Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Bloody August

This is topic Bloody August in forum Writing Challenges at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

On August 1 I will start a world-building challenge. It will proceed in much the same manner as MidSommer Madness, with daily public posts to the LH blog. As this is public, you might want to take advantage of the challenge.

The August World-building challenge will focus on four (4) general topics:

Topic 1. Maps and Diagrams
Topic 2. Technology and Magic
Topic 3. Culture and Society
Topic 4. Physical and Cultural Environments

For LH Members:

Each person will work individually to create basic information to support their novel-writing efforts. We will critique in small groups of 3 people or so. We’ll try to keep the groups small, and will change group sizes etc. as we need to keep things sustainable during the month. You WILL have to create some graphics, but this is NOT a graphics-intensive challenge. Persons who are drawing by hand, and who have no scanner, can post either by faxing the drawing to me toll-free (number will be posted in the forums) or by using a digital camera to photograph their drawings. Any digital images can be uploaded into the forums.

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

http://www.libertyhallwriters.org/2009/07/august-worldbuilding-challenge/

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

Anyone who wants to is free to work on our world-building challenge by themselves. No need to be a member of Liberty Hall. You can find the daily tasks at the link in a previous post here.

Here's the first 2 days:

Days 1 and 2 – Getting ready

Day 1

Identify tools and ideas that you can use for the four (4) following general topics, from the list of websites below, or any other resource that you have:

Topic 1. Maps and Diagrams
Topic 2. Technology and Magic
Topic 3. Culture and Society
Topic 4. Impact of Physical and Cultural Environments

Suggested online resources:

http://wiki.libertyhallwriters.org/doku.php?id=howto:worldbuilding
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldbuilding
http://hiddenway.tripod.com/world/
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm
http://arcbuilder.home.bresnan.net/PCL01Index.html
http://www.projectrho.com/starmap.html
http://www.rpgmud.com/WorldBuilding/Mythopoets/tmm.html
http://www.zompist.com/howto2.htm
http://www.fantasist.net/timeline.shtml
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/2913/weather.html
http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm
http://www.lucidphoenix.com/dnd/demo/
http://www.metamythos.net/wiki/Cities,_Populations,_Subsistence_and_Land_Area
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/
http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=27
http://inkwellideas.com/?page_id=32

Day 2

Look in your library, or online or at home, for examples of maps, diagrams, geneaologies etc in books in the same genre that you will write in. Try to identify just why they were included, and what you feels works or doesn’t work.