Worldbuilding: Extradimensional Trophic Levels

AKA why vampire and were-creature “societies” make me cranky. The available energy just isn’t there.

Some background. Biology, so far as we know,

Worldbuilding: Of Borg and Whiteflies

I’ll be blunt: of all the aliens Star Trek has come up with, the Borg annoy me most.

Worldbuilding: A Cranky Wizard’s Cabin

One of the staples of adventure fantasy is the wise old wizard or witch who has to be consulted for the next step in the quest. Whether that be a fragment of a mystical Dark Crystal,

Worldbuilding: When Research Fails

Sometimes RL sources are no help whatsoever in worldbuilding. Take ghosts and hauntings. Please.

I’ve been trying to research some RL ghosts and haunted places

Worldbuilding: A Cold Fire of Life and Death

Picture yourself as a doctor on the field of an awful battle, bodies wrecked and scattered as far as the eye can see. You find who you can, and treat what you can,

Book Review: Florida’s Unexpected Wildlife

Florida’s Unexpected Wildlife: exotic species, living fossils, and mythical beasts in the Sunshine State, by Michael Newton. I’d give this a 4.5 out of five stars; breezily written, well-referenced and an extensive appendix of Florida Skunk Ape sightings.

Worldbuilding: Should Your Fantastic World Have Leash Laws?

Control – who has it, who does it, who needs it, who enforces it – is an integral aspect of a lot of fantastic fiction. Self-control is often a critical requirement

Writing with Emotional Connection: Starting Slow

Sometimes you want to write a story that’s all action and adventure, your reader pulled happily from one feat of derring-do and Evil Overlord deathtrap escape to the next. In media res is perfect for that. But what if your focus is more on the world and the people who make their lives in it, for better or worse?

Worldbuilding: Walking the Manticore

If your world is odd, it should have odd jobs. Manticore-walking. Dragon-washes. Demonic contract editors.

…Wait, those might be regular lawyers.

Worldbuilding: Meeting Characters vs. Meeting Worlds Part 2

Generally speaking, your readers will have fewer preconceptions about your characters than they will about your world. When it comes to a world, a reader will assume it’s like the Earth they know, unless it’s explicitly described otherwise.