FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Justine Bonczek: How do ya’ll create/translate politics – a very human framework for organizing society – into alien/magical societies? Do you take what exists in human history and tweak it, or do you start from the ground up to create something new? Curious minds want to know! Join the chat
Welcome to the second annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; tools and techniques; and religion. It should be a lot of fun. For our final day, we’re talking about religion, and Jenna Hale will be our moderator. Her take: How many religions exist in the history of the world? Likely you’ll think of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam–the Abrahamic trio–or Buddhism and Hinduism. You might be familiar with Shinto, the varying flavors of paganism and Wicca, … Read more
Welcome to the second annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; tools and techniques; and religion. It should be a lot of fun. Today we’re talking about tools and techniques, and A. Catherine Noon will be our moderator. Good morning! I’m author and textile artist A. Catherine Noon with you today, helping to facilitate a discussion about Worldbuilding Tools and Techniques. Since there are as many different approaches as there are writers, artists, and gamers, I … Read more
Welcome to the second annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. Today we’re talking about culture and politics, and Lloyd A. Meeker will be our moderator. Here’s my take: There are really only two over-arching questions for you to answer in your world-building task: 1) How is it different from the familiar world? 2) How is it similar to the familiar world? Very often a … Read more
Welcome to the second annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. Today we’re talking about alien/magical races, and J. Scott Coatsworth will be our moderator. Here’s my take: This is one of my favorite topics of the week, because I love authors who are able to construct entire races of beings in an original and convincing way. When I was in second or third grade … Read more
Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. OK, so you’ve come up with your very own language for your new world. You’ve chosen the most awesome-ever aliens or magical creatures to populate it. You’ve set up a timeline for your history, and you’ve built the culture that they’ll live in. And you’ve figured out the whole sex and marriage thing. Now … Read more
Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. OK, so you’ve come up with your very own language for your new world. You’ve chosen the most awesome-ever aliens or magical creatures to populate it. You’ve set up a timeline for your history, and you’ve built the culture that they’ll live in. Today we’ll talk about the continuation of the species. Elizabeth Barrette … Read more
Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. OK, so you’ve come up with your very own language for your new world. You’ve chosen the most awesome-ever aliens or magical creatures to populate it. And you’ve set up a timeline for your history/ Now you have to build the culture that they’ll live in. Some things to consider – what kind of … Read more
Welcome to the first annual Worldbuilding Week at QSF. We’ll talk about all aspects of building a world for your story, including languages; alien/magical races; history and timelines; culture and politics; sex, marriage and reproduction; and tools and techniques. It should be a lot of fun. Today we’re talking about languages, and Erica Pike will be our moderator. Have you ever created a language for a story? How do you go about building the fundamentals? Are there tools online to help? Does your language offer clues to your culture? And how do you make it work for your readers? Join … Read more
History holds some of best quirks, don’t you think? How rich is a world that has a fundraising event like this one: When ‘Womanless Weddings’ Were Trendy Definitions of marriage in America keep expanding, but for most of the country’s history, the word “wedding” has called to mind images of a woman in a white dress and a man in a black tuxedo. And traditionally, June was the most popular month to get hitched. So, there’s no better time to reminisce about a once-popular community ritual — still perhaps practiced occasionally — that would seem to be on the edge … Read more