<![CDATA[Megann Kammerman - BLOG]]>Thu, 21 May 2026 18:50:25 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Self-Publishing Checklist: Pre-Publishing Prep]]>Tue, 11 Mar 2025 05:53:13 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/self-publishing-checklist-pre-publishing-prep

This will be the first of a series of blog posts, summarizing my Self-Publishing Checklist. This one will cover all of your pre-publishing prep work, starting with getting your ISBNs and finishing with your title page. We’ve put together this guide to help authors through the process of self-publishing. The goal is to give you a framework to hopefully make the task of publishing your book seem just a little less daunting.

Remember that this isn’t meant to be the only way to get a book published, and won’t include all of the information you will need (that would be difficult to list in one place). However, where it’s lacking, I've included links to outside websites and blog posts that we’ve found helpful.

(Blog originally posted on Starwhalebooks.com).

1. purchase an ISBN

The first step is to get your book's ISBN. You can buy your ISBNs from Bowker (for authors based in the US) from myidentifiers.com.

1 ISBN	$125
10 ISBNs	$295
100 ISBNs	$575
1000 ISBNs	$1,500

REMEMBER: you need a separate ISBN for each format of your book. So if you are publishing as ebook, paperback, and hardback, you need 3 ISBNs.

If you don’t want to pay for an ISBN, here are your options:

You can use an Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) ISBN (which is free) but then you won’t be able to publish or print your book anywhere else.
Likewise, you can use an IngramSpark issued ISBN (also free) but will also not be able to publish or print anywhere else.

This essentially means that Amazon or IngramSpark will be the publisher of your book, rather than you, because they control the ISBN. We would recommend paying for your own ISBN, so that you have control of your book, and aren’t bound by a single service.

If you choose a free ISBN option, you will simply ask for one from either Amazon or IngramSpark when you create an account and upload your manuscript..

2. assign your ISBN to your book

You’ll need to create an account with MyIdentifiers when you buy your ISBNs (assuming you bought from Bowker).

When set up an account, you will be asked to choose an Organization Name. This is the name your books will be published under, and is the imprint your ISBN’s will be associated with. You can put your own name, or you can choose to create a publishing company to publish your book under.
Here’s a post explaining the benefits and process of creating a publishing company.

Steps to assign ISBN
1. Click on the tab My Identifiers on your account page.

2. You should see a list of your ISBNs (however many you bought). Click Assign Title to assign one to a book. Then you’ll fill out the meta-data and information including but not limited to:

Upload the cover
Format (paperback, ebook, hardback)
Author bios/contributor information
Publisher (make sure this is the same as your Organization Name)
Estimated release date
Market and rights information
Estimated price/book
Meta-data (here's a post about picking meta-data)

REMEMBER: You can come back to edit your meta-data and book information later, but you cannot un-assign an ISBN. 

3. Repeat for the different formats of your book. (You will need to assign a title and fill out all of the information for each format: ebook, paperback, hardback. So it is possible to have the same book use three ISBNs, and three slots in your list).

4. It may take a few days for the ISBN to be approved. Once it is, your book is automatically added to Bowker’s Books-in-Print database (which is what bookstores and distributers use to find the books they order.) And that's all there is to it!

3. turn your ISBN into a barcode

This is only necessary if you are publishing your book as a paperback or hardback, and want to have the option of having it for sale in a physical brick-and-mortar store. You don’t need a barcode for an ebook.

Steps to creating a barcode:
1. Input your ISBN to a free barcode generator to turn it into a readable image. You can simply google a generator and find one you want to use (there are tons out there).

2. You then take this image and put it on the back cover of your book before uploading your cover to your Print-on-Demand service. Make sure you follow their guidelines for where to place the barcode. (generally in the bottom center of your cover). We’ll go over the guidelines later in more detail.

REMEMBER: if your book will be in paperback and hardback format, you will have a different ISBN for each (and therefore a different barcode), so make sure you create 2 separate barcodes.

Alternatives to creating a barcode:
1. If you get your ISBN from either Amazon or IngramSpark, they will place their barcode on your cover themselves (you simply need to click the option when uploading your manuscript).

2. You can also pay Bowker (the company you bought your ISBN from) to turn your number into a barcode, but they charge you money when you could just get it for free by doing it yourself.

4. apply for an LCCN

Now that you have your ISBN, you can apply for a LCCN (a Library of Congress Control Number), which is an identification number used by the Library of Congress for books in their catalog. If you are only publishing as an ebook, you don’t need an LCCN (and in fact can’t get one). This is only for print books. Also unlike an ISBN, you only need one LCCN for both your paperback and hardback formats.

Steps for apply for an LCCN:
1. Create an account with the PCN Program (Preassigned Control Number Program, which is used to assign LCCNs before a book is published).

2. Request an LCCN and fill out all of the required information (basically the same data you used to assign an ISBN to your book) and submit.

3. It may take up to 2 weeks for it to go through the system, but is often less. You’ll receive an email with your number. If you make any changes to your book’s publishing data (like a change of the release date, or adding another contributor) be sure to update your PCN profile accordingly.

4. Send a printed copy to Library of CongressOnce your book is printed, you will need to send a copy to the Library of Congress. After your book is live, you can simply order an author copy (not a test copy, because you don’t want the temporary barcodes or not-for-sale bands on the cover).

You’ll receive an email with the address for where to send it after applying for the LCCN.

5. create your title page

Now you have everything you need to create your title page, which is a page in the very beginning with all the information about your book in one place (sometimes called a copyright page).

Here’s a blog post with some examples of a title page and copyright disclaimers.

Your title page will need to have:

The book title and series information
Author and contributor names (like the illustrator)• ____ Editor’s name (if applicable)
Publisher name and address
Year published
Edition of book (if applicable)
ISBN number
Library of Congress Control number
Copyright information and disclaimer

REMEMBER: if your book will be in ebook, paperback, and hardback format, you will have a different ISBN for each (and therefore a different ISBN will be listed on your title page), so make sure you create 3 copies.

And that's it for this section of the checklist! All of your prep-work is done. Next we'll cover building your manuscript files and choosing which Print-on-Demand services you want to publish with. Click here to read the next post.

If you're finding this checklist helpful, I have also turned this full blog series into an immersive Self Publishing Notion Template with updated info, content, and links added to the checklist. You can find it either on my Etsy Shop or my Gumroad Shop.

]]><![CDATA[Publishing Series: Levels of Story Editing]]>Fri, 18 Mar 2022 23:20:30 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/levelsofstoryediting

In this blog post I'm going to go over the different levels of editing and what they all mean, as well as answer some common questions about the editing process. Along with each explanation, I'll include a short snippet of an example edit (except for developmental editing and outline critique, which are rather hard to show an example of in just a single paragraph).

