Fall is in full swing, and with it comes that annual November event called National Novel Writing Month. To explain what it is, I’ll let this quote from the organization’s website provide you with some background:
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.
And what do you know? It just so happens that StarWarp Concepts has a book that’s perfect for writers!
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is our popular how-to book for writers and gamers in which bestselling fantasy author Richard C. White (For a Few Gold Pieces More, Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil, The Chronicles of the Sea Dragon Special, Troubleshooters, Incorporated: Night Stalkings) takes you through the step-by-step process of constructing a world for your characters, from societies and governments to currency and religion. Included is an interview with New York Times bestselling author Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance) that discusses his methods of world building, as well as his creative experiences during his time as a designer for gaming company TSR, the original home of Dungeons & Dragons.
What you’ll find in its pages is information that’s vital for just about any writer, especially when it comes to world building, and Rich shows you how to do it:
• Avoiding the pitfalls of naming characters, regions, and countries
• Applying the technique of “outside in” to develop and then refine ideas for your world
• Creating a world your readers can relate to, regardless of its technological levels
• Identify how to create backstories and conflict by observing how your world comes together
• Adding details to make your story richer without overwhelming your readersIdentifying useful resources for research
From its first publication, the book has been a hit with not just fantasy writers, but role-playing gamers as well. When it debuted in October 2015 at the e-book distributor DriveThru Fiction and its sister sites DriveThru RPG and RPGNow, it immediately shot to the #1 position on all three as their top-selling title, and then remained for weeks as DriveThru Fiction’s #1 Hottest Nonfiction Book and #1 Hottest How-To for Writers! If you’re a writer or gamer, you might just want to check it out. In fact, it’s currently being used as a textbook in the Interactive Media Design (i.e., game design) program at Becker College in Worchester, Massachusetts!
“I think Terra Incognito is a solid introduction to the subject of world building. The book succeeds in helping the aspiring writer in creating a skeletal framework for which to hang the moving parts required of a believable fictional setting.”—The Gaming Gang
Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination is available in print and digital formats, so visit its product page for ordering information.
We experienced a bit of that at ’Warp Central, too, with the scheduling of new titles. It was just after the February release of my nonfiction comics history, 
In the Age of Coronavirus, one of the hardest hit businesses this year is the convention industry, which first and foremost depends on social gathering in order to make money, and the more people you can squeeze into an exhibition hall the better. But with a global pandemic in full effect, a majority of con organizers have taken the safer approach of either canceling their shows this year, in the hopes that the health situation will improve in 2021, or have taken them online. San Diego Comic Con, Dragon Con, and New York Comic Con are just three of a growing number of shows that set up virtual counterparts to accommodate fans eager for some sort of convention experience.
Actually, it’s not as much “us” as one of our authors: Richard C. White, writer of the fantasies For a Few Gold Pieces More and Harbinger of Darkness, the noir-fantasy collection Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase, and the nonfiction writers and gamers creative guide Terra Incognito: A Guide to Building the Worlds of Your Imagination. When I learned of SiouxperConline and that one of its major focuses is on gaming, it made all kinds of sense to me that in place of an SWC virtual vendor booth, I’d set it up so that Rich could be “in attendance” since he’s so good at promoting his books—especially Terra Incognito—and singing the praises of their awesome publisher!
Avast, ye curs, whether you’re a fan of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise, or classic films like Captain Blood, The Crimson Pirate, and The Sea Hawk, it’s time again to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day—especially since StarWarp Concepts has its own pirate-fantasy comic for you to enjoy!
Welcome back to StarWarp Spotlight, a series of posts that runs each week to shine a spotlight on one of our titles, as a reminder of the awesome books and comics we publish and to introduce new SWC fans to our backlist. True, we normally run this feature on Mondays, but what with yesterday being Labor Day—a national holiday in the United States—and National Buy a Book Day, we decided to bump the installment over to today.
Sebastienne Mazarin—an immortal, monster-hunting shape-shifter who would go on to become Pandora Zwieback’s supernatural mentor, starting in the young-adult, dark-urban-fantasy novel Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1—made her debut in this short-lived Mature Readers series from Millennium Publications. (FYI, “La Bella Tenebrosa” in the Olde Tongue of monsterdom means “the beautiful dark one.”) In Heartstopper, a nefarious heavy metal band has arrived in New York City, and its lead singer, Coum de Sade, is more than just a sex magnet for his female fans—he’s an incubus! Will Annie put an end to his plans for worldwide chaos, or fall prey to his supernatural charms?
Plus, issue 3 contains a glimpse at the planned-but-never-completed crossover special Heartstopper/Trollords, in which Annie was going to meet Harry, Larry, and Jerry—a trio of Three Stooges–inspired trolls who starred in a very popular comic series at the time.
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