Guest Blog

Fantasy Authors Unplugged: World-Building 101 by Simon Lindley

The Fantasy Authors Unplugged feature has been re-booted lately and here’s another post by a guest author named Simon Lindley sharing about his upcoming book, Mannethorn’s Key and world-building. Take it away, Simon!

World-Building 101 by Simon Lindley

The Realm, The Land, Middle Earth, Narnia – I presume you have spent some time visiting at least one of them. I know I have. And, if all goes well with the ‘travel brochures’, Drageverden will soon be another fantasy ‘tourist’ destination. However, I expect people will only visit if the place promises immersive adventure!

World-building in fantasy is as critical to a plot as character development. When done well, it can transport the reader so absolutely that they yearn for the place long after finishing the book.

I’ll share with you some of my challenges, and the process I go through in creating a land that I am confident is not only believable but tangible, tactile and immersive for my readers.

One of the difficulties I’ve struggled with at times is purple prose. As writers, we sometimes lean to the flowery – long, buttery descriptives – waxing poetic, sprinkled with a fine, magical dust, like morning dew settling on the vine and… oh, I beg your pardon!
I have learned to 1) be succinct, 2) alternate between long and short/slow and faster-paced sentences, and 3) avoid overuse of adverbs. Purple prose detracts a reader as much as a similar life scenario. We’ve all been in one of those awkward moments when someone has talked for well over twenty minutes about, say, fruit flies because, well, they’re a fruit-fly expert, and we nod, and nod, and nod and mm-hmm — until we nod off.

Another habit I picked up came from kindergarten: Show & Tell. I love to tell people things. He saw a dog. Maggie was angry. The bird was tired. The danger is that by doing so, a writer creates a barrier rather than an invitation. We must ‘walk’ as we write, immersed in the land and noting its effect upon our character/s. I must show, not tell.

Like all trips we take, we discover as we go. I make an effort to step from character interiority back into Drageverden regularly, to generate an interaction between the two. It is easy to blurt out all the details of a place, but that is not how we naturally absorb our surroundings, and it quickly becomes tedious. Our character must shake as she enters the darkness of the spider’s lair, snap her head back at the whisper over her shoulder, brace with teeth clenched as the dust cloud rises from the horde cresting the last knoll – and we must be there with them.

Tolkien carried his readers along – experiencing the ground under a hobbit’s foot, smelling the foul mead and men of the Prancing Pony, and anticipating the Brandywine narrowing near the ferry, still far too distant to escape the Nazgul. He rarely tells. What’s more important is that no matter who you talk to, Middle Earth is different for everyone. Why? Tolkien let the scenes play out as much by emotion as he did geography and although he painted a vivid picture of the land, he left our conviction of and immersion in Middle Earth to fill in the deeper details.

So I haven’t provided you much regarding DrageVerden. Oh, I could talk, believe me – ask anyone who knows me and you’ll soon discover I rarely shut up — but you must ‘walk’ alongside the giants crossing the Arvian Plains to understand the shock of it all, or spend a day with Ka the drakehawk to experience her love for the Swamps of Ierloquetze. Brochures never do a place justice. You have to book the holiday.

Okay, okay! I’ll give you a little foreshadowing prior to your trip: Drage is Danish for dragon. Verden means land.

Happy Trails!

Simon Lindley is an author, musician and intrepid explorer in the real world and along the rolling landscapes of his imagination. His book, Mannethorn’s Key, the first in the Key of Life Trilogy, will be released in print and ebook formats January 5, 2018 at fine retailers everywhere. It is also available for pre-order now.

Thanks for stopping by to visit and read about this new book. Please click over to the book page, have a look and see if your interested in a pre-release copy.

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A Blogging Fool: 5 Reasons Why I Write & Post Daily

If you’re familiar with this website then you know I blog five days a week and re-post during the weekends. It can be a hectic schedule and for many authors there is the legitimate question of why even do so since it can take away from valuable time writing books. Now I don’t advocate that everyone should blog as much as I currently do since everyone is different. Likewise, I may find that I need to adjust my schedule in the future for various reasons. However, I thought I’d share why I post blogs so frequently at this time. Here are 5 reasons why I blog on my current schedule:

1. I enjoy blogging. I didn’t think that I would like hosting a blog but I’ve found that I like it very much. Therefore, I want to blog as often as I’m able.

2. I write a blog post because it’s a great creative outlet. I’ve found that I often generate fiction and blog ideas through writing my posts as well as other writing outlets. It keeps my creativity active.

3. It keeps me motivated. Rather than feeling like a drudgery or a waste/drain of writing time, I’ve found that writing posts actually keeps me motivated and enthused about writing as a whole. As such, I’ve begun to receive requests to write guest posts and interviews for other blogs which is very beneficial to my author platform.

