Towns of Iorden: a map commission

This post is Part 4 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

Find more guest-inspired content in my Guest Directory.

Well into our project from Part 1 of this series, I worked with TOAFN creators Zach Glass and Christian Madera to finish off their map by adding the towns and rivers of Iorden.

I placed all the towns using stamps that best matched their old map of Iorden. Then I labeled everything given a name.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

Zach and Christian raised some questions about the black cacti from their previous render, and I revisited the cacti after placing all the towns.

I was hoping the black town symbols would balance out the black cacti, but the effect didn't pull through.

So these larger cacti are gray instead of black, and the faint green behind them makes the cacti seem greenish. Genius!

In comparison, the same cacti are clearly gray in the uncolored version of the map.

I traced Iorden's many rivers and lakes, differentiated the large and small rivers, and drew intricate river deltas.

Also, Zach and Christian had confessed that they rather liked the islands I mistakenly added to their first render.

I sculpted their coastlines back in, carving more natural shapes this time around. After changing the islands, I updated the map colors to reflect the new lands and shallows, and I sent the TOAFN team a render for approval.

That's it for this post! Up Next: Wrapping up the finished map...

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

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Your Story Has No End: a storycraft workshop

This post is part of a series to augment the Tips for Writing Fiction available for free download.

This and other writing workshops are gathered in my Workshops Directory for you to explore.

Find my world workshops in the Worldbuilding Directory.

Stories never end, and they never begin. Most adventures start in the general vicinity of danger and daring endeavor. But while we don't hear about the boring parts, they are still part of the story. Characters experience the mundane as well as the tragic, but your narrative doesn't have to start at birth and end at death.

First off, let's concede that you can't fit it all into one story. A comprehensive lifetime of moments is too much to divulge through the course of one tale. But stories never start or stop, so you can pick up the story where it gets interesting and weave in the specific details that feel necessary. If some of your favorite details don't make the cut, you can always create a side story to feature your favorite details more prominently.

Check these Tips for Writing Fiction to see more workshops!

Once you've picked a starting point for your tale, ride the plot along until there is some resolution. Something shifts, change occurs, and for better or worse, the characters find themselves in a respite after action. The story rests here. It may not feel fully ended, but stories never end. As long as the story rests, you find a stopping point.

From there, you can conclude a manuscript, or you can jump ahead to the next adventure in the storyline. In my Tales of the Known World saga, I slice each scene at the intersection of relevant and exciting, and that creates a gripping tale from start to finish. Just weave in the important information from boring events offstage.

Eventually, all stories wind down. The characters resolve their conflicts, peace settles over the land, and events grow mundane and small. Though the story continues, a boring tale set in Happily Ever After is no fun at all. Hop around to the different adventures to be had in your world--you'll find some larger than others, but all worthy tales.


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

Download Tips for Writing Fiction here, or start your adventure below.

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The White Forest of Iorden: a map commission

This post is Part 3 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

Find more guest-inspired content in my Guest Directory.

With the project in full swing after Part 1 of this series, I encouraged Zach and Christian to be as picky and opinionated as possible. That's the best way to get a great map that really represents the spirit of an invented world.

After we finalized the topography, I perused the TOAFN font set they'd sent me and selected a legible italic font with some cool distress around the letters. The next challenge loomed. It was time to tackle the White Forest.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

Zach and Christian envisioned huge trees for their home of the elves, with bright silvery trunks that give the forest its name.

To represent the unique strangeness of this forest, and I played with my silver embossing technique from the cover art for Broken.

I came up with some cool tree trunks in silver, but they looked weird and out of place on the map. I enlarged the forest symbols to give the trunks more room, but it still looked off.

My final solution was to apply silver embossing to the label itself. This made the silver more prevalent and obvious, helping make the tree trunks stand out as unique and beautiful, rather than awkward and unrelated to anything else on the map. Then I sent this render to the TOAFN team for feedback on the silver technique.

That's it for this post! Up Next: Adding the towns and rivers...

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.

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Author's Manifesto: an inspiration directory

This post is part 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 content navigation in my Resource Directory.

Hello, there! Thanks for your interest in my work. My name is D.N.Frost, and I'm an author, cartographer, and world-builder. I'm also a linguist and poet, a maker and artist, a creative mentor, a gamer, a tarot reader, spiritualist, and probably a bunch of other things too.

Why do I wear so many hats? I get to know people by the stories they tell about themselves and the way they view the world. So to help you get to know me, please enjoy this collection of short tales about who I am, what I do, and why I do it.

Download my personal inspirations in the Author's Manifesto here.

