(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr. Find out more at my newsletter.)
And yet another book is out! In this case it’s my Superheroes and Worldbuilding book. I’m continuing my mini-worldbuilding books with one on Superheroes (and it mostly focuses specifically on heroes – villains may be forthcoming). So if you’re thinking about a setting with capes and heroics, give it a check!
-Steven Savage
Yes I’ve got my first Way With Worlds Minibook out! This one is on sex and worldbuilding, where we explore the biology and sociology vital to a believable setting – and so often forgotten!
I’m going to be doing a series of these, each 99 cents, over the next few months. The idea is to do something parallel to my larger books, and focus on intense coaching on specific subjects – but without giving you something overwhelming. Each book can be read in a few hours and you can get back to writing!
- Steve
- (This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
It’s here! The second book in the Way With Worlds series – in both Print and Kindle! Go get it now!
To celebrate, here’s what I’m doing this weekend!
- The first Way With Worlds Book will be on sale from April first for a week on Kindle. It’s your chance to catch up!
- The Power Of Creative Paths, my guide to creative methods, will be free this weekend and Monday!
So now you’ve got two books on worldbuilding to help you out. Spread the word!
But there’s more coming! I’m working on a series of smaller, more focused, more personal worldbuilding books – small, 99-cent ebooks to help you focus on specific subjects in more of a coaching manner. Those will start coming out this summer, so stay tuned!
Meanwhile, keep writing, keep gaming, and keep creating new worlds!
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
After plenty of interruptions, Way With Worlds Book 2 is ready for pre-readers! So go on, get a preview, get a chance for feedback and contact me!
This one is a shift from the first book. The first book focused on a roughly linear set of advice on worldbuilding across various subjects. THis one is a series of collected deep dives on various issues, arranged a bit more freeform from the specific to the general. It covers conflicts, viewpoints, worldbuilding tools, and team effort – among other diverse subjects. It’s definitely a companion book to #1.
So give me a write, let me know if you want a PDF copy and let’s see what you think!
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
I’m actually getting back to these! Awesome!
Work should be a bit calmer now. We had some changes in organization and process that look to be more efficient and effective, and it’s already paying dividends in just a week. So let’s hope you see more writing out of me (though my goal is to be writing anyway).
So from here . . .
Next Way With Worlds Book
Way With Worlds Book 2 is still being edited, and I sink my teeth into it next month. It’s definitely not going to be out until February, but I can’t see it being any later than March.
The “followup” works on Way With Worlds are underway. As usually, not spilling much here (but you can find out a bit more in my newsletter if you’re really curious). More and more I’m thinking it may be worth releasing early, but I don’t want to stress myself. At this rate, I’d like to actually get people’s opinions – release it early or after Book 2?
I will say after all this I may take a break from writing on Worldbuilding. Think I’ll have said my peace for awhile.
Random Creativity Book
So now that I’m pretty sure I’ll be writing on randomization and creativity, I’ve got to figure out just how to do it. I probably won’t start brainstorming it for at least another month, to be honest. What I want to do is distill all my wisdom from Seventh Sanctum into book form (hopefully, one book). The hardest part is figuring out where to start and then how to put it in some organized form.
The second part? A title.
Seventh Sanctum
Trying to find time to bang out the Pizza Generator as the data is all ready, so I can do something else. I think having it hanging over my head kind of killed the fun and I need to move to another generator. That happens. Maybe I’ll revisit it another time.
But we must have random pizza, because who doesn’t want kimchi and bacon pizza with havarti? Wait, that sounds good . . .
Speaking
I’ve got a full slate coming up – be sure to check my speaking page!
Con-Volution is my next convention, and I’ll be speaking on worldbuilding and monsters on Friday! Go, attend!
That’s it for me – what about you?
– Steve
Way With Worlds Book 1 is out. Go get it in print or kindle. Or both if you want.
If you’re new to the book, it’s a giant guide to worldbuilding, from philosophy of setting creation, to sex, to ecology, and more. There’s advice, exercises, several lame jokes, and some insights that should give you a different view on creating your settings. It’s designed to be a manual for the important points of making a setting.
After some sixteen years, this is the next stage in my efforts to bring this old work to life! First rewrites, now books. It’s fantastic to see this journey turn into something physical people can hold in their hands!
Certainly it’s not done yet – there’s one more book to drop in November/December (probably December). There’s some smaller followup work. But this marks that transition to the new formats.
My mind still goes back to, when in the midst of the rewrites, someone told me how they’d printed my old columns out when they were younger. It had mattered to them that much, and they remembered it that well. That turned my efforts into more of a mission.
