This is a more "warm and fuzzy column" than some of my more technical ones. I suppose I can break with tradition now and then. Everyone needs balance.

I've addressed "attitude" in worlds and concepts, but rarely attitudes in authors. But there is one that I'm going to talk about and how it relates to worldbuilding.

The attitude than an author should "play god" in their worlds and stories.

Let's just say I think it's a bad idea.



LET THERE BE SPITE:
To put it simply, to put it bluntly, taking the attitude that you're ...

It couldn’t have been more timely. Only months after 9/11, when America craved something self affirming, LORD OF THE RINGS: FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS (LOTR:FOTR) burst onto the silver screen. Christmas would have been strange ...

This time, we look at developing the foundations of your world - the origin and ecology/ecologies that are the basis for what happens in your setting. For some worlds, the level of detail and research vary, but either way you'll discover a lot to write about and a lot to think about. ...

A few columns ago, I wrote about "Timeline Based Writing, which works in the following way:

It's been nearly a year since I started "A Way With Worlds," and I figured that for the anniversary, I'd get philosophical.

For a year, I've written about creating worlds and populating them, on writing about them and exploring them. You, my readers, have written and planned and crafted and told tales in the last year.

So, why did I do it? Why do you do it? Why are we spinning worlds and universes? What's the point?

Well, I've asked myself why I write and why I write this column, and, ideally (note, ideally) why people write and create. What is it, at ...

I have a hobby.

I make generators - programs that generate characters, plots, items, etc. for writing, role-playing, and just general fun. It's fascinating to do something like analyze magic items in standard fantasy, abstract the words and ideas, and produce a program that slaps them together to produce something new. Anyone who's ever played Diablo or Demon's Winter knows what I'm talking about.

Recently I was designing a Technobabble generator - to make science-fictiony weapons, armor, and Random Important Gizmos That Break. This got me ...