In the course of writing a fantasy or science fiction story, the subject of alien cultures inevitably raises its head. The reader expects them and so as the writer it is your job to design some good ones. So, where to start? How do I design a culture that is alien enough and that the …
Tag Archive: local color
It’s Official!
Well, it’s official. Publish America will no longer handle Maldene. Instead, independent publisher Vault of Knowledge will take over Maldene publication. So, new cover, new publisher, and new ISBN and ordering info. Stay tuned as new details continue to develop.
MAJOR NEWS!!!
Publish America will no longer be handling Maldene. Stay tuned for more as things develop. (the Vault will be opening soon…)
The New Cover Is FINISHED!!!
Yes True Believers (Whoops, Stan Lee has that one)… I mean, okay Kids (No, Letterman owns that one)… Okay, how’s about… Okay all you Fantasy Fans, this is it. The new cover for Maldene Volume I is FINISHED! Great praises go out to Sasha and Diego (you’ll find a link to them on the front …
Latest Cover Update
Well True Believers (okay, so with apologies to Stan Lee, I need to come up with my own tag line for any of you guys out there), I have another cover update. Between sickness, dying laptops and phones, root canals, and a bunch of other stuff there has been much in the way of delays …
Plot Talk: Language on Maldene
I have made posts before regarding designing a language for your fictional world, so now is the time for a concrete example, in the form of my own. Yes, Maldene has a dictionary, and even an alphabet. You can download the font file for the alphabet in the Downloads section of www.maldene.com, but for the …
Writing Tips: Messages In A Story
A lot of writers have a certain message they would like to put into a story. That is all fine and well, but it is important to remember that the story must come first. No matter how strong or important a message you may have, it will not be heard if the reader doesn’t finish …
Writing Tips: Magic In Your World
Fantasy worlds have one standard prerequisite: Magic. But, how does a writer use it in his story? Is it enough to simply have the wizard do whatever needs to be done and all the writer has to do is shrug and say “It’s magic” when asked how? Everything needs a logic, it’s own internal consistency, …
Writing Tip: World Building
Okay, so I stopped numbering them already. Moving on, this tip is for those writers of Fantasy and SF in need of designing their own world. Where to start? You have some ideas but which way to go? A step at a time, and the first step is simple. Break out some graph paper, 10 …
Tavern Talk