Aye, and begorrah, here ‘tis, Saint Paddy's Day! As you can tell, I took last week off from posting for several reasons. The first of which being that last Sunday was The Morning After the Night Before(TM). And I will admit to bleeding from the eyes a little that morning. Mostly, though, I couldn't focus—my … Continue reading Happy Saint Patrick’s Day
Creativity
Friday Night Gamers
For the last handful of years, I've spent most of my Friday evenings in the virtual company of a group of like-minded gamers. Now, none of us is too serious about the game that we play, and we tend to argue like siblings, but we (mostly) get the job done. I've mentioned this group before, … Continue reading Friday Night Gamers
Write That Story
When asked how he writes, author Stephen King answers, "one word at a time." And that is precisely how stories are built—one word at a time. I struggle to stay focused on my writing, partly because I get bored quickly and partly because I spend a lot of my day job staring at words on … Continue reading Write That Story
Character Creation
My stories almost always start with character creation. When I create an avatar as I start a game, a persona for that character comes to mind. Sometimes that character is cheeky, sometimes quiet, always interesting—to me at least. When I first started writing my DDO fan fiction story a handful of years ago, I envisioned … Continue reading Character Creation
Worldbuilding, Part II
It took me a while to find a focus for this post. I started out trying to make it about the spiritual and religious life on the continent but realized that the entire ecosphere of a world is intertwined. Economics is tied into politics is tied to religion, is tied to daily life. The economy … Continue reading Worldbuilding, Part II
Building My World
As you have probably guessed, Aeryn doesn't occupy the same fantasy setting as Katra. The gods and goddesses are different, and the landscape is dissimilar. Aeryn is native to a campaign world of my creation. So, how did this world come into being? About fifteen or twenty years ago, I drew a map of the … Continue reading Building My World
J.J. Shaun 