Recent content by ThinkerX

Welcome aboard. I did a LOT of worldbuilding decades ago, back when the worlds in question were intended for AD&D campaigns. When I started writing in earnest, those old maps and notes formed the basis of the worlds in the books (a dozen of them, nowadays). And I STILL ended up creating a LOT...

You use short stories to build the world. You don't say that the City of Ty was attacked by barbarians; instead, the authors show what people went through during that event, with each tale from a diferent characters perspective. The barbarian warrior is going to see things very differently than...

We have a subforum dedicated to writing challenges. In the past, it has been used for short story contests. You might be able to build on something like that: Describe a city or other location and invite members to write short stories set there.

welcome!

Welcome! I was raised on an Alaskan homestead at the edge of civilization, a time of hard work that taught me an assortment of practical skills, now mostly claimed by age and injury. These days, I dwell in a small town about a dozen miles from the old homestead (still in the family). I used...

My 'Empire' series BEGAN two years AFTER the demise of the evil demon God. The Lovecraftian deities in that series masqueraded as entertainers, common laborers, pedlars, guards, and a host of other mundane professions.

This sounds a bit like the reasoning for my 'Empire' series. I didn't care for the static tech/static society thing, so that sory - and the others are set a few years after the 'epic war.' Common soldiers awarded land and citizenship. Bicycles going from 'never heard of them' to 'everywhere.'...

Technological and social change is a key element in my 'Empire' series. It began with Emperor Fabius, who encouraged the innovative artisans of Equitant and the learned sages of Carbone. This resulted in a slew of clever clockwork mechanisms, telescopes, the invention of the printing press, and...

Congrats!

I went with multiple naps for the big picture, which covers about a third of the northern hemisphere.

With 'Empire,' I started with the setting - the heartland of a tottering empire in the wake of a devastating war. From there, I moved to the plot (which changed several times)...and then the characters took over, each providing a different perspective of the chaos. Subsequent stories in that...

I made a *lot* of maps for my books. 'Big Picture' maps. Regional maps. City maps. Most of what is on those maps is directly relevant to the stories, or at least the series. However, I always toss in extras- locations that might feature in future stories...or never be mentioned elsewhere.

Many of the names I use in my stories come from lists in the old TSR 'Historical Earth' series, mythology, or country-specific baby name sites. Most of those names 'fit the region.' But there are always some that are common in the US. My rule of thumb with fantasy names is to keep them short...

Find a thread that interests you. At the bottom, below the posts, is a list of 'similar threads.' I have used keywords to find threads, but this can be a pain.

Welcome aboard! Several of my published novels were NaNo projects. I have occasionally provided structural story advice to other authors here.