Tag: Worldbuilding

Other Cool Posts: Magical Words January 31, 2011

Erin Penn

Temple In Sunset Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Vernor’s Law

I’ve been going through the Magical Words archives, making certain I have made a copy of everything before it hits the seven-year disappear mark. And I found it! Vernor’s Law. No, not the one of “If the technological singularity can happen, it will.” but the one useful for writers.

(please note this is paraphrased) At any given time while writing, at least two of the three should be happening in a scene, preferably all three. Otherwise your writing has stalled.

  1. Develop character
  2. Advance plot
  3. Fill in necessary background information.

The most commonly known version of breaking this law is an information dump. On the other hand, the most common weakness of a new writer is the character description which just describes the character like they are in a police lineup.

David B. Coe goes into a series on descriptive passages helping writers to sharpen their descriptive skills so nothing is just an information dump. The series includes the following (with the comments being nearly as useful as the blog postings):

Part I: Settings

Part II: Character

Part III: Action

Part IV: Dialogue

WRITING EXERCISE: After reviewing the above, write 200 words or more description from your present WIP using one of the following prompts: a setting building toward action, a secondary character as described by the main character, an action scene from someone other than your typical POV character limited by that characters experience and language, or a dialogue which is particularly about character building and background information.

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words June 16, 2016

Erin Penn

Woman-in-Prayer

Painting entitled: Woman in Prayer
Shared under the Creative Commons attribution

Worldbuilding: Gods

Everywhere we look religious is steeped into our culture. How the days of the weeks play out, the days off, holidays, how people dress, quotes, country boundaries, and dozen of other expectations. To write a world without religion, whether horror, science fiction, or fantasy creates an unreal world.

I loved how steeped Babylon 5 was in religion: Stephen Franklin’s Foundationism, Susan Ivanova’s Judaism, the Mimbari government being lead partially by their priesthood, and G’Kar’s fanaticism. Every character is on Bab 5 was driven partially by belief in something greater, including Londo’s ties to his people. Without the religious overtones, Babylon 5 would have been the typical bland sci-fi we normally see. Instead it constantly was asking questions.

Magical word’s Diana Pharaoh Francis covered the topic in “God-Fearing Woman”. The list of questions to ask when creating a religion are especially important. I lightly touched on religion in the flash Joelie and Sarah’s Last Day last month. Joelie is an ongoing character for me; I especially love the religion I created for him. The Tester is neither good or evil, benevolent or petty, but a smith shaping materials to be the best they can be – sometimes the hard hammer and sometimes the gentle hands.

WRITING EXERCISE: Pick three characters from your present work-in-progress. Create one prayer for each they might say at the beginning or end of a day.

READING EXERCISE: Think of your present read-in-progress. How does religion impact one of the characters? Does their beliefs drive any of their goals?

Book Review: Nolander

Erin Penn

Book Cover for Nolander

Book cover by Amazon

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
Nolander by Becca Mills

Beth Ryder knows she’s different. In a tiny rural town, being an orphaned and perpetually single amateur photographer crippled by panic disorder is pretty much guaranteed to make you stick out like a sore thumb.
But Beth doesn’t understand just how different she really is.

One day, strange things start cropping up in her photos. Things that don’t look human. Impossible things. Monstrosities. Beth thinks her hateful sister-in-law, Justine, has tampered with her pictures to play a cruel joke, but rather than admitting or denying it, Justine up and vanishes, leaving the family in disarray.

Beth’s search for Justine plunges her into a world she never knew existed, one filled with ancient and terrifying creatures. Both enemies and allies await her there—a disturbingly sexy boss, a sentient wolf with diamond fur, body-snatching dinosaur-birds. Separating the allies from the enemies is no easy chore, but in this strange new world, allies are a necessity. A plot is afoot, and Beth—whose abilities no one seems able to explain—may well hold the key to solving it.

Nolander is the first novel in the fantasy series Emanations. The second novel, Solatium, and a short story, Theriac, are also available.

 

Book Cover from Amazon

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON
Solatium (Book 2 of Emanations) by Becca Mills

Beth Ryder’s dangerously sexy and seemingly all-powerful boss has disappeared, leaving an increasingly desperate group of Nolanders — and one inept Second — in charge of policing other-worldly activity across much of North America. What better time for a legendary monster to emerge from the Second Emanation and make New York City its hunting ground? But little does Beth know that dealing with the voracious Thirsting Ground will pale in comparison to a shocking betrayal that threatens to destroy her new life among the Nolanders.

***

MY REVIEW – Nolander (Book 1)
Anyone that has read my reviews know that I am a world-creationist lover. Give me a new world, solid and levels deep and I am in heaven.

The world of Nolander delivers, a new magic/psonic system, a new alternate reality system, and all wonderful.

Plus the book defies convention – New Adult about a girl, but no romance, is it urban fantasy or alternate reality or sci fi or fantasy – doesn’t matter. What matters is this book a very, very good – just shy of perfection.

Characters either had too much hidden or were too predictable, a lighter hand is needed there to match the complications of the world. (And having read the next book of the series, the author’s skill with character creation does get better.)

***

MY REVIEW – Solatium (Book 2)

Book 2 of the series (book 1 is free, as is the short story) and the world-building just keeps getting better. The character building does as well, and the plot, and the complications. For fairly new readers this may be the best book you have ever read (for those of us who have been gobbling books for decades, this is a surprising gem).

I believe these worlds – the way each splits off the First Emanation provides millions of years of dinosaurs throughout the Second Emanations – so I believe the biology and geography of the alternate universes. I believe the sociology – on the First Emanation, the biggest and strongest kept going until eventually systems of humans were shown to work better and safer and were more beneficial (even for the biggest and strongest). The problem in the Second Emanations are the Powers are not only bigger and stronger, they are also nearly all either half-mad, all-bored or both and learning the benefits of a parliament or republic system doesn’t work for them.

Then Beth, the new girl, maybe a power, is added to the mix.

***
… and then the series ends. (sad face) Becca Mills released all these stories in 2014 but recently updated Nolander at the end of 2015. Maybe she will be working on more soon!