Altameroy Blog

The intent of designing a user interface is to make the information as accessible as possible. A travesty in design can be a great look with poor functionality. If your user cant access your information or products then something is seriously wrong. Another issue lies in whether your user ever returns. An important question to ask is whether they can identify the need to return to your services. It needs to be easy enough that they can achieve instant gratification and desire more when they are done for the day. For example if they stumble upon web design in the Inland Empire are they going to refer you to a friend, or forget about your portfolio before the days end.

The interface is a navigational panel that should be operational by just about anyone that encounters it. Too many options and too much flare may confuse your viewer, but not enough can leave them disinterested. The key to creative web design is combining that creative aspect with a design built for the web. Which of course means it functions as a working tool that provides to both parties.

The skeletal structure of the site counts the most. The remaining design is what completes it, but without the structure of content management the concept collapses.

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Lately the message has been sent to writers to avoid using adverbs, adjectives, or prepositional phrases in writing. This idea is the same as telling a long distance runner to wear a mask to limit his breathing or to find his feet together. It doesn’t cause better writing, just limits its power and impact. The message would be better if it said, “Don’t use vague and abstract modifiers in your writing because that weakens what you have to say.” That idea makes sense.

Modifiers such as adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases describe or limit subjects, verbs, objects, or other modifiers. However, to enhance writing, any modifiers should be as vivid and specific as possible. The modifiers should be necessary and not padding (unnecessary words that just fill space).

Vague and abstract modifiers should be avoided or replaced by specific and concrete modifiers. What does beautiful mean? The day was so beautiful. What specific or concrete modifiers would mean beautiful to the writer so that the reader could know what is meant? Perhaps the writer means the day was bright and sunny, that little or no wind disturbed the trees, that the deep blue of the sky wasn’t marred by storm clouds.

Revised sentence: The day held no wind to disturb the trees as the sun shone brightly in the blue sky unmarred by storm clouds. (Not only are specific and vivid modifiers used, but the verb is changed from a to-be verb to an action one.)

Avoiding cliche, hackneyed, trite modifiers and using fresh or original modifiers strengthens writing. Heart-rending is an overused adjective. What synonym would work better in the following sentence. His departure and rebuff was heart-rending. (We might also try to lose the was.)

Revised sentence: The shock of his departure and rebuff caused her breathing to stop for a few seconds and her chest to ache.

A list of sample vague and/or abstract modifiers include the following: large, long, big, pretty, ugly, beautiful, very, hardly, usually; but there are many more. If enough detail isn’t given with a modifier for the reader to know what the writers means, then it needs to be replaced.

Bring your writing to life by avoiding vague or abstract modifiers and by using specific and vivid ones instead.

Vivian Gilbert Zabel taught English, composition, and creative writing for twenty-five years, honing her skills as she studied and taught. She is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/, a site for Writers, and her portfolio is http://www.Writing.Com/authors/vzabel. Her books, Hidden Lies and Other Stories and Walking the Earth, can be found through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

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When I was young, I used to talk to myself. Long, drawn out, one-sided conversations. I didn’t have an imaginary friend, I just talked to myself. My mother says that’s why I became a writer: because of my overactive imagination. I admit she may be right. Those conversations currently get me through my worst cases of writer’s block.

I have to laugh when I read articles on breaking through a writing slump. They always have tips like: go to the mall and make up a story about the people you see there..or..write down a dream you had the other night..or..think about the happiest moment in your childhood and write about it. You can even sign up and have a writing “prompt” emailed to you everyday. And I can’t help but think, Does this work for anyone? I mean, really? I’ve come to discover that I’m not like the average author. The normal methods of combating writer’s block do not apply to me. In writing mode, I can only concentrate on one novel at a time. I get distracted easily, so writing something on the fly only leads me down one path: The- Hey-I-Just-Came-Up-With-Another-Great-Idea-For-A-New-
Book-So-I’m-Gonna-Drop-The-One-I’m-Currently-Angsting-
Over-And-Start-A-New-Novel path. Believe me, it’s happened before. I was young (seventh grade to be exact), just starting out, and I didn’t know any better.

Now, I just put the novel away..and wait. The wait has been known to last six months to a year. Sometimes longer. For others, the time frame may be shorter, but eventually they will come. The inner voices, I mean. I no longer hold verbal one-sided conversations with myself. My characters have one-sided conversations with me..in my head. When they start talking to me about dialogue and plot, that tells me it’s time to pull out the novel and jump in again.

So, go on. You try it: Open up your mind and listen to your inner voice. If we ever meet at a conference or a book signing and you tell me that you’ve been hearing voices, I won’t think you’re crazy. I promise.

