These are hardcore questions. Patricia C. Wrede wrote a very intensive list of questions to help you determine the intricacies of your newly invented world.
Usefulness: 5 out of 5
Hot dayum. This is everything you could possibly need to know. I like to imagine that Wrede sat down with Tolkein and took this list straight from his brain. You can chose to ignore all the "trivial" things, like art and culture, for basic world-building, or you can develop a living, breathing society/world/plant. It's a spectrum of awesomeness.
Fun: 1 out of 5
This is another one of my "I like learning herpderp!" moments. However, this is grueling work. There are SO many questions and it takes soo much time. I can't even explain how time consuming this list can be.
Hipster: 3 out of 5
It's okay. This site is sort of well-known, but articles are always a harder to find.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Review: Articles and Advice for Writers
This is a short review. There's so much information provided by these articles, I can't really quantify this for everyone. I'll give you some scores and let you figure it out for yourselves :)
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Lots of options here. So many different things to learn. Definitely an article for everyone.
Fun: 3 out of 5
I like learning. Stop judging me >.<
Hipster: 5 out of 5
I found these searching the web for how to make mead. So, yeah. Not exactly easy to find.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Lots of options here. So many different things to learn. Definitely an article for everyone.
Fun: 3 out of 5
I like learning. Stop judging me >.<
Hipster: 5 out of 5
I found these searching the web for how to make mead. So, yeah. Not exactly easy to find.
NaNoNovember: Phase Outlines
I'm turning this into its own little database. I've found some articles and info explaining phase outlines, so I'm planning to collect them here.
For those of you who don't know, phase outlining is just a fancy way to outline your novel. You write scenes as "phases", a sentence or two explaining what should happen in that scene. You can outline the entire novel like that. Phase outlines are pretty intense, a full one can be over 10,000 words, but you're never worried about what you need to write. I really loved it and it made outlining, and afterward writing, so much easier.
Links:
It's Just a Phase by Lazette Gifford
Phase Outline Methodology by John Williams
Scrivener Hybrid Outline by JA Marlow (based on phase outlining, from Lazette Gifford's ezine)
Phase Outline? (A forum transcript, where many people discuss their attempts at this outline style)
Phase Outline by Cherise (blog post, discusses value specifically during NaNo and gives examples)
For those of you who don't know, phase outlining is just a fancy way to outline your novel. You write scenes as "phases", a sentence or two explaining what should happen in that scene. You can outline the entire novel like that. Phase outlines are pretty intense, a full one can be over 10,000 words, but you're never worried about what you need to write. I really loved it and it made outlining, and afterward writing, so much easier.
Links:
It's Just a Phase by Lazette Gifford
Phase Outline Methodology by John Williams
Scrivener Hybrid Outline by JA Marlow (based on phase outlining, from Lazette Gifford's ezine)
Phase Outline? (A forum transcript, where many people discuss their attempts at this outline style)
Phase Outline by Cherise (blog post, discusses value specifically during NaNo and gives examples)
Thursday, November 15, 2012
NaNoWriMo: Word Count Update
Well, I'm pretty behind. Week 2 was a bit of a bust, with all the work I have to do. However, I do have some more analysis on NiIL and some more reviews to put up, so look alive people! My school work cannot kill me just yet.
Though graduaatioonn... That's another story altogether.
Though graduaatioonn... That's another story altogether.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
START HERE AND GO UP Review: A Way With Worlds
A Way With Worlds, hosted by Seventh Sanctum, is a collection of articles to help you world-build and otherwise structure your story. It's pretty easily understood and have over 56 articles to chose from on specific topics of world-building. I don't have anything particularly in depth to say about it. The site is pretty even, average quality.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
These articles are all useful. Technically, that makes it 5 out of 5. However, I'm grading based on the usefulness as a world-building tool. As such, there are some articles that are totally useless. Specifically, the fan-fiction articles. Like fan service? Totally not worthwhile. Not even a little bit.
Fun: 2 out of 5
I find it fun because I like learning >.< The fan-fiction articles are definitely funny and some of the world-building articles can be as well. Nothing overwhelmingly interesting for other people though.
Hipster: 4 out of 5
You really would only know about this if you troll around Seventh Sanctum. It's another one of those "hidden in the sidebar and you probably won't notice it" kind of things.
Usefulness: 3 out of 5
These articles are all useful. Technically, that makes it 5 out of 5. However, I'm grading based on the usefulness as a world-building tool. As such, there are some articles that are totally useless. Specifically, the fan-fiction articles. Like fan service? Totally not worthwhile. Not even a little bit.
