Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy
Date Published: October 12, 2023
Illustrator: Talia Bingham
Lex and Lucy dream of adventure. When their dream comes true, they get much more than they bargained for! The twins are sent on a quest, where they have to face their fears and work together. They also learn not to judge people or creatures on their first appearance. As they discover, not everyone in Dreamland is quite as they seem. Lucy and Lex may only be novice Dream Warriors, but when they finally meet the Welkies, they have to stay strong to defeat them.
About
you
My
name is Alessio Conforzi. In 2022 I graduated with a diploma in Sustainable
Development from Stellenbosch University in South Africa,
as
I was very interested in business and environmental conservation. I am an
aspiring content creator for the Dreamland Universe Brand.
Journey
as an author
My journey as an author started many years ago
when I got interested in creative writing in the form of fictional stories,
living in Africa with the surrounding wilderness
helped
increase my imaginative capabilities. As I am not a professional writer, I
worked with a writing team to put my story and ideas into a storybook for
children to enjoy
reading.
Writing
Process
My
writing process was first focusing on the main concept and it's identity which
is wonder, mystery and creativity.
The
main purpose of this is to consistently come up with content with these themes
foremost in my mind.
Entirety
of the concept, Identity of the story (main themes I am going to stick with eg:
genre, key characteristics of the story, what will make it unique? how will the
unique identity impact the audience?)
The
main components of the concept include:
1)
World Building - when it comes to world building, I try once again to make the
themes above the most important part of the world building, in order to make
the audience
feel
like they are travelling to truly fantastical locations that feel real, due to
detail.
2)
Magic System - come up with a magic system that not only reaches the
imagination of the child but provides unique abilities that enhance the themes
of the story and provide a simulation of superhero like characteristics, this
also ties in with individuality and unique capabilities.
Refining
the World Building and Magic System individually:
For
World Building, I made sure to create clear cut laws and rules for each of the
locations as well as maintaining a specific identity for each one in order to
make these locations feel interesting and real. I made, detail the most
important thing when world building and this was done by absorbing content that
was related to the theme of the location.
For
the Magic System, it was very important to create clear limitations and a power
level system amongst the characters and their abilities that the audience can
easily understand, therefore it is a hard magic system as opposed to soft magic
system.
I
created multiple layers to the magic system in order to add an element of
intrigue and once again make it feel more realistic due to detail.
I
always try to link the magic system to the world building in order to maintain
the overall identity of the concept as well as add more elements of wonder and
mystery.
When
I was creating the characters, I tried to limit the spotlight on them in order
to have more attention on the other elements of the story. I also tried to have
scenes and storyline that would allow the audience to put themselves in the
place of the main characters, this is why I avoided overly detailed main
characters.
This
is an introduction book and there are more books to come (that take place in
dreamscapes), so as not to have any discrepancies with the future books, I
tried to limit the character depth in order for the characters to grow slowly
and develop over time. I tried to create more depth in the secondary characters
as they add to the theme and identity of the concept.
Tell
us more about the book
The book follows Lex and Lucy, 9 year old
twins, who visit their grandmother at her cabin. They fall asleep and when they
awake they find themselves in a mysterious place called Dreamland. They are
pulled into a quest to save this magical realm, while on this quest they meet a
host of unique and interesting characters and explore a land filled with
amazing and magical locations. They discover that being dream warriors comes
with incredible abilities as they realise they can channel dream energy!
This
channeling is done by placing energy orbs onto their magic bracelets that they
receive upon becoming dream warriors.
Lucy
and Lex find out that their abilities differ from each other. Lex is a shifter
which means he has transformative abilities and Lucy is a sorcerer which means
she has spell casting abilities, both are very important in saving Dreamland!
About the Author
My Name is Alessio Conforzi, I am an Italian passport holder but have spent the entirety of my life in Malawi, Africa. I am 24 years old and in 2022 I graduated from Stellenbosch University with a diploma in Sustainable Development. I have always been passionate about wildlife and realized my creative storytelling tendencies at the age of 14 when I would write fictional stories about the African wilderness.
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