Planet of Hats

It's been a while since I posted (apologies to the Internet for disappearing during NaNoWriMo). I will get back on this horse and gallop off into the sunset next week, but for now, I'd like to talk a little bit about one of my favorite pastimes: Worldbuilding.

Some time ago, a friend of mine introduced me to a YouTube channel (oh, nefarious YouTube, why must I sacrifice my time to you?!) by the name of "Overly Sarcastic Productions." One of their more recent videos is one of a series called "Trope Talks," which I hold dear to my little literary heart. This particular talk was on the topic of "The Planet of Hats." I've included it here for your viewing pleasure.

This is a problem I've run into time and again, not because I'm a bad writer, but because the plots I try to tackle are sometimes simply to big for the story I'm trying to tell. I end up with fragments and glimpses that, while tantalizing and interesting, are not satisfying. 

And of course this, coupled with my apparent inability to write a satisfactory ending, leads me into the Pit of Despair to have the life sucked out of me by a Machine of my own creation. 

To address this gaping hole in my own education and skills, I have decided *dramatic uplifting music here* to apply some of Red's steps from her Planet of Hats video to my own worlds, especially the ones that feature in the novel I wrote last month. 

In the meantime, though, I created a nation of dragon clans on an archipelago in the southern seas of a fantasy world, far enough from the mainland that the smallish human kingdoms that sprang up there are almost completely isolated with their dragon neighbors. 

Because I'm nice like that. :)

I'll post some more about that world another time, since I think I've talked enough for now. Next week, look forward to some snippets from the rough draft of my novel. ;) 

In the meantime, have an awesome weekend, everybody! 

*runs off to pack like a madperson, preparing for THE MOVE*