I had wanted to write a proper forward to the story but ended up jumping the gun and posting the first chapter without it. Oh, well… here we are - Chapter 1 is now available, and Chapter 2 will be published tomorrow.
Still, I wanted to say a few words about the setting of ATWB. As you may have gathered from the slightly odd character names and ornate language, “we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Although the story is set in a fantasy world - that is to say, one I made up - it is not, I hasten to add a Fantasy novel.
If like me, you are not a big fan of elves and such running about your erotic stories, don’t write ‘Woodchopper’ off. There is no ‘hobbildy gobildy’ stuff here, no magic or sci-fi elements.
Although the story is not set on Earth, the characters are intended to be normal humans and behave as such. There are no wizards or characters flying through the sky, no fantastical machines and people don’t attend public orgies organised by the municipality.
My priority was to avoid tedious, momentum-sapping exposition. In fact, I would argue that the story can be enjoyed almost independently of the setting, although obviously, I think the setting is pretty cool.
The setting for Woodchopper has the feel of a historical novel, except for the fact that the history is entirely fictional, and the locations are imaginary. I wanted to create a particular ambience, one that harkened back to a bygone era and evoked many small wonders that are quickly fading from the world.
The world of Woodchopper resembles, somewhat, a Europe of the inter-war period (roughly 1910-1940) in terms of available technology and much of its customs and social etiquette. Unlike the real thing, however, there hasn't been an equivalent to the Franco-Prussian War, which contributed to the First World War. As a result, threat of WWII isn’t looming over the horizon. While the geopolitical climate isn't sweetness and flowers (people are worried about the outbreak of war), my idea was to have the story take place during a kind of extended Belle Epoque.
There were a lot of factors that influenced my decision to set this story in a fantasy world (not Fantasy, mind you). Delving into all of these details in a single post would be tedious, but the primary reason was simply that it's a lot of fun to conjure up another world.
It's also worth noting that most erotic fiction takes place in a fantasy world of some kind. Even if the setting is pretty prosaic, with fast-food restaurants and chain stores lining every street, most works of adult fiction still take liberties with reality. Men and women are, for example often sexually insatiable, there are no STDs and the realities of hygiene can be casually disregarded. In writing smut, we tend to take liberties with the everyday world, creating an environment where sexual exploration is the norm.