wordsbyedward
Words by Edward
Blogging about my writing, my career, my life, and my passions
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Worldbuilding Series: The World Itself
Within my writing circles, I have earned a reputation as a master world-builder. I've even given talks at conferences about it. So I thought I'd start a aeries of blog post about particular elements of world-building that I've used as a writer or encountered in other works of fiction. So I'd like to start this series in the obvious place: the world itself.
The vast majority of worlds in science fiction and fantasy resemble Earth, probably to an unrealistic degree. Worlds are spherical (except in some fantasy works); many have a large moon similar to our own moon despite the rarity of our odd double-body system in reality. This happens particularly frequently in fantasy, despite the possibility to use magic or fantasy-physics to justify an entirely different celestial arrangement.
Science fiction writers do not fall into the lunar trap as often, perhaps because they study real celestial mechanics. Of course, science fiction writers can't rely on magic to explain some weirdness of their world. However, sci-fi writers do have a similar problem, where the Earth-similarity rears its head. Almost every world has one earth-gravity and a 24-hour day cycle, not to mention an axial tilt that gives a world seasonal variations similar to Earth.
While we know that terrestrial planets must fall within a mass range - above it, and the world becomes a giant world like Neptune; below it, and the world lacks enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere. However, even in our solar system, the rotation rate of the terrestrial worlds ranges considerably - while Mars is close to 24 hours, Mercury has a rotation period of 176 days, and Venus's rotation lasts longer than its year - and it rotates backwards. Axial tilts also vary widely within our solar system too (look up Uranus as a weird example).
So what can a writer do to make his world different and memorable?
If you're creating a fantasy world, consider having magic play a significant role in how the world works. Maybe the sun really is a god flying across the sky in a chariot or sky-barge. Maybe the moon is actually shaped like a crescent. You don't even need to stick with a spherical world - place your setting in a hollow world, a flat world, or even a torus. Have fun with fantasy celestial mechanics (and tie them into the magic of your setting).
If you're creating a sci-fi world, study different hypothetical planetary systems. Read (or watch videos) about having a planetary system with more than one star, or what happens when you give a world rings? And check out some of the truly weird exoplanets that have already been discovered.
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Works in Progress
Over the past few months, I've been working on several projects that I'm ready to announce. The first, The Nefarious Nightscar, is a sequel to The Wondrous Wayfarer. The second book in the Adventures of Gavin Greene series, this middle-grade novel will feature two new characters who come aboard the Wayfarer, but the two newcomers believe each other is evil. What will happen, and how will Gavin help the Wayfarer crew discover the real monster?
The second work, Neuraides, is planned to be a collection of adult sci-fi stories about artificial intelligences and their troubles dealing with humans. The protagonist, Doug Taggart, is a human psychologist who wants to help autonomous AIs (the titular neuraides) learn to interact with humans.
Look for The Nefarious Nightscar in February 2024, and Neuraides sometime around the summer.
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RPG Inspirations in my writing
I've written on the anime influences in my writing in an earlier post. I also draw from tabletop RPGs for writing ideas; in fact, writing adventures for D&D inspired many elements in some of my novels.
The New Pantheon series has little direct RPG influence, aside from its general fantasy elements. Obviously, the novels pull a lot of material from mythology, but I didn't pull anything specific into the series. Similarly, the Gozen Saga has little RPG influences.
However, I have pulled elements from tabletop RPGs and other games into the Adventures of Gavin Greene. Throughout the years, I created a number of races and worlds for D&D characters to explore; most never saw use in an actual gaming session. So when I needed to create characters from wildly different races to live aboard the Wayfarer, I reused some of them.
Major Skreenath and Sigmis are both examples of this, using races I created for a Spelljammer campaign that never materialized. Dara Jarzoz (the psion) also comes from a culture I created for my primary campaign world. Kraug (who appears on the cover of The Wondrous Wayfarer) is a traditional D&D ogre with a kind streak.
I also pulled inspiration for characters from other games. Znovix, the bizarre doctor on the Wayfarer, took strong inspiration from the Redundans, the red aliens from The Awful Green Things from Outer Space. I made Znovix have trilateral symmetry and added some other details and characterization.
I also have a (currently unpublished) short story called Stonesage that includes a D&D character I played. The story doesn't follow the game itself, but I wrote the story to show what character arc I'd envisioned for him that the game never fulfilled.
I also plan to write a superhero novel at some point. For that novel, I expect to use several characters I created for Champions, a superhero RPG popular in the 80s and 90s. But that one is only in my head at the moment.