Copyright © 2004 - Celise Downs. Reprinted with permission. Celise is a Young Adult fiction author and owner of Gemini Mojo Press. Her books, “Secrets and Kisses” (Mar 2004) and “Dance Jam Productions” (Sept 2004), are currently available on the publisher website at http://www.GeminiMojoPress.com.

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Before you can get your fantasy world to come alive in your readers mind you have to first get it to come alive in your own mind. It has to be tangible and real. And you have to see it before you can expect your reader to see it. So how do you do this? I have three suggested methods for bringing your vision of a world to life.

Draw maps of your world

If you read a lot of epic fantasy chances are you have looked at the maps that come with many of these books. They are a wonderful addition to the writing. They bring a visual reality to the world contained in the novel and they are not an afterthought to the novel. They are a valuable part of the novel reading experience.

Maps are not just for the reader though. They can serve a very useful function to you as a writer. Chances are good that your main character or main characters have to travel around the world you have created. Where are the rivers? How far apart are the cities and towns? What are the main features of the landscape? Are there mountains? How long would it take your character to walk from one place in the world to another place in the world. A good map can help you answer all these questions.

Too often maps are almost an afterthought. The story is written and then the map is drawn to fit the story. You should turn this approach on it’s head and draw the maps early in the writing process.

A map or even a series of maps can ground your story in a sense of reality. It can also spur new ideas in the story. The visual layout of a map can bring out new ideas. Does the map feel like it is missing something. Does it feel natural for a lake to be at the base of a mountain? Draw it in and see if it brings a new chapter to your story. Are there two rivers that meet? What should be at this meeting point? Is there a city? Maybe there is a dark forest. Maybe these new terrain features will play a role in your story.

Maps are something that a reader often refers to. A map is a bonus in a novel and whenever there is a map in a novel that I am reading the map pages are deeply dog-eared. It brings a different part of the readers brain into the story. Don’t neglect maps and don’t save them as an afterthought. Use them to their fullest potential. Even if you don’t have much skill with drawing, your map may be good enough to actually use in the final print version. It is the roughest maps that look like they are hand-drawn that are the best accompaniment to a fantasy story.

Make 3d scenes and dioramas for your world

I am a diorama maker. I love creating little scenes with wizards, barbarians and all sorts of evil creatures. When I wrote my first novel I took on the ambitious project of creating a tabletop diorama for one particular area of the world I had created. It was a project that covered a custom built table that was seven feet long and four feet wide and it took a lot of time to build but the reward for this project was also big. Having an actual layout of a scene in the novel allowed me to breathe life into the novel. I could now see the terrain and the characters as they moved over it. I could envision the weather and the plant life. It made it much easier for me to draws pictures in my reader’s minds. You don’t have to do a project as ambitious as the one I did, you could just do a small scene but this type of world building in a visual sense will add a sense of depth to your writing.

Create a video game that you can walk around in

This sounds like a lot of work, and a couple of years ago this was not an option for a hobbyist; but today the technology and tools are here that allow you to actually create some pretty amazing worlds in just a few hours. There are plenty of free resources that allow you to make indoor and outdoor worlds without spending a penny. You just need to invest some time. The technology has developed to the point where it is almost plug and play. Let me give you an example. You can sketch out in a world building tool a city. You can make it a certain size, place terrain and buildings in it then add all sorts of pre-made extras. In a weekend you can have a small and complete world that you can actually use a pre made character to walk around in your world.

There are two distinct benefits to putting the effort into doing this. First of all you can build a pseudo realistic rendition of an area of your story and this can help you to visualize it better. And visualizing it better means you will describe it to your reader better. But secondly, and even more importantly, the process of creating this world in a medium other than pencil and paper will take your imagination and creativity to new levels. As you are building your world you will see it in a new way. This will bring you new ideas, ideas that you would have never thought of with just a word processor.

I have worked with several different software suites for creating worlds and one of the new ones is the Kaneva game platform. I haven’t used it yet but it looks very appealing and very user friendly. If you use this platform to make a world you can even invite other people to come and explore it with you. Wouldn’t that be something? You can tell them it is the world that your novel takes place in.

Epic fantasy and fantasy writing is, by its very nature, a creative art form. But too often we as writers in the genre tend to focus too much on either the physical action or the social interaction in the story. You must never forget that your story takes place in a world you created. And this world is the ground to which your whole story is tethered. It must be solid as stone and be clearly envisioned by you. And it must be clearly and vividly expressed to your reader. Building a physical representation of your created world brings it to a new level and helps you convey its sense of reality to your reader.

Will Kalif is the author of two epic fantasy novels and is currently working on his third. You can check out his novels, his blog, and his podcast. or see his fantasy dioramas and get good advice on how to make your own video game worlds at his website:
http://www.stormthecastle.com creativity with attitude

You can also check out his site devoted to epic fantasy at:
http://www.epic-fantasy.com

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