April, 2025 - The Word Guardians

In my last blog, An excerpt from book 1 A Visit to Victorian London, Yas and her mentor McVale travelled to a realm that portrayed storylines and scenes from a period of history featured in many fictional books. You’ll have the read the book to see who opens the portal to the realm and how they did it, but I wanted to answer a question I’ve been asked a few times – can anyone travel to a realm?

Here’s my answer…

Through the tales of the Word Guardians series, there are three things that people must have to open doorways (or portals) into realms. First, they have to believe, second, they must have some magical ability and lastly, they need to have a key.

Belief is important

A visitor to a realm must believe that it’s possible. Think Alice in Wonderland and doing six impossible things before breakfast.

We see this in Book 1, The Battle for the Peacekeepers. Yas can’t open a portal to a realm until the idea is seeded in her mind. She’s closed minded and dismissive of the idea because of her upbringing and what she’s learnt in the world around her – ultimately her conditioning. Gradually though through her friendship with Sam, she becomes a little more open-minded, starts questioning things around her and that helps her discover a doorway to a realm.

Magical ability is a must have

The second part of visiting a realm is having the ability to open the magical doorway into a realm. What we learn from the books is that the magical ability can either be innate or learned. Ultimately, like anything, if it’s not practiced then it becomes harder to do. Again, we see this in, Excerpt from Book 1 When Yas discovers magic, Yas has an innate ability and with curiosity, a doorway opens for her.

Finally, a key is important

In Book 1, The Battle for the Peacekeepers, the keys are the individual dice pendants of Yas and Sam’s necklaces. Like runes, individual faces of the die open specific locks, hidden in books. To find a doorway relevant to a specific realm they must solve clues and find the book and page for the doorway to open. In later books of the series there are some variations but always along the same theme.

All together, visitors to the realms are like a secret club

You can think of visitors to realms being a secret club. First, these people have to be readers, because otherwise they can’t relate to what they see in their mind’s eye when they read. Books are key because without them readers wouldn’t be able to co-create realms, and finally the visitor has to possess magic and believe.

Want to learn more?

To learn more, please visit the link below to buy book 1 and start reading the series.

The Word Guardians book series

In previous blogs (What are the worlds of the Word Guardians and Excerpt from book 1: When Yas discovers magic), I’ve talked about the magic and how readers in the outer world create the realms in their mind’s eye. In today’s blog I’d like to share an excerpt from book 1 that puts all of this together. It’s the first time that Yas visits Victorian London with her mentor, Ms. McVale, and learns about the workings of the realms.

A visit to Victorian London

They moved from the corner of the building and along the street opposite to the Park. Yas was amazed by what she saw.

“So, this is a realm?” she asked. “Very much so,” replied McVale. “And one I have visited with your grandfather. Yes, its all coming back to me.”

“Mornin,” called a man who was walking quickly towards them. He tipped his hat.

“Good morning,” replied McVale, giving the man a smile. Yas nodded nervously also in acknowledgement, then turned and looked at him once he had passed.

“So, they’re real and they can see us then?”

“Yes,” replied McVale. “Most are actors, playing out a storyline in response to the intentions of readers.”

“Intentions?” enquired Yas.

“Absolutely,” continued McVale. “Intentions are the images and actions we imagine in our mind’s eye as we read. The actors are created or are coerced into performing whatever it is that we, the readers, imagine for them. The same is true in dreams in some respect, although there is a lesser connection.”

Three storey buildings lined the side of the street they were walking along. The park and the exhibition building on the other side disappeared away into the mist more as they headed north. A wall of buildings emerged up ahead of them. The feel of the place indicated that it was an upmarket area of London. There were some business fronts on the ground floor of some of the buildings, but others were just residential.

“Woah!” exclaimed Yas, as she watched an ethereal person appear in the street ahead of them and float in their direction.

“Readers,” McVale replied matter-of-factly, stepping aside for the ghostly person to pass between them.

“So, they don’t see us?”

“They have a ghostly presence here because they are present in the outer realm, explained McVale.”

“The real world, you mean?”

“Yes,” replied McVale. “You sound like your mother.”

“Sorry,” replied Yas, not really sure what she was apologising for.

“No need,” dismissed McVale with a wave of her hand. “You have her determinedness and your grandfather’s sense of curiosity, rolled into one. I believe it will serve you well.”

McVale continued, switching topics again. “The human mind has a great ability to ignore things that don’t make sense. On some level readers do see everything, but they are expecting to see a particular story play out in their mind’s eye, and so they ignore anything else that doesn’t fit.”

Yas heard children’s laughter somewhere above her and looked up, straining her eyes against the fog. She glimpsed children flying, holding hands, before they disappeared over a rooftop.

“We each imagine things slightly differently,” explained McVale. “To a reader, the realm offers Victorian London. Different stories, different paintings of scenes can be played out here, without a reader of one book consciously aware of what another is reading or seeing in their mind’s eye.”

“Like theatre stages?” asked Yas, remembering something her grandpa had said to her a long time ago. “So, the realms are a collection of stages on which different stories can be played out by readers?”

“Yes, quite so,” confirmed McVale. She seemed pleased that her student was understanding how the realms worked. “They may not always be geographically or historically accurate, but the realm provides a gathering place for the most read stories. “Look up there,” she pointed to a rooftop further up the street, where chimney smoke billowed upwards and characters were dancing.

As they moved away from the park, Yas looked around with renewed interest. She was intrigued to see what other stories she could spot. Either side of them were more business fronts and shops, with two or three floors above. Occasionally also, there were steps leading down into basement dwellings.

Up ahead, at the entrance to an alley, police were gathered around someone who was still on the ground. They caught glimpses of a plain clothes detective bending over, wearing a distinctive hat. Several ethereal readers floated about the scene.

“Is that?” Yas pointed. “Yes,” replied McVale. “You know your fiction.”

Intrigued to learn more?

The above excerpt helps explain how the realms work within the Word Guardians series. If you want to learn more, please visit the link below and buy book 1.