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The Secret of the Symbol
If you've read any of the books in the New Pantheon series, you've seen this symbol. It's on the back cover and used for scene breaks (in a row of five - one for each main character). It's also on the bookmarks I give out at my trade shows. But does it have any meaning? Yes.
In Adversaries, the secret behind the symbol is revealed. Those of you who are mathematically-inclined may recognize this symbol as a hypercube, or at least one projection of it. A hypercube is a 4th dimensional cube - you can visualize how to transform a square into a cube by moving it along the third axis. Well, you get a hypercube by moving a cube along a fourth axis - not possible in our 3D space, but it is a mathematical construct familiar to many mathematicians.
So what does this have to do with the New Pantheon? Simply put, the Earth sits in one of the eight cells of the hypercube, and the eight realms around it occupy the vertices. Other worlds, such as the giants' world of Yothrun, occupy other cells. All worlds share four realms with earth - except one in the opposite cell. For instance, Yothrun shares the Demon Realm, Primal Realm, Animal Realm, and Spirit Realm. Flussora, the faeries' world, shares the Astral, Spirit, Animal, and Heaven Realms.
I've mapped out the arrangement for all sixteen realms (the eight around Earth and the eight on the opposite cell) and the eight worlds, though I still have to detail some of them - but I have two more books to do it. I hope you enjoy exploring these worlds and realms in my books as much as I enjoy creating them.
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Published: Adversaries, the third book in the New Pantheon series.
In this third book, the teens meet new immortal students who have secrets of their own. Then immortals from a society dedicated to restoring worship of old gods (e.g. them) arrive in town. Just as the New Pantheon begin to restore some normalcy, a monstrous chimera appears, threatening to destroy them all!
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A Memoriam
Sometimes life is wonderful. Sometimes life sucks.
As I write this, I'm waiting to travel back down to Florida. My father passed away last night, and I need to go down to handle his affairs. I just took my kids down to Florida to visit him a week ago; I hadn’t even finished unpacking. And now, I'm traveling alone.
I saw my father a few days before he died. He was lying in bed in a rehab facility, hoping to regain enough strength to go home. He'd already persevered through heart problems, lungs filing with liquid, and lymphedema in his legs. Seeing the man I remember as a towering pinnacle of strength reduced to a frail shell was unbelievably tough. At least he was lucid until the end.
My father left behind two sons, myself and my brother. He also had a first wife (my mother) and a second wife, who I will have to comfort and help through the challenges of widowhood. In his retirement, my father crafted and sold jewelry; in his earlier days, he fished almost every weekend.
My children will remember him, but their children will never know him. Like most people, he didn't make a huge splash and his contributions will fade with time.
I know that sometime in the next few decades, I will be the man lying in the bed waiting for the Reaper. But I want my descendants to know me. I'd love to make a large enough impact to be famous, but even if I don't, I hope I can leave enough of myself in my books so my descendants can know me. And that's one of the many reasons I write.
Anyhow, I'll get through this period of grief. I know i'll have happy times again. But I'll miss you, Dad. Rest in Peace
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Gender behavior in writing
In my last post, I discussed how to make alien cultures seem weird, with different cultures, morals, and ideas. For this post, I'd like to focus on us weird humans, in particular portraying genders properly.
Note: I won't discuss the current trans/non-binary/etc. movement in this post. I want this to be a constructive post, not flame-bait.
A few years ago, my son (around 10 years old at the time) performed as Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird at the local community theatre. During rehearsals, the director was trying to have him portray being sad, dejected, and vulnerable. She instructed him to pull his knees to his chest, a gesture I've seen girls use. However, the differences in anatomy make this gesture unnatural and uncomfortable for a boy.
Fortunately, the director didn't force this, but the exchange made me aware of how the genders actually differ, both physically and mentally. As a man, I try to portray my female characters accurately, so I frequently solicit the opinions of female writers. And I offer the same advice on portraying male characters to them.
Recently, one of the women in my writing circle had a scene where a boy would slide down a bannister. While girls might enjoy this, boys would find it quite painful (think about it).
In another submission, a female author had a young man start crying in a frustrating situation. Most men react to frustration with anger; by portraying him as emotionally vulnerable rather than stoic or angry, the scene robbed the character of his masculinity (which was not the author's intent). For a male reader, a crying man becomes an unsympathetic character.
I'm sure women authors can cite just as many examples of male writers mis-writing the female psyche.
Differences in physical anatomy play a role in my Gozen Saga, where the titular mechs match the human pilot's movement precisely, requiring a differentiation in male and female mech models. Differences in psychological behavior become more challenging to represent accurately without falling into stereotypes.
