Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Name Your Places: a language workshop

This post is part of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more linguistic content in my Language Directory.



Many worldbuilders choose to invent languages for their worlds. But whether or not you invent a language for your world, you need to decide how the people of your world create place-names. Place-names in English are often made by appending a syllable like -ville or -ton or -berg to a landscape feature or town founder. Some places have names with no translation, but people also name places by describing their location, color, climate, vegetation, or wildlife.

If you have an invented language, decide how place-names are formed in your language. Pick out some common affixes, determine whether your culture prefers long or short names, and outline a few name configurations that seem native to your culture. If you don't have an invented language, make these same decisions for the way you'll use English to name your places.


Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!


Once you've decided on your place-name rules, try to depict some name constructions in English. If you have an invented language, translate a few of your place-names literally, into longer names like Rock of the Sighing Trees and River where the Wind Blows Cold, or shorter names like Singing Rock and Riverton. By patterning some English place-names after your translations, you can use English labels to further characterize your people and their language.

Using a mix of English, partly foreign, and entirely foreign words, try to think of names that represent the character of the people who live in your world. In the Language of the Known World, you can see how I use the names Bulb Rock, River Skanth, and Dlathril from the faerie language of Kalrei. Even if you haven't invented a language for your culture, you can add realism by choosing some place-names that lack English translations.

Also think up some intriguing names based on old stories or events that took place in your world. Names like Rebel Bay, Coward's Wash, and The Glades of Despair impart a sense of history to the area and heighten the realism of your world. Provided the rules for your place-names allows for it, you can also add in a few names related to other places, such as New Linden or Old High Road.

Last but not least, make sure to use some obvious and boring names in your world. Not every name can be epic and awesome, and the real world is full of places like Greenbrook, Eastpoint, and Springfield. Though these non-creative names might seem dull, they are ultimately the cornerstone of realism for your world. The naming of places is a messy and subjective process in any language, but with a little planning, you can create a world that is both expressive and navigable to readers.


That's it for this post! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.






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Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Build Your Kingdom: a cartography workshop

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment The Worldbuilder's Handbook available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other world workshops are gathered in my Worldbuilding Directory for you to explore.

Find more map-making content in my Cartography Directory.



After you've formed your river in Part 1 of this series, you can determine how your land was settled. Imagine settlers exploring your world for the first time. Since people need water to live, the first settlements usually form near rivers or other water sources. Nearby areas are often cultivated, hunted and fished, or harvested for natural resources like timber, stone, and ore. Wealthy towns draw more people, and these towns grow larger. Roads are laid to connect main towns, and smaller towns develop along main roads.

Unsettled lands are often home to nomadic peoples who come into conflict with exploitative settlers. To defend themselves from nomads or wildlife, your settlers might build walls around their town, as well as forts and other defensive structures on nearby high ground. Depending on the volatility of the times, the ruling class might commission fortified homes like keeps and castles, which trigger commerce and foster new towns.


Check out The Worldbuilder's Handbook for more free resources!


Trade outposts develop on the fringes of settled territory and, given times of peace, can flourish into artistic cultural hubs. The more established a civilization, the grander its buildings and its cities usually become, until factors like corruption and unrest cause a cultural decline. When a capital city is first established, it's often centrally located for defense within a settled area. However, territory exchanges with bordering nations can alter the centrality of your capital city over time, and your center of power might eventually shift to a wealthier or more populous area.

In a new land, the first roads tend to lead outwards from the capital city, connecting the major regions surrounding the capital. Roads generally run straight from town to town, unless uneven terrain makes bends or switchbacks more convenient or cost-effective. Some cultures pave straight through uneven terrain to demonstrate their engineering prowess, and other cultures build scenic routes that defer to the lay of the land. Some roads are maintained with pride, and others fall into disrepair. With the free exclusive How to Make Fantasy Maps in Photoshop, you can show how each culture's worldview influences its roads. Reflect the spirit of your settlers with roads that defy or incorporate terrain in an appropriate way.

After major roads connect your capital city and largest towns, think about the commerce and other travel of your people. Determine which towns are travel hubs, and extend minor roads outward from these hubs, connecting to other towns and nearby major roads. Small towns often arise along well-traveled roads, and small roads connect larger roads to create more direct routes between towns. Aside from commerce, you may want to consider reasons for travel such as pilgrimage, migration, or tourism. New roads are often built to accommodate the traffic of numerous travelers.

With this basic blueprint, you can establish a solid foundation to build your world upon. Keep in mind that this outline is by no means comprehensive, and you can deviate from these concepts whenever you feel the need. However, try to deviate intentionally, with reasons why your people would have built their kingdom in such a way. A metropolis in the desert needs an alternate water source, and a winding road to nowhere needs a reason it was paved. You can save yourself a lot of heartache and stress by thinking about these explanations ahead of time.


That's it for this series! Check out the latest worldbuilding workshops for more.

Download The Worldbuilder's Handbook here, or start your adventure below.






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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

The Greatest Adventure Ever: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.



In Part 1 of this series, I described my great experiment, to see if I can create the ultimate story. But my intention is more than to just push myself to do my best. I believe you deserve a crafted caliber of storytelling that has gotten lost amidst the chaos of modern life. A great story captivates readers from the first word to the last. I believe my stories are worth this time and effort, because I think fantasy fans crave a fresh tale, but still want the happy ending.

