Halloween? Hello Folklore

With Halloween coming up, what better manner to start off with a new blog post than with the subject of folkloric traditions in novels, world-building and so on?
Whereas a lot of people see Halloween as a repulsive commercial feast brought over by American multinationals, the origins lie in the early pagan rituals which were subsequently inherited by the Christians as the day before All Saints to appease to the new converts.

"The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane" by John Quido

Adding folklore, other stories throughout your own, for world-building or other purposes, means adding flavour to your atmosphere. It can be a break from the story, to deepen a location, custom, day of the year for your characters or can function as an important plot point. Is it a poem recited by a bard about some location, is it a symbol characters make before going on a great adventure, is it the reason for a truce and maybe the end of a great war? Who knows, but folklore can be .

The most important thing before you start designing folklore is knowing your own. For people wanting to read up on the world's folklore, I suggest checking out http://worldoftales.com/ which contains a lot of folk tales, fairy tales and fables from all over the world. For more specific stories from your neighbourhood, the library or older people are your main source of information of course.

If your story is set in the real world or a different version of our world, keep in mind that folklore is publicly available and you can use it in your project freely (as long as you don't claim to have invented it). For those that want to write their own, try studying "real" folklore to get a feel for the writing style and meanings therein. Folklore can range from superstition to a construction of complex and multi-layered meanings.

Proofreading and editing, waterproof ideas?

With a relatively large part of my first draft finished, I was thinking of having others read it for me. Now the obvious problem with that is: who will read it for you? It's obvious that you yourself might be all passionate about your work but you might as well encounter many problems in the department of convincing others to read a work in progress. More precisely, a work in progress they must read attentively and scan for error and incoherency. So we've come on the terrain of proofreading and editing. Whereas these terms may seem relatively close in meaning, they are not the same.

Proofreading is the reading of a text to spot errors of a technical nature. Grammar mistakes, double words, wrong punctuation and so on.

Editing is the reading of the text on a more narrative basis. You try to find incoherency in dialogue, events, flaws in character build-up. All for the benefit of the quality of the story itself.

Prooffreading, finding the errors in other people's texts.

The problem, however, is where to find those people motivated enough to read your unfinished material. Obvious resource #1 friends and family

Friends and family will most likely comply to reading your story, unless they politely decline of course (be prepared for this). Understand as well that people might be a bit hesitant to tell you the full truth because they don't want to hurt you. An unfinished story is a very personal thing after all.

Source #2 professional companies
Professional proofreaders are abundant. http://www.proof-reading.com/ for example. It's not too expensive and you're assured of quality. A lot of universities have their own proofreading facilities as well.

Source #3 teachers and students of languages
Very close to #2 but if you have personal relationships with these people, things get easier. When you're still a school-goer you can simply ask your teacher to do it for you in his/her spare time. Just hope you're on good footing with that person though.

Source #4 writing communities
Examples such as http://www.nanowrimo.org/ and other writing communities are full of people writing, interested in writing and readers. You can try to find people here if you need a proofreader/editor. Be cautious about throwing your story out in the open though. Read up about copyright before spilling the beans.

Good kingdoms, evil empires...or was there more?

People who have read/played traditional fantasy or sci-fi know it. Kingdoms are good, empires are evil.
In this post I won't talk about the good/evil differences but more about why they're always kingdoms and  empires. There are a plethora of state structures out there and nowadays the classic kingdoms and empires have faded into history so I just want to point out this possibility to innovate on the classic concept.

Dictatorship being shared, very common in popular media it seems.

I'll simply explain some of the political systems used in my projects as used besides the traditional kingdoms and empires.
Firstly there's the mayoralty. Adhered by two of the nations in the worlds, they are a lot like democracy with one exception. The ruler of the nation is the ruler of the capital city. In one case this is because the capital city is one of the only notable cities of the nation left, in the other because the historical evolution demanded as such (including a rebellion, hanging of the previous ruling monarch and so on). The mayoralty can be democratic or not.