For my example, I'll be using an old homework assignment I did in college (actually it was the scene that eventually became the basis of my current WIP novel.)

1. Outline Critique

An outline critique is pretty obvious. It's exactly what it sounds like. This edit would come before you'd even written your first draft (or perhaps if you got stuck in the middle of it and wanted a second opinion on your outline.) An editor would look at your outline and give feedback on your plot structure, character development, and world to help you finish the outline and fill in gaps that you may be missing. This is basically a Developmental Edit, but on your outline, rather than on your fully-written manuscript. It can be a great way to catch any major plot holes or missing character elements before you go through all of the trouble of writing it (which makes your revisions much easier). Of course many authors don't use an outline, and simply discover their story as they're writing their first draft. In that case, we move on to Developmental Editing.

2. Developmental Editing

Developmental editing is an edit of the large-scale elements of your story. An editor will take a look at your plot, character development, story flow, scenes, world-building, and theme. So for instance, they could read your first chapter and tell you that you need more set-up, that some aspect of your world doesn't make sense and needs to be explained a bit more. Or they could say that you have too much set-up and you need to cut out some chunks of world-building exposition to make room for more action and dialogue. They'll take a look at your plot structure and tell you if you've hit all of the important milestones. They'll give you feedback on your ending, whether your climax makes sense and if it fulfills the promises that the premise of your story set forth. They'll look at your character development and tell you if the arcs feel complete and whole and if they connect to your characters on a deeper level or if you need to do more work on building that connection emotionally.

This type of editing will usually end up requiring quite a bit of revision — not just editing of single sentences, but moving whole chunks of scenes and adding in dialogue and world-building details, and rearranging the story elements to make a more cohesive whole. Here is where you're assembling the puzzle pieces in the right order to make a complete picture. Which is why this level of editing should come first, before you hunker down and take it sentence by sentence to edit and polish.

3. Line Editing

After the developmental edit, it’s time for line editing. A line edit is similar to copyediting (and the two are often confused). The main difference is that line editing is more in-depth, and it’s main focus is to make each line true to the writer’s individual style and the emotional tone of the book. And editor will carefully read each line, and work to tighten up the sentences, trim unnecessary pieces, and make the writing as clear and succinct as it needs to be, all the while making the writer’s overall style and voice consistent throughout the story.

4. Copyediting

Copyediting comes next, after you are confident that your story's plot, scenes, and timeline is in the right order and that the tone and voice of the writing is consistent. Copyediting deals with sentence structure, flow, and larger-scale grammar elements. Rather than moving around entire scenes or chunks of scenes around, during copyediting you are moving around elements on the sentence level. Does each sentence say what it needs to? Are any of your lines confusing or missing important elements? Does your dialogue flow well and make sense? Is your story consistent and do your names, ages, dates, and timelines all line up throughout the whole plot? Is your writing following a consistent set of grammar rules?

5. Proofreading

Proofreading is the last step. It's going through the writing with a fine comb to catch the duplicated words, extra spaces, comma errors, minor grammar fixes, and all of the minutiae that has been missed in the previous rounds of editing. Once this edit is done, the text should be ready for publishing, so it's a vital step in publishing a professional, polished manuscript. It often gets confused with copyediting and line editing. Proofreading should not be re-arranging texts or rewriting sentences. By the time you get here, the writing itself should be solid and have already been edited to the place it needs to be. This is just for catching mistakes or tiny, tiny problems that have been overlooked. If you need to rewrite sentences here, then that means that you should go back to a copy edit or a line edit before moving on to proofreading.

Common Questions

Where does beta-reading fall in the editing process?

Beta reading can be an important step of getting feedback for your work. And while you want your story to be readable, and to show it's best qualities, you don't want to go through all of the editing, send it to beta readers, and then have them give you a bunch of feedback that makes you want to change large aspects of your writing and start the whole editing process over again.

Because of that, you should do beta reading right around the time that you do your developmental edit of your story. That's basically what a beta reader is, after all. They're giving you feedback, from a reader's perspective, on what they felt about the world (whether you explained things too much or not enough), whether they connected to the characters (and how to build the connection more if it's missing) and if the plot was satisfactory and made sense to them as they were reading. These are all the large-scale story issues that are considered in the developmental editing stage. Some beta readers might catch a weird sentence or a comma splice or two, but that's not really what they care about while they're reading. They care about how they feel about the story.

I'm self-publishing, can I edit my own manuscript?

Some writers love the editing process (I certainly do, which is why I became an editor) and some (like me) edit other people's writing for a living. So you'd think that you could edit your own writing, right? And you can. To an extent. But no matter how good you are at editing, having another set of eyes to look over your work and give a second opinion is invaluable. You've read over your story hundreds, if not thousands of times, and eventually you stop reading what is on the page in front of you, and your brain just fills in what it expects to see because it has grown so familiar to you. You won't even see that duplicated 'the' or the extra space or that you have a whole chapter that shouldn't even be there, because those things have always been there, so why would you question them now?

For that reason, it’s always worth it to get a second pair of eyes on your story, to help your writing be the best it can be.

Do I need all levels of editing to self-publish?

In an ideal world, yes, you would be able to put your manuscript through every level of editing to make your story as polished and professional as you possibly could make it. As a self-publishing author, you have to work twice as hard to make your story equal to that of a book published by a traditional publisher.

But editing costs money, and your book may not make money for years to come, so it's not always feasible to pay for every level. So you have to pick and choose which are the most important. And it really just depends on what your story needs. Which isn't a very helpful answer, I know.

But maybe you feel really good about the structure of your story and the development of your characters, and you've managed to get a few beta readers, so you have some feedback about the large aspects, which has allowed you to revise a few problem areas. Do you really need to also pay a developmental editor? Possibly not (especially if you really trust your beta readers).

And then maybe you worked on your story yourself, doing a copy edit over and over again, using every trick to help yourself edit your own words (reading out loud, changing your font and program, and taking breaks between edits). Do you need a professional copy edit? Maybe. It could be beneficial, but if you can't afford it, then you could get away with doing it yourself. If you also had a beta reader, or a friend who was also a writer, to help mark confusing lines or things to be re-written, then that would be even better).

Now proofreading is more tricky. In my opinion a proofread always needs another pair of eyes. Especially if you're self-publishing, you want your manuscript to be completely free from errors, to make it as professional as you possibly can, and a proofread is a necessary investment towards that end.

So ideally if you are able then at least two levels of editing would put you on a really good path to publishing. But you can definitely get away with just one if you need to, and which one you need really depends on your strengths as a writer and what your story needs.

Do I need to self-edit if I'm submitting my manuscript to a publisher?

