The Beginnings of A World

 Over the past few days I have been working on some basics for my fantasy world. Most recently I have come up with a possible name for my world, and a name for my series:

Series: Dark Phoenix

World: Dorenix Mundus 

On Friday, using Notability app because of where I was located, I came up with a very rough map of the plate tectonics. The highlighted areas are the plates, and the circles in 'pen' are the location of landmasses. Arrows represent the direction of plate movement. There are 2 versions in an attempt to show the 'poles' combined. I used an icosahedron net to represent the globe. It is like a 20 sided die. This projection helps reduce distortion. 

Top image was the first drawing, and contains more potential landmasses. The bottom image is the attempted redrawing of the plates with the poles more or less included as a whole. 

Opportunities to World Build

 On Monday (9 May, 2022), I started a temporary, 6-week, job. This has given me some time out of the house (away from distractions) to do some writing and world building. I have this time because the job is a little slow to start, and has some down time. I have to be available at a moment's notice for work however, so light work on world building and writing has been my focus in the 'free time'. 

On Monday I spent some time reading "New Worlds, Year One" (see my last post on more about the book) and writing some notes on the world building. I read about folk magic and lucky charms, learning about the amulets worn by ancient Roman children: Bulla (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulla_(amulet)) for boys, and Lunula (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunula_(amulet)) for girls.

I also explored some of World Anvil's Discord channel (again see last post for more information). 

Yesterday (Tuesday) my day was more focused on map making. Back in about 2004/2005 I used Corel Draw to start creating a regional map, and some city maps, for my big fantasy world. As my last post mentioned I started looking at more mapmaking software, which opened the door to more of the world building experience. Including building the world almost literally from scratch (which I did mention in my last post). 

Yesterday I actually sketched a rough partial world map (pencil and paper), and started to consider a number of elements in my larger world. Like:

• What mythical / magical / fantasy creatures live in the world. 
• So far I have thought of including:
• Centaurs
• Dragons
• Dryads
• Dwarves
• Elves
• Giants
• Gryphons 
• Humans
• Merpeople
• Phoenixes
• And various faeries of other forms. 

• What the rough continents would look like, more specifically where they'd be in relation to each other, and which continents the creatures would be indigenous.
• This led to looking into plate tectonics as I already had ideas for one region of the world. 

The plate tectonics became more interesting as I started to consider if 3 continental plates could collide. I found interesting resources:

• Triple Junction - where all three meet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_junction
• Physics on how to determine the stability of a Triple Junction: https://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/brown/downloads/ESS403/Triple_Junctions.pdf

The second resource helped answer my questions, with the diagrams at the end of the document. I did have to remind myself, write a note, that Divergent boundary/movement creates a Ridge (R), Convergent boundary/movement creates a Trench (T), and Transform boundary/movement is a Transform Fault (F). The letters in brackets are used in the description on the second link. 

The ones I want to include are either TTT or TTF. Next is looking further into the actual physics of the movements to know which one I should use and how that affects the mountain ranges, then where I have leeward and windward sides, etc. 

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). 

.

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.

NaNoWriMo Update

Well, just about as I predicted, my novel is now where closer to the end than it was before NaNoWriMo started.... however, I am still planning on getting some writing done.

Talking of planning, I have a little planned out. My 'novel' is in the fantasy world I started to create (the world in which the Quafaie live - Quafaie being my user name on other sites).

The outline:

Black (Blackie) Phoenix (blacksmith with fire magic) makes an arrow.
Ziax receives the arrow from Blackie. Ziax is a young Quafaie on his name journey; cold and hungry when he meets Blackie
Sulon, a thief, steals the arrow from Ziax. The arrow helps Sulon turn its life around (not sure male or female character yet). Sulon shoots the arrow in to the air proclaiming "May your mark land where another needs your guidance)
Rhyanan, a huntress, finds the arrow. She has it in her possession until she dies. Her son, seeing only the monetary value of a well made arrow, sells it to a merchant.
Brandon buys the arrow from the merchant. Brandon is half elf. He becomes a great warrior and fights alongside Jessamyn* in the great battle against Guthrum*. After the battle he adopts an orphan who receives the arrow when he comes of age.