Secondly there's the stratocracy. While it may seem something fit for a dictatorship, there is a difference. The army is in charge, but a stratocracy is not necessarily a dictatorship. While the nation in my project is stratocratic, having evolved from a global war, they are very close to a democracy, electing their leaders every set amount of years. These then preside mostly over the nation from the central office in the capital.

Thirdly, the plutocracy. The wealthier a person, the greater his/her influence. Applied in the desert cities where treasure is everything and many go out to try their fortune. It can often be combined with almost any other state form (for example, wealthy people get more votes) but in my novel I kept it as pure as possible.

I have several other forms of government used in my writing and often they are slight variations of existing structures as well. I won't elaborate any further though to prevent a too lengthy posting as well as too much spoiling. For those who do wish to read up on the existing forms of government I recommend the cia factbook, which has a very complete list as well as a list of countries and their state form. Also useful when designing your nations, ethnic groups and history.

While good kingdoms and evil empires may seem an obvious thing in some video games, it is worthwhile to study the newest trends:

Though indeed I am our Emperor’s son, I am no prince. Archadia’s Emperor is freely chosen by Her people. I am but an elected official and nothing more. -Vayne Solidor, Final Fantasy XII, Square-Enix

Empire or democracy? Play the game itself and you might doubt your choice. Politics are becoming more and more prominent in the later games and who knows what the next trend might be?

Questlines: The Pilgrimage of Linh

The past few days I've been working on the so-called "Questlines" section of my story. I named them like that because of the existing rpg-project that can implement them very well. "Questlines" is the bundle of stories running simultaneously with the main story. The most important reason I made this bundle was to flesh out the worlds of my novel. It's highly unlikely for the main hero to be present in all the major events of his time, but nevertheless they can have their impact on his journey. The hero hears of the other questlines occurring, may see parts of them, but is not the main player in them. They're not sideplots in that they are not resolved or sometimes only mentioned or hinted to once.

Famous examples of authors who did this are mostly found in the fantasy literature. Tolkien (The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) and Martin (A song of Ice and Fire). Especially in the case of Tolkien who is famous for his stacks of notes and border writings. He speaks of lands that are barely treated in his novels, but those who are familiar with his Legendarium (all the gathered work of Tolkien) will know there's a lot more to it than his major novels.

The entirety of Middle-Earth of which maybe a small part is treated in detail

An example of this in my own Questlines bundle is the 'pilgrimage of Linh' of the nomads on the smaller continent, looking for their sacred origin. They may seem oblivious to the greater turmoil in their world, but as a people they have different priorities. To them it doesn't matter if the world is destroyed, it is just something that happens. These nomads have a great relativity over them, a certain peace that is running out in the rest of the world. It frustrates the people who do think it's important to no end, but the nomads aren't moved by that. In my novel, these frustrations are dealt with, but not the entire sacred journey and the things that are dealt with on the way there. (though I might make a short-story from it some time)

As such I do want to show that I place a great deal of care into building up the background of my novel and I do hope other writers will do the same, because I always find it nice to find a sizeable background in the stories I read and write. Without compromising the main story with redundant information of course.

The end?

The title might frighten some of the readers but this isn't the end of the blog; more an article about novel/script endings. Endings come in all shapes and sizes, from the sugar-sweet fairy tale ending to the mindrape endings that leave you puzzled and confused for days.

A lot of authors tend to write the ending before they actually start on their novel. This allows them to keep the story coherent and build up towards a certain point. A famous example of such author is JK Rowling who wrote her novel series' ending before her first book.

It always is

In my own Otherworld Tales series I've written lay-outs for several endings, both good ones and bad ones, as I'm still unsure about which ending I'll use. The most important reason for this is that a story grows and matures while it is being written and I need to be able to select the ending that will eventually fit the general tone of the novel itself.

But why did I write multiple endings? You ask.
An ending of your novel is not necessarily the end of your novel universe. The characters may live on and their lives are a series of endings. An ending just marks the end of one story and the beginning of the next. Stated as such, endings are not definite things. They have to fit into a whole by themselves and need to make sense. The events building up to it and the events flowing forth from it that aren't described in the novel. The end is at hand! you see the man in the street proclaim and this is true. It always is, because every moment ends with a new one and every moment in your novel is an important one, but more so your last one.