If your goal is to get your manuscript accepted by a traditional publisher, then they will be the ones to handle the rounds of ending (just like they take care of the marketing, the cover art, and the other elements of publishing). So you don't necessarily need to do all of this on your own (and you certainly don't need to pay out of pocket for it). However, you do want to make sure your manuscript is good enough that the publishers can see past some clunky writing and a few odd plot elements to find the heart of the story — the reason why they should publish your book. They'll be judging you story on what they read — whether that's the synopsis, the first chapter, or the entire thing depends on a lot of factors. So you want to be sure that your story puts its best foot forward, to give it the best chance at getting accepted. To that end, you definitely need to put in the time and effort to edit it yourself to the best of your ability, to make sure that you show your best work.

Hopefully this helps clears up some confusion on what each edit’s purpose is. If you have any other questions, feel free to comment on the post, and I’ll do my best to answer!

Happy editing!!

--Megann

about the author

Megann is a speculative fiction editor, writer, and artist specializing in fantasy, science fiction, and basically anything with magic. Or dragons. Or starlight and spaceflight and gods that walk the worlds. A tendency to research extensively means she has a lot of worldlbuilding info to share and an obsession with building Notion pages for everything means she has a lot of template ideas for every aspect of writing.

]]><![CDATA[Worldbuilding Series: Martial Arts in Fantasy Worlds]]>Mon, 18 Oct 2021 07:00:00 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/martialartsinfantasyworlds

Whether your protagonist is the prophesied chosen one destined to save the world or a lowly street rat who gets taken in by the empire's local assassin's guild to be trained in the deadliest arts, or perhaps the heir to the throne of an ancient kingdom, chances are your fantasy world has some form of hand-to-hand combat.

The Basis of Your Fictional Martial Art

artial arts is an extremely broad term. There are hundreds of different styles, from Karate to Kung Fu, from Aikido to Tai Chi, kickboxing, fencing, Ju Jitsu, Tae Kwon Do, to mixed martial arts that combine dozens of styles into one. All of these styles are full of rich cultural context, drawing from the culture and history of the people who practice them, and all of them are distinct and different.
Whatever martial art style you create for your fantasy world will be similarly unique, and built into the foundation of the world it comes from. How old is it? Who was the first group to practice? Does it follow any aspect of your world's religion? What is its core philosophy? What are some of its main techniques? What is it best for, and what are some of its weaknesses? Who can practice it? Who is forbidden from practicing it? Who are its greatest teachers?
But how to start answering all of these questions? I found two ways to begin:

1. Choose a real-world martial art to base yours on (preferably one you have experience with and an understanding of beyond google)
2. Choose an already-built aspect of your world to build off of

Choose a Real-World Martial Art

I did the first one, mainly because I practice a martial art myself, so it was easiest to use techniques that I knew how to do in real life. So the martial art in my story is loosely based on the same philosophy and technique patterns as the martial art I practice. This made it easier when it came to writing the actual battle scenes, because I've been in a skirmish using these techniques against a group of attackers on the mat, so I could easily picture what that would feel like and how to describe the movements on the page.

If, however, you don't practice a martial art, and have no interest in basing yours off of a real-life style, then you can go to the next option. Though, even if you don't want to base your martial art on a real one, I'd still recommend looking up videos of fights using a style that closely matches what you envision for your world (for instance, one that focuses on hand-to-hand, or one using blades, or an aggressive attack-based style). This will help you when it comes time to actually put your art into practice, and will let you most accurately describe what is happening to your reader.

Build Off an Aspect of Your World

Onto option two, if you want a totally unique martial art. Now, this option is going off of the assumption that you have already done some manner of world-building already for your world -- whether you've built your culture, religion, or magic system. As long as you have something solid and certain.

For instance, if you know for sure you will have a matrilineal culture, where women hold status over men, then you can begin to build your martial art off of that. Obviously, like other aspects of your world, the art would be dominated by women.

Would men even be allowed to practice?
Would they be regulated to simple guardsmen or huntsmen (something that relies on following orders and brute strength), and kept away from the secret of the art? Would it even be possible for a man to become a master? A teacher?
Or, if a man wanted to learn to fight, would they have to learn in another land?
And as for the fighting style itself, it would obviously lend itself to faster, more agile attacks that didn't rely on strength or size.

Another example would be, if you know your magic system will be powered by kinetic energy (where movement equals power to the magic wielder), how would this allow your martial art to connect with your magic system?

Would it be very common for magic users to also practice martial arts (and as they practice and get better at fighting and moving swiftly, their power reserves increase)?
Would their magic give them an edge in fighting? So if one wanted to truly become a master of either magic or warfare, they would have to study both together?
Would magic users be the only ones even allowed to practice your martial art?

Basically, choose an aspect you know for sure, then ask yourself questions about how your martial art could fit with this, and extrapolate what the answers would be. If, then questions usually work the best.

If weapons are outlawed by the government, then how would people learn to compensate to protect themselves?
If metal is extremely expensive and time-consuming to forge, then how would this affect the status of those who used weapons?

By taking an aspect of your world that has already been set in stone, so to speak, and building your martial art off of this surety, your martial art will fit with your world in an organic way (so hopefully it will feel realistic and integrated).

Now, if you do build out your martial art by basing it on an already existing part of your world, there may still be some questions you need to ask. Feel free to ignore these following questions if you've already covered that in your initial brainstorming.

Philosophy of Your Art

What is the main philosophy that is tied to your martial art? This can relate to your religion (it most often does) but it doesn't necessarily have to. Basically what are some key tenets that those who practice share between them? Here are a few questions to get you going:

What do they think about killing? Is it better to kill your opponent before they can kill you? Or is it better to preserve all life, unless there is absolutely no other choice? Or is it absolutely forbidden to kill, even at the cost of your own life?
Do they practice a form of meditation?
Is anyone allowed to teach what they have learned? Or are there some things that are secret/forbidden to spread to just anyone?
What does it take to be considered a master?
Who is considered the founder of the art? Is it based on something even older? Are its origins lost to time?
What are the art's strengths? What sort of battle situations does it lend itself very well to? (For instance, is it best in tight quarters? When outnumbered and surrounded? Or does it work best on a battlefield as part of a troop working together?)
What are its weaknesses? Does it not work very well against multiple opponents? Are there certain weapons that pose a problem? How would it work against a long-range weapon?
What weapons do they train in (if any)? Are any weapons forbidden? Are some weapons only for masters? Do they have to master weapons before they can be considered proficient? If there are no weapons, how does the art work against an armed opponent?

Magic Systems & Martial Art Styles

Since I brought it up earlier, I'll touch on magic systems for a minute. Your fantasy world may or may not have a magic system (chances are it does -- we're talking about fantasy after all). If it doesn't, feel free to skip this section.

