World Building World Building is fun. It can also be a nightmare. How can one person possibly create an entire world? There's just so much to consider. If you miss something, your world may not feel real to your readers then, your story fails. Templates Below are some awesome sites with amazing details about each characteristic of World Building. SFWA: Fantasy World Building QuestionsCreating Fantasy and Science Fiction WorldsConsider WorldbuildingBerley’s Top 10 World Building Tips for Sci Fi or FantasyInkwell Ideas: Worldbuilding: Local Area DesignSquidoo: Fantasy Worldbuilding Resources Darkness/Dark-side Defined (Physical and Psychological) For some reason, I've always been facinatd by darkness. Dictionary.com: DarknessMerriam-Webster: DarknessEssential Secrets of Psychology: "What is the Shadow?" Characters, Creatures & Powers Most dark fantasy stories have some sort of non-human character. Setting I'm a visual person. Government Your world will have a governing body (maybe more than one).
Corriendo con tijeras |Corriendo con tijeras How to Draw Original Fantasy Maps for your Fiction This map could be printed in black and white in a paperback book if its mountains, forests, swamp and features are indicated entirely in textures. Let's add that dragon somewhere, if it's near the new islands to the south there may be dragons on them. Crosshatching the smaller island and part of the larger one shows something dangerous is there -- pretty obviously dragons. I noted "Port" on the scratch map, I can leave off what the rest of the name is till I come up with it and letter in "Port" with space above it for another word like "green" or "dragon" or some constructed name. The symbol for swamp on maps is a little upside down T with a v over it, a horizontal bar with three little radiating marks. On many old maps and fantasy maps, forests are drawn by sketching the tops of trees as if overlooking a forest, sometimes with little trunks shown in perspective below them at the lower edges. Mountains can be represented by jagged or rounded little marks, descriptives.
Life in Fantasyland Kai Schaefer: World Records is a nostalgic look at vinyl record albums and the turntables used to play them (PHOTOS). Kai Schaefer/Courtesy of Kopeikin Gallery Five years ago, Kai Schaefer had a big, empty wall in his new flat and needed something to fill it. He decided to make a photograph of a record. Although Schaefer grew up listening to tapes, one of the first records he listened to was Led Zeppelin IV. “I remember I was 12 or 13 and my father had the record Led Zeppelin IV,” Schaefer recalled via email. Drawing from Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” Schaefer began photographing some of the albums on the list. Schaefer isn’t a collector of vinyl or of turntables but works with collectors who allow him to borrow their resources to make the images. “World Records” is meant to pay homage to the era of analog acoustic art and to inspire the viewer to enter a nostalgic space when viewing the images. And he’s not done photographing records.
15 unusual words that make writers swoon In a previous post, I wrote about the value of using simple words in place of complex words. Readers are not impressed by the use of complex words; they're frustrated by them. Though I strive to use simple, clear terms in my own writing, there are some words that I am just dying to use. Archaic, unusual words that I have stumbled upon in fiction. Words that have drawn me in. I like the ways these words sound. If I could only find a way to work them into my next article on surgical checklists. Vex. Example: You take delight in vexing me by deliberately using bad grammar. Portmanteau. Example: That portmanteau will not fit in the overhead bin and must be checked. Naught. Example: Her behavior tends to set propriety at naught. Foible. Example: She loved him in spite of his foibles. Parvenu. Example: He was treated like a parvenu at the country club dinner. Sentinel. Example: Bennett heard a strange noise and asked the sentinel to stay close. Moribund. Beslobber. Nonplussed. Loquacious. Forbear.
Fantastic Maps | Maps of real and fantasy worlds Ten rules for writing fiction Elmore Leonard: Using adverbs is a mortal sin 1 Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. 2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. 3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. 5 Keep your exclamation points under control. 6 Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". 7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. 8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. 9 Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. 10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
KROUTCHEV PLANET PHOTO | Photographers, illustrators, graffiti, designers, artists…Фотографов, иллюстраторов, граффити, дизайнеров, художников …摄影师，插画，涂鸦，设计师，艺术家…フォトグラファー、イラストレーター、落書き、デザイナー、芸術家… British Life and Culture in the UK Twigs & Honey 2013 Gray Malin Giveaway Oh, how we love Gray Malin‘s ability to transport us to far away destinations like Sydney, Lisbon, Rio and even Marfa. After swooning over his À la Plage, À la Piscine collection a few months ago, […] Pinky Swear Current obsession? Guide for Writers: Index Page