So Ends One Chapter, So Begins Another. . .

After some consideration, I have decided to start a new blog dedicated strictly to worldbuilding. I began Annotation when I set out to write my fantasy novel but it was mostly a chronicle of my progress during NaNoWriMo of 2007. Since then, I have begun to rethink novel writing but am currently hard at work on building my world and have decided a fresh start would be nice.

Please come join me at the new blog: Faercourt: A Worldbuilding Realm

I look forward to hearing from you and hope all is well with you and yours.

Blessings,
Wintermaide

I'm Back. . .

Ok, so it's been quite a while since I posted. Real life has totally gotten in the way of creative pursuits since NaNoWriMo ended. However, I have actively begun working on my world again (more on this later) and have decided to bring my blog out of limbo.

Tales of a Fantasy Scribbler has just announced that August will be World Building Month. I've just signed up and hope to see all of you fellow world builders there.

I also recently "re-discovered" the Shakespeare and Dragons podcast and forum and can't say enough nice things about the podcast. Wonderful information for anyone interested in any aspect of worldbuilding.

More later. . .

On Worldbuilding - Thoughts from Raymond E. Feist

I have no idea where the time has gone since my last post except that I know I've been busy but I don't now recall exactly what it was that I've been busy doing. . .

That aside, I am currently reading Shadow of a Dark Queen (Volume I of the Serpentwar Saga) by Raymond E. Feist and quite enjoying it. I've had the second book in the series, Rise of a Merchant Prince, for a couple of years but had not read it because I wanted to read the first book first.

Whenever I begin reading a new author (new to me) I always check for an author website; I do love to find out more about the writers whose work I'm reading and also learn more about what other works they've written.

Raymond Feist has a wonderful article on his website concerning the history and genesis of Midkemia, the land in which the series is set. I especially love this quote: "I don't write fantasy. I write historical novels about an imaginary place."

This very much falls in line with what I've stated earlier about my own philosophy regarding worldbuilding and novel writing. I am most drawn to novels where it is obvious that the setting of the story is fully developed and not contrived to accommodate the characters.

Yes, I prefer character driven novels to plot driven ones but I want to see how the characters react to the world into which they are placed as opposed to the world in which they live meeting their needs. Isn't that how we, in the real world, must live?

Five days left until Christmas; I am so not ready.

On Worldbulding - Thoughts From David B. Coe

David B. Coe is one of my favorite fantasy authors and I recently began reading his blog. Today, he had a great entry on using maps as the basis for worldbuilding. Well worth the few minutes of reading time and it has really gotten me excited about finishing my own world map.

I have yet to add in the finer details such as forests and plains nor have I begun naming the numerous rivers, villages, towns, forests, mountain ranges, etc. I think the map will have to come out tomorrow for a dreaming / scheming session.

On Worldbuilding - Architecture

The aspect of worldbuilding is one of the biggest reasons I adore reading fantasy as well as one of the major reasons for wanting to write in the fantasy genre. I’ve talked about my map building in previous posts but in starting back on my world, I’ve decided to break things down into categories and being the librarian kind of girl that I am, I am starting with the letter “A” for Architecture.

I have a number of buildings that will need to be drawn and furnished:

The castle complex of King Garion;
The castle complex of King Enion;
The home where Mordis, Effie, Analeah, Jareb, Nonna and Joran live - this dwelling also serves as the workspace for the chandlery of the women;
The tavern and stable where Rann and his parents live;
The manor house of the Omandi queen.

For each building I am posing the questions:
Building materials?
Ornamentation?
Floorplan?
How large are the rooms?
Who lives there?
How many levels?
Which rooms need to be described?
Are there secret passages, rooms, entrances?
What are the furnishings in each of the described rooms?

On a larger scale, I need to design and draw out the castle city of King Garion, the area known as the “Walls” which is built against the outside walls of Garion’s city and where Analeah and her family live, the village where Rann lives, and the Omandi village where the queen lives.

So far, I’ve sketched out Analeah’s home in vague terms but need to get out my drafting tools and draw things to scale so I can begin the furnishing of the interior.

I have found some really great photos online of castles as well as owning many, many books with photos and drawings but it has been very difficult to find drawings or photos of middle and lower-middle class dwellings from the medieval period.

