I treated myself to this when it was published and I’ve been working through it. I finished it last night. This book was interesting to read and certainly triggered some thoughts.
Charlotte Bond’s chapter On the Nature of Dragons was particularly thought provoking for me, because Dragons! but also texts withing texts. Given my recent embroidery project and plans for future embroideries based on the novel I’m drafting/planning at the moment, I found the perspective really useful.
I also enjoyed RJ Barker’s chapter. It was funny but also insightful about writing life. I found the idea that for some writers the ‘first draft’ is the same as the planning phase for other writers. Since I start with an idea, a character, a vague question and build an entire world before writing, my first draft is very much the planning stage. I only know what happens when I write it.
It was fascinating reading Jeff Noon’s essay, because I read Gogmagog and its sequal and loved them. Jeff Noon wrote them with Steve Beard, and learning about their collaborative process explains a few things about the novels.
The Spotlight On…chapters provided insight into important fantasy writers of the past – Tolkein, Moorcock and Leguin. Thd only one I haven’t read in Michael Moorcock, but I will try to find one of his books in the future after reading his chapter.
I found all of the essays interesting and helpful as a writer, but these one really stuck out to me.
Highly recommend to those who write fantasy. And people who love fantasy in general who want to lift the curtain on the writing process.
Paperback Published December 23rd 2019 ISBN:1677313129 (ISBN13: 9781677313129)
Blurb
Overwhelmed by creating fantasy worlds?
Lost in your world? Unsure where to go next?
30 Days of Worldbuilding breaks the task into manageable chunks. By following 30 creative prompts, this book will guide you from idea, to full world.
This workbook will help you to:
* Break the epic task of worldbuilding into easy steps * Build a full and complete world with prompts you may not have thought of * Tie your worldbuilding into your story to increase tension and conflict * Bring your worldbuilding back to your characters to get your readers hooked
This book also includes a bonus lesson on building magic systems that work. By completing just one prompt each day, you can have a fully created fantasy world in a month. You will also have an invaluable book of worldbuilding notes to keep beside you as you write.
Get 30 Days of Worldbuilding today, and stop getting lost in your world.
Available as both an ebook Guidebook and a paperback Workbook with space for answering each prompt.
My Review
I bought this book on a whim yesterday and it arrived this afternoon while I was out swimming. As some of my long-time readers might know, I occasionally write fantasy.
I know the world I built, Erce, from the core upwards, but I don’t know know how I know. I have written some of it down on here. There have been some changes to the world since then, and I’m working on a massive rewriting project. The main character of Lizzy remains but the world is changing a touch, with more obvious magic and fantasy elements.
In July I’m running a four part fantasy writing workshop through The Faraway CIC, and I needed some ideas for writing exercises. I wanted to check I had enough content as well. There are bound to be things I’ve missed if I don’t check it against other people’s work.
As it happens, this book has been quite though-provoking both for my own worldbuilding and for the workshops. I’ve ordered a couple of other books by the author because I think this workbook will be very useful to me as a writer. The author is a massive fantasy fan and a writer of speculative fiction herself, so she knows what she’s talking about (I have doubts about her taste – Narnia, really? Everyone knows Tolkien was the best Inkling!). I think I will return to this book every time I build a world (there are a couple sitting in my notebooks and several stories waiting to be written in those worlds), and I will be using it to work on the re-writes of the Erce stories.
I’m not going to write in the book itself, although there is space in the book for that. It’s the sort of book you can dip into and work on an aspect of your worldbuilding or work your way through it over a month, perhaps in preparation for NaNoWriMo, or a writing retreat. The author always brings it back to the question of ‘how do these aspects of your world affect your character?’ How does a particular law or cultural event affect them and their lives? What conflict does it bring? The author reminds the reader that you have to keep these things in mind even if you don’t use it in the story. It gives the story depth, by implying that there is a history and culture that is totally normal to the characters even if it is alien to us as readers.
Very happy to recommend this book and I’ll be happy to read the other books I’ve ordered.
