Writing the Lightning

WRITING THE LIGHTNING

(soon to have a beautiful logo, but not this time)

 

Premier Issue

October 2007

 

Published and written by Jean Lamb (aka excessivelyperky). All contents copyrighted 2007. This issue may be distributed freely as long as it’s done in its entirety. Contact Jean Lamb at tlambs1138@charter.net for subscribing and unsubscribing—I don’t have any of those cute little bots yet. All issues archived at www.freewebs.com/excessivelyperky. (This one should be there soon). 

 

This writing newsletter will have several departments, but its major emphasis is going to be worldbuilding. This applies to historical as well as fantasy writing, as I have seen some seriously bad history in romance novels at times, and that writer never made my list again (Danielle Steel. Zoya. Three hundred pages of the Russian Imperial Family right before and during WWI, and not one mention of Rasputin. Clunk!). 

 

Brag Box: You, too, can be here! I will gladly publish news of sales, rejection slips higher than the Preprinted Slip of Doom, and even gutting it up to send stuff out. I myself have a story in the upcoming book (to be published in the UK) Getting Even: Women’s Revenge on Men, edited by Mitzi Szereto. From an email she sent me: “The book is for sale for pre-order online at Amazon (yes in the USA and UK). Not sure what booksellers in the USA will carry it, but the thing has a US price and a Canadian price. This might be a good time to ring your local Borders and say-HEY GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

My story is called “Esprit de Corpse” and is 900 words of er, horror. You’ll never look at a frozen turkey the same way again. 

 

Now, on to worldbuilding. 

 

Consider the statement: “it was raining on the Planet Mongo”. What’s wrong with this?

Answer:  planets are generally quite big, and any place with reasonably human type people on it will have more variation in climate. 

 

Why do worldbuilding? Yes, yes, we all know people who don’t and seem to do well. Too bad. You’re not them. Also, it’s fun. Besides, your own world is a very good place to stash characters that no one seems to be doing anything with (after a bit of work with the Universal Witness Protection Program). 

 

Worldbuilder(s) of the month: the Bronte children. Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell Bronte all created worlds (generally beginning with the drawing of the map, though do try to avoid any obscene physical features, unless they’re part of the story). They found it an escape from their rather unpleasant lives. Branwell drank himself to death. The other three published and remain fairly well known. Patrick Bronte, one of the reasons the children wished to escape, outlived them all—but we know fairly little about him except that he was their father. Oddly enough, the Bronte sisters did not publish any of their fantasy work, which I find unfortunate. Alas, Ace books did not exist back then, nor was there much market for overt fantasy. Pity. 

 

The outline: this is an outline that I used myself to create the country of Talisgran. Many fantasy countries resemble the author’s home state/country/territory to some degree. My own little country of Fiallyn Mor bears a strong resemblance to the Klamath Basin, while Talisgran looks like the Holy Roman Empire, only with the Talis (cough Rhine cough) turned towards the Inner Sea rather than to the north. This changes a lot. Also, I’ve added dragons settled in the western hills, and various other countries around them which bear little resemblance to the medieval Europe (including the extremely martial state of Issanac, whose customs are closer to those of the Japanese. They’re immigrants from a disaster far to the west, and thus do not play well with the other countries). 

 

WORLDBUILDING, TALIS RIVER VALLEY

("TALISGRAN")

Note: "Talis" in the language used in that valley means "dragon" and "gran" means "land of", hence the derivation.

INDEX (talis01.doc)

 General Layout     x (talis02.doc)

  Geography     x

   Climate   x

   Topography   x

  Political subdivisions   x

 Educational System(s)     x (talis03.doc)

  General Education Levels  x

  Specialized/Guild Training Programs x

  University of Argnon   x

 Family Life      x (talis04.doc)

  Marriage    x

  Children    x

  Adolescents    x

  Grownups    x

  Elders     x

  Voluntary Families   x

  Variations    x

 Economy      x (talis05.doc)

  Agriculture    x

  Crafts     x

  Natural Resources   x

  Industries    x

   Tech    x

   Mage-driven   x

  Trade     x

  Coinage    x

  Taxation    x

 Manasti League provisos    x (talis06.doc)

  Signatory cities   x

  General provisions   x

  Trade provisions   x

  Political alliances   x

 Calendar      x (talis07.doc)

  Summary    x

  Year Date (might change)  x

  Days of the Week   x

  Months    x

  Midwinter    x

  The Great Cycle   x

 Language(s)      x (talis08.doc)

  Summary    x

  High Speech    x

  Soldiers' Pidgin   x

  Sitat     x

  Alphabet/Numbers   x

  Dragons    x

 Religion(s)      x (talis09.doc)