Fun: 2 out of 5
I find it fun because I like learning >.< The fan-fiction articles are definitely funny and some of the world-building articles can be as well. Nothing overwhelmingly interesting for other people though.
Hipster: 4 out of 5
You really would only know about this if you troll around Seventh Sanctum. It's another one of those "hidden in the sidebar and you probably won't notice it" kind of things.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
NiIL: Why NaNo Doesn't Have Regs
NaNoWriMo, as I explained in my previous NiIL, relies primarily on a forum set up for users to interact and create a community of practice. However, this forum itself is structured very differently than stereotypical forums and creates an entirely different environment than one normally sees. To explain this, I must first explain a little bit of internet speak.
A newbie is, rather obviously, a person who is new to a forum. They generally don't know the rules, are somewhat naive and post threads that are off-topic or just generally disliked. An oldbie or oldie is someone who has been around the forum for a while. There isn't usually a specific time frame wherein this transition occurs. A newbie simply evolves into an oldbie when they have assimilated the culture and custom of the forum.
The culmination of these internet evolutions is the reg, or regular. This person is generally found in one section of the forum, like the Writer's or Chatterbox in my Gaiaonline example. They are extremely knowledgable about the forum structure, information and dynamics. In some forums, an oldbie and a reg are interchangeable. However, for this, I will stick to the usage with which I am most familiar- reg being a more respected version of an oldbie.
This dynamic occurs in forums because of their longevity. Unlike chatrooms, which happen in real time only as long as members are present, forum discussions can last for days, months and even years. Depending on how much of your time, your life, you dedicate to the forum is roughly equivalent to your status in its cultural heirarchy.
This dynamic is almost nowhere to be found in the NaNo forums. The only place I found mention of "newbies" was in the forum specifically created for first time WriMos. While I haven't been able to search through every post ever made, but I shouldn't have to. Dynamics and phrases surrounding the newbie/oldbie dichotomy are nearly ubiquitous to forum culture, seen in the forums of kid's websites like Neopets, not just internet cesspools like 4chan.
Why then might NaNo be immune to the innate desire of the internet to classify people? What makes it so special? Some forums escape this by being very tiny (roleplay and fan forums created using the website Proboards come to mind). But NaNo is not tiny, not to say the least. Hundreds of thousands of members use these forums every year and each year the number of participating members increases drastically.
NaNo actually gets its classless internet society from something very unusual to forums. Every year the Office of Letters and Light, or OLL, wipes the forums clean starting in late September. This probably occurs due to the OLL's status as a charitable organization. They dedicate time and money not only to NaNoWriMo every November, but to school writing programs, building and filling libraries and otherwise bringing writing to those with less privilege. They survive off of donations, donations that undoubtedly won't cover the bandwidth needed to support not only the millions of new threads posted in November, but all the old ones too.
Along with this comes the idea of a "clean slate"; wiping the forums clean allows people with questions about their current project not to be lost in a sea of "What is my character wearing?" from 4 years back. And this "clean slate" is what effectively removes any classification based on time. No one can prove they've dedicated years to these forums, because there is no evidence left- it is all wiped in September. You can't tell who is a newbie or who is an oldbie on the forums. It doesn't show how many years they've participated or how dedicated they are. Everyone starts out as a newbie, together, each year. Some show their hand by participating in the Newbies! forum, but even then, no one is judged for their newness.
A newbie is, rather obviously, a person who is new to a forum. They generally don't know the rules, are somewhat naive and post threads that are off-topic or just generally disliked. An oldbie or oldie is someone who has been around the forum for a while. There isn't usually a specific time frame wherein this transition occurs. A newbie simply evolves into an oldbie when they have assimilated the culture and custom of the forum.
The culmination of these internet evolutions is the reg, or regular. This person is generally found in one section of the forum, like the Writer's or Chatterbox in my Gaiaonline example. They are extremely knowledgable about the forum structure, information and dynamics. In some forums, an oldbie and a reg are interchangeable. However, for this, I will stick to the usage with which I am most familiar- reg being a more respected version of an oldbie.
This dynamic occurs in forums because of their longevity. Unlike chatrooms, which happen in real time only as long as members are present, forum discussions can last for days, months and even years. Depending on how much of your time, your life, you dedicate to the forum is roughly equivalent to your status in its cultural heirarchy.