(anti)climax, over the top or not?

I'm nearing the climax of the war now in my novel. The epic moment where everything changes for good. But what are climaxes actually? Do you have to put a climax in your writing and what's an anticlimax then?

So is the certain point in which who we believe to be the big bad is finally defeated and several new problems arise in the wake of the war the climax? Or is it at the end during the final confrontation? That point in your book where everything changes and everyone's at a loss or when everything comes together? I found this neat picture on the net that decides to explain it for you.

Well that makes sense right? Something that looks like it's taken right out of a literary textbook. Apparently, for a climax, tension builds up to the climax and for an anticlimax the story gets duller and duller. Whatever Piramidal is supposed to tell you I don't even know, maybe the fun part is in the middle of the book. What we have here is the stereotyped image of what people believe is the structure of stories. As if tension is something that can be drawn in a curve. Tension is not a subtle play in a person's mind, but a graph...or was it the other way around.

When writing a story, I personally don't experience the urge to build up neatly along a graph and tell my reader when the peak has been reached. Some novels don't even have tension and are still masterpieces of their own. Can someone tell me where the climax of Paradise Lost is? Or are we just reading it for the beautifully constructed narrative? What I'm trying to tell you is that your novel doesn't necessarily need a climax or anticlimax. The story by itself should be compelling enough to keep the reader's attention and it won't get better just because you carefully planned out your tension levels.

The death of Caesar in Shakespeare's play about Caesar is obviously a climax example as wikipedia kindly states, right? (it does look very dramatic, I admit)

About genres and why they're a tad useless

Not too long ago someone asked me "What's your novel about?" and I replied with my usual summary line. "So it's fantasy?" No, not quite. Science Fantasy is a term that's closer to what my novel is about, but I suppose every writer has that feeling a bit. Your novel is more than just those words of the genres. Others should read the book before they could ever possibly understand what it's actually about. Stories are so much more than just what their genre implies. Personally I find this the best approach to novel writing. Write your novel first, then let others fight over what genre it is, because I find writing my novel rewarding enough. If you want to know it, my novel is Science Fantasy, with a bit of alternate history, some snuffs of romance, a good dose of folklore, drama and warfare involved and a tinge of psychological horror. It also has politics, moral, who of you already skipped to the next paragraph?

Genres date from the first written forms in ancient times where Plato and Aristotle classified the written text into three forms (poetry, drama and prose). These three forms became more complex over time and developed into our current system of having a myriad of styles, forms, etcetera as the need arose.
A lot of aspiring authors want to know what genre they write in. Google 'novel genre' and you'll soon find the many websites that 'help' determine which genre you have. Personally, however, I believe it's not the task of the author to determine the genre of your novel; the reader does. The writer who believed his novel to be in the historical fiction department may suddenly find his book in all the romance bookshelves.

So genres aren't solid, not over time nor through your audience. Then what does a writer do at all concerning genres? Nothing. That's right, nothing at all until you're getting published. Then you just ask your proofreaders for help in categorizing your novel so you send your novel to the right publishers. Beyond that the writer's concern is writing.

Mythological creatures: Bestiarum vocabulum meets Linnaeus

While designing the Otherworld Tales, I suddenly found myself with a menagerie of mythological creatures, plants, half-breeds and things. The necessity arose to get some order in all that and good thing I remembered  the categorisation from biology class and the bestiaries from history. The system developed by natural scientist Linnaeus was a good way of categorising biological entities but it wasn't designed in the perspective of including mythology. The Bestiarum vocabulum from the medieval time on the other hand wasn't orderly enough to be practical. I had to find a bit of a middle way so I took a more scientific approach to the animals, trying to imagine what science would do if things were real (no I didn't dissect a unicorn to see how its insides look). I know others have done this before me (for example the Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges) but where's the fun in using that. So I'm just going to show you a creature from my private wikipedia and what better example than the unicorn? (mlp fans start cheering)

The hunt of the Equus Ferus Cornicae

"The unicorn or Equus Ferus Cornicae is a magical horse breed from many legends such as the several hunts of the unicorn (see tapestry image).
Related to the common horse breeds, a unicorn is slightly larger than the horse, has split hooves and a spiralling horn like a Narwhal on its head. It is extremely fast, strong and untameable except by virgin maidens and people of pure intentions.
By grinding the horn, alicorn is won, a powder which can cure most poisons and can also detect them. Alchemists will pay a great price for alicorn as it's a powerful magical component.
Because it is so difficult to trap and tame a unicorn, they are often seen as prized steeds. One who rides a unicorn must be great indeed."