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4. I can write ahead of my schedule and adjust it as needed. I write as often as I can, sometimes several posts a day depending on my schedule and the number of ideas I have. This allows me to stay ahead of my schedule most weeks. If something happens, like being sick, then I’m not under pressure to post or suspend my blog. There’s less stress. In fact, I was sick several weeks ago and really didn’t feel well for a week but I was so far ahead I could just rest. My main problem since then has been getting back in the creative flow.

5. Yes, it’s a marketing tool but this reason is the least of my reasons. However it’s one way to get content in front of readers. As I mentioned above, I’m now receiving requests for guest posts on other blogs. This great for expanding my visibility. My novel is not due out until later in the year but blogging serves as a foundation for marketing toward the launch.

How often do you write blog posts? Why do you post on your current schedule? Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.

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Guest Post: 7 Sites to Find Inspiration for Creative Writing

Today I welcome Cindy Bates as a guest blogger who shares some interesting sites for creative writing. Take it away, Cindy!!

Finding inspiration as a creative writer most probably helps unleash creative imagination that is vital for anybody using content online. You have to learn how to use this feeling to improve your writing productivity. As many creative writers already know, it can be quite challenging sometimes to come up with content that is worth reading. Alternatively, when inspired it is like you are possessed with a force that taps into your imagination. This helps one have ideas that are important to improve your creative writing efforts. If you need inspiration, listed are some of the best Sites to find inspiration for creative writing.

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1. Wridea

Wridea is an ideal site to visit if you are interested in finding a way to improve and save your ideas. Users have an opportunity to achieve a lot with their ideas. Wridea puts its user in control with contact groups and privacy settings allowing them to share ideas with the chosen collection of people.

This site encourages idea improvement as well as idea saving, which helps nurture great things in future. Wridea offers a variety of simple features, which are very effective. The best part about the site is that they are free of charge. You don’t need to pay to create a Wridea account. All features are available to its members.

2.WritersNet

Books don’t market themselves; neither do publishers do everything for you if you have gone that route. On the other hand, if you are a self-published novelist, the entire or most burden of marketing gets your shoulders.

It’s understandable that it might be difficult to determine the methods that pay off even after you have made them. At times book sales can happen by a combination various different methods. Therefore, it is recommended to visit WritersNet, which is a great website to promote your book and interact with other writers, both unpublished and published.

3. A-Writer

Is a good site route for creative writers seeking to interact with great publishers in their chosen field of writing. Being part of A-Writer gives creative essayists access to useful content; thus, helping them stay current every time.

4. The story starter

The story starter is a great tool that helps writers generate new ideas for writing plays, short stories, or other writing task. In order to generate an idea with the story starter, just click on the “click here for random stories sentence” and you will be given a new idea.

5. Aldaily

Aldaily is quite a good site to keep oneself updated with the current trends in creative writing. From aldaily, you will learn high-quality words and appropriate expressions. You simply have to make it a habit to keep checking it from time to time. The frequency varies from one person to another depending on her wants.

6. Write or Die

If you really want to write a book you could begin by writing 800 words immediately. This is simply achieved by signing up at Write or Die. This is a tool that you have to set for a length of time, for instance 20 minutes, and then you must write. The idea is to stop writing before the end of the time limit since there are consequences. Below are the consequences:

Kamikaze Mode: With this you must keep Writing otherwise your content will un-write itself
Normal Mode: With normal mode, if you stop writing, you’ll be played the most unpleasant sound, which will only stop if you continue writing.
Gentle Mode: after you stop writing for some time, a box pops up, reminding you to continue writing.

7. Pen.io

This is among the simplest sites that will help you publish a text webpage. The site does not require a sign up. Instead, you only define a post’s URL and create a password; thus, users are able to create their pages in a short time. Images are dragged in place, and one can create many posts simply by using a tag.

Pages may contain an e-book, a tutorial, or even a poem. Page editing is quite simple and needs no code. Users can as well add videos or even create new pages by following directions given by the site. After edits, users can easily save them in a single click, making the page get automatically updated.

The above mentioned are great platforms to find inspiration for creative writing. They can as well improve your creative writing skills, and even help you turn your leisure pursuit into a source of income.

About the author:

Cindy Bates works as a freelance writer and editor. She used to write articles and share her knowledge and experience in educational sphere. You are invited to connect with Cindy via Google+.

Thanks to Cindy for sharing this fantastic list of sites that encourage creative writing. I’m checking these out. How about you?

Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section. I’d also love to connect with you over social media so check my Contact page for that information. See the News page for announcements and remember to sign-up to receive news and posts by email. I’ve added a new sign-up tab on my FaceBook page to simplify the process. New followers can download The Black Bag via free coupon today! Also, the cover of my book, The Bow of Destiny, was revealed recently so take a look.