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World Building Webinar Replay

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Jul 152020

If you missed the first World Building Webinar, the replay is now live! Here’s what we covered, with time stamps to jump to the relevant parts:

– Organizing world building notes – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=22
– Do I start top down or bottom up? – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=212
– Making #maps and commissioning artists – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=288
– Are magic portals best for crossing worlds? – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=333
– How much #culture to develop for a foreign character – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=495
– How to give backstory in stages https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=686
– How to know when introducing irrelevant world building https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1178
– How to add depth to three cultures – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1417
– How much is too much and when to stop – https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=1687
– Promo clips about free resources detailed below- https://youtu.be/ZkAnT8KzHgY?t=2126
– #writingtips throughout!

I’m excited to announce the launch of my YouTube channel for world building. The first video is the channel intro, which you can watch here. It talks about my experiences, endorsements, and is an overview of what you can expect from the channel’s videos.

Please subscribe to be notified of all releases. I need 100 subscribers before I can customize the channel URL for branding. I’d really appreciate your help. Comments on the videos and likes are also awesome!

What’s in the video:

– The Art of World Building book series – https://youtu.be/onAGTPvkcP8?t=85
– About me and my world building expertise – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=242
– Endorsement from bestselling author Piers Anthony – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=325
– Endorsement from Ed Greenwood, The Forgotten Realms inventor – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=391
– About my writing career – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=425
– About my music career – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=452
– Some disclaimers on terminology – https://youtu.be/VooN96ndv5I?t=511

New Book(s) in 2020

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Mar 062020

The headline is slightly misleading, as The Dragon Gate was written over a decade ago, but the book is scheduled to be published in fall of 2020. I’ll be reviewing it soon and doing the usual activities: ordering a cover, (re)writing the blurb, and having my editor JJ work on it, then formatting and release.

Why the delay on this? Well, back in 2007 or so when I wrote it, I was still in the traditional publisher frame of mind, trying to get an agent/publisher. But I’ve since joined the legions of self-publishers and am no longer held back. I started publishing in 2016 with The Ever Fiend (Talon Stormbringer) and meant to follow that with more fiction, but the successful The Art of World Building series took over my writing life. The final books in that series are now done and it’s back to fiction!

I know some of you are waiting for the next Talon Stormbringer book, The Screaming Moragul, and that is next to be written this summer. Since The Dragon Gate is already written, it should be a quick edit and out the door, so I took a pit stop on this.

There are actually a slew of books going out in 2020, the first four already done:

185 Tips on World Building (Jan)
Cultures and Beyond (April)
Cultures and Beyond – The Podcast Transcripts (Oct) – all episodes already recorded, processed, transcribed, and scheduled
The Complete Art of World Building (Nov)
The Dragon Gate (Nov)
The Screaming Moragul? Okay probably 2021!

Writing Update

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Dec 262019

For those of you following my fiction writing, I’m sad to say I haven’t been doing it much for a few years now but am returning to it in 2020. I didn’t know when I released The Ever Fiend in 2016 that I’d be side-tracked with The Art of World Building three book series (non-fiction) and then some serious personal issues for several years. All of this is about to be behind me and I’m looking forward to a return to Talon Stormbringer and the partially planned book, The Screaming Moragul.

There will be at least one fiction book released in 2020 as The Dragon Gate is cued up for the fall; I’ve already set in motion some promo for it. This book was written way back in 2007, so I just need to give it the “old once over” and then start getting it ready for publication (editing, cover, blurb, other stuff). One reason I’d been waiting was a plot hole in the series idea and I accidentally thought of the solution a few weeks ago, and now I know that solution won’t affect the first book, so it’s a go.

I actually wrote a fiction book and published it under another name this fall, but it’s a secret! I also drafted another non-fiction book in my car while commuting this summer, at about 50k words, and I need to tighten that up. But that’s going out as yet another alter ego of mine (I now have three pen names besides my actual name).

So if it looks like I’m not writing, it’s not true! Things are picking up and I”m excited for 2020 and beyond.

-Rand

185 Tips Book Published

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Dec 242019

Subscribers to The Art of World Building newsletter receive world building tips in their inbox (along with downloadable templates), but now you can have them all in one place in a new, short book, 185 Tips on World Building. This has all tips from all three volumes, including those not yet sent to subscribers.

The eBook is on pre-order at Amazon and will be released Jan 14, 2020. It makes a great gift for anyone thinking of diving in.

30,000+ Downloads!

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Sep 102019

You guys are amazing! Just a year after reaching 10k and six months after 20k, I’m up to 30k in downloads! I thought things would slow with me not releasing new episodes most of this year, but I guess not!

On that note, I’ve recorded a half dozen more shows but am saving them up for the release of volume three later this year, when the show will resume. Stay tuned for a new release date!

Vol 5 Published

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Jul 092019

Volume 5 in The Art of World Building series has been published! More information on Creating Places – The Podcast Transcripts can be found at the official site. It’s a collection of transcripts from the world building podcast, and each episode included in this book is based on a chapter from volume 2, hence the title.

Vol 4 Released

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Jun 082019

I’ve published another volume in The Art of World Building series, but it’s not the highly anticipated volume three, Cultures and Beyond. It’s a book of transcripts of podcast episodes, most of which were based on volume one. As a result, the book is called, Creating Life – The Podcast Transcripts. This is volume four in the series.

Meanwhile, volume three is well under way for late 2019 release.

WBU Launch Giveaway!

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Jan 172019

In celebration of the launch of World Building University (WBU) in the coming weeks, I’m doing a giveaway tailored to world builders! If you’re not such a person yourself, forward this to any fantasy or sci-fi author, screenwriter, gamer, game designer, or hobbyist who might be interested!

To enter the contest, just go to this link: http://www.artofworldbuilding.com/giveaways/wbu-launch-giveaway/

So what am I giving away? See the image! Don’t let the image fool you – there are over 25 lessons in the course! Click the link the see the rest.

If you enter the giveaway, you’ll get an email with a link that you can forward to other people. Those who enter the contest as a result of your link will get one chance to win, but YOU will get an additional three chances to win! If you get ten people to enter, you’ll have 31 chances to win.

Pretty cool, huh?

– Rand

World Building University Coming!

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May 262018

I’ll be turning the successful series, The Art of World Building, into online courses that will be launched within the next year. There should be a free mini-course, a main course, and then the flagship one that has all the bells and whistles.

This will take some time to plan, film, edit, and prepare for students, and I really need to finish the final book, Cultures and Beyond, to do all the courses, but the free one will be released ahead of the others to get some momentum.

You can bookmark worldbuilding.university now and check back later this year!

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