Depending on the depth of your magic system, and how integral the fighting style and martial arts are to your world, there may be some crossover between the two.

For instance, can your magic be used in a fight? If so, how do your characters incorporate it into their attacks?
How has it influenced the culture surrounding the martial art? Has it changed the way people think about fighting? About battle tactics? About the magic itself?
Is magic seen as a weak trick that only those too weak to become a master martial artist use, or is it seen as the ultimate expression of martial arts?
Can someone both be a master mage and master fighter, or do they have to choose one path?

There are limitless questions you could ask yourself, depending on how in depth you want to get. If you'd like more help pertaining to magic system creation, check out my post on Magic Systems, or my Magic System Worldbuilding Workbook available on Etsy.

List of Examples in Fiction

Here's a handful of good examples of how to incorporate martial arts into your world from some great fantasy fiction. Many of these (like Avatar: The Last Airbender) are a great example of how to blend martial arts with the magic system, and many of them have the two separate and distinct.

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Can't talk about amazing magic systems without mentioning something by Sanderson. In Elantris, which was his first published book, one aspect of his magic system is expressed directly through a martial art, called the ChayShan, a meditative practice where the forms they use grant access to the magical force, the Dor.

Codex Alera by Jim Butcher

I won't get into the specifics of the fighting style, mainly because it's been a long time and I don't remember a lot of the details. But I do remember that the style was heavily inspired by the legions of Ancient Rome, and that everything from the command structure to the battle tactics followed those of the Romans. For that reason, this series is a good example of basing a fighting style on an already existing style and culture, and then making it your own. Because in addition to the Roman legions, Codex Alera also has elemental bonding magic and some truly awesome unique worldbuilding.

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

In this series, the thing I found most interesting was how people treated those who had magic (called mystics). Rather than looking at them with awe, and admiring their gifts as a skill or a way to enhance their fighting, mystics are looked down on and shunned. Especially by those who are trained in the fighting arts, because, rather than being seen as an advantage in a fight (even though it most assuredly can be) magic is seen to be a cheat, or a way to slack off in training.

Avatar the Last Airbender

In the show, each style of bending is accompanied by a specific style of fighting. The Fire Nation's bending is based on Northern Shaolin, Air Nomads use something similar to Ba Gua, the Water Tribe's bending is like Tai Chi, and Earth Nation bending is based on Hung Gar. You can see the differences in their unique styles of fighting, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses (the Airbending style works great against multiple attackers, moving through and around a fight, while an Earthbender can stand strong and stop an attack head-on.)

Now You Have Your Martial Art

This post was a little all over the place, but I hope it at least gave you some good ideas for getting your martial art started. I've always found action scenes and fights to be one of the hardest parts of a story, and having a clearly defined martial art has definitely helped me in writing the action accurately (at least I think it has).

Happy writing!

-Megann

about the author

]]><![CDATA[Worldbuilding Series: Character Creation Masterpost]]>Mon, 01 Feb 2021 20:00:00 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/charactercreationblogpost

Characters are the basis for every story. The motivation behind every plot. The force behind every system of magic. They are the viewpoint by which we experience the stories that we love. In many ways, they are the reason we love those stories in the first place.

For this reason, characters are arguably the single most important element of your story. A good character can make up for a half-formed world or a cliche magic system and questionable plot. But no amount of amazing world-building or fancy, flashy magic and twisting, exciting plot lines will make up for a bad or unlikeable character.

This blog post is geared towards walking you through creating every aspect of your character including figuring out their personality, emotions, family, backstory, skills, goals, fears, theme, and plot. By the end, our goal is to have a unique, engaging, and relatable character who will stand strong and drive your story through its plot.

Step One: Character Overview

Is your character a morally grey anti-hero who just wants to be left alone? Or perhaps they’re a young, innocent healer-in-training with a fierce devotion to life and a foul mouth? Or a barista with the ability to transform into a cat who desperately wants to be a scuba diver despite their fear of the ocean? Or a hero with a dark secret and a deadly enemy?

Basically this boils down to: who are they? You don’t need the details yet. You don’t need their background, or personality, or greatest fears. You just need to get a glimpse of who they are, a glimmer of who they’ll become, so that you have something to grasp. This will help you create them in the following steps.

Free-write: If you don’t have any idea (or even if you do) I’d recommend taking twenty minutes to do a free-write on your character (and your story as a whole).

If you aren’t familiar with the process: a free-write is just putting your pen on paper (or fingers on the keyboard) and writing for a set amount of time. Whatever comes into your head, write it down. No censorship. No stopping. No editing. It’s a great way to generate ideas and get a bunch of thoughts onto paper.

Step Two: Character Profile

Often the hardest part of building a character is being asked a string of questions and not knowing the answers. After all, how are you supposed to know who your character is if you haven’t created them yet? That’s why I encourage you to skip over the traditional character profile for now (unless you know some of the answers for sure) and instead fill it out as you go along discovering your character in the following steps.

And it doesn't matter what character profile you use -- there's one in my full workbook on Etsy, or you can use any free character profile you find online.

Step Three: Physical Attributes

The first step to building a character is being able to picture them, to feel and see who they are, outside and in. But, as the author, you must go beyond the basic details (hair color, height, build, clothes, etc), because while they are important, they aren’t the most important. First and foremost we want to figure out who our characters are as a person. Every detail we discover can help us (and our future readers) connect to the character we are building.

Height, body type, coloring, physical features: This is where you paint the broad strokes of what they look like, how they carry themselves, and who they are physically.
- Questions to consider —
  - Do they like their own size/weight/clothing/hair color/etc?
  - What do they highlight about themselves, and what do they try to hide?
  - Do they actively try to take up space (confident and sure) or do they try to keep themselves small and invisible (shy and awkward)?
  - Do they like being short/tall, or is it a point of contention?
  - If they could change one thing about themselves, what would it be?

Clothing style: Body type, height, and other physical features may be out of the character’s control, but how they dress, act, and present themselves show their underlying personality.
- Questions to consider —
  - What clothes do they wear all the time? Why are they their favorite?
  - Why do they have messy hair all the time? (or vice versa)
  - Why do they like wearing really baggy clothes? (or vice versa)
  - Are they comfortable dressing fancy, or would they prefer sweatpants all day?
  - Do they like makeup or other enhancements?

Race/culture: This is where you figure out your character’s ethnic/cultural/religious background.
- Questions to consider —
  - How deeply are they connected to their cultural identity and history?
  - Do they embrace that history or do they do everything they can to distance themselves from it? Why or why not?
  - Is their religion or culture reflected in their choice of clothing?
  - What about in how they present themselves?
  - In what ways do they bring it into their style?