All authors have reasons for writing what they write, and you're invited to learn mine. You'll hear about the inspirations that drive me to create and the beliefs that help me make sense of the world. You'll see the truth of who I am, and you'll discover the story behind my stories.

I hope my manifesto will connect me with new fans of my Tales of the Known World saga. I've provided a cheat-sheet for getting to know me, and it shares details about my thought process and ideas in the making. Plus, the process of creating the document helped me organize and clarify my various philosophies on creativity.


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

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

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Portent III of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

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!

Token in hand, the wayward son
In riddled fog of past laid waste
Returns to masters wrong in haste

Broken by night, the golem dead
Arises live in life untraced

Spoken in fright, the homeward bound
Entreats the aid of sea defaced

Woken by sand, the keening kin
In wake of master's men disgraced
Assumes the torch for land unlaced.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

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

This prophesy for Part 4 of Broken is titled "By Night" and foretells the events of Varyan's story. Who is Varyan? Find out in the free ebook from Broken! You meet him in Chapter 1, though you already know him by another name.

Can you guess what character the wayward son and golem dead refer to?

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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.

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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:

Korin Nviwa Kaedya XX
0, 4:2:2 IX
V 3:2:3:1/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has been interpreted, and it references multiple events that culminate on an exact date. An additional verified dateline has been added to the attribution, noting the final date when the portent comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: By sea in timeless cage for wending...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.

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Coastlines of Iorden: a map commission

This post is Part 2 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download. Start with Part 1 here.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

Find more guest-inspired content in my Guest Directory.

After getting the go-ahead in Part 1 of this series, I worked with TOAFN creators Zach Glass and Christian Madera to start mapping their Realms of Iorden. They provided me with a thumbnail map of Iorden they'd made some time earlier.

I magnified the 300 pixel image to sculpt their coastline and apply rough topography swatches to their regions. Then I applied some quick color to differentiate all the areas of the map, and I added some basic text.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

For working off a tiny image, I feel like I did a great job! The trouble with zooming in 1100% is that some blurry areas caused a few initial mistakes.

The two big islands in the eastern sea? Those were actually tiny ship symbols. And that marsh on the northern edge of the desert? That was a swath of mini-cacti.

To help me with the next render, Zach and Christian sent me a larger version of their old map.

With it, I innovated a cactus stamp for the desert in the north, and I tested out cacti swatches until I found one that looked decent.

I also removed the islands in the eastern sea.

The TOAFN creators needed the hilly area in the south to be a marshy waste of broken stones - very specific topography I didn't have on hand.

Fortunately, I had a marsh swatch and a broken wasteland swatch, so I tried overlaying them.

After a few tests, I came up with a broken marsh that captures the eerie spirit of the land.

I also changed some of the colder southern forests from fluffy oak trees to a hardier mix of oaks and pines. They asked for some color adjustments for the northern desert and southern ice, and they asked for the South Sea to be more rugged and broken up.

They also had a few other coastline adjustments, tweaking the areas that would become river deltas and adding a nice harbor where the town of Seahold would be.

Finally, they asked me to soften the mountain transition from the western peaks to the broken stones and hills further east. After I got all the topography edges smoothed out, I added in some smaller mountains to show how the large mountains tumble into broken rock.

That's it for this post! Up Next: The shimmering White Forest of the elves...

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.

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The Glorious Human Condition: inspiration & spark

This post is part 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 am profoundly inspired by the great humanity of the world. I love that thrill in your heart when the good guy wins. People differ in how they rise to challenges and integrate past experiences. But though the content of each personality varies widely, there is a similar structure for all personalities. I love exploring this profound diversity that arises out of a remarkable uniformity.

I want to kindle that inborn sense of glory within our human condition. To delve through the wonders of our psyche, I push my characters to their very limits, and their stories evoke the triumph of human endeavor. I want to trigger your inner grandness through my characters and their adventures, the ride of your life delivered with resilient personalities arising from the trenches.

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

I love feeling like I'm in the hands of a master storyteller. So when I write, I want my readers to sense every detail toppling into place like dominoes. The story flows into each plot twist, but every turned page holds the last thing you'd expect.

My characters endure desperate scenarios, shocking culture clashes, outrageous social structures--anything where some facet of human imperfection can be explored, understood, and redeemed in the hearts of my readers.

I want my characters to lead by example, heal old wounds, impart wisdom, and reawaken the youthful wonder dormant inside so many of us. Ultimately, I hope my Tales of the Known World saga inspires people to look for the magic in their own lives.


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

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

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Are You Ready?

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Sordow: a map commission

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

This post is also Part 1 of a series about David Glenn.

I first met David when my repeat client Stephen Everett introduced us on Facebook. In a writer's group, David shared a rough sketch of his world, and Steve suggested he collaborate with me to take his map to the next level. I gave David my email address and he sought me out.