Not every man or woman follows gender-norm behavior, and portraying diverse characters can be fun and challenging. But they should be an exception, allowing a talented author to explore WHY that character differs from the mainstream.
If you're an author, listen to fellow writers with different viewpoints and backgrounds. As long as an author is willing to listen to constructive criticism, we can all strive for more rich and well-developed characters.
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Alien Cultures and Customs
After finishing the Beta draft of Adversaries (the next New Pantheon book) and preparing a few short stories for submissions to different anthologies, I’m returning to the Wayfarer and Gavin Greene’s next adventure. In The Wondrous Wayfarer (the first book), I introduce the Wayfarer and its strange crew of aliens, fantasy races, and other weird beings. I also established that the Wayfarer arrives at a new world every three days. The world can be a fantasy world, a sci-fi planet, or anything else. I do have a few limitations, but the Wayfarer crew isn’t aware of them yet.
One of the challenges of writing Gavin’s story is developing an entire race and/or culture and revealing it in only a few chapters. While I love this kind of challenge, it does make me think about HOW an alien race or strange culture differs.
I’m reminded of a short story I once read (whose name I have unfortunately forgotten) where human diplomats are meeting an alien race on their planet, and enjoying a fancy dinner, only to learn that the aliens are serving them their own young. The humans are horrified, and the aliens are disgusted by our human practice of eating “lower” animals, believing it pollutes us.
Similarly, in an episode of Babylon 5, someone sets up a tourist shop, selling shirts, hats, masks, and so forth - including dolls of the various ambassadors. Londo Mollari, the Centauri ambassador is offended that his likeness does NOT include his genitalia. Of course, our Barbie dolls and the like don’t show such detail, but Londo felt like the dolls represented a ritual castration.
Different cultures, different ways of looking at the same thing. Do you have any similar examples, either from mass media or your own writing?
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Heraldry, Superhero Costumes, and Anime Hair
In medieval times, knights wore coats-of-arms on shields, tabards, and even on their horses. These colorful images allowed allies to identify the knight from a distance—if you saw three gold lions passant on a red field, you knew that was the king of England, even when he was wearing a helmet. Heraldry served as an immediate means of recognition and even branding.
Fast-forward to the modern superhero. These modern myths wear brightly colored costumes, immediately recognizable to everyone. I doubt anyone on earth would fail to recognizes the red and blue costume of Superman or his big red S.
But did you know that effective superhero costumes serve the same purpose as medieval heraldry? We recognize how Spiderman or Batman looks, regardless of whether they appear in comic books, animation, or live-action. Consider the various poorly-conceived attempts to introduce drastic changes to a hero's costume - most fail because they lose the character identity.
Comic artists, even the most talented ones, only draw faces in a relatively small number of ways. Superman's face, when drawn by John Byrne (or any other artist) will look more like Batman's face (well, Bruce Wayne's) than Superman's face drawn by another artist. Compare that to a live-action movie. We can tell Dr. Strange from Tony Stark without their superhero suits because we can easily distinguish Benedict Cumberbatch from Robert Downey Jr. But in comic books, we need and expect the bright costumes.
So what does that have to do with anime hair? Since anime characters frequently have the same or similar outfits (particularly in the common school setting), Japanese artists had to develop other ways to have their characters distinguishable. And a mangaka usually suffers from the same challenges a western comic artist does - their faces will look similar to each other. Enter anime hair.
While boys might have hyper-stylized hair or other visual cues, girls in anime frequently have outrageous hair styles or decorations. Whether they wear a bow bigger than their head, have twin-tails that reach their knees, or have "hair antenna", anime girls will have distinctive hair styles. In fact, usually no two girls in a series will have similar hair. And that's even before the artist applies weird hair colors.
So the next time you wonder why a superhero needs bright tights or an anime girl wears her hair shaped like massive corkscrews—the answer is recognition.
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Encourage Reading
I enjoy selling my books at trade shows. Whether at a small one-day show or a larger three-day convention, I can meet many interesting people. And of course, I try to sell my books to them.
Sometimes, the attendees will pass by my table without stopping. Other times, they'll browse my books and take a free bookmark, then say they may come back later. Some will actually buy a book or two.
A few ask if I've considered turning my books into graphic novels; I'd love to, but my artistic skills couldn't hope to match what I'd like to see. If you're a decent artist interested in collaborating, feel free to reach out.
But the saddest thing I hear attendees (particularly parents) offer as an excuse is "I don't read much."
I understand this. I have kids and a busy life too. And to be honest, I've been doing so many readings for my writer's circles that I rarely have the time or attention for a new novel. But I do try.
I know in the modern age that reading competes with television and video games for your leisure time. But just as video games make you exercise your reactions and puzzle solving skills, reading forces you to exercise other parts of your mind.
