James Tivendale asked Holden R. Johnson:

When you wrote The Red Heir - did you create your fantasy world first and then the characters that would live within it ? - or for you did the characters come first?

Holden R. Johnson Characters came first. For some reason I always write this way. I envision people, their personalities, what drives them, then build a situation, goal, scenario around them and then the world takes shape. It's almost a magical experience, for me, writing this way. I've spent months before shaping and building this world, only to find that I didn't have quite the right stuff to put in it. I've found that doing the opposite way really helps with my creativity.

The world building will come, of course, just later in the process. At least, that's what works best for me =)

Great question James. Thank you!

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