Finding My Rhythm

“Olivia reclined in the bows of the gently rocking boat, in a state dreamy and unreal.  She experienced an illusion that she was floating in midair, stars beneath her as well as above.  Her silent companion was etched vaguely against the softer darkness.  There was no break or falter in the rhythm of his oars; he might have been a fantasmal oarsman, rowing her across the dark lake of Death.   But the edge of her fear was dulled, and, lulled by the monotony of motion, she passed into a quiet slumber.”

(excerpt from, Shadows in the Moonlight, by Robert E. Howard)

Finding My Rhythm

So far, the first week of March has been relatively productive for me.  As I prepare for the next round of ROW80, I feel like the preliminary planning of my [World-Building] project is right on schedule.  This past week has mostly been about organizing my project folders, and copying-and-pasting all the “good stuff” from my NaNoWriMo world-building manuscript into my new folders.  Once organized, editing these new components into something useful has been the hardest part.   For example, I have some scenes that I have written where the story is told using a certain protagonist, but then I think ‘hey, wouldn’t it be better if this happened to my other protagonist in a different story?’  Well, that’s what I’ve been doing to a couple of my scenes, swapping out one character for another, then changing the new character’s reactions and dialog to the scene.  In other words, I end up re-writing the entire scene using a different lead character.  It’s a lot of work, but the end result is a stronger, more compelling, scene.

Random Scenes

In my [Brainstorming Ideas] folder, under a sub-folder called [Scenarios], I’ve been free-writing all the random scenes that I have floating around in my head.  Maybe it’s an exotic setting, like that of a crumbling temple, strangled by the vines and roots of the deep jungle.  Or maybe it’s a dramatic situation, like a hero frantically trying to unfasten the clasps and buckles of his heavy armor as he sinks quickly in deep dark waters.  Sometimes it’s nothing more than a mood or a tone that I want to convey in a story.   Mostly, these ideas come to me as nothing more than a vivid snapshot, without plot or context.  I don’t know if I’ll use these scenes in any of my stories, but I figure it’s good writing practice and counts toward my daily word-count goal.  More importantly, if I don’t get these thoughts out of my head, I’ll forget them tomorrow.  As the ancient proverb states, “the palest ink is better than the sharpest memory”.  Write it down before it’s forgotten!

World-Building Research

I’ve been doing some online research for my world-building project.  Many of the fantasy world-building articles that I find are geared towards video-game designers or role-playing-game dungeon-masters, but many of these same concepts can be used by fantasy writers to develop their world.   Here are some great world-building links that I discovered this week:

• A World Building Checklist — A well-organized list of all the world-building components that a fantasy writer will have to consider.  It is similar to the S.F.W.A. Questionnaire discussed in a previous post.   A great place to start.

• The Cartographers’ Guild — If you want to have a map of your fantasy world in the front of your book, this is, by far, the best map-making community forum out there!  Check out the Finished Maps and Cartographer’s Choice galleries.

• Medieval Names Archive — A fantastic collection of articles on medieval and renaissance names, and how to properly choose one.  A great resource for anyone wanting to add authenticity to their historical fiction.

• Ringwork’s Fantasy Name Generator — More than just a simple name generation tool, this one accepts complex commands that allow you to personalize how you character’s name looks and sounds.  Play around with the drop-menu.

• Donjon’s Fantasy Name Generator — A name generator used by role-playing-game dungeon-masters (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) to create characters for quests.  It has some fun drop-menu combinations, such as for naming adventuring parties and monsters.   Obviously, you would want to tweak these names with your own naming variation.  A good starting point.  Again, play around with the drop-menus.

• Medieval Demographics Calculator — This random kingdom generator calculates all the resources that are needed in order to support a kingdom of a certain size, such as population density, farmland acreage and trade services.  It is based on actual historical demographic data compiled by S. John Ross, in his article Medieval Demographics Made Easy.  Play around with the parameters.  Note: In order to get another random kingdom, refresh your browser.

• Fractal World Generator — A world creation tool where you can change the planetary parameters, like water and ice content, to create a map.   Press the [Create] button to see your fractal-generated world map.   A fun way to play with world-building ideas.

Okay, enough playing on the Internet; back to writing!  Just kidding.  I hope you find some of these links useful for your writing projects.  Please visit some of the other writers in the ROW80 Community…