Creating Places
by Randy Ellefson
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GENRE: Non-fiction
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BLURB:
Creating a
unique, immersive setting one place at a time.
CREATING PLACES (THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, #2) is a detailed how-to guide on inventing the heart of every imaginary world - places. It includes chapters on inventing planets, moons, continents, mountains, forests, deserts, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, and interesting locales. Extensive, culled research on each is provided to inform your world building decisions and understand the impact on craft, story, and audience. You’ll also learn how and when to create history and maps. Experts and beginners alike will benefit from the free templates that make building worlds easier, quicker, and more fun.
Learn the difference between types of monarchies, democracies, dictatorships and more for realistic variety and believable conflict. Understand how latitude, prevailing winds, and mountains affect climate, rainfall, and what types of forests and deserts will exist in each location. Consistently calculate how long it takes to travel by horse, wagon, sailing vessels, or even dragon over different terrain types and conditions.
CREATING PLACES is the second volume in THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, the only multi-volume series of its kind. Three times the length, depth, and breadth of other guides, the series can help fantasy and science fiction creators determine how much to build and why, how to use world building in your work, and whether the effort to create places will reap rewards for you and your audience.
CREATING PLACES (THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, #2) is a detailed how-to guide on inventing the heart of every imaginary world - places. It includes chapters on inventing planets, moons, continents, mountains, forests, deserts, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, and interesting locales. Extensive, culled research on each is provided to inform your world building decisions and understand the impact on craft, story, and audience. You’ll also learn how and when to create history and maps. Experts and beginners alike will benefit from the free templates that make building worlds easier, quicker, and more fun.
Learn the difference between types of monarchies, democracies, dictatorships and more for realistic variety and believable conflict. Understand how latitude, prevailing winds, and mountains affect climate, rainfall, and what types of forests and deserts will exist in each location. Consistently calculate how long it takes to travel by horse, wagon, sailing vessels, or even dragon over different terrain types and conditions.
CREATING PLACES is the second volume in THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, the only multi-volume series of its kind. Three times the length, depth, and breadth of other guides, the series can help fantasy and science fiction creators determine how much to build and why, how to use world building in your work, and whether the effort to create places will reap rewards for you and your audience.
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EXCERPT:
The
term “tidal locking” will make many of us think of tides, but these are
unrelated phenomenon. Our moon is tidally locked to the Earth. The same side is
always facing us because the moon rotates on its axis in the same number of
days it takes to orbit us. This might seem coincidental and unique, but most
significant moons in our solar system are tidally locked to their planet; those
nearest experience this first. Tidal locking is an eventual result caused by
gravity. Early in a moon’s orbiting, it might not be tidally locked, but ours
may have become locked in as few as a hundred days (its proximity and size having
much to do with this). A moon that is
not tidally locked may have recently formed or been captured by the planet.
Either way, the stabilization process hasn’t completed.
As
world builders, we have some leeway to claim a satellite is locked or not. Most
people are unfamiliar with the concept and we should only mention it if locking
has occurred, as readers will assume the opposite without being told. Note that
a close, large moon like ours will almost certainly be locked; during the brief
period when ours was not, it and the Earth were molten and devoid of life.
Normally,
only the satellite is locked to the planet, but they can become mutually
tidally locked, as happened with Pluto and its moon, Charon. This means that
each of them only sees one side of the other. If we stood on our moon, we’d see
all sides of Earth as it rotates, but from Earth, we see only one side of the
moon because they are not mutually tidally locked. If they were, the moon would
stay in the exact same spot in the sky. About half the planet would see it,
while the other half wouldn’t even know it existed unless traveling to the far
side of the world. This would eliminate most tides (see next section) except
those caused by the sun.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Randy Ellefson has written
fantasy fiction since his teens and is an avid world builder, having spent
three decades creating Llurien, which has its own website. He has a Bachelor’s
of Music in classical guitar but has always been more of a rocker, having
released several albums and earned endorsements from music companies. He’s a
professional software developer and runs a consulting firm in the Washington
D.C. suburbs. He loves spending time with his son and daughter when not
writing, making music, or playing golf.
The Art of World
Building Podcast http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/podcast (launching a week before the tour)
The Art of World
Building Website: http://www.ArtofWorldBuilding.com
Author Website: http://www.RandyEllefson.com
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/RandyEllefsonAuthor
NOTE: The book series has a new
podcast where even more details are discussed. This podcast is free to listen!
Follow along here: http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/podcast
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Randy Ellefson
will be awarding an ultimate world builder's package to a randomly drawn winner
via rafflecopter during the tour.
