Skip to main content

Realm Makers-- A Story Idea Engine


When I created my blog, I wanted it to be distinctly different from most author blogs. That's partially because I find stories more interesting than how stories are made, ideas more interesting than the people who think them up.

It's perhaps an unusual bias, one that might imply that I don't like or am not interested in people. But that's not true at all. I actually do enjoy the company of my fellow human beings, especially those that share with me an interest in speculative fiction storytelling as a Christian--or with a Christian twist--or from a Christian point of view.

In August of 2013 I attended the first Realm Makers conference, the first conference devoted specifically to Christian writers of speculative fiction. I had fun making new friends and meeting in person for the first time people I'd only known online, but more to the point, my conversations and interactions with fellow authors inspired and honed a number of the story ideas I'm so keenly interested in. I got a sense of what sorts of plots have been done and are being done. How can I improve some of the stories floating around my brain. What the prospects are for story media other than print. You could call the conference a "Story Idea Engine."


(The above photo has me seated as part of an author panel to the left of Bryan Davis with the microphone, author of the Raising Dragons series, Celesta Theissen is on his other side and Jeff Gerke and Morgan Busse are also in the pic.)

The Realm Makers 2014 conference on 30-31 May in Philadelphia is one I'm looking forward to attending. I in fact have the privilege to be one of the speakers, discussing the effects of danger/combat on characters both human and non-human. I'd love to inspire some unexpected story ideas. I'm sure other speakers will if I don't :)

I almost forgot to mention the key speaker will be best selling author Tosca Lee--whom I've only mentioned in this blog in a critical light (in regard to Demon a Memoir)--which might possibly prove to be interesting... Which of course has nothing to do with the fact that I'll be delighted to meet her.

If you're interested, check out the Real Maker's link. And the raffle html below this. :)

ttp


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Ways to Deal with the Problem Magic Poses Christian Fantasy Writers

First off, what is the problem with magic for Christians? Or sorcery? Or witchcraft? (Are all of those things even the same?) An entire book could be written on this topic (perhaps I'll do that someday) but to keep this as brief as possible, the short reason this is a problem is the Bible has nothing good to say about the practice of magic (neither does extra-Biblical Christian tradition). No translation of Scripture will record the 12 Disciples watching Jesus walk on the water and say, "Wow, that was magical!" Nor is the mana falling from heaven in Israel's wilderness wanderings described as some kind of powerful spell that Moses used, nor even is his rod described as "magic," even though Moses had the power granted to him by God to turn it into a serpent at whatever time he chose. No, the Bible describes events like these as "miracles," or "signs," or "wonders." On the other hand, when the Bible talks about "mag
17 comments
Read more

Speculative Fiction Writer’s Guide to War, part 19: War Costs: Soldiers’ Pay

The Travis’ are back with another installment of our series on Warfare. We’ve been analyzing a writer’s perspective on calculating the cost of war, developing some tools and thumbrules you might start with when calculating the cost of war in your story, and seeing how this mundane task can yield helpful ideas for your writing. At the very least, your effort to make your warfare come across as thoughtful and realistic (by your story world’s gauge of consistency) will be appreciated by the discerning uber-fans your serving.  Travis C here. Last time we left off with a detailed approach to calculating how much food both human and non-human fighters might consume and began a illustration using those calculations to gauge the financial impact of war in a fictional world. Our purpose wasn’t to delve into all possible fine details, but to give you an example where doing a bit of math can provide some values for you to work from. This week we’re going to dive into another significant expenditu
Post a Comment
Read more

Nanite Infested Aliens

Inspired by the history of Europeans coming to the New World carrying bacteria to which the native inhabitants had little to no immunity, I thought: "What if aliens visiting Earth carried their own sort of infection or infestation, to which we humans had no immunity?" Sort of a War of the Worlds scenario in reverse... But I'm sure that sort of thing has already been done by someone, aliens carrying virulent disease(s) humans don't carry. So what if the infestation were of nanites--what  if nanites become a standard part of healthcare for any advanced technological species? (Just as hand washing and sterilization of medical instruments become standard at a certain point of development--once bacteria are discovered and found to be potentially harmful.) So that nanites are literally crawling all over (and inside) the bodies of high-tech aliens (or perhaps time travelers from Earth's distant future). What if these nanites potentially posed a risk to the human race?
Post a Comment
Read more