The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

Each story has some type of world building, whether it be just creating a social system in a neighborhood, or creating an entire solar system plucked from your mind, as well as anything in between.  Each writer, or D&D DM needs to create the world in which the characters or players interact and grow.  It all starts with that. In the novels I'm writing, I started with a few websites that I had found some valuable information, I have since, found other sites to tickle the imagination and exploration of worlds. I would like to share those with you. Basilicus   I found this site intersesting for its star system and religion section Building Guides Building a Species Building Stars and Star Systems Scientific Help Building Nations Building Cities Building Organizations Building Religions and Myths Building Technology and Science Main Building Guide Page Some of these are still being worked on. More will be added and upda...

I've been trying to get my crap together. Organize what I'm doing when and trying to get things running smoothly. And what happens but I find myself snuggled up to my kobo reading series after series of my favorite authors. Nothing I wanted to get done, gets done and my poor book is again neglected like the house plant that hasn't been watered for weeks. It sits with it's pages drooping over the edge of the table, practically begging to get picked up and revised fully into the 5th draft. 'Please' it whispers in the dark of night as I lay sleeping, 'please remember I'm here.' so after 2 weeks of my horrible behavior of reading, in which I've been poking and prodding at other writers work, only because I've done so much to my own book that I can't help but see what the holes are, I opened my critiquing folder and had a crack at a 1st chap of a MS that I should have opened the day I got it. I'm not even saying that out of duty, oh ...

So today I have decided that my Friday mornings will be focused on critiquing fellow writers in their works (and hopefully continuing on into the weekend).  The problem I have with that is not the ones I critique from AQC but the ones from Critters Writers Workshop .  Perhaps it is because I do not talk or chat with the ones from the workshop.  I do not know them in any way.  I have no problems with the site itself or with the people but some of the work that is offered up for review is so raw it is as if they posted their rough drafts without trying to polish and enhance their work.  Some have written stories with not enough research, so it seems beyond reason of suspended belief and others are just choppy and need to learn how to flow more.  It may be that those were the very reasons for them posting on Critters but some how I would think that they would have done more research on what works better, what flows better and the like before showing their wor...

The thing that has been getting to me the most lately is writers who don't do the research.  If you live from the south, and you want to write about winter in the North East, come to me, I grew up here.  I lived in MA for half my life, the other half has been in RI.  So I know the area.  The point is, please find some one who lives there and ask them.  Don't just guess.  The person I'm writing about had a good story going but didn't do the research, it ruined it dramatically for me.  Mass loves their snow plows! My responses were, wait what? The entire time, I could't focus on the plot, or on the characters because I was too baffled by ice storm= pretty white fluffy snow the next day=a snow mobile in Salem MA in December. (Wait, what?) It was a great story, if I could get past the holes.  However, I barely got through the three chapters that were sent to me.  I feel bad about it, cause I was supposed to help critique it ...