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.
Interview with Alessio Conforzi
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!
Message/messages for our readers (just giving you few options, short and longer messages :))
It's a book that encourages children to use their imaginations and to believe in themselves!
It's a book that encourages children to have an imaginative mind, to value their own individuality and have confidence in their capabilities!
And to also accept people with their differences.
It shows children the importance of having an imaginative and open mind which encourages innovativeness, problem solving skills
and outside of the box thinking. It encourages individuality and the acceptance of people.
It encourages children to have confidence in their own capabilities and dream big.
It shows the power of the mind and how what we think and the way we think shapes the world around us.
It allows childrens to escape into a fantastical world when they feel stressed and to love reading!
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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