Mission isn’t over yet. Book two drops in November/December (probably December honestly). There’s some followup works I want to do.
But today I can note the next stage of Way With Worlds has started, and it has printed pages and the smell of paper, highlighted with fond memories.
So go on, take a look. There’s thoughts on sex and religion, characters and ecology, and of course plenty of philosophy. In this age, where anyone can put out book or a comic, good worldbuilding is needed more than ever – and is where you can stand out.
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Whew! Guess who’s got a book about Worldbuilding, formatted for Print and Kindle? This guy.
Of course that doesn’t mean the book is ready, it’s ready-ish. I’d reached the point where I’d edited the hell out of the book and decided it was time to format it – formatting is a great way to find all your editing mistakes as you go through the book. Now I’ve got a Kindle version that looks good and a print version on the way so I can check it out.
Which of course means I’ll probably find plenty of mistakes – print copies are great for that. But at least now any changes will be made to the configured, checked, edited, and most importantly ready-to-go final copies.
(which I realize doesn’t make them exactly final, but you get he idea)
So what this means is that Way With Worlds Book 1 is in its final rounds. Barring any major accidents, it’ll definitely be out late July.
Of course the reason I’m not pushing it faster is:
- I have book 2 coming from the editor in less than a month, and I figure a go-over of that may help.
- I’ve got the Sailor Moon book coming back from that editor and really need to take a crack at that with my co-author, so we’ll probably blow a whole weekend editing.
Still, it’s closer all the time. I think you’ll find it’s worth the wait . . .
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
The update on my first book on Worldbuilding is . . . further along than expected.
After the long editing process, the formatting for print went well (probably as I had done a lot of the basics before sending it to the editor). I’m going to format the Kindle version next – not just to get it out of the way, but because doing so also acts as yet another read-through. I actually will do that this weekend.
Once that’s done, I’ll set up the cover and a sample doc and start running print copies. I still plan to release in July even if this goes well, just because I have so much else on my plate.
Besides, Book 2 comes back from the editor end of May or so . . . and I still have the Sailor Moon book.
Though the big worry there is, as noted elsewhere, the cover. Fan To Pro‘s cover was a total pain.
I’m pretty pleased with the book, but admit there’s times it comes off a bit artsy. I think that’s the intention, but it contrasts with my usual instructional style. It’s nice to see different voices in my writing – and I am hoping to broaden out even further. I think I need to develop more “voices.”
The content is definitely solid. There’s parts I’m seriously proud of, such as my exploration of worldbuidling sex, meditations on power, and my work on magic and technology. I think people can learn a lot from this – even if they disagree with me (and there are places I see folks will differ).
And book two, well, that’s when I dive into some serious details . . .
– Steve
(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, www.SeventhSanctum.com, and Steve’s Tumblr)
Been awhile since a Way With Worlds Update! So let’s find out where we are on my essays-rewritten-and-now-a-book on worldbuilding.
First, there’s a web page for the first book that gives you some idea of what I’m up to. You can also see the sample cover art – and you’re going to love the final cover!
I also got the book back from my editor. My editor is a “word of God type editor” – when it’s edited it’s done. So I spent an entire day going through her edits for the first book. After about ten hours of work, I have a book that is mostly ready for publication. One more read through and it’s ready for publishing (which itself is going to take a few months).
This brings up a really good lessons – there are several kinds of editors and you have to know how to work with them. Some are like a friendly guide with advice. Others are the Word Of God. Yet others are instructional. Each is different and you have to figure which works for you, your works, and your goals.
For instance, these books, though being creative and chatty are instructional. I needed a Word Of God editor on them.
On the other hand, some of my more intimate career books need a lighter touch as an editor. They’re chatty and friendly.
My upcoming Sailor Moon book has yet a different editor, a fansourced editor with an academic background and a fandom background, which seems perfect.
Now there’s also been a few schedule changes, so let’s recap!
- The First Book is out end of July as planned.
- The Second Book is out the end of October. It was originally August, but between the editor’s needs, my schedule, and the fact it’s damn stupid to put a sequel out a month later.
- After that is still a special surprise. Stay tuned.
I think you folks are going to love the books. It’s really my near-final word on Worldbuilding, and there’s a wealth of worldbuilding advice.
– Steve
Because of this, Realism is both something to seek in our work. It’s also a sign of successfully making a good world and thus a good tale from it – because people live what we create. However when we ask what realism is in an attempt to achieve it, it becomes much more difficult.
