K.D. Sarge's Blog, page 67
May 3, 2011
Just Sayin'
I'm here. Attempting to edit without a brain.
Love this book. Can't wait to see how it ends up.
How are you?
April 30, 2011
Get Knight Errant Now!
I've decided, somewhat randomly, that it is time to stop selling Knight Errant dirt-cheap. Currently my beloved work is 99 cents on Amazon, Amazon.uk, Amazon.de (de! how awesome is THAT?) and Barnes and Noble, $1 on Goodreads.
On Monday the price will go back up.
You know what that means, right? 
April 28, 2011
Day Twelve: The Speculative Element
Every day this grows to require more time. Also, I'm coming up with stuff I don't want to share, as it will ruin the story when you read it (as I certainly hope you will.) So I'm going to stop posting this after today. I'll continue with the world-building eventually, but for right now…it's time to stop.
Also, starting Saturday I'll be going through His Faithful Squire for a final AAHHH!! edit before the manuscript goes to approvers for the August publication date. So if you're one of my...
April 27, 2011
Day Eleven: Focus In
Today's exercise is to expand on one area of the culture you've created for your world. We have a bare-bones timeline, the bare-bones elements of a language, the bare-bones of an economic and political scene.
Drat, running out of time! I somehow got myself some piled-up deadlines…
Anyway. Frantic typing ensues.
Dwarves live in the hills north of Synto. There they raise alpaca and farm. Settlements are small, but connected. Think hobbit holes–comfort. They are more comfortable underground and...
April 26, 2011
Blame Adam Lambert
Well, don't blame him. It was my choice to pay attention to him and not this.
But he's totally why I didn't write a world-building blog post tonight. Well, that and a doctor appt messing up my day's routine, and being tired, and unexpected company…
I could have pulled it out, though, if Adam hadn't talked to us on Twitter. 
April 25, 2011
Day Ten: Mood and Culture
So! Moving on. PDF here, in case you didn't get it yet.
Exercise (recap): As stated above. Settle on the overall mood for your story if you haven't already. Look through your timeline, political groups, and language notes and mark for revision anything that doesn't fit your mood. If you have time, revise those things. Otherwise, leave them for later.
Revision already? Yikes.
This is another one of those things where KD goes wandering off the path. See, my stories never go the way I plan them...
April 24, 2011
Day Nine: Languages
I've already done much of this, but I'll post it in order to stay on course.
Exercise: Listen to how different syllables sound to you. Do they excite you? Do you associate a particular sound with an emotion or place or memory? Write down some generic preferences for your languages– "I want the language spoken by the elves to sound like water, and the language spoken by the dwarves to sound like gravel rubbing together" and then go listen to what those things sound like. Write down the...
April 23, 2011
Day Nine Delayed
I have spent all day in a fog and I cannot brain. Day nine will come tomorrow–or I may stop the borrowed exercises and come up with my own. No promises, though. As I said in a comment on an earlier post, this system requires thinking big first, and that's not me. My entire process seems to start with characters and building out, not going the other way.
In the meantime, have a wallaby.
April 22, 2011
World-Building, Day Eight
Day eight, economics and politics.
Just as you examined your timeline for events and pressures, now examine your map for resources and deficits. For five minutes, make a few notes on the map to mark places that have more of a type of resource, and jot down anywhere that has a definite deficit of something needed. Also check your timeline; some of your pressure-point conflicts in the last 100 years may have resulted from an unexpected increase or decrease in the resources of one area or...
April 20, 2011
World-Building, Day Seven
Day Seven (PDF here):
Spend 15 minutes outlining the major historical events of the last 100 years before your novel begins. Include in your timeline:
Dates when power shifted in your civilization(s) (through coup, death of a monarch, revolution, election, etc.), and whether the power shift was smooth (as it might be when a monarch dies and their offspring takes their place)
Dates when a natural event reduced or increased the amount of natural resources (food, usually, but also water, timber...