-The Otherworld Tales private wiki
(when quoting please make reference to this blog)

Every creature in my wiki has a Latin name that either fits perfectly or would seemingly fit in the lists of Linnaeus. I also spend adequate time on the differences that make it a different species compared to others (in this case, the common horse) and I offer a surplus of scientific information that is considered part of the original legend (alicorn and virgin maidens). Sometimes I add "fictional" scientific information to this that isn't part of the lore and of course sometimes a plant or animal is entirely fictional, so there's no lore to go on.

Order and precision VS Chaos and sloppiness

Magnum Chaos, eats your writings while you sleep

So how do you do it? You see that stack of paper in your writing chamber growing larger and larger; your mother, girlfriend, room mate has given you lectures about how you should keep things orderly once again. How do you keep your writings orderly and consistent?
Everyone has his/her own ways for sure. Some have lines of files along the walls with paperwork, others have their computers bursting with information.
What are the benefits of maintaining order in your writings? Well, obviously it keeps you from forgetting things, especially when you have a thousand characters and locations. More important though, is to keep Chaos (as depicted here) from destroying your writings. Nothing is as frustrating as having to start all over because you lost your files in the mess you created, having to lose time searching for that one character description that is hidden inside a million sub-folders.
My personal efforts to maintain order in my writings have led me to explore the benefits of several tools, from foreign hosting to wikifying. I'll list some possibilities here for you.

1) Your head

There's nothing as secure and insecure as your own head. You invented it so it's already in there. It's unlikely that someone is going to pry open your head to see what's inside. Your information is directly available to you. The downside, however, is that your head is only as good a storage as how good your memory is. Magnum Chaos knows where to feast.

2) Paper

The storage medium of the past millennia, paper is versatile and in low quantity stores easily. In large quantity  it tends to overflow, however, and it's very fragile and dusty. It requires good order and maintenance to keep it in good quality. Paper in combination with your head is the best back-up for digital files.

3) Digital data on your own computer

3.1 Files and folders

I don't advise making one big document containing everything. Make A separate document for characters, locations and so on. Use folders to divide these. Keep back-ups because file corruption and disc wipes can cause serious problems.

3.2 Offline Wiki

Offline Wiki's are great. Almost exactly like online wiki's but stored in the safe haven of your computer. They're easy to set up and easy to use. There are many variants but this is one I used for a long time: http://www.tiddlywiki.com/

Easy categorization, easy search function. Just keep a back-up just in case.
3.3 Writing Programs
Some programs help you keep things in order for you as you write. This is a  free-to-use example called yWriter: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter5.html

4) Digital data on foreign servers

The solution against data corruption on your computer. Using a foreign server has both its benefits and its downsides. Data hosts like google sites and blogger make for a good way to keep your writing in order. They even have wiki functions. The Otherworld Tales itself makes use of these foreign servers now to keep things neat and clean.


Obviously, these aren't all the possibilities for data storage. A myriad of these are available over the web and in life. The article you just read is only about the ones I have personally used for my Otherworld Tales Project and if you wish to add to this article, do not hesitate to place a comment under this post.

The Author's Dread: Trademarks and Copyright

Curse Redirected To Myself

This was an issue I had for a very long time. What can I publish without losing all right to my story? What can I use in my story without getting sued? The legalese maze of our society is a dread to creativity that creates fear, dread even, in the creative mind and yet we need it so hard ourself (Curse Redirected To Myself). So how does this trademark and copyright thing work?