It’s difficult because realism is a trickster.
When you step back from a fiction that seems “realistic,” it may suddenly seem rather unrealistic. Yes, you related to that hero fighting a dragon, felt the fire on your face and smelled the blood – but she was fighting a dragon which isn’t exactly a realistic beast. Yet there, in the experience of a good fantasy novel, it seemed real.
At the same time, just having “realistic” elements in a tale or a game doesn’t mean it seems real. A world of cars and computers and gritty real-life experiences can seem detached, empty. The elements are real but it doesn’t “feel” real.
Sometimes dragons are more believable than accountants. Realism is a trickster.
This is because, like any good trickster, realism has more than one face – two, as far as i’m concerned. Your world and the tales and games within it need to show both faces to be truly “real.”
The Face Within: Internal Realism
We can read the most outlandish science fiction or magic-drenched fantasy and be lost within it. We can follow things with little connection to our reality and live them. The unreal, the fantastic, the not-yet true can be very real in a good world and a good tale.
This is because a setting is believable if it has consistent rules and principles that are followed. It may be a realm of clockwork stars and sorcerous cats, but if people can recognize why and how, cause and effect they buy into it. We humans like rules, and when we can divine them in a work, then we can believe it.
Internal realism is this kind of realism -the realism of a setting that is consistent, if outlandish. It can be understood and comprehended and analyzed. Because there is “something” there, it can be believed. Because it can be believed, it seems real to people.
But Internal Realism has an equal partner.
The Face Without: External Realism
When wizard cats battle among clockwork stars, we may find ourselves cheering the heroine because we understand her motivations. When superheroes thunderously battle across dimensions, the blow-by-rib-cracking blow stories make us feel each unrealistic punch. When people who never existed come from cities we’ve heard of, we “get” them. When we read of the glint of sunlight on a sea that never was, we “see” it.
No matter how untrue or fantastical or made-up, a good world with good characters, a good tale, gives us ways to connect to the characters and setting. We can relate to characters, feel their pain, gasp in wonder at a description, or nod at a man who never was describing a good Philly cheesesteak.
This is the realism that we connect to – pain and emotion, location and cuisine, a visual description that is evocative. It is the realism that connects us to the fictional through experiences we can understand. Everything else may be unrealistic, but there are elements of “real” we connect to.
These places of connection could be real historical events, believable technology, relatable characters, and visceral experiences. They can be many things, but all good External Realisms bridge the gap between us and the fictional.
Someone may fight dragons, but we relate to his need to keep an armor budget.
Realism: The Two Sides Together
Both realisms are your goal as a worldbuilder and creator because they work together. Internal realism means your world is understandable and External Realism makes your world relatable. Both mean your audience connects to a setting and its characters – even if that setting is strange and alien.
If you lack Internal Realism, your world is ruleless, hard to relate to, the realistic parts floating in a sea of incomprehensibility.
If you lack External Realism, your world is one people can’t connect to. The characters aren’t relatable, the experiences lack visceral elements, the setting seems lifeless.
Together? Together you can have the most fantastical world that people can connect to. They might not consciously realize just how deep they are in a setting that is totally “unreal” because it’s so real.
Again, realism is a trickster.
Getting Both Sides Of Realism
How does one develop both kinds of realism? I’ve found these things help:
- Good world design. In short, don’t skimp on building your detailed setting. Throw yourself into it and get all those fine details. That’s good for Internal Realism.
- Worlds that work. Put your worlds to work and create with them. Can you write multiple tales n them. Can you write up a description of, say, the magic in a way that explains things understandably. Can you translate characters to RPG rules effectively? Play with your world in different forms to et a feel for it and see if you can relate to it in different ways. When you can, it shows there’s a real “there” here. Good for Internal Realism.
- Empathy for the characters. Learn to step into character’s shoes so you understand them. Understanding them as you build them and write them better – and this mean sin turn people can “get” them. Good for External Realism.
- Ask questions. Asking questions of why and how helps you flesh out a world – and you’ll often be thinking like a reader or player. Good for Internal Realism and External Realism.
- Empathy for the reader/player. Whoever peruses your media you also want to think of them. Is what you write readable and relatable, do your descriptions evoke and inspire. Thinking of how they connect to your work and you world helps you create better -and maybe find some flaws in your work. Good for Internal Realism and External Realism.
A Worthy Quest
Developing both sides of Realism is a worthy quest indeed. It means you’ll create worlds people truly connect with -and works people truly connect with. These are powerful, affecting, and memorable.
In other words, very real.
Respectfully,
– Steven Savage
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