Body modifications: Sometimes characters make changes to their physical bodies to feel more like themselves. This can be everything from dying their hair, to getting a tattoo, to transitioning genders. Think about how your character has changed themselves.
- Questions to consider —
  - What have they changed physically about themselves? And why? Are they happy with it, or do they regret it?
  - Where did they get that scar/tattoo/physical marking?
  - Do they identify as the gender they were born as? Why or why not?
  - What do they wish they could change about themselves? Why haven’t they? What’s holding them back?

Step Four: Character Personality

The next step we’re going to cover is your character’s personality. How do they talk? What do they believe in and why? Do they like making jokes, or are they studiously serious? What ticks and character quirks do they have? What behaviors add up to make them unique?

Most Common Reactions — What are some of their set reactions to every-day events? Most people tend to fall into patterns of life, that build up to become part of their personality.
Habits — What micro-actions do they tend to repeat? Do they have any quirks or ticks or things that they have to do, even if it isn’t a conscious choice?
Mannerisms — This are similar to habits, but are a bit different. I think of them like this: habits are unconscious, repeated actions while mannerisms are things you do because you like them, they’re cool, or they fit with the emotion you want to convey. Basically, how do they characteristically express themselves without words?
Speech — This is also similar to mannerisms, but is specific to how they speak and communicate. What tics do they show in conversations?
Beliefs — What do they believe, and why? This doesn’t necessarily have to be deep, meaning-of-life beliefs, or even religious beliefs (though that can be a part of it). Rather, what do they take as truth in their everyday life?
Fears — What makes them nervous, or anxious, or keeps them up at night? Whether it’s the presentation for school they’ve been dreading for weeks, or the seasonal raids of their roman overlords that decimate their seaside village — they’re afraid of something. (Note that we go into more detail about their reaction to fear in the next section, but I also wanted to include it here, because how they interact with fear (and even what they fear) is a large part of a character’s personality.)
Dreams — We will cover this more extensively when we go over your character’s story goal and motivation, but to get you started on thinking about those larger goals: what dreams does your character have in their life right now?

Step Five: Expression of Emotion

This step is starting to get even deeper, beyond personality and looks and quirks. We all feel emotion, but every one of us expresses it differently. Your character will have a unique way of dealing with what they are feeling. If they are scared, do they admit that? Do they hide it? Does it manifest as anger and gruffness? If they are anxious, do they start laughing giddily? Do they accept their emotions and work through them, or do their best to shove them away? Here are some possible reactions to each emotion:

Love — They have no trouble expressing their feelings, and always tell those closest to them that they love them. They never tell anyone, and even try to keep it hidden from themselves. They express love with words, or they don’t use words, and instead use actions (but it is no less real). They love everyone (family, friends, significant others), or they reserve their love for only a few, rationing it so they don’t get hurt.
Happiness/Joy — They express happiness and joy constantly with a smile, a laugh, a joke. They struggle to express it, keep it hidden, keep a straight face and try to seem unaffected. Maybe they feel it, deeply and completely, but don’t express it often. Maybe they express it through a contented sigh, or by simply existing quietly without worry.
Surprise — Surprises make them happy and excited. They love trying to guess, and love not knowing. Or surprises make them angry/afraid/anxious and they lash out if something happens that they aren’t expecting. Being surprised makes them shut down and freeze up (they don’t know how to react). Or maybe they are never surprised, or so good at hiding it that they seem to be unaffected.
Anxiety/Worry — They get quiet, and silently try to work through their emotions. They don’t ask for help, and try to hide their worry (possibly ashamed or guilty). They ask for help, and try to find solutions to their feelings. They ignore it, and hope it goes away. They try to think positive, or they spiral into the worst-case. Their anxiety manifests as worry, or maybe hyper or over-the-top giddiness.
Guilt — They turn guilt inward, and silently go over all of the things they could have/should have/would have done. They don’t forgive themselves. Or they lash out against others, and try to turn guilt into anger or fear. They don’t admit to it, and do nothing to try and fix what they’ve done. Or maybe they face it, accept it, and work to do better next time.
Sadness — They shut down and find themselves unable to care about anything. They force it away and try not to feel it. They lash out in anger, because anger is easier to manage. They turn it inward, and keep it inside, and try to deal with it themselves. They find it easy to ignore, or maybe they are completely incapacitated. They ask for help.
Anger — They hold it inside, and don’t let it show. They take a moment, find space, and work through it so they don’t do something they regret. They turn it outward, lash out, and hurt those closest to them (whether it’s with words or actions). They turn it inward, and berate themselves and question why they have to feel this way.
Fear — They freeze up and can’t do anything. They get angry, and lash out even if they don’t mean it. They let themselves feel the fear, push it aside, and do what needs to be done. They have a panic attack, and have to work through everything before they can be calm enough to act. They laugh it off, and ignore it, until it boils over out of their control.

Step Six: Everyday Life

Before the events of your story throw them off track and into a world of high stakes and world-ending shenanigans, what does your character’s everyday life look like?

Do they have a 9-5 job with mini vacations on the weekends and baking cookies at midnight?
Or do they live on the streets of a port city, scrounging for scraps and struggling to stay away from the emperor’s guards who are relentless in their persecution of magic?

Their normal can be mundane, or fantastical, wonderful, or terrifying, but whatever it is, it is normal life to them, and will tell you a lot about who they are and how they will react to the events of your story.

Step Seven: Skills/Powers/Fighting

This is one of my favorite aspects of character building. How do they fight? What skills, powers, or abilities do they have? What can they do that no one else can? Because this is speculative fiction, your character has the possibility of being extremely unique, with skills and powers far outside the realm of the normal world.

Of course, building a magic system is a whole workbook in an of itself (and you can find that workbook on my Etsy or an abbreviated blog post here).

Here's a few questions to get you started:

Is your character entirely human? If not, what makes them different or unique?
Do they have any magic or powers outside the realm of ‘normal?’
What is something they can do that no one else can? (Talents, quirks, abilities…anything that is unusual or specific to them, and sets them apart from everyone else).
How would they protect themselves in a fight? Would they? Or would they try to run away or talk themselves out of it first?
If you rated all of your characters on a scale of 1-10 of the least to most powerful, where would this character fall?
If they are adept at fighting, where did they learn their skills? Who taught them? What in their background and current life makes these skills necessary?

Step Eight: Family

A character doesn’t stand alone. Even those who have no blood-family have people surrounding them. Family. Friends. Significant partners. Mildly annoying acquaintances. Enemies. Who do they share their life with? Who do they turn to for help? Who do they spend most of their time with? Who do they wish they could spend more time with? Where is home?

List each of the important people in their lives, along with a line or two about their relationship and the significance of that person.