I’ve also found some of the best reference materials to be found in the juvenile stacks at the library, especially the “Eyewitness Books” published in the US by Alfred A. Knopf. These are Dorling Kindersley books and I am a huge fan of all their works.

So, for now, back to the literal drawing board :)

Types of Wrimos

Writing Sya has another great post on NaNoWriMo - very funny stuff regarding the different "Types of WriMos."

On Worldbuilding

NaNoWriMo is over; my final, official word count was 55,172. I think this is pretty respectable as I've never done anything like this before and I didn't have a great deal of time to get ready before the writing began.

In skimming back over my story (which is far from a complete story) I can see that one of my biggest stumbling blocks in the actual writing was the lack of actual worldbuilding. Even though I've been reading on the medieval ages for the past ten years, I had not sat down and "created" my world in which to place the story.

I've read countless debates on the question: should you build your world before writing the story or build the world as you write the story. In the end I think this comes down to personal choice. For me, I prefer reading novels where the world is fully formed, a living thing unto itself.

It is often easy to determine while reading a book whether or not the world was fully realized in the author's mind before the story was written, mainly because there seem to be too many "coincidences" which occur with regard to the world the character lives in. I had much rather read a story in which the world exist and then seeing how the characters relate to the world in which they live.

I've decided that before beginning my re-write / revision, I am returning to my world and building it layer upon layer until it is as detailed as I believe the story will require; I truly believe this will enable me to undergo the second draft with a story with much more depth and breadth. Doing this presents me with one small danger in that I absolutely adore worldbuilding and could happily spend the rest of my life adding details to my world. Fortunately I do have a great support group who will remind me that the real purpose of all this building is to facilitate the writing.

I am going to be posting the process that I take in order to building my world and hopefully it might help some of you in building your own worlds.

Now What?

For anyone interested in what comes after NaNoWriMo, Writing Sya has a list with links of all the upcoming writing challenges for the next year.

NaNo Update ~ Winner!

Well, I've done it ~ I have managed to officially cross the 50,000 word finish line with five days to spare. The number that got me into the winner's circle is 50,352. I made the final big push this morning of almost 8,000 words to get there and it was exhausting but so worth it to see the purple "Winner" banner on my profile. I am not sure if I will continue to write on the existing file as such or begin the revision process.

I signed up for NaNo as a personal journey of exploration: to see if I could even write 50,000 words, to find out if I had the stamina or will to sit at the computer day after day and type, to learn if writing is something I really want to do or something I just thought I wanted to do, and finally, to have a better idea of whether or not I have the raw talent to commit myself to a full year or more in hopes of ending up with a marketable manuscript.

So ~ what I have learned:

Yes, I can write 50,000 words. And some are even different words. Not all of them are good words, but. . .

Yes, I found I was able to return to the computer time and again and type. . . I didn't always make it every day but I was able to catch up my word count within a day or two. This happened whether or not I had any idea of what I was going to write when I first sat down for each writing session. At times it was not easy to get started, sometimes the words were almost painful to bring forth, but eventually, if I sat long enough, the words did come.

Yes, I do want to be a writer.

Yes, the longer I have written, the more I have come to believe that I do have some skill at storytelling. I do accept the fact that I have much to learn before I reach the point where my writing will be strong enough to submit to an agent and/or publisher but I believe that if I continue to work on my story, continue to work hard to hone my skills, that day will come.

If you are interested in reading an excerpt of my story, you can find it in my NaNoWriMo profile.

Maybe I can now read a book for a change :)

NaNo Day Twenty~One Update

Feast or famine. It seems that the majority of my writing comes in fits and starts; I have gone as long as two days without writing this month only to come back on the second or third day and manage 2,000 to 4,000 words at a time.

My current word count has reached 36,769; I had really begun to once again fear I wouldn't make it to 50,000 but after this afternoon's session of close to 3,000 words I'm feeling energized again and have been able to visualize several new scenes to write next.

I would take absolutely nothing for the experience so far. Knowing that there is a deadline has continued to cause me to return to the keyboard even when I thought I had no more words inside me, well past the point when in the past I would have put it down altogether.

I'm very sad by the number of my writing buddies who began this journey with me and have since disappeared along the way. I especially hate this as I really feel had they managed to stay the course for the first couple of weeks they would have found a second wind just as I have. You are missed, my friends. . .