#setting development

[pendramaenia]

WIP- Setting art for Denizens of The Sunken. An island with no horizon, miles below sea level.

[penstricken]

8 Useful Blog Posts About Writing

Want to improve your #writing skills? Check out these 8 useful blog posts from other bloggers 👇 #writingtip #blog

I always try to bring the best writing advice I can to my blog, but sometimes, I just can’t say it as well as my fellow bloggers. I have therefore decided that it is time, once again, for me to share a list of blog posts about writing that I have found particularly useful in recent weeks so that you, too, can benefit from their wisdom. If you want to up your writing game, you could do a lot…

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[frittercrittern]

Development work on Drakaths for TSH! I have had so much work on them in the background, just no time to work on anything related. Now there's actually something to squint at!

[therainsoakedwriter]

Questions to Develop Your Setting:

How does your overall setting reinforce your theme?

How does your overall setting effect your plot?

In the setting for each scene, what can the five main senses (sight, sound, taste, touch, smell) detect? It doesn’t have to be in your story, but knowing the smell and taste of every location might guide the feeling you write.

How might the different characters in your story describe the settings?

What is the weather? If it’s cold or hot, are the characters dressed for it?

There are more weather phenomena more than just rain. Could high winds, thunder, hail, lightning, snow, fog, humidity, excessive clouds, or heat waves play a part in the weather of your setting?

What the main colors in each setting? Why? Do the characters’ colors match or stand out?

What if you picked a different setting and swapped it in? Brazil instead of the US, a small town instead of a city, a beach instead of an alleyway? If there’s little or no difference to the story when you swap it, the setting might need more development.

Are any settings reused in different scenes? If so, how do they change between scenes? If not physically, how do they take on new meanings for the characters throughout the story?

What are the most frequently used or important words you used to describe your setting?

Try asking a reader or a friend you’ve told the setting to describe what they think the setting sounds like back to you.

🌄 Good luck writing great settings, y’all! 🌇

[characterdevelopmentforwriters]

Banned and Illegal Magic

Are there specific spells/enchantments that are illegal, or is there just entire types of magic that are illegal? >Which specific spells are illegal? >Which types of magic are illegal? >>Summoning magic? >>Necromancy? >>Scrying? >>Curse making? >>Other types?

Are there illegal magical items? >Which types of magical items have legal restrictions on them? >>Potions? >>Weapons? >>Scrolls? >>Other items? >What do the restricted items do?

Where are they illegal? >Who made them illegal? >When were they made illegal? >Why were they made illegal?

What are the punishments for using the illegal magic/s? >Which spells/items/types of magic are fined, but given no jail time? >Which spells/items/types of magic are misdemeanors? >Which ones are serious crimes/felonies? >Are there any that are given a death penalty?

Is there an illegal market for these types of magic? >How expensive are they?

[coopertroupe]

Chaperone or Chaperoned-

The officer program is, or rather, is not child’s play. Physically, it’s grueling. High bloods have cushy jobs they said, it’s easy they said. To be honest, it is simple. Be fit, be smart, serve. You can go far as long as you aren’t just a shiny rock. The admiral finally gave you a new assignment. Her little game wasn’t fun. You are sure somehow that act of ‘stealthy acquisition’ will come back to bite you. But this time, you were tasked with being an escort of a lavish, high blood. Great.

Fleet decrees all hands must be early! So there you were, standing in your service uniform. It was practically the same as your dress uniform except with a cover designating officer candidacy. Considering how many trolls had this, you had a lot to prove. Now where was this....oh gods, they can’t be serious. You have to ask for their name because...no. What the hell kind of name is that?!

[maple-toast]

Out Of Narrative (18)

Moving away from an in universe narrative I will be listing some details of the setting that won't be readily apparent without context. Details that an in universe narrator would not consider important to point out, even if they could be noted in later works. Much of this information is in regard to humans in general, as Chitterlings and Dryads have been detailed in their own societies. -The setting is primarily iron age equivalent: The process for forging steel is lost knowledge after the Migration. Cottage industry is primarily how all goods are made outside of workshops in cities or larger towns. With the destruction of the guilds in Glory, steps to further technology have stalled. -The setting is young: The apocalypse that drove humans into the Midlands was less than two hundred years before the present and their history has been lost. There are no nobility lines outside of some mayoral positions in older settlements and the concept of an elite class is new again. -There are not a lot of humans While the Midlands are fertile and humans have been able to repopulate after their Migration, there are less than one million spread across the entire region. With Glory's destruction the region took a large population loss to make matters worse. -The setting is small: The Midlands is not an expansive region. It can be crossed by foot entirely within a couple months. This means conflicts will involve a smaller scale and generally be personal problems over grand tales. As examples a major and history making battle is likely to involve less than a hundred combatants per side. A half dozen thugs can hold a village hostage. A few hungry wolves are a deadly threat to a merchant's caravan. Problems where individuals make differences in. -There are no riding animals in the Midlands: While pack and labor animals like donkeys, cow, and oxen are common there are no domesticated animals bred for riding. To travel a person must walk or be drawn in a cart that will be marginally faster. -There are many small villages throughout the Midlands: With widespread supplies of groundwater, villages are founded anywhere wells can be dug. These villages are normally a day's walk from the next but can still feel isolated as it takes effort and some risk for even short journeys between villages. Travelers on longer journeys will often travel lightly as they can resupply at the next village they stop at. -Literacy is rare within the Midlands: Only two languages have a written script; Insight and Gosling Gab. With Glory's destruction the region lost prominent schools, leaving it with few institutions where reading and writing can be reliably taught. For those who are literate it is most common among the few affluent, merchants, and scholars. Scholars are uncommon as they require a patron to fund their studies. In the wake of Glory’s Calamity it is possible Insight’s written word could be lost.

[characterdevelopmentforwriters]

Becoming Immortal

How can one gain immortality? >Spells? >Potions? >Rituals? >Sacrifices? >Artifacts? >Something else?

If immortality is gained by moving one's consciousness into another body, what happens to the other person's consciousness? >Does the other person have a say in whether this happens or not? >What is consciousness defined as? >If there is something physically wrong with the person's original brain, will the problems caused by that be fixed upon entering the other person's body?

What happens if the effect wears out? >Do they die immediately? >Do they age super quickly to the age they would have been had they not become immortal? >Do they start aging again from that point forward? >>Does it continue at the same rate as everyone else? >>Does the speed  of aging change from everyone else's?

Does the brain still age when the body doesn't? >If one becomes immortal before puberty, will they be permanently infertile and unable to grasp complex concepts that require further brain development? >If a person has a degenerative brain disorder (such as Alzheimer's or dementia), will it be fixed by becoming immortal? >>Will the progress of the disease be stopped? >>Will it continue as is?

What kind of people seek immortality?

What is the success rate for becoming immortal (using methods that actually have the ability to make one immortal)?

What negative effects of becoming immortal are there? >Increased hubris? >Inability to relate and empathize with others? >Depression and seclusion after seeing everyone and everything they know and love die and disappear? >Hatred for the people changing things?

For more considerations on making immortals, check out my post on Gods and Immortals.