We discussed his northern isles, then called Sodow, a world still taking form. I used maps to develop the Known World, so I knew the mapping process would provide a fantastic world-building tool for David. I also remembered how daunted I felt about mapping my world before knowing where all the pieces fit.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

We decided that Sordow would be a long-term project, and that instead of my usual commission process, we'd take things an hour at a time.

This took the pressure off David to know all the details of his world at once, and it allowed him to access the phenomenal worldbuilding tool that is map-making.

Using his rough sketch, I started working on the initial render of Sodow's coastline to help him envision the finished map.

Once he felt confident in the project, David paid for his initial render and we proceeded.

Here's what he had to say about the finished map:

Wow, it looks wonderful. Thank you so much.

The woods and rivers are great.

I like the text.

In the end the geography has that feel of the British Isles.

Nice job. I like this a lot.

– David Glenn, fantasy writer

That's it for this post! Up Next: Coastlines, nations, and rivers... Soon.

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.

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Author Triumphant: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 5 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 map-making content in my Cartography Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I began writing my first stories. And though I'd already decided to re-draft and edit my first novel, maintaining my devotion proved difficult as life twisted and turned. Dissatisfied with my day job and life in general, I found it hard to leverage my free time into writing time.

Once again, I fell out of the habit of writing. Then I discovered Tara Swiger, who worked to help creative business owners find direction, motivation, and organization. Her idea of making a map to achieve business goals resonated with me, but since I wasn't a business owner, we passed like ships in the night. A few months later, I'd turned my knitting and rug-making hobbies into an Etsy storefront, and I joined the ranks of Tara's Starship group under the guise of a craft-business startup.

Amidst the clarity and support of this group, I decided that if I launched a creative business, it had to be based on writing stories. The Starship group supported this change of direction, and over the next year I poured myself into my creative work. I documented my writing process, honed it through trial and error, and established a weekly writing schedule that helped me meet my writing goals.

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

I also revisited some fantasy cartography tutorials I'd encountered during my gaming days, and I remade my map of the Known World. I loved the map-making process so much, I decided to make a map for each of the novel's four parts. With each map, my delight grew, and I adopted map-making as part of my writing process. A map for each of the book's fourteen chapters naturally followed.

By the time I'd finished the manuscript, the self-publishing arena had advanced far from the stigmatized vanity press from which it started. Quality works were being self-published, grabbing the public's attention, and landing post-publication deals. Rather than tacking another year onto my release date, I published the finished manuscript and maps in a single frenzied week. Then I slammed headlong into a long-avoided setback: marketing.

While I figured out how best to reach my audience of fantasy fans, gamers, and lovers of tropes the world over, I began work on the second book in my series. The Tales of the Known World saga spans centuries, continents, and at least eight impending novels, all of which cannot be written fast enough.


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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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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Tips for Writing Fiction: a workshop directory

This post is part of a series to augment the Tips for Writing Fiction available for free download.

This and other writing workshops are gathered in my Workshops Directory for you to explore.

Find more content navigation in my Resource Directory.

Hello, there! Thanks for your interest in my writing tips. My name is D.N.Frost, and I'm a fantasy author, editor, and linguist. Through the course of planning, writing, and publishing my Tales of the Known World saga, I learned a lot about the work it takes to produce a great manuscript.

So why do many good storytellers never become authors? I discovered that writing is really a composite of two distinct skills: adept storycraft, and prowess as a wordsmith. To take your writing to the next level, please enjoy this collection of short tips and workshops from TotKW Books.

Download your workshop guide Tips for Writing Fiction here.

These are tips for improving specific aspects of your writing. All too often, writers approach their writing as a single dragon to be harnessed, but you can hone each skill in your repertoire individually. By improving one skill at a time, you take actionable steps toward a better manuscript, and you improve your writing overall.

This resource directory also links to a number of writing workshops and longer blog posts, so you can delve deep into your favorite writing tips. I'm proud to offer you this compilation of workshops and insights into great writing, and I hope you use this resource to enhance your own craft.


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

Download Tips for Writing Fiction here, or start your adventure below.

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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T'Chak of Sheridan's World: a map commission

This post is Part 1 of a series to augment the Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost available for free download.

This and other map commissions are gathered in my Portfolio Directory for you to explore.

This post is also Part 3 of a series about Stephen Everett. Start with Part 1 here.

I first connected with Steve in Part 1 of this guest series, when we collaborated on his map of Babylon and Corinth for Sheridan's World. After finishing a second map for Minbari of Sheridan's World, Steve mentioned having a southern continent to work on next.

