Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A to Z: N

The A to Z Challenge is underway this year, thanks to the awesome hosts and minions. Special thanks to Arlee Bird for starting this amazing blogging challenge!!! For more information about this challenge, go to the website!

Primary theme: World of Aramatir (Setting for The Champion Trilogy) Glossary
Secondary Theme: World-Building Questions and Thoughts

N

Nagi – snake-women created by the Dark Sisterhood

Nelson – A Sword Teacher and member of the Sword Council
 
World Building Question and Thoughts: Is your character headed North by Northeast? or North by Northwest? Do you know? Does it matter?
 
Yes, it does. Just as I mentioned yesterday in my post on the necessity of maps, knowing the direction of your character's travels and where things are located in comparison to your character is important. Trust me, if you don't know your North from your South in your book, a reader will point it out to you later and it's . . . extremely embarrassing. And sometimes, if you've written multiple drafts, and you are 70,000 words into your draft, you can become lost. Or at least, I did.
 
Use a map, know your North compass point, and you will be a happier writer. Where is your character headed?

Dragonfold and Other Adventures, my fantasy and scifi short story and poetry collection, is free today for kindle readers!

23 comments:

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I don't have the best sense of direction in real life. Let's hope my characters are/do better. :)

Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I don't use North and South, but I do know the directions. Which is more than I can say about real life.

Unknown said...

Right. need to go check my WIP now :)

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Rachna Chhabria said...

My sense of direction in real life is nothing much to write home about. Hope my characters are better.

Tyrean Martinson said...

LOL . . . but do you ask for directions?

Tyrean Martinson said...

I'm beginning to think it's best not to mention cardinal directions in writing . . .

L. Diane Wolfe said...

My series takes place here in America, so I referred to my Atlas often. In addition to direction, I made sure I knew the raveling distance between each of the locations.

randi lee said...

Oh, I certainly agree! Direction can change everything from weather to temperature to where the sun appears in the sky at what exact point.

Laura Clipson said...

Snake women sound creepy! An interesting idea, though.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I know what you mean. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Yes, the traveling distance is really important. There's a reason, beyond the fact that I think they are really cool, that griffins are characters in my books. They can travel faster. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

That's very true. I haven't dealt with much aside from weather and landscape, but it does affect a lot of things in the story.

Tyrean Martinson said...

They are supposed to be creepy, and thanks! I kind of stole the idea from legend and myth . . . like Medusa and her sisters.

Natalie Aguirre said...

So true that you somehow have to keep track of where the characters have been and where they are traveling. It is easy to get confused in a long novel where the characters move around.

Carol Riggs said...

Really good point about keeping an eye on directions in a novel. I usually have a map for myself--and hopefully I follow it correctly! My prob is when I change something, I often miss a thread or 2... Snake-women and sword teachers sound great!!

M Pax said...

I have maps, but I rarely tell the reader in which direction my character is headed. I see the layout clearly in my head, though. I hope that keeps it all on track. It's so easy to get confused after a point.

Tyrean Martinson said...

It can be . . . at least for this confused writer. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

That's when I make mistakes in directions too - in the revision stage. And thanks!

Tyrean Martinson said...

I think it does. I never feel lost in your books. :)

Anonymous said...

I've been pantsing for this book, but I've been trying to keep up and down straight, which in these tunnels under the mountains, is more important than north and south. ;)

Trisha said...

I always need to map everything out. I created maps for my recent NaNo novel because I needed to map how far two different characters travelled each day (the book spans around 10 days), and I had to map it so they would arrive at the end point when they should. :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

That makes sense!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Mapping really helps, especially when your characters need to meet each other somewhere.