This dynamic is almost nowhere to be found in the NaNo forums. The only place I found mention of "newbies" was in the forum specifically created for first time WriMos. While I haven't been able to search through every post ever made, but I shouldn't have to. Dynamics and phrases surrounding the newbie/oldbie dichotomy are nearly ubiquitous to forum culture, seen in the forums of kid's websites like Neopets, not just internet cesspools like 4chan.
Why then might NaNo be immune to the innate desire of the internet to classify people? What makes it so special? Some forums escape this by being very tiny (roleplay and fan forums created using the website Proboards come to mind). But NaNo is not tiny, not to say the least. Hundreds of thousands of members use these forums every year and each year the number of participating members increases drastically.
NaNo actually gets its classless internet society from something very unusual to forums. Every year the Office of Letters and Light, or OLL, wipes the forums clean starting in late September. This probably occurs due to the OLL's status as a charitable organization. They dedicate time and money not only to NaNoWriMo every November, but to school writing programs, building and filling libraries and otherwise bringing writing to those with less privilege. They survive off of donations, donations that undoubtedly won't cover the bandwidth needed to support not only the millions of new threads posted in November, but all the old ones too.
Along with this comes the idea of a "clean slate"; wiping the forums clean allows people with questions about their current project not to be lost in a sea of "What is my character wearing?" from 4 years back. And this "clean slate" is what effectively removes any classification based on time. No one can prove they've dedicated years to these forums, because there is no evidence left- it is all wiped in September. You can't tell who is a newbie or who is an oldbie on the forums. It doesn't show how many years they've participated or how dedicated they are. Everyone starts out as a newbie, together, each year. Some show their hand by participating in the Newbies! forum, but even then, no one is judged for their newness.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
NaNoWriMo: Week 1
Technically, week one was the last three days of last week. But that just seems silly. So today is my update for week one!
I am writing an epic fantasy based on an outline I started a while back, because I didn't think of a fresh idea for this NaNo. It involves 5 stories with multiple viewpoint characters that come together at the end because of a coronation. We follow Aniela Morningstar, a young girl convinced that she is the daughter of gods, sent to spread their word throughout the empire; Alec the Otter, a boy chosen to be the next emperor because he might have been distantly related to the mythological Xander the Bear; Lucia Greystone, commander of the guards of the capital of Seasmeet, on a mission to find her mentor's lost daughter; Lady Rho, the leader of the Wolf Maidens with a horrible genetic disease who must steal men from surrounding areas to reproduce; and the High Lord of the Fingers, who plans to rise up against the empire to return to self-rule, once he can overcome the might of the Wolf Maidens to the south.
It's a pretty complicated plot, now that I'm trying to write it down for you all. Basically, its the tragedy of greatness that I'm writing about- the tragedy of the Xander line, the tragedy of the Seasmeet commanders, the tragedy of the Alpha and the tragedy of the Lords. All of these tragedies are tied tightly to the fate of the Xandrian empire. I was not planning on putting up the text, but if my non-existent readers were interested in the text, I would.
I am almost entirely caught up. I wrote 4159 words today, in a time span of about three hours. I'm in a really great mood about this project, and am sure hoping that it carries through the rest of the month.
I am writing an epic fantasy based on an outline I started a while back, because I didn't think of a fresh idea for this NaNo. It involves 5 stories with multiple viewpoint characters that come together at the end because of a coronation. We follow Aniela Morningstar, a young girl convinced that she is the daughter of gods, sent to spread their word throughout the empire; Alec the Otter, a boy chosen to be the next emperor because he might have been distantly related to the mythological Xander the Bear; Lucia Greystone, commander of the guards of the capital of Seasmeet, on a mission to find her mentor's lost daughter; Lady Rho, the leader of the Wolf Maidens with a horrible genetic disease who must steal men from surrounding areas to reproduce; and the High Lord of the Fingers, who plans to rise up against the empire to return to self-rule, once he can overcome the might of the Wolf Maidens to the south.
It's a pretty complicated plot, now that I'm trying to write it down for you all. Basically, its the tragedy of greatness that I'm writing about- the tragedy of the Xander line, the tragedy of the Seasmeet commanders, the tragedy of the Alpha and the tragedy of the Lords. All of these tragedies are tied tightly to the fate of the Xandrian empire. I was not planning on putting up the text, but if my non-existent readers were interested in the text, I would.
I am almost entirely caught up. I wrote 4159 words today, in a time span of about three hours. I'm in a really great mood about this project, and am sure hoping that it carries through the rest of the month.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
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