We chatted about it some, and he sent me a sketch and some data about the southern continent, tentatively dubbed TeChak. Unfortunately, he sent me the sketch right as I was planning to move to a new city, so we had to shelve the project for a few weeks until I could devote the attention his map deserved.

Check out this Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost for more maps!

I finished moving and contacted Steve, ready to begin our third collaboration.

But it turned out he was too busy at the time to start on the project, so we shelved it again.

Steve let me know a basic timeframe in which he thought he'd be ready, and I blocked it out on my calendar to make sure I'd be ready too.

In the meantime, I started work on his initial render using the data he'd already sent me, and I sent it off for him to percolate on in the interim.

Here's what he had to say about the finished map:

Exceptional job, IT LOOKS AWESOME!

Thanks for all the great work. Everything worked out fantastic.

You had to figure out different techniques to get the result we both wanted.

It makes the continents take on a life of their own.

It looks awesome, you are incredible. I love your place name Bay of Seals.

Great job on the maps. I need to flip a coin as to which I like more.

Here's $10,000 imaginary dollars (CDN).

Such a work of art, time, and patience. Perfection!

– Stephen Everett, science-fiction writer

That's it for this post! Up Next: Plotting the coordinates and coastlines... Soon.

Want to bring your own world to life? We can map your world.
You deserve a professional map you can be proud to share.

Download Fictional Cartography by D.N.Frost here, or start your adventure below.

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Are You Ready?

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Portent II of Broken: a riddle in rhyme

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 bitter crown rejects in spite
Unwitting ward of legend spent
And turns to last surviving knight
Yet novice youth cannot relent
Nor cast his fate from timeless light
Driven to reign and reinvent
The self behind the fight

Awash in blood of early sin
Against a greatness long extolled
The mystics claim he cannot win
Thus caught in doubt's repentant hold
The dragon mage with silent kin
Broken by day and verdict cold
Without begins within

While mentor power gained denies
His land and life cannot protect
Yet master frees by own demise
Where hope and hatred intersect
Unleashed with death before his eyes
Chaos and blood as men defect
Dispatches low disguise.


Can you decode the future Tales of the Known World?

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

This portent begins Part 2 of Broken, which is titled "By Day" and deals with Jorn. His character is tainted by betrayal, but Book 2 explores the rigors of his redemption.

The portent's 21 lines mirror Jorn's 21 scenes. How do you think the dragon mage is broken by day?

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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.

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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:

Gwnle Nnohvas Dynde V
4:1:2:6/8, 2:3:2 IX
V 3:2:2:7/5, III:IX

The portent attributed here has been interpreted, and it references multiple events that culminate on an exact date. An additional verified dateline has been added to the attribution, noting the final date when the portent comes to pass.


That's it for this post! Up Next: By night, the golem dead arises...

For the Prophesy Appendix, enter your email above.

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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Collapse into Direction: inspiration & spark

This post is Part 4 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 my published stories and guides in the Books Directory.

In Part 1 of this series, I began writing my first stories. After joining some writing collaborations to share my tales with others, I surrendered creative autonomy to my writing partner, and unhappiness welled up in me. Storytelling, my joy and passion, now hinged on her continued interest.

When she felt ill or restless, our writing suffered. I felt adrift in creative futility with no shoreline. Remembering the quiet desperation of my ignored solo stories, I failed to work on them to fill the void. Instead, I obsessively tweaked the code for our online game, maxed out my sphere grid in Final Fantasy X, took up knitting and audiobooks - anything to burn time. I was sick, depressed, and overwhelmed by the pressures of my final college semesters.

Then my roommate and my mother staged an intervention, and my vision began to clear. The resentment from my pent-up creativity fizzled out. I realized storytelling came from within me, and I couldn't rely on anyone else for fulfillment. I saw that my gaming obsession was an addiction preventing me from writing my own stories. Squeaking through graduation, I returned home to figure myself out, and I began work on my Known World story again.

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

It was dreadful. As a college graduate, I read back through my high-school transcripts and cringed. There was no salvaging the ridiculous storyline; no amount of polish would eradicate the childish tone of those old drafts. But determined to close out the darkest chapter of my life, I hatched an ambitious plan. I would rewrite the entire story from start to finish and edit my new draft up to snuff.

When I wasn't at work, I drafted the first manuscript for my Tales of the Known World saga. My passion for writing flowered again, and I resigned myself to the fact that stories are best shared when finished. Determined to become my own cheerleader, I vowed to never again rely on someone else for creative fulfillment. My dreams of acclaim had to await the distant day when the book would be finished.


That's it for this post! Up Next: The long road to publication...

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

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Life is an adventure.
Are You Ready?

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