I think I’ve mentioned this in a cagey manner before now, but it’s official and announceable and exciting: I have an article in the current issue of Aurealis! Yes, THAT Aurealis, of the Aurealis Awards, Australia’s answer to the Nebula and Hugos. Like, whoa.
The article is about climate and worldbuilding (a la How To Create Cultures, of course), and you can find it in issue #117 for only $2.99US. Woo hoo!
Secondly, the final print files for How Not To Acquire A Castle have been approved, and it should start filtering out to retailers over the next couple of days. YOU GUYS. MERCURY IS COMING TO PRINT. ALSO LIKE WHOA.
Thiiiirdly, I finally found my drive of creative writing resources. Over the rest of the week, I’ll be uploading some great resources for you guys to use. For now, they’ll be on the teachers page, but eventually I’ll tidy up the writers section as well and duplicate the resources there so they’re easy to find no matter who you are 🙂
Phew. Week one nearly down. This year has been a whirlwind already and it’s barely February, but I’m buckled in and holding on. Hurrah!
I read your piece in Aurealis today, some excellent points. It reminded me very much of a panel I went to at a Unicon many years ago. If I remember correctly Robert Silverberg agreed with you, he thought that climate and the weather was very important in world building, I remember the quote “When I am in the city, I want to know from which way the wind blows”.
Somebody else thought that language was very important, giving examples of how different languages emphasised certain things that showed the cultural and in some cases geographical influence. For example Inuit has many more words for snow than other languages. I think somebody mentioned that English had many words or expression to hammer or nail something.
Oh, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the article 🙂 I hadn’t heard that Silverberg quote before – it’s great!
I did a course on the language + culture thing at university. It was so fascinating! By sheer coincidence, I actually found the essay I wrote for that class just last week when I was cleaning out a (really old!) box in the garage. #random.
Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