Mixed Book Bag: Creating Places by Randy Ellefson

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Creating Places by Randy Ellefson - Blurb Biltz and Giveaway

Creating Places

by Randy Ellefson

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GENRE: Non-fiction

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BLURB:

Creating a unique, immersive setting one place at a time.

CREATING PLACES (THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, #2) is a detailed how-to guide on inventing the heart of every imaginary world - places. It includes chapters on inventing planets, moons, continents, mountains, forests, deserts, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, and interesting locales. Extensive, culled research on each is provided to inform your world building decisions and understand the impact on craft, story, and audience. You’ll also learn how and when to create history and maps. Experts and beginners alike will benefit from the free templates that make building worlds easier, quicker, and more fun.

Learn the difference between types of monarchies, democracies, dictatorships and more for realistic variety and believable conflict. Understand how latitude, prevailing winds, and mountains affect climate, rainfall, and what types of forests and deserts will exist in each location. Consistently calculate how long it takes to travel by horse, wagon, sailing vessels, or even dragon over different terrain types and conditions.

CREATING PLACES is the second volume in THE ART OF WORLD BUILDING, the only multi-volume series of its kind. Three times the length, depth, and breadth of other guides, the series can help fantasy and science fiction creators determine how much to build and why, how to use world building in your work, and whether the effort to create places will reap rewards for you and your audience.

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EXCERPT

Our invented planet is unlikely to be the only one orbiting its sun. This section discusses others within a solar system.

In SF, interstellar travel is virtually a given, whether that’s within a solar system or between systems and galaxies. In fantasy, other planets are seldom mentioned unless there’s an event of some significance like a conjunction of moons, stars, the sun, and planets. This might be an oversight, for magic or other supernatural means could allow characters to move between worlds (and moons). If a magic portal can get people from one place to another, the difference between traversing two sides of a planet and between two planets with magic might be negligible for all we know. It could take tremendous power from a wizard or we can decide the ability has become commonplace. Perhaps magical doorways have been created, the magic imbued within them so that ordinary people can use them, just like a technology. We could similarly have magic-powered spacecraft.

When inventing other planets in a system, we should have rocky planets like Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars closer to the sun, and gas giants farther away; temperatures are too high for gas planets to form close to the sun. Saturn isn’t the only planet in our system that has rings; they are just more pronounced, so don’t be afraid to do this.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Randy Ellefson has written fantasy fiction since his teens and is an avid world builder, having spent three decades creating Llurien, which has its own website. He has a Bachelor’s of Music in classical guitar but has always been more of a rocker, having released several albums and earned endorsements from music companies. He’s a professional software developer and runs a consulting firm in the Washington D.C. suburbs. He loves spending time with his son and daughter when not writing, making music, or playing golf.

Creating Places universal buy link: http://www.books2read.com/creatingplaces

The Art of World Building Podcast http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/podcast (launching a week before the tour)

The Art of World Building Website: http://www.ArtofWorldBuilding.com

Author Website: http://www.RandyEllefson.com

FREE eBook: http://fiction.randyellefson.com/freebook/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/randyellefson

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/RandyEllefsonAuthor

Google+: https://www.google.com/+RandyEllefson

NOTE: The book series has a new podcast where even more details are discussed. This podcast is free to listen! Follow along here: http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/podcast

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