Worldbuilding

Busy week

Short post tonight. It’s been a busy, and very odd week here in the Schechter household. I’ve been working around the edges on Adavar, and I’ve posted some more worldbuilding to Patreon. But the end of the week has been a bit distracting, so I’ve done very little since Thursday. I’m hoping things settle into place this week.

One of the changes has to do with our homeschooling status. In a nutshell, it’s coming to an end — starting in August, my son is going back to school, to an amazing school that we’ve been trying to get into for a few years now.  So come August, I’m going to have a lot more writing time, and I’m going to have to get used to that! It might mean that Ashes and Light gets written faster, or it might mean that I work on both Swords of Charlemagne and Adavar at the same time. I’ll figure it out as I go.

I’m also working on refreshing my brain, aka catching up on my reading. Last night, I read the first four pages of Catherynne Valente’s delightfully dippy Space Opera aloud to a very confused child of my acquaintance. I think I’m going to need to start him on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy while I read this.  (If you haven’t read Space Opera yet, go get a copy now.  Right now. I’ll wait.)

Also on my pile are Roxane Gay’s Hunger, and a reread of Ursula Vernon’s Castle Hangnail.  And I’m still reading Damon Suede’s fantastic writing book Verbalize, which I have to take in small chunks, the better to absorb the information. Oh, and I’m refreshing my memory on Victorian household management for when I dive back in to Swords of Charlemagne.

The reprints of the Tales from the Arena books release soon — I know it was supposed to be June, but things happen. I’m still loving the new covers, though.

I should stop — I’m rambling like a Lake Wobegon broadcast. Although I do have to say — here in the Schechter house,  all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.

 

Posted by EASchechter in Adavar, Ashes and Light, book reviews, children, cover art, Elemental Project, Homeschool, new books, Patreon, silly, Swords of Charlemagne, Tales from the Arena, Worldbuilding, writing-mom, 0 comments

Mirror, Mirror: How The Sausage Gets Made

Originally posted here
As I’ve said before, the level of detail I go into when I’m worldbuilding depends on the project. Right now, while I’m working on Adavar, I’m also rereading some Victorian history for when I go back to working on Swords of Charlemagne. I tend to have multiple projects going on in the back of my brain — I call it having a story percolate.
Now, what you’ll see as I’m working on building the world of Adavar (aka, the Elemental project) are things that will help me later on down the line. Things like the creation myth will give me a handle on how the people of Adavar think and react, because these are things that color how they see their world.
I think that it’s time like this when you really do see that I’m a frustrated anthropologist at heart. I don’t think I ever really got over my college adviser telling me that I couldn’t do a triple major (which would have been English, Secondary Education, and Cultural Anthropology).
Anyway, the creation myth gives me the foundation. Now I’ll be looking more closely at each tribe and how they interact, and I’ll be looking at how the government works.
My next Patron post will probably be within the next week or so, and I need some feedback. Do we stay with pay per post, or go to pay by the month? If we stay with pay per post, then I’ll be posting five or more paid posts in the next month or two. Then, once August starts, I’ll be tapering off because I’ll be getting back to Swords of Charlemagne. How do we want to proceed?
Let me know!
Posted by EASchechter in Adavar, Elemental Project, Patreon, Worldbuilding, writer on writing, 0 comments

Mirror, Mirror: Groundwork (Patreon public post from 6/6/18)

I’ve realized just this minute that I need to mirror my public posts from Patreon over here in the blog.  This is the first of the public posts that happened over there.

As we go forward, I’ll start the mirrored posts off with Mirror, Mirror, and tag them as such, so that they’re obvious.

***

All right. It’s time to get this thing moving.

The amount of groundwork that I do for my writing tends to vary, depending on what genre I’m writing. Sometimes, it’s just historical research. Sometimes, it’s historical research with worldbuilding that harmonizes around actual events — Swords of Charlemagne, the current series, is like that, as is the entire Princes of Air universe, and House of Sable Locks.

And sometimes, the worldbuilding is everything. That was the Rebel Mage trilogy, Tales From the Arena, and now, this thing. Which still doesn’t have a name, so I’m going to continue calling it the Elemental Project.

I love worldbuilding, says the frustrated wanna-be anthropologist (my college advisor told me that I couldn’t do a triple major. Boo!) Creating the myths and religions and magic systems and the whys and wherefores of a culture is like catnip for me. The degree I will go to for a given project will vary — there was a little in depth work done for Rebel Mage, but much more for Tales From the Arena. Sometimes, things develop organically. Sometimes, I have pages and pages of notes before I even start writing.

This is going to be a pages and pages of notes project. Otherwise, why bother with the Patreon?

I’ve been thinking about where to start this project. Basic info about the world and government? Character information? Backstory and history?

Nah…

Creation myths. Worlds begin when worlds begin.

That’s where we start. And that should be coming up soon. It will also be the first post that will be Patrons only. So, if you want to see it? You know what to do.

See you in a few days!

Posted by EASchechter in Elemental Project, Patreon, Worldbuilding, writer on writing, 0 comments

The Opposite of War isn’t Peace. It’s Creation.

I can’t say I’ve never written a creation myth before. I’ve done it once or twice, for projects that never really got off the ground and that I might someday go back and revisit. So I know basically what I’m doing. And yet…

I homeschool my son, and one of the things that we discovered and incorporated into our homeschool day was Crash Course.  There are Crash Course series for just about anything — the History of Games was very popular in our house.

Then we discovered Crash Course Mythology. My son is already very interested in mythology (thank you, Rick Riordan!) so this seemed a logical choice of next series to watch. Hosted by Mike Rugnetta, it’s a fantastic overview of a variety of myths from a wide range of cultures.

Why is this a problem?

It isn’t, really. It’s just that I’ve heard so many myths told by Mike Rugnetta that now I’m hearing his voice narrating the creation myth I’m in the process of writing!

After the initial “Why do I have your voice in my head?” reaction, I decided that this was a good thing. If I’m writing a creation myth on par with the ones that were presented in Crash Course, I’m clearly doing something right.

Right?

So… wanna see this creation myth?

Come join me on Patreon.

Posted by EASchechter in easily amused writer, Elemental Project, inspiration, inspiration-strikes-OW, Patreon, public displays of geekery, research is fun, summer, Worldbuilding, 0 comments