Parents, siblings, grandparents. Aunts and uncles and cousins twice removed. Roommates from college who became lifelong friends. Sworn battle-sisters defending each other to the end.
Who are they friends with? Who supports them and helps them, and is there for them, even if they don’t consider them family?
Often characters will have romantic or sexual partners (though not always). If applicable to your story, who fills that role for your character?
Sometimes people and relationships don’t fall into neat pre-prescribed categories. Is there anyone else in you character’s life who doesn’t fit in family, friend, or relationship?
Who stands against your character? Who do they always find themselves in conflict with? Whether it’s their school bully, annoying cousin, arch-nemesis trying to take over the world, or angry bounty hunter after their head — who are their enemies?

Step Nine: Relationship History

From the lists you made in the last step, find those who rank higher than everyone else in terms of importance to your character’s life, story, motivation, and future character arc.

If you’re struggling to choose the most important, ask yourself these questions:

Who has had the most impact on who they are as a person today?
Who will have the most impact and sway in the story to come?
Who are they most afraid to loose?
Who would they do anything for? Die for? Kill for?
Who do they spend most of their time with? Who would they choose to hang out with?
If they were in trouble, had a secret, or needed help, who would they call? .

Once you've found the most important relationships, write down everything you can think of about their history and background. Where did they meet? How long have they been together? Why is this person important? What will the future of their relationship look like?

Step Ten: Background

Briefly note down the basics of your character’s background. Where did they come from? What have they gone through to get where they are? What are the important milestone/life events that have happened to them? (Bare bones list of events in their life leading up to the start of your story.)

Now we’ll get into the deeper elements. With each question try to get to the emotional level of the events in their past, and what impact they still have on the character today.

Happiest life experience: What is the happiest they have been? If they think about being happy in their life, truly happy, where are they? Who are they with?
Worst life experience: If they’re lying in bed, and their mind goes to the past, what events or times do they shy away from? What still causes them pain? What do they try to avoid thinking about?
Most defining moment: What is the source of their current outlook on life? On their motivation? Their dreams and goals? This can be an event, a person, a place. Something that got inside and is now at the very core of their character.
Root of fears: We’ve gone over fears briefly, but now we want to look at the root of those fears. If your character is terrified of the dark, where did that fear come from? If they are terrified of losing those they love, where did that originate?
Secrets (what do they keep hidden?): What do they hide from others and why? What do they hide even from themselves, and why? What would they do if these secrets were out? How bad would it be? Life-changing? Or just extremely awkward?
Root of goal/motivation/dreams: Your character has a goal. A motivation. Something that will drive the story forward. They have everyday dreams and hopes and plans. Where did these come from, and why do they want these specific things? What is it about their life or experience that has cause these goals and this motivation?

Step Eleven: Story Goal & Motivation

In the end, character should drive plot. Because of this, your character’s motivation is one of their most important aspects, at least in relation to story. So, most of our steps previously have been leading up to finding these driving aspects of your character.

Goal — a goal is what a character wants to achieve, change, or acquire. They want to escape prison, find love, gain vengeance for past wrongs, find redemption for failing the one they love, save the world, or become king. What do they want?
Motivation — a motivation is why they want that thing. They want to be king because they grew up believing a king could change the world and do good. They want redemption because of their mistakes of the past and the guilt it causes them. They want to escape prison because if they don’t they will never see their dying mother again. They want vengeance because they lost someone dear and hold others responsible. Why do they want to achieve their goal?

Here's a few other questions to ask yourself:

What is stopping them from reaching their goal?
What would be the consequences if they do reach their goal?
What would be the consequences if they don't reach their goal?
How does their motivation or goal interact with the larger story plot?
If they weren’t in the story, would the events of your plot change?

Step Twelve: Projected Character Arc

At the beginning of the story, your character starts out with a want, a goal, a purpose. Something that they see and think, “If only I had this thing, everything would be perfect and I could be happy and complete and whole. But not until then. Until I get it, my whole life is about chasing that thing, and I don’t have time for anything else like actually living.”

Now this is a little dramatic, and your character may not be this intense about it, but you get the idea. Now, throughout the events of the story, your character will change. And what they want will change. Even after they get that thing, if they get that thing, whatever it is, they will have changed so much that they may realize that it is not what they really wanted. That, in fact, there is something else they needed, and they were just too blind to see it at first.

You know what they want, but what do they need? Here's a couple of examples to help you:

Vengeance vs forgiveness: A character could want vengeance, but need to learn to forgive and let go.
- So their flaw would be their desire for vengeance, and inability to let go. This is what they have to realize and overcome in order to truly change and be happy.
Fame/recognition vs self-acceptance: They could want fame, but need to learn to accept and love themselves.
- Their flaw would be their blind pursuit of fame and their reliance on the opinions of others, and the truth they need to realize is they must learn to accept themselves rather than look to others for approval.

Step Thirteen: Relationship to Theme

Your story’s theme is the thing your book is really about. The underlying truth or aspect of life that runs beneath your plot, characters, and world. It seems complicated, but it usually matches up with your character arc and the journey from their wants to needs, so you should already have the basics of it.

For instance, if a character wants vengeance, but needs to learn to forgive, then the overall theme of your story could be the power of letting go. And everything in your story will be geared towards aspects of this theme. Which means you’ll have characters who never hold a grudge or desire vengeance, and those who believe (wholly and completely) that vengeance is the only thing that will give them peace. Your main character will be stuck between the two opposing ideas, struggling to find their truth.

Feel free to do another free-write here (or anywhere in this process, really) to help you get to the heart of your theme.

Take a look at your character arc in the previous step. What larger, overarching themes does this arc lend itself to? How can it fit within the story as a whole?
What other characters can become a foil or mirror to your character’s arc? How?
If you had to boil your story down into one or two words, what would it be about?
What words would you use to describe how your character has changed from the beginning to the end?

And that's a character!

Repeat the steps for each character you want to create, and remember that character is tightly wound into story, so it's alright if you end up changing aspects of both as you are writing. I hope this brief post has helped you if you've been struggling with your character creation. I'd love to hear any feedback, questions, or ideas you may have for additions in the comments.

If you enjoyed this, my Character Creation Workbook goes into even more detail on each step with space to add notes and your own answers alongside tons of brainstorm lists and examples from popular media.

about the author

]]><![CDATA[Writing Series: From Idea to Book]]>Fri, 10 Apr 2020 22:15:40 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/fromideatobook

I thought it might be cool to do a blog post about how a single idea can turn into enough of a story to make a novel.

But a single idea really isn't enough to do it, no matter how good that idea might be. So you need more than one. A book is a bunch of ideas that fit together to form a story. Ideas that can feed into each other, and work together to create a compelling world and narrative.

Spark Before a Blaze

What comes first? Where did the spark of all of your favorite stories come from?

