Posts

Showing posts from February, 2024

Crafting through Example

Image
  Born in 1892 John Ronald Reuel Tolkien would later become one of if not the most influential writers of the 20th century and would remain as a prominent staple of pop culture in modern times. J.R.R Tolkien in his early life would move to England from his birthplace being what is now Free State, South Africa. Tolkien had an early knack for reading being able to read by the age of four. Tolkien had an apparent fondness for the works of Andrew Lang which would later be reflected in Tolkien's later works. While also in his youth Tolkien would experiment and develop conlangs which would pose as the catalyst for arguably his most famous work. Tolkien during his life was a firsthand witness of WWI in which he fought for the British army and did see combat. his experiences in the great war would also carry on to his stories.     J.R.R. Tolkien is considered one of the greatest world-builders and his works still influence many other fantasy works to this day. While I discus...

Crafting Through Names

Image
Names are a rather important and common thing that we humans love to give out to everything we perceive. If you've read my post about world-building through cartography or maybe you didn't, you probably want tips to name your world-building town, cities, geographical features, and other places. Not only does naming your location fill the itch to name it but it is also a tool you can use for your world-building project. Names can be simple or as fanciful as you want to make them they can also hold plenty of subtext if you are clever enough. In the real world, names are everywhere and range in complexity. Some examples of these could be the multiple villages in Norway that go by the name Å . There are also places with super complex names such as Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg Lake otherwise known as Webster Lake. Names can be derived from anywhere be it a geological feature, the name of an influential person, a historical moment, a thing in another language, or e...

Crafting Through Cartography

Image
Be it the realms  of Arda, Night City, The Nameless City, or the Sword Coast, e very story, narrative, or D&D campaign needs a setting to take place in. One world-building tool that personally helps me world-build and brainstorm are maps! Maps provide a visual aspect to writing and can be as wild as you want while being relatively simple. Let me tell you how to make your own fantasy map.  A method I like to use is the dice method in which you throw down dice on a piece of paper and use this as a foundation for the land you want to create.   Next, define your landmass work on the coasts and add some interesting land features like coves peninsulas, gulfs, and maybe some islands.    Add some mountains or hills. you could use the dice method for this as well. after you put down your mountain/mountain ridges then put lakes/wetlands at the bottom of a group of mountains and maybe some rivers connecting said lake to the mountain and from the lake into the ocea...

Welcome & What to Expect

Image
Welcome to my blog, I'm Colby a world-building enthusiast. World-building is in my opinion an essential part of any work of fiction be it for a novel a D&D campaign or just a personal project.    What is world-building and why do I find it to be a crucial tool for story crafting? World-building is the art of constructing fictional worlds and is a fundamental aspect of storytelling. World-building establishes a setting for a narrative to play around. These projects can go as in-depth as a creator/author needs them to be. For example, J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit takes place in Tolkien's world-building project of Middle Earth. Middle Earth is a fleshed-out world with its own mythologies and lore way more than what we see in his major series. In this blog, I will go over tips and tricks that I have found useful when crafting my own worlds.