There is a high chance your characters will go travelling, especially the adventurous types who love a good quest. I have discussed geography in world building in an earlier blog. This one will look at how best to traverse it. Walking Walking is the simplest and cheapest method of getting A to B. A stout …
Beta Readers are invaluable to writers. They put their trust in them to read and critique their work. So what have I learnt since becoming a beta reader? 1) Stick to guidelines and deadlines Writers should give you guidance on what they want from you. Ask first if they would like you to offer help …
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Twitter has a wonderful writing community. I think the best part is the hashtag prompts. Take #vssnature, which I host, as an example. The aim is to write a tweet-sized very short story (vss) on the prompt word. I limited this prompt to nature words, but there are other daily and weekly hashtag prompts to …
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Ah, June! The sun has made a comeback. What better than to read a murder mystery set in the baking hot Egyptian desert while sunbathing on the beach! Amelia Peabody is a guilty pleasure read. But come on, every book comes with a dose of Egyptology and a feminist Indiana Jones mixed with murder, mystery, …
It’s an absolute joy to announce two pieces of my artwork have been accepted for the 2023 Earth Pathways Diary and Calendar. The Golden Hour is the May image for the 2023 calendar. Sunset – included in the 2023 Diary. I’ve been buying and using these diaries since 2012. They are lovingly made and packed …
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Books The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood The plot is well known, and considering the erosion of women’s rights in the USA, reality draws some worryingly similar parallels to the novel. However, I could not get into it. First, the lack of quotation marks makes deciphering what is and isn’t dialogue a chore, and it …
The easiest way to approach geography in world building is to cut it down into three sections: The physical structure of the world, The climate, How the population affects and is affected by 1 and 2. You don’t need a geography degree to design a plausible landscape. By focusing on how your characters affect and …
Religion is a significant part of world building in fantasy because every society has its own origin story. Even in places where the popularity of religion is fading, it still heavily imprints on society. It is the story of creation and how your characters perceive how they fit within it. Developing a framework Getting the …
Audiobooks The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis) There is no point in me harping on about this brilliant novel. However, I will talk about the narration of this audiobook version. During the Covid lockdown, Andy Serkis streamed a live reading of The Hobbit for charity, which I tuned into. …
I must admit, I never used to be the keenest of fans on the classics such as Thomas Hardy. Yet, after watching every conceivable adaptation of Far from the Madding Crowd, I gave the book a go. The impetus was also spurred on by the fact my Dad keeps sheep. After this, I kept seeing …