I want to use something I think is copyrighted/trademarked in my novel/story/project?
For example you want to write about someone drinking coca cola in your novel. That's perfectly ok, you don't have to write a polite letter asking for permission. Can I please use your product in my story? Yes, you can. Let the people in your story drink as much coke as they want. One exception: Defamation. No, coca cola is not made with human blood. You can't write it is in your novel, because this harms the company and the product. You won't be charged for copyright infringement, you'll be sued for defamation.

I want to cite something from another story, my character wants to read a passage from another book. Is this copyright infringement?
Under terms, no. You have to stylize it as quoted. You have to explicitly mention its source and do not have the right to claim its contents as your own.

Can I use a name from another story in my own story?
Eep, stop. This one's a pitfall. If the name is commonly used, yes (most names on the behindthename.com databases are this). If the name is unique (for example Gandalf), no. There's an exception to this once more. If you explicitly state that the name originates from the source (for example a character was named after the character from a book, because the book also exists in your writing universe). A character named after Gandalf is ok, if The Lord of the Rings is a book that exists in your universe and you state it so.

I've heard about coined words. Can these be used freely?
Coined words, or words created by an author, also known as neologisms, can be used freely. Unlike names, authors have little power over these words. So the word snark (C.S Lewis) can be used in your novel.

How do I preserve my own copyright?
The greatest issue for any writer.
Placing something in public domain ruins your copyright. The internet, newspapers, media (unless you got paid for publishing and got a contract) are usually considered public domain.
The best way to keep your copyright for yourself is finishing your novel and only ever sending it partially out to publishers. Letting other people proofread is ok, but outside the public domain.


Special thanks to Uncle Orson's Writing Class and the explanations of legalese terms on wikipedia.

Stories, a part of ourselves

Which person will you be?

Today I made a birthday present for my best friend. She's been sick for a very long time and she means a lot to me. This article won't be exactly about that but about how these things relate to my writing. It's commonly known that a lot of writers use elements from their environment to enrich their stories. For my own writing that's no different. People who mean a lot to me, be they friends or family, get the offer to make their own character in my stories. The role they get in the stories is in relationship to what they mean to me. Because of this, my stories are a reflection of my environment, my relationships and myself. A good story, according to myself, has a very personal touch from its author and this only works whenever the experience or characteristic is real or based upon reality. Try to find a healthy balance between fiction and non-fiction.

'Most people' start out by writing their emotions down on paper. What discerns a good writer from 'most people' is his ability to weave them around the foundation of his story.

Happy Birthday Pherione and the importance of days

Wikipedia gives an example, summer solstice over Stonehenge

Today is my birthday, other important event today is the summer solstice or the longest day of the year (on this part of the planet, Australians deem it a less favourable day as it is winter there). Any special character births, events and/or planet alignments just have to happen on such kind of day, simply because the words 'Summer Solstice' sound so awesome. Many cultures celebrate the Summer Solstice, both modern and pagan.

The Summer Solstice is the day the sceptre was stolen from the Tower of Stars, the Airship Oberon was finished and the day the Solar Guards were founded. I try making things as meaningful as possible in my writing projects so that includes the date things happen. You may know Oberon from 'A midsummer night's dream' . (The Oberon is one of two airships; the other is conveniently named Titania). The reason why the Solar Guards have been founded on the longest day of summer is probably clear to everyone.

A midsummer night's dream

You don't have to stick to existing important days either; just add your own. The day this or that war ended is perfectly fine.The Daban Tournament of Heroes was held to commemorate the day the Earthlings were swept back where they came from exactly one year ago. Of course it turns out there's a bit of a catch to that, but I won't spoil things here. It's merely the fact that meanings of certain days carry a load with them and when you place an event on such a meaningful day, it transfers some of that meaning onto the event. The things that happen would mean a lot less if they simply happen on any day. The Oberon could've been finished on any day, but as an author I chose this particular day because the story takes place on the midsummer day. A second reason to have the Oberon constructed on the longest day was because the people who built it are the master timekeepers, the Chronicans. To them, time is more important than to you and me. They live and breathe the meaning of time and time itself.

For people who wish to read more about time, I recommend my post: time, history and why it's a scam.

