It has been a really long time since I’ve posted. That time has been filled with the mundane minutia of the everyday tasks involved in caring for my family: cooking, cleaning, baths and bedtime; school dropoffs and pickups; homework and laundry and alien probes.
*There weren’t really any alien probes, that I remember. But that description of my life was just so boring, I thought I’d test you to see if you made it through to the end.
I haven’t made written much since the last time I posted; inertia has been the enemy of progress. However, I’ve recently been inspired to get my rear in gear. As a result, I’ve fixed a couple of issues with my site, made this post, and started working again on Dragon’s Egg. Right now, I’m focused on world-building.
World-building is intimidating for me. As a perfectionist, unlimited choices – each of which could be the wrong choice – is a nightmare. I am much more confident when the rules are firmly established. So this is definitely stepping out of my comfort zone, but I’m determined to work through it.
I’m a visual person, so I’m using FreeMind, a (free, as you might expect) mind-mapping software, to sort of graphically free-associate all the different aspects involved in creating a world. A few of the questions I ask:
- What are the people like?
- What sort of conflicts do they have?
- How do they live, work, eat, breed, love?
- What are the physical characteristics of this race of people?
- What sort of abilities do they have?
- What is the planet like?
This is a screenshot of the beginning of this process (much is subject to change):
Crystal Jag | Crystal Jag I’m going to sign off for the day, and get back to work on that mind map. I hope to have some lines to post soon!
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