Curious tales for quiet nerds
On my mapping adventure, the compass is the real star of the surveying show! With a compass you can: – Find horizontal angles (super important) – Calculate which direction you’re facing – With an extra-fancy compass, you can also measure vertical angles accurately, so you can find elevations (the height of a feature) or even …
I wanted to start this series with the single-most important tool for surveying an area and making a map. My first thought was the compass, but on second thought, the most important tool of all is… well, the most “boring:” The notebook. Especially important in the early days of mapping, the log book contained all …
Beginning my quest to map a local nature reserve with pre-1500s mapping tools (learn more here), the first hurdle is figuring out exactly what I need. The first step is to figure out how areas were mapped in the 15th century. Really, you just pick a starting point, measure the angle and distance to another …
As you can see, I’m having a bit of upper respiratory trouble this week! I’d like to take this opportunity to step in and speak about being gentle with yourself. _____ Everyone loves a good training montage. We get to see the hero pushing their bodies to the limit each day and eventually meeting their …
I wanted to take a moment to talk about the importance of finishing and skill building. So you would think that a draft that’s been edited, rewritten, reviewed, edited, rewritten… would be good to go right? Not necessarily. Skills grow and taste grows along with them. As your skills grow, you become aware of things …
Still running the #shareyourworld game on Twitter. You get to tell me, in a tweet (if possible), what your world is about. I’m noticing two trends: We confuse story with world. We don’t know why we’re building. Sometimes I’ll get replies that tell me plot. “Scott the magical dog goes on an adventure to Doom …
I’ve listened to this song dozens of times and thought it was a great tune inspiring a lady to be with the guy she loves. Until last night, I didn’t hear it as general advice. I just realized that the beginning of your journey isn’t working toward a dream, but searching to discover what your dream …
I came upon a note in my list of project questions for Woolmancy: “Character design, how many iterations?” I laugh at this, and kind of laughed when I wrote it. No matter how many times I refine my design, it’s going to change once I start placing the actors on their stage (drawing the real …
I will be posting some more visual development stuff soon, but another thought came to mind as I was editing my script for Woolmancy. The idea you have isn’t silly. Even if it’s been done or doesn’t seem like it’s wrestling with world-changing concepts! I always feel somewhat ashamed of my ideas or names or plots …
This weekend I posed a question on Facebook and Twitter: Are you a worldbuilder? Share your world in a tweet and tag #shareyourworld! I got some great replies and had the opportunity to discuss people’s worlds with them. I plan to continue using the tag, so if you have a world, please share it! If you …