The HNS Conference 2025 was a blast!
Brock made his way to the other city in the desert, Las Vegas, at the end of June for the 2025 gathering of the Historical Novel Society. The group includes members who are either authors or devoted readers of historical fiction, as well as some historians. The conference was a wonderful opportunity to connect with publishers and other authors he had only previously met online. And as mentioned before on this blog, he had been invited to give a couple of live readings from his work.
Immersive Worldbuilding panel
The first reading Brock gave was in the context of a panel discussion concerning immersive worldbuilding—the literary technique of constructing a rich, imaginary environment in which the reader feels themselves surrounded. The writer uses descriptive language evoking all five senses, in order to firmly place the reader within the world imagined by the book. For the writers of historical fiction, the technique is paramount, since the reader often has little direct connection or experience with the time of the novel. The technique is equally relevant for writers of either fantasy or science-fiction, for similar reasons.
The panel was composed of five authors, and Brock was honored to sit between Fiona Davis and Sarah Penner, both New York Times three-time Instant Bestsellers. Each author selected and read a 4-minute scene from one of their books, to illustrate the impact of worldbuilding narrative. For the rest of the hour, the authors answered questions about worldbuilding, posed by the panel moderator and attendees of the session. You can go to Brock’s Youtube channel for a video of his participation in the panel.
How to build a world, or a house, or a book
During the discussion, Brock mentioned an image that recently came to him, concerning building an imaginary world, and building a book. He said that writing historical fiction is something like building a house.
For any significant building effort, the first activity of construction is laying a foundation. You must dig down deep, to the bedrock, if possible, if the house or construction is to remain standing for any length of time. In writing historical fiction, this foundation is the research. Depending upon the setting (both time and place) of the story, this may take many forms: old newspaper articles and clippings, photographs, diaries, birth and marriage records found in church archives, even old paintings. Or in Brock’s case, archeological and epigraphical studies and reports, and the records of ancient historians. Even material culture can be critically important—things like existing jewelry, clothing, tools, etc. found in either museums or private collections. If the foundation is not solid and true, the rest of the construction will be weakened, and may even collapse.
The next activity is when the house itself goes up—four walls and a roof, with maybe a blue and peach-colored Persian rug on the floor. And see those soot-stains on the plastered ceiling, just above the bronze kerosene sconce on the wall? Perhaps the reader can enjoy the details of a painting by Degas, hanging next to a vase filled with sunflowers on a mahogany console table. And the feel of privileged comfort, sitting on down-filled, pink silk pillows strewn across the floor. The structure and furnishings of a house are the worldbuilding of a novel. In historical fiction, this is critical.
But what is a house, without its occupants? A house without life is a house inert, a sterile structure. It must serve life within. The house must be peopled with a whole family of characters, their arcs, plots, voice, moods, and themes. A house empty is a useless contrivance. While worldbuilding is critical for a writer of historical fiction, it must always take second place to the essential components of story.
Another reading
Brock also participated in another, late-night reading, titled Things That Go Bump In the Night. In keeping with the theme, all participants were invited to read scenes that incorporated either horror, or spicy-romance. Brock chose to read the wedding night scene from his unpublished novel, A Peculiar Darkness. The scene is not a “closed-door” (or dark-out) scene of intimacy, but instead of a graphical portrayal the scene relies upon fantastical and magical realism to effectively convey the power and wonder of such an event.
Sneak Peek—
Brock recently invited the Christy Award-winning author of twenty books, Mesu Andrews, to collaborate with him on his upcoming Lost City Giveaway. She will be offering an author-signed copy of her about-to-be-released novel Noble: the Story of Maakah, to be added to the already massive collection of artifacts, books, novelties, and novels. We expect the giveaway to happen in the month of August, so keep watching for updates on when it opens.