NaNoWriMo Prep

Ok all you would-be writers, sharpen your pencils! NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us.

There's a great post over at TTYU - give it some serious consideration.

TTYU Worldbuilding considerations

She even provides the link to her hang outs (discussions with other writers and builders) and the needed subjects.

TTYU Worldbuilding hangouts

You'll notice in her comments that I offered worldbuilding assistance, because I know myself better than to dive into writing 30,000 words in a month. It's all about laying foundations and research and other prep work. That's what I do. I don't often refer to myself as "a writer".

If you want worldbuilding help (maps, gods, history, characters, etc) leave a comment or email me.

Here's a little quiz for you. There are no right or wrong answers, but there had better be answers. It's even better if they are automatic/instinctual.

What if you started a fantasy novel knowing nothing of weapons, armor, magic, travel? Or if you had no idea what the world looked like beyond the would-be hero's village? What beasts live in the wilds, are there elves in the woods, dwarves in the mountains, evil wizards in tall towers? How is the kingdom run, democracy/monarchy/theocracy? Is the leader good or bad, old or young, wise or foolish? What are the laws? How do people dress and talk? What is the economy, is it currency or barter? Is it a farming village or do they trade goods for food? What do they trade: ore, textiles, leather, wool, tools? Where is said village? Where is it in relation to other places? What's the climate? How does the weather effect lifestyle, ecology, travel?

If you couldn't easily answer ALL of those questions, you're not ready to write yet. That's where I come in!

I won't hold my breath, since the requests haven't exactly been pouring in, but the offer stands.

Fantasy Map (.net)

This is one I found yesterday through cartographersguild . What a fantastic resource! Maps of about anything you can imagine. I quite like the Floor Plans for the classic graph paper and the Oceanus Ultimus is probably my favorite for its layout and awesome border.

Fantasy-map.net

Look and enjoy! 

Worldbuilder Guild

Again Nils scoured the interwebs and sent me this little doosie.

Deviant Art Worldbuilders Guild

How awesome is that?! It stands to reason that if there's a guild for cartographers, there would also be one for worldbuilders too. Why did I never think of that?

And if it wasn't cool enough to be able to browse the many many galleries, they're also on Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter, and have the stand alone site http://worldbuildingschool.com/

Now I really have no excuse not to Photoshop better maps.

I played with the Photoshop cloud render as advised and got some pretty cool results. I'll be tweaking them a bit with Illustrator to clean up the outlines with smooth edges. As WIPs go, it's nice to have a few to tinker with.

I've Fallen Down A Well

After much consideration, I've decided to up my postings to two per week instead of just Fridays.

This is technically a day late since I'll now be posting each Tuesday and Friday to have an even gap of 4 days between. Jabber jabber blah blah blah....on to the goodness.

I stumbled into the depths of this fantastic site and was lost for well over an hour (and there's still much, much more to go).

http://inkwellideas.com/

It has great advice on worldbuilding, many free gennines - I particularly like the random village generator, and several downloadables. You must give it a go.

I found it through RPGBA, which I have now joined under the persistent recommendation of Nils (aka Gandalf). I'll be damned if he wasn't right about joining other forums, Facebook, and commenting on like-minded blogs increasing my traffic.

IT'S BACK AGAIN! Westerlands Map

From the amazing talent that is Geoff Nunn.

This is the "blank" version from his CG album: Westerlands CG Album

He's even delved deeper to create a whole wiki page for his world.

Westerlands Wiki

And it all that ain't enough for you, check out his blog too!

http://www.roflinitiative.com/

Many thanks, Geoff, for being so gracious and for just being an awesome guy. 

Yawn...But in A Good Way

My buddy Nils over at Enderra.com is the Gandalf to my Frodo. He drags me from my hole and opens up whole new worlds through his experience and wisdom. I cannot thank him enough. He's been a patient mentor, chat buddy, and a great sounding board for new ideas (and sometimes rehashing old ones).

His latest finds/contributions are these: 

Yawning Portal Maps 1

Yawning Portal Maps 2

You really really need to check it out. I'm floored by the number and posts since March. I cannot imagine having the drive and dedication to pull off a blog like Yawningportal. Tom's experience and know how goes back decades, and it absolutely shows. His passion and penchant for D&D obviously shows, but it's equally impressive how versed he is in other games and design as well. The man makes his own miniatures and settings for gods' sake!

Geofiction

This is actually something completely new to me, I've never even heard the word before, but to a map nerd like me it's GOLDEN!

A big thank you to Hounaine El-Hamiani who contacted me via cartographersguild.com to request some city maps. It was a very flattering request (via a misunderstanding) which I had to unfortunately decline. I suggested that there are much more talented artists to be found by posting through the guild.

Hounaine was gracious enough to share the following links, which I have now saved to my favs.

Urban Geofiction
Norscand
Zigzagzilla

This is some ridiculously good stuff. I had no idea there were folks out there putting Google Maps to shame with fictional urban settings. The level of detail is amazing.