It has been a while

 Wow, it has been almost 10 years since I last posted here. Much has happened in that time, and as things in life cycle around I am back here with a new, possibly temporary, purpose. Well, the purpose isn't temporary, but the use of this site might be. 

My intentions at the moment is to start documenting my ongoing process of creating my fantasy world. As this blog already exists, I figure here is a good place to start. 

Currently there are many things on the go for me: work as a substitute teacher (which I enjoy, giving me time to hopefully write) has generally increased during the Covid-19 pandemic; I have also been dealing with some physical health issues (which seem to be getting some resolution, and therefore beginning to feel more energetic than I have been in the past few years) and some mental health (the coming of spring and summer weather is helping a bit with that) - Covid-19 pandemic was only helpful in me recognizing some issues I have to deal with. 

On the writing side, I have been exploring some various ways to organize and assist in my writing and world building. Later posts may breakdown these resources further. I started using Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview) for my writing, at the time (and still as of writing this), it seems good at helping me write long narrative in broken down chapters all in one spot. Prior to using Scrivener I used Celtx (https://www.celtx.com/index.html) which I may go back and see what it's like now (a decade later - I used it to write my plays "5 of a Kind" in 2007, and "The Question" in 2012). 

Just over a year ago, in the midsts of the pandemic lockdowns, I decided to look into map making for my fantasy world as a way to spur me into writing more. In the end I didn't actually find a software / method I wanted, however I found World Anvil (https://www.worldanvil.com/) as a resource to help build and organize my epic fantasy world I am building. Unfortunately over the past year I have not had the opportunity to explore the site to the extent I have hoped (see 2 paragraphs up). 

I have also looked a bit at Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/) posting a copy of my Joe Trebble (http://joetrebble.blogspot.com/) there. Find me there: https://www.wattpad.com/user/HughKemeny. However on reading up on possibility of submitting to a magazine I came across this article on First Publishing Rights: http://neil-clarke.com/first-rights/, and am now being cautious of what and how much I post online. 

Back to map making. I have looked / started to explore at the following: 

- Inkarnate online mapmaking (https://inkarnate.com/p/4jZbG5--hugh-kemeny/ <- my profile)

- Wonderdraft is probably the one I have explored the most because of it's one time payment (https://www.wonderdraft.net/)

- Other Wold Mapper is another one I have started to look into, I don't recall (as I write this not at my main computer to check) if I have only got the demo or not (https://www.otherworldmapper.com/)

- I found out about this project after the Kickstarter had ended, it might better fit my end goals: https://www.dungeonfog.com/

My ultimate goals for a map, after my research (and playing some Sims 3), is to have a zoomable map. From world to city. One thing I still looking at with the mapping, if I can't have an easily zoomable map, is to have changes to one level easily reflected in another (ie world-country, or country-city). I may opt to keep my draft maps created almost 20 years ago using CorelDraw as a distance guide and finalize my maps later. Having the maps to help distance and terrain is important. 

This YouTuber has a channel that I have explored that talks about world building from the ground up, literally: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLduA6tsl3gygXJbq_iQ_5h2yri4WL6zsS

At the moment I am slowly reading "New Worlds, Year One" by Marie Brennan based on her Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/swan_tower). 

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A week or so ago I thought about attempting to work on documenting my creation. In the possible event I become a famous writer and documentaries of my writing / world are of interest. 

So, this is my starting point. I may add videos, and audio, and photos, etc... Who knows at this point where this all may lead.