Christopher D. Votey's Blog, page 6

IWSG – Last Minute Update

So this is a super quick post, primarily because I don’t want to lose my place on the IWSG list. For some reason that is important to me.

I’ve been super busy as of late, spending a lot of time working on my course. I meant to do this long ago, but as you know, things happen. My computer crashed on me. Thankfully, my computer setup is designed that if I do crash, I don’t lose that much. Some stuff was lost. My computer has 3 drives, and the OS drive (or C:\) is only 32GB. Then I have a drive...

IWSG – Know Thyself (& Movie List)

In the Matrix Trilogy, Neo was not ready to know the truth until he understood one important thing… himself. In many ways this was foreshadowed above the Oracles door with the sign that read, “Temet Nosce.”

We are writers. We take the world and remold it into our stories. We take world events or established stories, and recraft them. Even if the story is entirely original, some aspect of life can be gleamed from your work. Especially that of your characters. Readers need to be able to see th...

#IWSG – Worldbuilding 40k

I had hoped to write to you today, to celebrate my blog receiving 40,000 views since March 2014. As of publishing this, I’m at 39,777. Very close. I’m hoping with doing both my IWSG article and my newest Worldbuilding article on Gold will get me there today.

Seems like every time I do a IWSG article, I am announcing some big change. With my life these days, there are times where it is exciting, and times where it is very scary. However, change is inevitable, and the best we can do is face it...

Worldbuilding 14.7 – Gold

Welcome to the final article of the Metal of Antiquities, where we have saved the best for last… Gold. While many of the metals first known to humans have definitely helped shaped our lives, none has had as much of an impact than Gold itself.

Gold moved empires. The quest for Gold is what started off many explorations of fact and fiction, and making things out of Gold showed off how rich one person was. Most of its value comes from its natural beauty as a metal and its rarity, though like Co...

Worldbuilding 14.6 – Iron

Now we come to the last two Metals of Antiquity, and perhaps fitting, the two most important metals from the ancient age that had the greatest effect on mankind. While certain up for debate on which metal is the most important of the two, today we will discuss Iron.

Iron helped shaped mankind throughout history and much of what we see today in the modern world comes from this special metal, and certainly the alloy of Steel. While we will briefly discuss Steel, this article will go into great...

#IWSG One Step at a Time

It’s the first Wednesday, and that means I am posting for IWSG.

Couple of things going on…

First I want to report that I received my first payment from my release of Daygar Legacy. It was $10. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but to me, it is a fantastic amount.

From 2012, when I first starting publishing, to 2014, Amazon sent me $7. In 6 months, I had earned more than I had in my first two years. We all want the big win, but not only is it important to celebrate the small successes, it’s important...

Worldbuilding 14.5 – Tin

Today we talk about a giant in the metal world that is often unseen, but you feel its awesome potential anywhere and everywhere you go in this world. We are talking about Tin. It is a powerful element that is responsible for the Bronze Age and help in applications you wouldn’t think possible.

In this article, as we do another Metal of Antiquity, we’ll discuss all of that and more, looking at its importance in our world, its history, and why you need to consider it when making your world, whe...

Co-Hosting IWSG

It’s that time again for doing IWSG and as a special treat, I am co-hosting for the month of April.

I wish everyone luck this year for the AtoZChallenge. This year I am not doing it, even though the two previous years I did. I find these days there is a lot I am not doing that I want to do. Such as doing my Literary Terms series, or doing grammar articles, and many other things.

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by everything you want to do, and frustrated that you can’t do everything. It’s best...

Worldbuilding 14.4 – Lead

Welcome to another edition of the Madness Worldbuilding series. Starting with 2016, we are finishing up the Metals of Antiquity, the first set of metals known to the world since Ancient times and remained the only known metals until the 1700’s. Today we look at a really important metal: Lead.

Unlike all the metals we’ve reviewed so far, this one has had continuous use since it was founded. Even today, we use or touch something that has Lead in it. This is an important metal for you to consid...

Worldbuilding 14.3 – Mercury

Welcome to first Worldbuilding article of 2016, where we start things off with Mercury. Mercury has a rather… interesting, and partially horrific, history that remains relatively unknown today due to discontinued use of the element. This is largely due to the negative effects it has on our bodies, but this was only known in the last few hundred years, yet its history dates back to the ancient world.

The first part of 2016 will be covering the Metals of Antiquity. I have already covered Coppe...