How to Create a Timeline for Your World
By the time your story begins, your world has likely already existed for many eras.
Step-by-Step Worldbuilding
Overwhelmed by fantasy worldbuilding? I give writers and gamers the tools to go beyond just 'cool ideas' and build deeper, smarter, story-ready worlds.
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Latest episodes
How to Show Big History in Small Details
The big events that have happened in your world shouldn’t simply exist in the history books, monuments, or royal family trees.
5 Tips for Quickfire Worldbuilding
Summer isn’t always a great time for heavy four-hour writing sessions.
How to Make Your World Feel Old (Without Writing a History Book)
A world can have a deep, multi-millennial history mapped out, and still feel flat and lifeless.
Writing From Place: My Creative Process
After a break of several years from writing fiction, I’m back in the saddle.
How to Use Cross-Genre Ideas Without Losing Your Genre
When you’ve been writing and publishing for over a decade, you have a lot of time to make a lot of mistakes.
Five Things I was Told About Self-Publishing (That Aren't the Whole Story)
I started self publishing in 2015.
Five Ways to Make a Monster Actually Terrifying
You can give a monster claws, teeth, unnatural movement, a disturbing appearance, and a long history, and it can still fall flat the moment it appears on the page.
Folklore Map: The Devil's Teeth
I have started work on a folklore map, in which every location has a story to tell.
How to Find a Story in the Landscape
Sometimes, a story starts with a place.
Five Questions That Build a World Fast
You don’t always need more ideas.
What if Your World Could Write Your Plot?
Well...
Five Things to Do When Motivation Is Gone
This isn’t a post about worldbuilding.
Build a Character From Your World (Printable Worksheet)
Last week, we looked at the kinds of characters a world naturally produces.
Five Types of Characters Your World Naturally Produces
Characters don’t come out of nowhere, they’re a result of the world they live in.
The Kind of Characters Your World Creates
Characters don’t exist in isolation, they all come from somewhere.
Five Types of Places Where Conflict Happens Naturally
Some places carry conflict without needing much added to them, because the conditions are already there.
A Difficult Place to Cross
Some places look ordinary at first glance.
Five Ways to Build Real Stakes Into Your World
Stakes aren’t about scale.
Roll to Build: The Problem
Some problems arrive loudly, while others creep in quietly.