DragonOfTheAerie
Vala
i had no idea where to put this thread so it goes here
anyway hi guys i know i disappeared for two months but hi i'm here again
what have i been up to?
well, I accidentally started a business! but that's another story. basically i and my best friend started doing art and selling it on etsy. i sold one of my paintings the other day for $70 so yay.
oh yeah and worldbuilding.
So, I've been trying to develop a frame for The Story, that is, the story i can't find in any existing book but desperately want to read and therefore have decided to write. Also, the final form of the insistent knot of ideas and characters that have been a fundamental component of my brain since i was 12. I feel like these primal desires are meant to culminate in a huge story so culminate they will. I will die or I will wrangle them onto the page. Whatever happens first. If the former happens first, Death will have to fight me over the array of my unfinished manuscript.
basically, i've been sorting all my worldbuilding into a bunch of different documents on my computer (which are themselves cobbled from my notebooks organized with sticky notes.) It used to be one document, called The Story, now it's a library.
My world's magic system is based on the concept that everyone is born with a power. Some let you influence matter, some give you enhanced senses or extrasensory abilities, et cetera. It is portrayed as a force that lives inside its hosts (users of powers are called "hosts" to suggest an almost parasitic relationship) and often does great damage to them. Healers bear the scars of the wounds they heal. Fire/heat manipulators are usually covered in burn scars. Lots of powers can kill you, some will waste you away, and they tend to be hard to control. Their hosts often seem to be being used by rather than using their powers. Also, people with extremely dangerous or invasive powers (emotional manipulation, things like that) are often considered to be predestined by their powers to be evil. stereotype and prejudice surrounding powers is everywhere. Basically, it's a very dark take on powers. The force that bestows the powers is personified as a goddess/feminine divine force very often and i'm thinking of making her something really terrifying and other. almost a lovecraftian sort of thing. anyway, it's been great fun to develop all these powers. I've written very long, detailed entries on most of them explaining their side effects, limitations, potential applications, and other stuff. The "Powers" doc comes to about 17,000 words.
I'm working on a bunch of dragon species and my favorite thing about books is memorizing all the species of imaginary creatures so definitely gonna put tons of effort into that. That's about 2,500 words so far, including a bunch of writings on dragon warfare. (Super cool stuff never been so excited to write scenes)
Settings: These are mostly brainstorming right now but i have so many cool ideas. Torrents of ideas. No map yet though. This is about 8,000 words
CREATURES: Im having a lot of trouble because it turns out coming up with things is hard when you have literally unlimited options. There are millions of species worldwide and I can combine their traits however I like or make up untold numbers of new ones. It's utterly overwhelming. Right now i'm wrangling something into being that i have no idea about other than its vaguely like a mastiff and has a thick, glowing blue tongue (probably glowing drool). 4,000 words nonetheless.
500 words about cultures which is mostly a really incomplete list.
under 500 about plants and fungi and stuff
about 1,000 on religions
about 3,000 on the winged race which is about the only one i've developed in a lot of depth
so that's, uhhh...36,500ish words of worldbuilding! that's like half a book itself. So here's what I want to do...
develop dragons a LOT
likewise develop creatures a LOT
get these settings into organized shape and also get some kind of map
figure out a bunch of stuff about cultures.
>make a HISTORY doc and start making the history of the world
>make a FOOD doc because i frickin love food and also my notebooks are stuffed with random scattering of food ideas. pink milk, cloud bread, glowing candy. I think i have like 3 pages of just candy
make docs for the other fantasy races. (at least three others). and like, figure out for sure what they are because i have a lot of conflicting ideas. So far, photosynthetic ppl, pointy eared and clawed people with vaguely catlike abilities, and amphibious people that will probably come in all sorts of bright colors like real amphibians. The latter two were almost genocided into oblivion. (seee here's why i need history)
exciting stuff. seriously. Honestly the one im the most focused on/worried about is the creatures because that's being haaaaard. too hard.
