the weekend eating our way through the city, all the while psyching each other up for the various projects we had dreamed up. On the plane trip home I was already back on the iPad and furiously typing out my chapter outlines.
Vienna (2019-2021)
Armed with the Stockholm momentum, I dived into the project with great energy when I returned to Vienna. I worked on the chapter summaries every day, sneaking in time while riding to work on the U-Bahn or over a lunch break. I ended up with a 20,000 word summary of the book and, after a short break for a language course and to get engaged, I was ready to start writing the real chapters. This was just as Covid struck so with nowhere else to go I was able to use our cosy apartment in the guts of Vienna to bunker down and get writing, taking breaks to walk the Vienna Ringstrasse and ponder Matilda’s next move.
There are many other places that have made an impact on the book. I will never forget drawing timelines for the time travel during a ferry trip down the Mekong River in 2010 and visits to Holford and Nether Stowey in 2018 were essential for seeing what Matilda’s journey might’ve actually looked like. Hopefully I can add London or New York to the list if I am able to secure a publishing deal eventually!