  The Church    x

   The Prophet   x

   Organization   x

   Current Doctrine in Talisgran x

   Doctrine in Ramius  x

  The old religion   x

  Dragons    x

  Finance    x

  Prophecies    x

  Afterlife, miscellaneous  x

 Holidays      x (talis10.doc)

  Church     x

  Secular    x

  Summary    x

 Racial Makeup      x (talis11.doc)

  Talisgran in general   x

  River folk    x

  Argnon    x

  Mayellin    x

 Popular Culture     x (talis12.doc)

  Plays     x

  Games     x

  Superstitions    x

  Common Sayings   x

  Children's Stories and Legends x

  Courting Customs   x

  Birthdays and Anniversaries  x

  Dances     x

  Nightlife in the Big Cities (Argnon, especially)x

  Popular Songs (titles, summaries) x

   Church

   Folk

   Soldiers' songs

   Simfonia

   Satires

   Riverfolk chants

   Magesong

  Noted Cultural Figures  x

  Toys     x

  Gambling    x

  Books     x

  Hobbies    x

 History       x (talis13.doc)

  Pre-Breakup, Summary  x

  The Breakup    x

  Post-Breakup, Summary  x

 Fashion      x (talis14.doc)

  Lower classes (agricultural)  x

  Lower classes (industrial)  x

  Students/professional/etc.  x

  Nobility    x

  Regional variations   x

  Sumptuary Laws   x

 Succession, Duchy of Argnon   x (talis15.doc)

 Music       x (talis16.doc)

  Church     x

  Country    x

  Industrial    x

  Urban     x

  Regional variations   x

 Sports       x (talis17.doc)

  Country    x

  Urban     x

  University of Argnon   x

 Humor       x (talis18.doc)

 Legal System(s)     x (talis19.doc)

  Church     x

  Guild     x

  Secular--village, town, city, industrial x

 Funeral Customs     x (talis20.doc)

  Religion    x

  Geology    x

  Class/Income Level   x

  Country/City    x

  Guild     x

 Arts       x (talis21.doc)

  Visual     x

  Architecture    x

  Sculpture and carving   x

  Metalworking    x

  Textiles    x

  Calligraphy    x

 Technology      x (talis22.doc)

  Weapons    x

  Roads     x

  Information Storage   x

  Sanitation    x

  Heating    x

  Building materials/Power  x

 Food       x (talis23.doc)

  Carbohydrate    x

  Meat     x

  Fruit/Veg    x

  Dairy     x

  Salt     x

  Fats     x

  Spices     x

  Sweets     x

 Transportation      x (talis24.doc)

 Medical knowledge     x (talis25.doc)

  Magical    x

  Technological    x

  Diseases and Cures   x

   Local Remedies

   Infectious Diseases

   Endocrinal Problems

   Degenerative Diseases

   Mental Diseases

 Animals      x (talis26.doc)

 Plants       x (talis27.doc)

 Crime and Criminals     x (talis28.doc)

 Booze, Drugs, and Other Fun Substances  x (talis29.doc)

 Mercenaries' Guild     x (talis30.doc)

  Organization    x

  General contract provisions  x

  Ranks     x

  Current Registered Troops  x

  Current Independent Troops  x

 Dragons      x (talis31.doc)

 The Building/Maintenance of the Chevan Canal/Port Town of Skiro x (talis32.doc)

 Relations with Other Countries   x (talis33.doc)

  Grand Marq     Mintar

  Issanac        Azdab

  Cuda      Caphtor

  Allante      Legends, Fiallyn Mor

  Ontine Confederation/Vanagen  

  Ramius

  Athlath

 

As you can plainly see, I have gone overboard in the standard Ravenclaw manner. However, if someone sees a category I’ve missed (and is possibly not covered by a related one) please do sing out. 

 

YOUR ASSIGNMENT, IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:

 

Copy this outline for a world you would like to develop. Each month we’ll go through one of the categories. I’ll excerpt some of the worldbuilding I’ve done for Talisgran, and encourage everybody to let me know how they are coming along. 

 

Warning! Worldbuilding is fun and can be even more obsessive than the actual writing. The Brontes finally moved on to writing stories in their present day, but they had to work at it, and in correspondence sometimes referred back to their old stuff. Of course, all three of the sisters tortured their characters in pretty much the same way they did earlier in their lives; there are some things that translate pretty good. 

 

Herewith ends the first issue. Hope you had fun! If you have anything to contribute along the line of worldbuilding, please feel free to drop me a line.

 

Happy October!