If you're reading this blog, then you probably already have a pile of books you want to read too. But if you know a friend who doesn't read, encourage them. Give them a book as a gift, or find a way to get them to visit a library.
Even if you don't change their mind, hopefully they'll realize reading is important to you. And maybe they'll consider whether they want to chance a new novel.
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The Aging of Fandoms
Two weeks ago, I attended Farpoint, a sci-fi convention north of Baltimore, as a vendor. I sold books and chatted with plenty of other attendees.
Last weekend, I took my teen children to Katsucon, an anime convention at the National Harbor. I didn't try to sell books - anime cons are a lousy place for authors - but enjoyed the ambience, the fascinating cosplayers, and so forth.
While comics, sci-fi/fantasy. and anime have a lot of crossover, the audience at each convention was very different. Attendees at Farpoint were older, on average - many in their 30s or 40s. Katsucon on the other hand had mostly teens and 20-somethings. And this led me to think about the aging of fandoms.
Star Trek, the most popular property at Farpoint, has been around for over 50 years. And unfortunately, recent series have not sparked the same devotion that the original series or Next Generation did (more about the poor handling of beloved properties in a later post). Conversely, anime series have a short life cycle - the most popular anime of 10 years ago is remembered fondly, but anime fans have moved onto newer, shinier series.
Because of their youth, the anime conventions have more energy pervading them, while sci-fi cons have a more relaxed feel. It's hard to describe. Of course, more people dress in costumes at anime cons too - about half of the Katsucon attendees wore cosplay, while only 10% of Farpoint attendees did.
Will the anime community age like the sci-fi fandoms have? Will a new, trendy thing appeal to the next generation of fans? Will sci-fi cons see a resurgence of interest, or fade into obscurity? Only time will tell.
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Imagination and Lines of Thought
Inspiration is a funny thing.
Earlier this morning, I was trying to engage my writer's brain and write the next few scenes of Adversaries. I'd received some feedback from my fellow writers on an earlier scene, and was puzzling how to advance the plot while still including the relevant information for later in the book. But I hit a wall.
So I tackled some household chores. And as I was returning from the grocery store, the next few scenes fell into place in my mind, along with a solution to a problem from the earlier scene.
Some of my most useful flashes of inspiration strike me when I'm letting my mind relax. Taking a shower or the moments before bed (or after waking up) sometimes produce the most useful ideas. And I've arrived at a mental construct which explains this.
When you're focusing on a task, your mind works like a taut muscle. Imagine a set of tight parallel lines of thought - a logical mindset suited for powering through challenges like tax forms or math homework. Now, imagine those same lines scattered in random directions, connecting to different thoughts in a chaotic fashion. That's dreaming, when your mind is totally relaxed.
But when you're partially relaxing your mind, those lines of thought fall into a midway state. They may line up like a winding river or branches of a tree, connecting ideas that you couldn't reached with the short concentrated lines of focused thought. But they still generally follow a desired direction, unlike dreaming. And that's inspiration and intuitive thinking.
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Current and Future Projects, 2023
As I write this post, I've finished about 2/3 of the first draft for the third New Pantheon novel, tentatively titled Adversaries. I'll delve more into the plot and details in a future post; I plan a total of five New Pantheon novels, so I'm about halfway through the teens' stories.
I mentioned in a previous post that I'm also writing a series of short stories set in the universe of the Gozen Saga. I've published the first (Revelation on Hellscape), and I've written the first draft of a second story, but it needs heavy revision. I'll keep plugging away at them, and hopefully publish them as a collection.
I also have more Gavin Greene books planned. His adventures have barely begun; I have at least five novels vaguely outlined. I'll shift to writing his next tale after finishing Adversaries. Fortunately, Gavin's stories are shorter and (hopefully) easier to write.
I recently wrote a post-apocalyptic short story independent of my current three series; I submitted it to an anthology, but it wasn't accepted. So I'll be looking for other venues. I also have a variety of other writing projects I want to tackle; I may describe some in a future post. But for now, I'll keep you in suspense.
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My History with Writing
Believe it or not, I used to hate writing with a passion. So having it become my second career has been a strange journey.
I attended high school from 1978-1982, long before personal computers were a ubiquitous part of the education process. But we still had to write papers for school, and this meant using a typewriter. I've never taken a formal typing course, so I despised slaving over that tortuous device. I hoped I could finish a single line without needing the White-out; typing a 12-page paper took far too many hours to consider.
I can't begin to tell you how much I loathed writing papers. In college, I avoided classes that required any form of research paper; I only did five papers total in both my undergraduate and graduate classes. It became a matter of perverse pride.
