Steven Savage's Blog, page 45

Steve’s Creative Resources 5/16/2019

It’s been awhile since I posted my list of creative resources (which I keep at Seventh Sanctum) for your use.  Please reblog freely, and suggest new ideas.

Art Sources

Free

Pixabay – A source for art that is free as well as royalty-free. There’s a lot here, and much of it is professional.Unsplash – A source for photos that are free as well as royalty-free. The quality is very high.

Royalty Free

Canstockphoto – A great source for royalty-free art, photos, and more. Has a subscription system an...

Indie Authors Versus The Money

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Right now you want to sell your books.  Maybe it’s a future career.  Maybe it’s a hobby that pays (like mine).  Maybe you’re just trying it out.

Either way, you want to sell.  As I noted in There’s No Honor In An Unread Book, your goal is to reach the right people.

And to do that, you’re up against many things, but one of those things is money.  Namely money other people have and spend to sell...

Steve’s Update 5/13/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s our latest sprint roundup! Definitely prefering these two week sprints.

So what have I done since last time? Way With Worlds: The Fashion Book close to completion! I hope to get it to the editor next week with a drop in early January.Seventh Sanctum Book: I’m through the toughest part, and am on to the rest of the book. I think I’ll have it in editing mode (for myself) in June and to th...

There’s No Honor In An Unread Book

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

We write for many reasons, but almost always a writer wants someone to read their work. The reader may be themselves because it’s pure self-expression. The reader may be given a book as a gift, as the writer had targeted an audience of friends and family. The reader may be “whoever may like it.”

But either way, writers want their book read, even if it’s just “hey someone liked it.” That mean...

You Ain’t Getting Rid Of Politics In Media: Part 2

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Last column I discussed how getting politics out of media was not just a fool’s errand, but was literally impossible. As an example, I used the guy-from-our-world-in-a-fantasy-world take on Isekai – one that, to do well, would require one to acknowledge politics.

The Isekai ‘transplant” genre would require addressing politics of the world and the “savior-from-another-reality” elements for it t...

Steve’s Current Book List 4/30/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s a complete list of all the books I have available for folks interested in creativity, geekery, worldbuilding, and careers.

Fiction

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: A Tale Of Dead Gods And Living Stories – Kindle, Print

Culture

Her Eternal Moonlight: Sailor Moon’s Female Fans In North America, An Unauthorized Examination – Print, Kindle

Worldbuilding – Core

Way With Worlds: Book One – Print...

Steve’s Update 4/29/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s our latest sprint roundup! Definitely prefering these two week sprints.

So what have I done since last time? Must Read: If you’re familiar with Agile and any of my work. Check out this article on the infamous Five Whys, and why it’s actually not that good a technique. Heck, if you have to ever review work or like to ask what happened, read this.In General: Well caught a cold, then re-hu...

Making Friends As An Adult

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

I saw this fascinating Tweet thread when @itsashleyoh asked how people make friends as adult. This is something that’s often troubled me after college, and is an issue in ever-busy Silicon Valley.

Its hard to make friends past a certain point. You get busy with work. Some of your friends have kids and some don’t. Some of you are married and some aren’t. So I read the Tweetstream and added a f...

You Ain’t Getting Rid Of Politics In Media: Part 1

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Raise your hand if you ever had someone tell you that they want people to “keep their politics out of books/comics/games/tv” and so on. Now, put it down. I can’t see it, so it didn’t help.

But despite the fact that I can’t see if you raised your hand, I’m pretty sure you did, if only spiritually. It’s a plague of modern media (at least as I write this in 2019) that people complain about politi...

Need An Idea? Take An Idea 4/20/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

In honor of my book on Brainstorming and ideas, Art Of The Brainstorm Book, I wanted to start posting ideas I’m not going to be using. I’ve been using the Brainstorm Book idea for over a decade, so I’ve accumulated a lot of great ideas, inspirations, and so on. More than I can use.

So time to share them! Here’s a few I’d like to see people run with.

Chose Your Own Instruction: With things like...