Fantasist’s Scroll

Ever wanted to write science-fiction and fantasy fiction but didn’t know where to start?

Well, there’s hope. While wasting time at work the other day, I found a free on-line course in writing science-fiction called, oddly enough, Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. This website is an entire course on writing in the genre available for no charge via the web. They cover everything from the basics of fiction writing to world creation to… Well, just about everything that a begining writer might want to know about writing science fiction and fantasy literature. They even have some topics that go into more depth for those of us who’ve been banging away at it for a little bit.

It looks fairly good and comprehensive. Besides, the price is right: Free!

Yes, seeking inspiration from SPAM.
The other day, I got a junk e-mail with some interesting words in it. And, an interesting, obviously random, title. That’s when it hit me: Use that “junk” as a writing exercise. Too goofy for words, right? Well, try it. Write something with the subject as the title and include all the sentences, and fragments, in the junk e-mail as found. Fragments may be worked into full sentences. Feel up to it? Try this one:

My study of unguent
but it was like the marriage of a reduced old noble to a plebeian eyes, when I formed the resolution of being godmother to your
natural in one who was making entirely new arrangements in life. humbly to me and begs for my forgiveness. This is my right. This
calling an Italian-iron, a bedstead. But we cant expect a
no danger of putting any strained construction on your motives.
I wish you would, said Mrs. Steerforth, with a smile. But, save her from this disgrace, and she shall never be disgraced

That’s a real e-mail I got, by the way. Oh, and this only works with non-sexually oriented material, unless, of course you’re writing a letter to a pornographic magazine.

This is National Novel Writing Month.
Or, if you’re one of the cool kids, NaNoWriMo. The idea, in a nutshell, is to write a book in thirty days or less. Or finish that monster that you’ve always meant to get around to again. Either way, the goal is a completed novel by the end of the month. Frankly, it seems impossible to me, but the guy who puts this on every year is also the author of No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, so, maybe, just maybe it’s possible to accomlish.
Well, I won’t find out this year because I’m just in the wrong place to do that, but I may just get the book and read it so I’m ready for next year.
In any case, if you’re feeling up to it, it’s still not too late for you to start. You are a little behind, but you can still make it up. Hit the website and start writing! (And, yes, I wrote about this yesterday at my other blog, Diary of a Network Geek.)

Hmm, I seem to be talking about this a lot lately…
Still, it’s something that is so often done poorly, that I think it warrants a little extra attention. So, while I was looking around for links on this subject, I found the “One of Us Creative Writing Workshop” online where they had an article on Creating Fantasy Worlds. This article, though, was little more than a collection of links to other articles that went into more depth on specific topics. Still, enough of these links seemed fresh and new to me that I thought it was worth posting. One think I did like about this site was the Discussion Forum. It didn’t seem too active at the time, but I think anyone who’s in that very lonely job of writing needs all the socializing they can get!

Ever had the urge to create a fictional world?
Maybe even just a country? Well, over at Everything2, there’s an article on just that called, ironically enough, Designing a Fantasy World. The article takes you through the basics of what one needs to consider when putting together a fantasy world, if you want it to be believable. They touch on most of these subjects lightly, but there’s enough there to take you through the physical forms of your world, as well as the mythology behind that, and all the way on through the society that might develop in such a place. They’ve got plenty of links and Everything2 is sort of like Wikipedia, so there’s a lot of information there to browse through and digest. The article has lots of helpful suggestions in addition to those links, too!
But, for my money, the best thing in the article is:

The cardinal rule in all of this is to preserve mimesis – that is, the apparent reality of your world. You don’t need to have volumes of abstractions like language and geology if you don’t think you’ll use them. But a little care can give the reader the pleasing illusion that such things could exist, and that there are no glaring contradictions lurking just below the surface. A little thought about the points mentioned can lead to an altogether more pleasing experience for the player or reader.

Remember that, and you’ll do just fine creating your own fantasy world.

This is funny to me.
The daughter of a favorite author of mine has written an entry in her blog about writing a “literary” novel that’s good enough to sell. Sadly, I’m afraid that she may well be right!
According to the entry in her father’s blog, this was inspired by the fact that she was forced to read a “literary” novel that didn’t agree with her mental digestion. And, interestingly enough, the author himself got started in response to the statistic often quoted about authors getting a “mere” $2000 for their first novel. Apparently, his thought was “For two grand, I could do something that bad. In fact, I think I could so something a little better.” And, I can think of worse ways to get inspired. After all, $2000 not bad, frankly, for a kid in high school with literary aspiration and some free time.
Hmm, maybe I could do better, if I follow her formula and put out a little effort…

Well, maybe tomorrow. Today, though, I revel in the fact that it’s Friday. Enjoy the link!

Ever wanted to make your own language?
Well, if you’re like me, you have, but you may not have always known how to go about it. Don’t worry, there are lots of places on the web to help you figure out what you need to know! Of course, I’ve mentioned LangMaker.com here before, but just recently I came across the KICKS Academy Fictional Linguistics on-line course. It’s an easy “course” of material on the web that you can take at your own pace. They have plenty of references and handy worksheets to help you get through the design of your first language. They cover everything you need to know here, though, if you really enjoy yourself, you’ll probably want to branch out into some other, less traditional, areas of linguistics.
I think you’ll find it to be lots of fun, once you get started.

There are many ways to test one’s constructed language.
There’s the infamous Babel Text, as suggested by Jeffery Henning. There are other religious texts that might be used, like the Lord’s Prayer or the Sermon on the Mount. There’s translating a “folk tale”. I’ve even seen the suggestion put forward to translate dinner menus, street signs, and adverstisments. I, myself, have suggested that, perhaps, creating a phrasebook might be the thing. All of these methods should highlight any flaw or under-developed section of your conlang. When translating, we find holes and errors and things we simply haven’t thought through yet. But, another “test” occurred to me yesterday…
I was talking to my dog in German, telling her “Du bist ein gutes Hund! Du bist ein hübsch Hund!” and watched her get all happy and wiggly. Then, it hit me. “Can you talk to your dog in your conlang?” Of course, it works for any pet, but you get the idea. So, from now on, if I work on a constructed language, I must be able to talk to my dog in it, or it’s just not good enough.
Harumph!