Site(s) of the Week - Fantasy Factor and SFSignal.com

It's been a hectic day, but here I am (as promised) with my sites of the week. The first one is Fantasy Factor. (Which I belive to be a sub-site of FictionFactor, since that appears in the web address.) While the site as a whole has some fun stuff, I'm going to concentrate on an article aimed at creating flora and fauna for your fantasy world. There are some great links at the bottom of the article for research as well.

Personally, I LOVE to create new creatures and humanoid species to populate my fantasy stories/novels. :-) (One of my current novellas-in-progress is thus far populated with several different species of animal and the main character is of a humanoid race called the Nachtrodeur.) However, the article brings up some valid points about remembering to include more than just the fear-inducing, flesh-devouring predators that are hunting your MC at every opportunity.

As an example from the above mentioned novella, the spotted herten plays an important role in the survival of the MC. Not only in this novella, but in the next one of the trilogy as well. It's a deer-like creature, hooved and light of foot. (It's name is actually the German word for deer.) ;-) There are two main species of mount/pack animals, the jorens (think of a muskox and a buffalo hybrid that smells worse than a skunk) and the laveche (about horse size, with four horns and blue eyes, they emit a shrill whistle when alarmed). The only non-sentient predator this world has so far is the akidar, a large cat that lives in the mountains, has teeth similar to a sabertooth tiger and poisoned claws. (Fun Fact - SBT's have been theorized to have been scavengers because their long teeth may  have prevented them from biting down hard enough to kill prey. Thanks Discovery Channel.)

But, I digress, the article is a fun read (just ignore that the author uses "you're" instead of "your" in at least one instance).

Fantasy Factor also includes a link to a list of mythological creatures at the bottom of the articles page - also highly recommended if you are looking for inspiration. I read the first listing for the Adaro (which I'd never heard of in my mythological studies) and was hooked. ;-P

Alrighty then, moving on to site number two -  SFSignal.com, or more specifically their article asking well-known Sci-Fi authors about the best writing advice they've ever received. Fun read, and informative too.
For example; Patricia Briggs received her most valuable writing advice from a movie starring Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito. Huh, who'd a thunk it? ;-)

Ok, I'm losing focus. My stummy is rumbling because it's 8:00 and I haven't eaten dinner yet. Hope you enjoy the articles and exploring the sites of the week. :-)

Back from the Abyss

Wow, I just saw the last post date - May 20th? Really? I guess I did get wrapped up in studying for my LSAT and neglect my poor blog. :-o

Well, that big, bad test is over and now I just have to wait for the scores to come through. Should be in my inbox by the 28th. Until then I'm just trying to stay busy and not dwell on it. So what better way to do that than throw mysefl into other projects?

Let's begin with writing. Tomorrow is the deadline for replies on a contest I entered in May. No email = not accepted. So, if I hear nothing, I'll be resubmitting that story to a print anthology. Also on the menu for this week is to polish up my space zombie romance (yup, you read that right) and send it off to a print anthology put out by the same publishing house.

Then I'll be working on two fantasy novellas I have in the making. One is a prequel to Somewhere, which a few of you have read in part on the WD forums. I've decided to make a novella trilogy (or possibly quartet) from that storyline; beginning with Pazia's story and ending with a story from Na'im's pov (he is only 3 when Somewhere takes place).

The othe story is about Ellivi'an. She is of a winged race called the Inefim. Her parents were murdered when she was young and she's grown up with a fierce hatred of not only the Pek'rahe responsible, but of their entire race. But she may just discover something that will change her mind.

I've also just begun the process of becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. I brought my self-study binder home today and go back in a couple weeks to meet with the director and go over the first three chapters.

I'll be posting a site of the week tomorrow at some point. I'll be posting two sites for each of the next few weeks to make up for lost time.




Think that's enough to keep me busy? ;-)

So, what has been keeping you busy/pondering/frustrated/etc. while I've been away?