You know those moments when you just feel silly and you’re glad no one knew about your mistake? We’ll I’m gonna share mine with you. So, I go in to work on my map in Photoshop. I chose a brush only, no matter what I do, nothing shows up- no color, no mountains, nothing. It’s…
You’re magical beings have been having their way with their powers and enjoying themselves…at least until those side effect kick in. Let’s take a step back, way back. To the beginning. Where did the power come from. Or, who did they come from. This goes beyond the magical beings in your story. Why does power…
Just saw the Paranormal Witness episode The Harpy. It was awesome. The last couple of episodes have been the best. That’s saying a lot since I love this show. One episode was about these clawed demons racing through this man’s house. My dog, with her claws, had picked an unfortunate moment to walk across my wood floor- nearly scared me…
You have an idea for your awesomely new power system. Now we’re going to discuss writing magical beings. In the last post, Fantasy Powers: How Ideas Are Born, I touched on determining who would be using the power. Diving deeper into this will help make your new power system more believable. You have a magical…
Here’s a badass for your world building inspiration. Imagine this little charmer tearing through your fantasy world. Also known as Abaaht, Abaasy, Abasy, the Abaasy originates in Russian mythology, legend and folklore. They’re demons in the mythology of the Sakha (also known as the Yakuts). The Yakut live in the Lena River valley and other areas of the…
Mapmaking is harder than I thought. But, it is fun. I so can’t wait for my new computer to get here. Using Photoshop on a laptop that can’t handle it requires a whole lot of patience. Creating rivers with a mouse is really hard. I need my touch screen. On the last post in this…
What happened to the power? Fantasy stories today have a lot less magic. That’s fine. But, I like giving my characters special powers. I like that those powers have a key role in the story. Give me memorable characters with awesome abilities. How does someone come up with a power system from scratch? This is…
Where would my stories be without anime?! I’ve said this other times, but anime plays a big part in my world building and my stories in general. When my characters use their powers, I’m thinking of the classic anime power-up. When I’m picturing battles for my book, I get inspiration from anime. Here are some…
Being a dark fantasy writer is its own adventure. Mapmaking- what can I say? It has its good times. It has its annoying times. Just the simplest thing can take ages. Anyway. What would I do without Adobe Creative Suite? My Merging Worlds Trilogy takes place in a province called Jael (ji-al). For fun, and…
So much better than the first one. Not the most original plot. It still worked. You know what I love about fantasy and sci-fi movies? The worlds. We get this gorgeous picture of imaginary worlds. I mean, Asgard was amazing. Now, was it as good as Avengers? Meh. It had a good balance of humor and…
