30 Days of World-Building - Day 5 - The Map

Exercise 5 - Draw out the physical contours of your map, and then identify at least three places that your people might live. You don't need names for them yet - we'll worry about names next week. Just draw a dot on the map or maybe sketch a little "house" symbol to indicate that people have settled that area.

You'll have to take my word for this one. The "map", needless to say, is rather messy and not something that I would willing subject to the internet. Thanks for your patience. 

30 Days of World-Building - Day 4 - Cataclysms

Exercise 4 - For 15 minutes, jot down some of the Really Big Land Features you want in your story and think "what if that were made by..." Write down a couple of causes for those features and scars. Which scars are slow-force scars (plate tectonics), and which are fast-forces (anything that takes less than 10,000 years is medium-to-fast in geological scales).

List -
Grand Mountains - plate tectonics, ancient magic, dwarf construction and rituals

Island Mountain Spire - volcanic activity, ancient race, temple of worship, secret haven

Sparsely Wooded Wasteland - unchecked forest fire, magic gone wrong, demon-taint

Abandoned River Valley - mountain run-off, malevolent haunting

Mystical Forest - fairy taint/magic, celestial taint/magic

Desert Canyon - mountain run-off, tribal society, ancient river beasts

30 Days of World-Building - Day 3 - Mood & Setting

Exercise 3 - Read over your list from Day 1, then turn to a blank piece of paper. Close your eyes and think about what kind of feeling you like to have when you write or read. Write down four words that fit into that feeling: two adjectives, a verb, and a noun. Now return to your climate and emotions list. If any of the words match, you have your climate. If not, try to find the closest-matched words.

List -
intriguing, mysterious (adjectives)
running (verb)
fulfillment (noun)

Climate -
Deciduous Forest - intrigued, fascinated

30 Days of World-Building - Day 2 - Physical Planet

Exercise 2 - What role will weather play in your story? Any ideas at this stage are not set it stone. Instead, come up with ten plot devices that relate to weather, and what they would do to the story.

List -
Dust Storm - Complicate travel, cause sand to ride the winds, "Dust Bowl"

Tropical Storm - Tear apart warships, interrupt a battle with a pirate king

Avalanche/Heavy Snow - Separate characters, complicate travel, block mountain passes, cause snow-in

Heavy Storms - Lightning causes forest fires, complicate travel, cause river trade problems

Heat Wave - Cause drought, dry up crops, natural water supplies dwindle

Cold Snap - Freeze natural water supplies, freeze crops not harvested, cause river trade problems

Flash-Flood - Complicate travel, low-lying dwellings abandoned, families forced from homes

Heat Lightning - Cause forest fires, incite panic in the less-educated

Hurricane - Disrupt coastal cities and villages, impede naval travel and trade

Volcanic Eruption - Decimate mountain-based societies, complicate mountain travel, incite panic

30 Days of World-Building - Day 1 - Climate & Variety

Call me a volatile personality, but I've decided to go back to writing one of my original fantasy ideas. I've also decided to try a 30 day world-building exercise that I found while perusing the internet. Figured it might help me embellish some old ideas, and establish some new ones. So, without further ado, welcome to . . . the 30 Days of World-Building.

Exercise 1 - Find an international map or atlas, and observe the different climates and how they appear and behave. Then, for fifteen minutes, list all the climates you can think of. After that, write one or two words describing either the climate itself, or how each of the climates makes you feel.

List - 

Tropical Forest - adventurous, excited  

Evergreen Forest - calm, peaceful

Deciduous Forest - intrigued, fascinated

Desert - desperate, worried

Tundra (Sub-arctic) - shivering, strong

Mountains - hardy, long-lasting

Plains - hard-working, tough

Highlands - rugged, worn

Arctic - cold, inhospitable