Worldbuilding: Fantasy Religion Design Guide
by Joe Wetzel (joewetzel at gmail dot com) [If you like this article, check out the other Worldbuilding articles on this website using the sidebar navigation.] Depending on your campaign setting idea, in the early stages you may only need a bare minimum of details about your religion. In cases like these make sure you flesh out any particular deities you need (for example if a character is a Cleric or Paladin describe that god in at least bullet points and note any needed game statistics or mechanics such as the god’s domains) and build up the religion later when it is needed or when you have an intriguing idea. This also gives you an opportunity to see how the players react to your religion’s skeleton and build on what they like and what is important to your evolving setting and story. But if religion, gods, or a pantheon is a key aspect of your campaign setting idea, you’ll want to work it up in detail early during your fantasy world’s development. Multiple Religions? Nature of the Gods
What Makes a Primary Source a Primary Source?
This guest post comes to us from Cheryl Lederle of the Library of Congress. Is a newspaper a primary source? A political cartoon? “Primary sources” are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. The definition seems clear enough until we begin to label particular items as primary or secondary. "Columbus taking possession of the new country," 1893 This image depicts Columbus landing on an island he named San Salvador, also known as Watling Island. The phrase “created at the time under study” provided a focus for their discussion and decision. How would the answer change if the picture were being used to study late nineteenth-century attitudes about the event? "The First Thanksgiving," 1932 Instead of asking whether a particular object is a primary source, it might be more useful to ask when that artifact would be a primary source. When would this image be a primary source? Additional Library of Congress resources:
reference for writers - Drug Addict Characters Information
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Mythical Creatures List, Mythical Creatures A-Z
Writing Prompts 101
By Simon Kewin Even if you are not a professional writer you probably already heard about writing prompts. They represent a very effective tool for any writing project, so it’s a good idea to know how to use them. What Is A Writing Prompt? If you’re a fiction writer, you may want to consider using writing prompts to kick-start your creativity. You may just come up with rough, disjointed notes or you may end up with something more polished and complete, a scene or even a complete story. Here are four good reasons for writing to prompts : Sometimes it’s hard to start writing when faced with a blank page. Examples of Writing Prompts The following are twenty writing prompts that you could use to spark your imagination. It was the first snowfall of the year. Where To Find Writing Prompts Online The internet is a wonderful source of writing prompts. There are also numerous blogs that offer a regular writing prompt to inspire you and where you can, if you wish, post what you’ve written.
Fantasy Writing Prompts | L.B. Gale
One of the best things that writers can do to exercise their mental and creative muscles is to play around with writing prompts. I don’t often see prompts that are focused on fantasy (or speculative fiction), so I thought that this would be a good place to try it out. Not that the below ideas can’t be applied to any writing genre, but I’ve written them with fantasy in mind. Fantasy Writing Prompt #1: Trailer Visuals First let me begin by explaining what this writing prompt is not. If I were to just tell you to watch this trailer and use it as a prompt to get an idea for your own story, then you would likely end up with an idea that is as derivative as most fantasy novels in the post-Tolkien era. Now I know exactly what is happening in this scene of Fellowship, but instead of thinking of that, I want to drain myself of all knowledge of that story and pull out an idea that could take me in a completely different direction. Story Idea #1: Let’s go with a Science-Fiction route.
World Building 101
World Building 101 by Lee Masterson You are the ultimate creator of your fictional world. No matter where or when your story is set, regardless of what events unfold, and despite the characters you introduce to your readers, they are all products of your unique imagination. "But I write romance set in the present time," I hear you cry. It doesn't matter whether your story is set in 16th century Middle Europe, or the 28th century Altarian star-system, your story still belongs in a world created entirely by you. So, even though it can be great fun to invent strange sounding planets in distant galaxies, complete with lethal atmospheres and budding alien life-forms, there are still writers out there who would much prefer to deal with Earth as we already know it. The good news is you still get your chance to put on your megalomaniac's hat and play God! Regardless of where (or when) your story is set, YOU have decided your characters' destinies for them. - Are the seasons consistent?