In a great story, every word matters. Whether the story is oral or written down, words allow for great precision but also pose an obstacle to the delivery of the tale. If a word doesn't need to be there, it impedes the story and must be culled.

This is hard for a lot of writers, because we get attached to certain wordings and imagery, but every word must be necessary or it's just slowing down the flow. I cut the fluff - not just in words, but in dialogue, mini-arcs, and extraneous details. I streamline my prose to be the clearest and most gripping communication of my story that it can be.


Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!


I write because it helps me make sense of the world. It helps me understand why people do the cruel, irrational things they do. What makes good people do bad things? What drives innocent children to grow up into monsters? How does chivalry and nobility triumph over arrogance, egoism, and greed?

These questions drive me, and I play them out through my characters. Each of them is complex, multifaceted, realistic. And, like in real life, each of them has an overarching theme they've come into existence to explore, integrate, and be enriched with wisdom through. Their lessons are my lessons, and lessons of us all.

I write to free myself. I want to share a vision of a world where magic is commonplace, where people grow up accepting that they have magic, and that they can use their magic to make the world a better place. We've forgotten our magic here on earth. But in my Tales of the Known World saga, magic is the foundation of all being. I write these stories as examples, so we can learn to embrace our own magic.

I want to provide a framework through which people can understand how this real-life magic flows into being, anchors our souls into physical form, and guides the unfolding of the universe. These are spiritual concepts, woven into a fantasy world, so readers can absorb these concepts without the background resistance they'd have if presented with these concepts in a real-world fashion.

The fantasy stories circumvent our biases about the "real world" and allow readers to resonate with the spiritual concepts they know deep down are true. Once that resonance has been established, my hope is that it will vibrate up from their subconscious to manifest positive change in their real lives. After all, isn't real-life change the greatest adventure ever?


That's it for this series! Check out my latest inspirations for more.

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.






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Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Portent VIII of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

Portent VIII of Broken: from ashes cold flames overdue www.DNFrost.com/prophesy #TotKW A riddle in rhyme by D.N.Frost @DNFrost13 Part of a series.
In the novel Broken, there are 24 portents fortelling the events of the unfolding saga.

Start with Portent I here.

These and other riddles in rhyme are gathered in the Portents Directory for you to explore.

Enjoy!


The gateway fallen takes the cave
Beneath accursed wind and wave
Where sundered long forgotten riles
Entrenched beyond the winding miles

The earthen king shakes off the cloak
Of barren soil and broken yoke
When long afflicted heeds the plea
Of danger's tide across the sea

Benevolent the sundered rise
To fight again for darkened skies
From ashes cold flames overdue
Spill blood for blood and old for new.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

Share your interpretation!
Comment below with your take on this portent.


This prophesy comes to pass in Part 3 of Broken, when some unlikely allies rally to Allana's aid. Who do you think the sundered long forgotten are, and who is the gateway fallen who riles the earthen king?



Download the Prophesy Appendix:

The merfolk culture is built on the prophetic Gift. Nearly all men produce a portent every twenty days, and they devote their lives to interpretation. For more about the role and inner workings of prophesy, check out the Prophesy Appendix above.



Alongside every prophesy is an attribution block. This block contains a byline giving the name of the person who said the prophesy, and a dateline giving the day the prophesy was first said. Here is the attribution for this portent:
Varyo Ngehsi Rovikya II
2:3:1:2/5, III:IX
The portent attributed here has not yet been interpreted. It was said recently, and it will be repeated every twenty days until either it is correctly interpreted, or it comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: Awash in pain to see all things...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.






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The Great Experiment: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Author's Manifesto available for free download.

This and other inspirations of mine are gathered in the Spark Directory for you to explore.

Find more consciousness content in my Cosmic Directory.



I write to move you. I want to write a story that grips you by the heartstrings and drags you breathless through the novel. What do we all want on this earth, really? To live, to feel alive, to experience that soaring of your spirit when triumph takes the day. We all love that visceral feeling when music, art, or film grabs us by the lungs and fills us with sensation.

There's a sort of liveliness inside that comes from great stories. Whether you participated in the event yourself, or followed the telling of it, the events and people in those stories can seize you and make your heart sing.

It happens with unpleasant emotions too. We feel alive when things go wrong, and some people get hooked on the tension and drama of their favorite characters. We suffer their defeats, feel their pain, and share in their triumphs. You want that feeling. It is electrifying.


Check out this Author's Manifesto for more of my inspirations!


I write to contribute something of quality to the world. There are so many books that are poorly written. There are so many stories that are trite and predictable. I want to write a book worth reading, a book that uplifts your spirit and hones your intellect. I want to write a story that is fun, gripping, adventurous, a story where you read it and become smarter, holier, without even knowing it.

I want my stories to drag people along for the ride, and then in the splashdown on the very last page, you're somehow more enlivened, more attuned to yourself and the heartbeat of the universe than when you started.

I want to write a book that imbues quality and originality back into the fantasy genre. I want something new, something fresh, something smart and intelligent and vibrantly alive - and since no one out there is writing it, I decided to write it myself.

With my Tales of the Known World saga, I seek to deliver that zing of life up through your fingertips. I aspire to tell a story so good, and write that story so well, that you pop out the back cover and bob in the afterglow, forever changed. Can I do it? That is the great experiment: can I write the ultimate story? And can you, dear reader, take the adventure?


That's it for this post! Up Next: Crafting a new caliber of storytelling...

Download the Author's Manifesto here, or start your adventure below.






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