Is it the plot? A boy finds out he has powers and goes to learn about them at a special school.
Is it the character? This will be a story about a girl who loves scrapbooking and riding motorcycles.
Is it the world? This story is set in a land with magic and dragons and an evil, corrupt king.

The answer is yes. And no. All of the above. Take your pick. Basically the answer is that a novel can come out of anything, so long as it lights your imagination on fire. Before you have a book, you have to have a character, world, magic, or piece of the story that you can connect to, one that can fuel the creation of an entire story. You are going to be devoting an enormous amount of time to this story, and you have to love it enough to make it worth it.

For me, with Soot of the Stars, that connection came from my character Soot.

The first scene that I wrote (which you can read on this page) is where Soot of the Stars began. I wrote the scene way back in 2017 in a Narrative class in college for some random homework assignment. All I had was an image of a mechanic with a connection to the stars and a dream to escape the planet she was trapped on.

That image of this character was enough for me to turn this scene into my BFA project, a full length portfolio manuscript that I would work on for the next four months before I graduated, and one that I am still working on today.

A lot of the details and plot around the story may have changed, but Soot has remained who she is: grumpy and determined and drawn to the light of the stars. Her character is what made me want to write the story in the first place, and it has been the once constant thing in this mess of a writing process.

Find an idea...any idea

So. The first thing you need before you write your story is an idea (or character, world, magic, image, scene, trope, random story fact, worldbuilding tidbit, setting). Anything. Something that inspires you. Something that makes you ask: what next? what if? what happens when?

Answering those questions is what will bring you your story. Or rather, it will get you started on your story.

Where do you get ideas?

Ah the hardest question. How do you come up with an idea? And if you do, how do you know that it's a good one? We'll cover that last one in the next post. For now, you can find your initial ideas in any number of ways:

Maybe you read your favorite book, and you think how you could have done something better. (Which sparks a whole new story in your mind).
Maybe you find prompts online for a character, or magic system, story trope, or bit of dialogue.
Maybe you already have a character that you love.
Maybe you write a short scene, and discover something completely new (like I did with Soot).
Maybe you have a theme or message that you want to convey, and you work to find an idea that can represent that theme.

The truth is there is no right or wrong way to find your ideas. I think I'll just ask you: How do you come up with your ideas? And how do you know when you've thought of something that could become a full book?

Okay I have an idea...what now?

So you have an idea for a character, world, magic, plot trope, or story element, one that lights fire in your imagination and gets you thinking about possibilities. Now what?

The idea of my character, Soot, was enough for me to want to write a whole book about her. But 'mechanic space-traveler rebuilding her ship to return to the stars' isn't enough of an idea to write 200,000 words about. Not alone.

So I had to ask myself some questions:

Why does she want to return to the stars?
Where did she come from?
Who or what is trying to stop her?
What is the purpose of telling this story (emotions & theme)?

Now you can just answer these questions and go from there. Personally though, that was just too overwhelming. I don't know about you, but nothing is harder than just "answering questions." I tried. I really did. But asking questions is easy, knowing the answers, when the answers are literally limitless and there's no way to know if they're right or wrong, was just too difficult.

So I started looking for more ideas to narrow my search.

Whenever I'm in the beginning stages of a story, I always consult my idea bank. I have a half a dozen boards on pinterest filled with pins of quotes, settings, characters, magic ideas, random images, and bits of dialogue that I use when I need story ideas. I also have pages and pages of scribbled notes and ideas.

I think of what I know about my story in my head (in this case I had my character Soot, space travel, and some sort of steampunk world) and I look for ideas from my boards that can fit with it.

Are there any characters I can picture in this world?
Is there any cool magic ideas that fit with space travel?
Is there an image of a city that feels similar to the image I've created in my head?
Is there a plot idea I've been saving (an important plot moment, character death, romantic relationship idea) that could fit with what I already have?

Three main ideas = a novel

I've heard form a couple other authors that 3-4 main ideas is enough to get a book started. I've never really kept track of mine (my first attempts at plotting a story were so convoluted and complicated so it isn't easy to untangle my thought process.) But 3-4 sounds like a good starting place.

Once you have three ideas to work with, it narrows down your story, and you can start answering those questions.

How do you know when it fits?

You don't, really. Not for sure. It's just a feeling.

Do they feel like they can exist in the same story?
Do they feel like they belong in the same world?
Do they complement each other? Even if they are opposite, they can still work together to enhance the themes and emotions of your story.

Really it just takes time and brainstorming and putting things together and trying out new ideas and asking questions. You may end up working with a plot for months before you realize that you have to change something drastic because one of your ideas doesn't fit, which then changes your characters, which changes your setting, which can change your plot again.

There's a reason writing takes a long time. The good news is there's no right or wrong way, and it can take as long as it needs to.

I'd love to hear your ideas about ideas! Is there anything you guys can think of that I've missed or glossed over?

about the author

]]><![CDATA[The Fantasy Writer's Punk List]]>Wed, 19 Feb 2020 01:21:03 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/thefantasywriterspunklist

A Writer’s Master List of Fantasy Punk Genres From Magicpunk to Steampunk to Piratepunk

Punk Genres: From Magicpunk to Steampunk to Piratepunk
...and Everypunk in between

I recently started world-building for a new story idea (I know— bad when I'm supposed to be in the middle of revising my current project) but in trying to figure out the level of technology and feeling of my new world I got lost in google searches about the different punk genres.

So I decided to make a master list. Mostly for me, but also because I needed a subject for my (very very late) monthly blog post. (Seriously, it’s becoming a bi-yearly blog post at the rate I’m going).

So punk genres.

According to Wikipedia (a highly reputable source by all accounts) a punk genre can be described as “a world built on one particular technology that is extrapolated to a highly sophisticated level (this may even be a fantastical or anachronistic technology, akin to retro-futurism), a gritty transreal urban style, or a particular approach to social themes.”

There are so many (so so many) and some people roll their eyes at every new addition but I think the names and distinctions are interesting and fun (I mean, Magicpunk may just be regular fantasy, but it sounds so much cooler). I love the idea of scientific fantasy, and of blurry the lines between the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Who’s to stop you from mixing the culture of the Japanese samurai with an epic space opera among the stars?

This is an incomplete list. I've organized it by time period (loosely, because some overlap or can go anywhere). I've also provided an example of a published work (for those that have them).

Let's punk it up.

Established Fantasy Punk Genres: An Incomplete List

Magicpunk/Dungeonpunk: Fantasy punk genre where the “one particular technology” that the world is built on is magic. You have trains running on lines of sorcerer-fueled energy and ships powered by wind magic and computers running on sub-dimensional energy from the demon realm. Popular examples include The Sleeping Dragon by Jonny Nexus and The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams.