I'll post more later but that's some of what I've been up to.
anyway hi guys i know i disappeared for two months but hi i'm here again
what have i been up to?
well, I accidentally started a business! but that's another story. basically i and my best friend started doing art and selling it on etsy. i sold one of my paintings the other day for $70 so yay.
oh yeah and worldbuilding.
So, I've been trying to develop a frame for The Story, that is, the story i can't find in any existing book but desperately want to read and therefore have decided to write. Also, the final form of the insistent knot of ideas and characters that have been a fundamental component of my brain since i was 12. I feel like these primal desires are meant to culminate in a huge story so culminate they will. I will die or I will wrangle them onto the page. Whatever happens first. If the former happens first, Death will have to fight me over the array of my unfinished manuscript.
basically, i've been sorting all my worldbuilding into a bunch of different documents on my computer (which are themselves cobbled from my notebooks organized with sticky notes.) It used to be one document, called The Story, now it's a library.
My world's magic system is based on the concept that everyone is born with a power. Some let you influence matter, some give you enhanced senses or extrasensory abilities, et cetera. It is portrayed as a force that lives inside its hosts (users of powers are called "hosts" to suggest an almost parasitic relationship) and often does great damage to them. Healers bear the scars of the wounds they heal. Fire/heat manipulators are usually covered in burn scars. Lots of powers can kill you, some will waste you away, and they tend to be hard to control. Their hosts often seem to be being used by rather than using their powers. Also, people with extremely dangerous or invasive powers (emotional manipulation, things like that) are often considered to be predestined by their powers to be evil. stereotype and prejudice surrounding powers is everywhere. Basically, it's a very dark take on powers. The force that bestows the powers is personified as a goddess/feminine divine force very often and i'm thinking of making her something really terrifying and other. almost a lovecraftian sort of thing. anyway, it's been great fun to develop all these powers. I've written very long, detailed entries on most of them explaining their side effects, limitations, potential applications, and other stuff. The "Powers" doc comes to about 17,000 words.
I'm working on a bunch of dragon species and my favorite thing about books is memorizing all the species of imaginary creatures so definitely gonna put tons of effort into that. That's about 2,500 words so far, including a bunch of writings on dragon warfare. (Super cool stuff never been so excited to write scenes)
Settings: These are mostly brainstorming right now but i have so many cool ideas. Torrents of ideas. No map yet though. This is about 8,000 words
CREATURES: Im having a lot of trouble because it turns out coming up with things is hard when you have literally unlimited options. There are millions of species worldwide and I can combine their traits however I like or make up untold numbers of new ones. It's utterly overwhelming. Right now i'm wrangling something into being that i have no idea about other than its vaguely like a mastiff and has a thick, glowing blue tongue (probably glowing drool). 4,000 words nonetheless.
500 words about cultures which is mostly a really incomplete list.
under 500 about plants and fungi and stuff
about 1,000 on religions
about 3,000 on the winged race which is about the only one i've developed in a lot of depth
so that's, uhhh...36,500ish words of worldbuilding! that's like half a book itself. So here's what I want to do...
develop dragons a LOT
likewise develop creatures a LOT
get these settings into organized shape and also get some kind of map
figure out a bunch of stuff about cultures.
>make a HISTORY doc and start making the history of the world
>make a FOOD doc because i frickin love food and also my notebooks are stuffed with random scattering of food ideas. pink milk, cloud bread, glowing candy. I think i have like 3 pages of just candy
make docs for the other fantasy races. (at least three others). and like, figure out for sure what they are because i have a lot of conflicting ideas. So far, photosynthetic ppl, pointy eared and clawed people with vaguely catlike abilities, and amphibious people that will probably come in all sorts of bright colors like real amphibians. The latter two were almost genocided into oblivion. (seee here's why i need history)
exciting stuff. seriously. Honestly the one im the most focused on/worried about is the creatures because that's being haaaaard. too hard.
I'll post more later but that's some of what I've been up to.