Of course, my inability to type faded over the thirty years I spent writing computer software. I've never measured my typing speed, but I now only need the backspace key occasionally.
Once I retired from software development, I needed something to pursue. I've always had a strong creative streak, though I’ve developed little artistic skill. I learned elements of story-crafting from creating and running Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and I created hundreds of game characters over the decades.
And I had so many ideas. I could never cram most of them into an RPG session, but I needed to express them somehow. So I began writing, and I don't plan to stop any time soon.
I thought I'd describe my journey for all the younger readers out there who are seeking their path in life. Never discount some skill or a challenge because you find it too hard. Never shut out new opportunities just because you're not comfortable tackling them. If I, who hated writing as a teen, can write 5 novels (and counting), you can create your own future. Good luck!
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Some Thoughts on Comics and Manga
Like many who love sci-fi and fantasy, I also follow the comic industry as well as watch trends in anime and manga. For those of you who also follow these sectors, I doubt I need to point out the dismal shape of the American comic book industry today. Other creators have devoted countless articles and videos to the topic, mostly pointing out the horrid choices modern comic writers have made.
But as a writer, I also see another problem. Batman and Superman have been around for 80 years, with thousands of stories; Spiderman appeared as a teenager in the 60's. While the setting has evolved with the times, the characters have fundamentally remained the same. Storytelling involves showing your protagonist learning and growing into a better person. Instead, comics rehash the same stories over and over.
And the need to maintain the status quo means that any world-shattering event will be undone or ignored in a future story arc. Overall, the lack of character growth and meaningful change lead to disinvesting readers.
In contrast, manga creators create stories with a beginning, middle, and end (aside from long-running series like Dragonball). When characters change, the change is permanent; dead characters stay dead. And if something wrecks the world, the protagonist must struggle through the aftermath, not wait for a cosmic reset to fix everything. The stories have meaning because they do have a resolution.
What could Marvel and DC do to rekindle interest? Instead of continuing their current trajectory toward oblivion, I recommend they adopt the model Star Wars used for their novels before the Disney buyout—now known as the Expanded Universe. Each company could establish rules for the established characters and setting, then let creators develop their own stories and new characters within it.
So instead of yet another writer creating the 967th encounter between Batman and the Joker, creators could develop complete stories that show a new character within Gotham. That character could have a complete character arc that ends with a fulfilling resolution while not affecting the greater DC tapestry. It would lead to more people becoming invested in comics again, and the greater competition could improve the writing overall.
What do you think?
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Writing “Revelation on Hellscape”
Revelation on Hellscape is the first of a planned collection of Gozen short stories, allowing me to explore other aspects of the Gozen universe - and play with different ideas. Since The Sentient Space features stories about first contact, it does spoil the reveal at the end. I didn't create Revelation on Hellscape specifically for the anthology; I was lucky that the story fit their guidelines.
So I thought I could use the story to illustrate some aspects of my writing craft. Initially, Tivra is feeling overwhelmed by her posting, so I created the world of Hellscape to seem alien and formidable to her. With its golden foliage and octopi-like creatures, the world is supposed to feel alien, and i think it works.
Why octopi (or hexopi? They have six limbs). I've watched several series on evolution, and it fascinates me; I recall one mentioning tree-octopi, so I decided to let octopus-like creatures fill the niche of the dominant life forms, much like vertebrates have on Earth. Some of the more evolved alien creatures would evolve away from radial symmetry, so I incorporate that into their designs.
As far as the first contact element, I wanted to avoid an advanced civilization - Hellscape is an untamed wilderness. Then I remembered the iconic opening scene of 2001, and drew inspiration from that. Instead of prehistoric humans around a monolith, I had my primitive aliens encounter the protagonist's giant robot. Then I mixed in some monkey-like antics of the curious creatures to contrast with Tivra's insecurirty (and pull her out of her shell).
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Public Presentations
As part of my writing efforts, I periodically have presented topics at different venues. In the past, I have spoken about Combat & Action Scenes, World-Building, and even did an Intro to Scrivener presentation. As I write this post, I am preparing a talk on Selling Books at Trade Shows for the Maryland Writers Association. I've even spoken at my kids' school about the writing process.
Public Speaking is hard, particularly for introverts like me. And I can't say I'm a great speaker yet. But at the same time, I do enjoy sharing what I've learned with others. Perhaps I've grown more comfortable pontificating, or perhaps my self-confidence is high.
In any case, I see speaking as a way to extend my visibility. I'm even looking into starting a YouTube channel. So if you're looking for a published author to present at an event, feel free to drop me a line.
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