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I’m Stealing Namibia

Or at least the Namib Desert. Here’s the deal–if you’ve hung around here at all, you know that I like to do things differently. When I came across the dare in the NaNoWriMo Fantasy forums to write a fantasy set somewhere “not pseudo-medieval pseudo-Europe,” I didn’t need the hint. It was already In the Plan. […]

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NaNo Decision: This Time I Mean It

NaNo Decision: This Time I Mean It

So after a couple months of trying to decide–in my off moments that should have been spent on all my deadline-y stuff–what to do for NaNo, I had decided to write the third in my epic trilogy of magic, gay and win, Hiro’s Quest (yes, it’ll be renamed.) I really want to write it, you

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Day Twelve: The Speculative Element

Day Twelve: The Speculative Element

Every day this grows to require more time. Also, I’m coming up with stuff I don’t want to share, as it will ruin the story when you read it (as I certainly hope you will.) So I’m going to stop posting this after today. I’ll continue with the world-building eventually, but for right now…it’s time

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Day Eleven: Focus In

Today’s exercise is to expand on one area of the culture you’ve created for your world. We have a bare-bones timeline, the bare-bones elements of a language, the bare-bones of an economic and political scene. Drat, running out of time! I somehow got myself some piled-up deadlines… Anyway. Frantic typing ensues. Dwarves live in the

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Day Ten: Mood and Culture

Day Ten: Mood and Culture

So! Moving on. PDF here, in case you didn’t get it yet. Exercise (recap): As stated above. Settle on the overall mood for your story if you haven’t already. Look through your timeline, political groups, and language notes and mark for revision anything that doesn’t fit your mood. If you have time, revise those things.

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Day Nine: Languages

Day Nine: Languages

I’ve already done much of this, but I’ll post it in order to stay on course. Exercise: Listen to how different syllables sound to you. Do they excite you? Do you associate a particular sound with an emotion or place or memory? Write down some generic preferences for your languages– “I want the language spoken

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World-Building, Day Eight

World-Building, Day Eight

Day eight, economics and politics. Just as you examined your timeline for events and pressures, now examine your map for resources and deficits. For five minutes, make a few notes on the map to mark places that have more of a type of resource, and jot down anywhere that has a definite deficit of something

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