Diversity is the spice of life and has brought humanity several great things from tasty foods, fun festivals and a variety of sports to different arts and music. However, diversity can serve as a double-edged sword, resulting in conflicts, because — let’s face — it humans often have a fear of “otherness.” Whether that “otherness”Continue reading “World-building Series: Diversity”
Tag Archives: world-building
World and Character Series: Are your characters human?
Sometimes writers forget the basics while putting our vision to paper. And in this case I’m not talking about basics like grammar, plot or even character development. No, I’m talking about the basics of life: the need to eat. Often, times characters in books will go days without eating, making them more robot than human.Continue reading “World and Character Series: Are your characters human?”
Names: You have one, I have one, characters have one
Most writers will send hours pouring over names, searching for that perfect one that fits a character like a shoe. We can spend hours on this endeavor until we finally arrive at “The One.” There are many name website out there to help us on this task; I personally love http://www.behindthename.com, which is my go-toContinue reading “Names: You have one, I have one, characters have one”
World-building: Resources
Anyone who has played Sid Meier’s Civilization or Age of Empires, will know all about the importance of resources. They determine what you can build, trade or sustain. Wars are fought over them: I know I’m guilty of this, taking out the French (in Civilization) for daring to set up a village and steal theContinue reading “World-building: Resources”
World-building Series: Courting (Valentine Bonus)
As we celebrate the overly commercialized Valentine’s Day, I decided to do a themed piece for the day and settled on a world-building related topic, because to be honest, I’m not the most romantic person in the world so a how-to-write romance is a little out of my league. However, courtship is an important topicContinue reading “World-building Series: Courting (Valentine Bonus)”
Pope resignation equals writer opportunity
As soon as the news broke that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning, the cogs in my head started to turn — the cogs that drive the writer and world-builder in me. I could not help but think what a perfect opportunity it is to observe, learn and possibly borrow and tweak practices to be usedContinue reading “Pope resignation equals writer opportunity”
World-building Series: Culture
While this may seem like putting the cart before the horse, when world-building, writers need to consider what their world’s cultures will look and feel like. This is a step some writers never fully realize, making their worlds feel like cardboard or a carbon copy of another world, built by another writer: Let’s face it,Continue reading “World-building Series: Culture”
World-building Series: Intro
World-building is an intricate part of crafting a story — if done properly, it provides believability and envelopes the reader, holding their interest while also making them want to delve deeper into the world you have crafted. While world-building is often considered the realm of fantasy and scifi writers that is not the case. WritersContinue reading “World-building Series: Intro”
Female characters: living in a male-dominated world
Female characters can be challenging to write, particularly when they are placed in male-dominated worlds/eras, and often come in two extremes: damsels-in-distress/story wallpaper/the romantic interest or a man with boobs. Writers, in many cases, seem to think that to have a strong female character, they have to have great physical strength. While it is trueContinue reading “Female characters: living in a male-dominated world”
A fantasy writer’s pet peeve: Stop screaming anachronism
What is an anachronism, you ask? Merriam Webster’s definition is as follows: 1. an error in chronology, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other; 2. a person or a thing that is chronologically out of place, especially one from a former age that is incongruous in theContinue reading “A fantasy writer’s pet peeve: Stop screaming anachronism”
Blood & Ink 