That's about the extent right now. Some kinks will be worked out as I write.

*Note 1: Jessamyn and Guthrum are characters in other stories in the world.
Note 2: All stories in this world revolve around objects created by Blackie.

It's that time of year again!

It's that time of year again when people are getting prepared for that special day in about 35.25 hours (from when I write this)....

... and no, I don't mean Halloween. I mean NaNoWriMo (national novel writing month).

Every year for the past several years the month of November is a month to write a 50,000 page novel.
There is very little in terms of guidelines since the reward is your own satisfaction of completing a novel (and possibly mention on their website: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ )

In the past I have been too busy to attempt it. This year I am still too busy, but I will attempt it...
I figure if I write for about 2 hours a day, I might be able to get a good start on a novel (or series of short stories, which is what I'm thinking more about - short stories that would be published in one book).

The only strict rules (I've found) are:

1. final submission (to automated word count - not a person) must be at least 50,000 words
2. can not start writing before 00:00:00 November 1st
3. must finish writing (submit by) 23:59:59 November 30th

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is also the time of year to be thinking about Fringe 2013, as the entry deadline for the Edmonton Fringe is mid November. Since my last play didn't do overly well (needs some more work), and I don't have anything else close to ready, I'm not sure if I'll be submitting this year.

Auditions for The Question Information

Anyone interested in auditioning for my play The Question being performed at Stage Struck 2012 (Feb 24 & 25), please email me at hugh.kemeny@gmail.com to book a time.
Also please download and fill out this form before the audition: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9168380/TheQuestion-AuditionApplication.pdf

Most auditions are going to be held Sunday 8 January 2012 in one of the Group meeting room in Cameron Library Basement Study Hall, University of Alberta (exact meeting room will be identifiable).

For those who do not know the U of A Campus, here are a couple maps to help you find your way to the auditions (click on the images to enlarge them):
Note the yellow dotted line on the map of U of A Campus, it shows the best way to get to Cameron from the U of A LRT / Bus station.

For larger maps click here:
U of a Campus: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg39vztlfAEhwlx7kcH89afvb8oik2akk-OhnLSQQ27BVZ4CxuoaZmeIEvVCqUoRWNczrleW_CNpdKDvopA3-fk4camAwFBV2_3RQ-xWHB2EgbrstBui4XdS4PF_WWX1tw8z45NsiuzBnA/s1600/Cameron+Library+2.jpg
Cameron Library Basement:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyGWb7sKsLRt3cfRU1cXBoWTnXqO06SnJaFmCjJXL_tfJwoKZCO1Kdb6Pu8nxaKl0BUc3Lv2uGzVfs5Ejwbfzll18nBC_sSkYulrrqpmND2wSCWN5hNAnwpOXC79H8LblHhBaxIS-meWw/s1600/KC+Auditions.jpg

The Question - a play

As part of my not working on NaNoWriMo, I was instead finishing my first complete draft of "The Question" a play I have entered into the Stage Struck 2012 Adult One-act Play Festival in Edmonton.

Here is the summary:

Carlos feels inundated with questions: Questions at the office related to the trial on the ethics of Dr. Van der Hauk's work; Questions from his husband, Joseph, about their long over due vacation; But it is the simple homework question from their daughter, Maria, that exposes the family secrets.

 At the moment I am looking for people to help out with the production. Anyone interested please email me at: hugh.kemeny@gmail.com

What I am looking for, that I know of at the moment, are as follows:
Cast:
Carlos - 43 year old gay guy
Joseph - 38 year old gay guy
Maria - 14 year old girl

Director or assistant director
Stage manager
Costume and props manager
Sound and lighting designer
maybe more, I'm not sure - email me of you would like help out.