Time, history and why it's a scam

Today's Writer Quarter is about a very interesting subject: Time and History. Ok, now that half of the reading audience has fled, allow me to continue.
When dealing with history and time as a writer it's important to know that history is never objective. It is a composition of opinions, what people think happened supported by vague evidence, usually influenced by the strongest opinions of the current time. Dominant civilizations and species get a head-start in history-writing.

The design of history

Why Historia is a scam.
Because not everyone is Greek that is.

There are many historians in the Otherworld Tales. Mythridius of Antia made an attempt at categorizing the ages, though it was not until author Henry Dale's On Immortals, that the intro-existential times were added to the current timeline. Timekeeping and history-writing are like their subjects: ever changing.

When creating history for your story, even if it's in a place unlike ours, it's important to observe how history is being recorded in the contemporary time scale. You can take a timeline and chop it up in several chunks that are just as large as the other. People who look closer at the timeline however, shall find it quite different.
There is a process of relativity in it. The closer you get to the present, the smaller the chunks get. This is because time is divided based upon major events in history. The closer to the present an event lies, the greater its impact on our lives and the greater the importance it is attributed. Historians believe it is a major event and thus make it a timeline-separator. The deeper we go into the past, the less important it seems for us; it was just another war. The people from that age might've found it mighty important, but to us it is just another date in history text books, hence why only the really big events eventually divide time towards the past.

Another thing to be noticed, is that most era's have a rise, pinnacle, fall tendency like a Gaussian curve. The modern age, for example, is often divided into three parts. Pre-modern, modern and post-modern. With this categorization, people refer to the power of our current dominant economic system and while capitalism is still fairly dominant these days and it is unlikely to disappear entirely, there is a tendency towards a more social model. For those unaware, we are currently in the post-modern age in the current timeline. Of course not every age is drawn out according to its economic model, the classic age was mostly based on the Greek and West-Roman empires (as the East-Roman Empire existed long into the Middle Ages), but it was once more designed according to a Gaussian curve.

Third and last, the terminology in history is dependent upon location and time itself. Other civilizations have a different time-keeping method (for example the Chinese or the Mayan cultures) and during the Enlightened Era in western Europe, the Middle Ages were pejoratively (and unfairly) known as the Dark Ages. Our name for that time, the Middle Ages, is actually a negative term by itself, although the semantic load (or meaning) has been lightened through time.

The design of time

Why time is a scam.

Chronicans may be master-timekeepers, but it is obvious that they will never achieve their goal of perfectly recording time. It is impossible to record the smallest unit of time, nor is it possible to build a clock that doesn't have to be adjusted. Observing time perfectly would require one to escape time, as one would need to get out of a box to see the outside.

I stated time and history are scams, but the real point to it is that our methods of tracking them are imperfect. We can try to comprehend time, we can try to write as much as we can about history. But perfect timekeeping and history is unrealistic. If, as a writer, you do not have a legit explanation to why this is so, then do not give characters in your universe the exact timeline. The perfect timeline is the author's tool, you can use it to build up your story, so unless your character is the most brilliant mind in the universe, his view on time is just as screwed up as ours on our own time.

For people looking for great time recording tools, I recommend this website, entirely free and easy to use and implement into other websites: http://www.dipity.com/

The meaning of names, george and other evil alien overlords

My first topic in the Design Quarter will be about names. Why names? Because it is one of the most underrated things for writers starting out for the first time. Giving the names in your world a meaning adds an extra dimension to your story. Don't just think about character names here, this is also true for location names, object names and so on.

With everything that has ever been written about writing this is a truth: there are no rules and exceptions are everywhere. All I'm giving are guidelines of my own, a vision on the way I work my stories and I'm not even always using this method. You need to have a bit of a feeling of your own about what's appropriate and what not.

Where to get names?
Names can be found anywhere. You can use names around you, check birth lists, delve into the depths of history or scour geographical maps. I recommend the following websites for person names:
http://www.behindthename.com/
http://surnames.behindthename.com/

Another important thing when looking for names is to think broad. The history you were taught in school is not the only history. What was the rest of the world doing while the Romans conquered the Mediterranean? What was going on elsewhere during the 2 world wars? You can also dig into obscure folklore, legends and traditions. It's not like the entire world knows where the name of the city Antwerp comes from. (disregarding those people who believe that Belgium is the capital city of a country named Europe...)

How to choose names?

George, dragon slayer or alien overlord?

Try to keep your names consistent.
Don't call the evil alien overlord "George", unless you're designing something humoristic. Keep your landmarks within the cultural context you meant them for; don't screw with unrealistic technology too much.

You can try to choose names that tell you something about the character.
George, for example, means farmer or earth worker. He is associated with earth, but also with the Saint that slew a dragon and several British monarchs. Therefore it is safe to use the name George for someone that is quite literally a farmer, a dragon-associated person, a saint, a king, but also with an earth-element magician.

Don't be afraid to go cross-language.
The world is multicultural and multilingual so planets of hats aren't exactly the right thing to have in a realistic setting. (the amount of Englands in fantasy is uncountable)

Give things a full name and give everything a name. 
No one has just a first name or just a last name. Give persons both. If a name is hard to pronounce, add a nickname too, just like people would in real life. Endearing names for loved ones should be taken into account as well. Don't forget locations either in this one, everyone will probably know where the big apple is.

Other things to consider

Have fun with it. You're still the designer. It's ok to make hidden jokes with your names. Have people complain about their name. Make puns, anagrams, word jokes, you name it. George might be a dragon slayer, but maybe he doesn't like his name? Or he doesn't want to be a dragon slayer at all?

I'll try to give a specific example of naming when I create a character from scratch in one of my Dev Diary topics for the people who want a more practical example and to end my article about names, a fitting quote from Ian McEwan, British novelist and screenwriter.

It is not the first duty of the novelist to provide blueprints for insurrection, or uplifting tales of successful resistance for the benefit of the opposition. The naming of what is there is what is important.

-Ian McEwan

PS
People who think they know where the name of Antwerp comes from, feel free to place a comment. I know it's pretty well known in Belgium itself, yet I found it a fitting challenge for the rest of the world :-)

Homo Emet and Stories hidden within.

Today I started the day with the creation of a wiki page (on my private wiki) of the 'Golem'. It is clearly inspired by the clay man from the stories about rabbi Löw, though I gave it a twist to integrate them into the story plot. The Golem or Homo Emet was created after the iconic duel in the skies between my main protagonist and antagonist in 1925.

Rabbi Löw and the golem of Prague

The golems live a secluded life afterwards in their city in the Eidolon Grotto around the sword Emet and only reappear by the end of the story in the far future when the adventurers of that time seek powerful weapons.

The Homo Emet, the sword Emet...for those of you that are familiar with the stories of the Golem, they'll know it means 'truth' and it is the word carved in the forehead of the golem. Another thing you might recognize in the novel is 'the sword in the stone' as the golems fail to unearth the sword that created them and the one that would manage to do so shall lead the golems.

I implement a lot of these old legends, fairy tales and folklore, both obscure and famous and I hope that my story will be a double journey because of this. A journey with the main protagonist through an amazing world and a journey for the reader to old stories about mythical creatures, locations and a forgotten history whilst keeping things enjoyable for those unfamiliar with these tales. It is also my hope that those people will be piqued by curiosity and stroll through these layers upon layers of stories and meanings...

Welcome to the Otherworld Tales Public Blog

The Otherworld Tales is a sprawling, dynamic and expansive sci-fi/fantasy universe in my own head. Currently there are a novel and rmxp game under production that take place in this setting as well as a short-novel in a planning phase.

This blog shall consist of 2 major parts: The Dev Diary and The Design Quarter.

The Dev Diary will be a personal view on the development process, I'll tell you what occupies me at that moment. As such it'll be more varied and subjective. I'll tell you about the specific characters and species, the locations and the story plot material. If you wish to have a detailed image of the story, this will be your part of the blog.

The Design Quarter on the other hand will be an overview on the technical aspects of development. How do multiverses and omniverses work? How were scientific models blended with fairytale materials? If you want to know more about the how of the development process, this will be the place the search.

Neither part of the blog will contain major spoilers so they're safe to read and won't ruin the reading/playing experience.

Happy Reading!