Aetherpunk: Subgenre mix of Magicpunk/Dungeonpunk where the magic source of the technology is specifically the element of Aether. Often, if not always, also has Steampunk elements. The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher is the only example that comes to mind.

Mythpunk: A punk genre that is inspired by or incorporates myths and legends. These aren’t usually a retelling of a popular myth, but rather one that includes elements of the myth, or twists and changes the story around to its own ends. Popular examples would be American Gods by Neil Gaiman and Deathless by Catherynne Valente.

Stonepunk: Set in the stone age, this genre is characterized by the use of non-technology as technology, creating pseudo-tech and modern inventions with natural, basic resources like stone, wood, water, fire, clay, and rope. Examples include The Flintstones and 10,000 BC.

Sandalpunk: Sandalpunk is on thin ice as a punk genre. Rather than being inspired or defined by a technology, it instead focuses on the period of time of the ancient world before the Middle Ages, often set in Greece or Rome. There aren’t many examples of it. But the name is cool.

Steampunk: Arguably the most popular punk genre (after Cyberpunk) featuring science fantasy stories set in Victorian era, with advanced technology powered by steam engines and clockwork mechanics. Doctor Who perhaps described it best, “The Victorian Age accelerated. Starships and missiles fueled by coal and driven by steam.” There are many examples, both in literature and film, including His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves and The Parosol Protectorate by Gail Carriger.

Clockpunk: Close-cousin subgenre of Steampunk, characterized by a lot of clocks and inspired by the pre-steam energy period of the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Pasquale’s Angel by Paul J. McAuley is more Clockpunk than Steampunk.

Silkpunk: Silkpunk is another subgenre of Steampunk, one generation removed. While steampunk is defined by its Victorian era brass and steam aesthetic, Silkpunk is inspired by East Asian culture during the period of the Silk Road. Examples include The Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu and The Tea Master and The Detective by Aliette de Bodard.

Cattlepunk: Yet another subgenre of Steampunk, Cattlepunk is the across-the-ocean-bastard-cousin set in the wild west of early America. Cowboys, bank robberies, and train heists meet robots, warmechs, magic, and super-weapons. The Wild Wild West and Firefly verse are classic movie examples. Book examples would be the Mistborn Era II series by Brandon Sanderson and The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. (And I didn’t realize until I just did all this research but based on examples this is like my favorite punk.)

Dieselpunk: This genre is set in the aesthetic of the 1920s-1950s era and is characterized by the use of diesel-powered technology. Commonly incorporates alternate history elements, as well as themes surrounding the Great Depression and World War II. It’s been called the darker and dirtier version of Steampunk with an emphasis on air travel and combat, dirigibles, and air pirates. Examples include The Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad, Dreadnough by Cherie Priest, and Pirate Utopia by Bruce Sterling.

Atompunk: A retro-futuristic punk genre set during the Cold War and characterized by atomic nuclear technology, ray guns, robots, hover cars, and interdimensional travel. Atompunk often deals with the themes of nuclear power gone wrong and alternate versions of the Cold War. The most popular example of this would be the Fallout games by Bethesda.

Capepunk: Capepunk is just superhero fiction set in the modern-era world where people have powers. Example would be any superhero story ever. I just think the name’s cool.

Gothicpunk: Gothicpunk is also usually set in the modern-era, but incorporates The Goth. Generally characterized by an underworld of supernatural creatures lying in wait and secretly controlling the workings of our world where humans are but cattle. This is basically dark Urban Fantasy, but it’s popular enough to get a distinction. Anne Rice’s Interview With a Vampire is an okay example. The movies Priest and Daybreakers are much better ones.

Cyberpunk: Cyberpunk, the grandfather of all of the punk genres. Characterized by a dystopian and cynical future world in which technology has brought about cultural nihilism and a crap society. Often combined with Film Noir or detective fiction. (Fantastic Noir is a fantasy version of Cyberpunk). Heroes are most prone to be some form of hacker, rebel, or antihero fighting against a totalitarian police state or corporate empire oppressing the people. Examples are Neuromancer by William Gibson and the movie Blade Runner.

Post-Cyberpunk: This is Cyberpunk's chipper, more optimistic sibling. It has the same vision of a scientifically advanced cyber-culture without the gritty, dark, and edgy world elements. It also shares the Cyberpunk themes of analyzing how technology interacts and impacts with society, just without such a grimdark view of humanity. Examples would be Agent G by C.T. Phipps and The Peace War by Vernor Vinge.

Biopunk: Biopunk is Cyberpunks genetically engineered half-sibling. This punk centers around organic technology with a healthy smattering of bio-augmentation and biotechnology. Examples include In the Courts of the Crimson Kings by S.M. Stirling, West of Eden by Harry Harrison, and Wolfish Nature by Vladimir Vasilyev.

Nanopunk: Also a subgenre of Cyberpunk characterized by the use of nanites and nanotechnology as the predominate form of technology. Examples are Tech Heaven by Linda Nagata and Micro by Michael Crichton.

Solarpunk: Solarpunk is a genre characterized by it’s environmentally friendly technology with African and Asian aesthetics and an emphasis in culture, community, art, and a bright solar future where humanity has found a balance between technology and nature. Can also include many elements of Biopunk, but with a much more optomistic, for-the-future-of-species-and-environment outlook. Example works include Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor, Maurai by Poul Anderson, and Songs from the Stars by Norman Spinrad.

Apunkalypse: This genre is defined by the collapse of civilization where society is replaced by lawless bands of roving scavenger gangs and cities crumble into decay after the rise of punks overthrows the rules of the past. Examples include Mad Max and Mortal Engines by Philip Reeves (which is also Steampunk, so it’s a good example of book incorporating more than one punk genre).

Desertpunk: Who doesn't love a good desert planet? Often features roaming tribes, wandering heroes, desert bandits, and sand storms. Can be combined with Cattlepunk, for a Western desert, or Apunkalypse, for an-after-the-end-of-the-world setting. Examples include Dune by Frank Herbert and Railsea by China Mieville.

Oceanpunk: This punk is set on the high seas. Often features floating cities of wood and iron lashed together and mighty nations fighting for dominion of the watery world. May include civilizations and cultures below the waves in underwater cities. Sometimes called Pirate Punk, because nothing breeds pirate stories like ocean cities and sailing ships. Examples include The Scar by China Mieville, Tranquilium by Andrey Lazarchuk, and Dark Life by Kat Falls.

I Can Punk Too

Just for fun I created a couple punk genres of my own. They may be a bit out there, but certainly not any crazier than some of the established ones.

Edopunk: This genre is defined by the aesthetic and culture of the Edo period of Japan. Probably could be a subgenre of Steampunk, with the Victorian influences of the West mixed with samurai, trickster yokai, and spirits housed in mountain shrines. Basically what I’m going for here is a Studio Ghibli movie.

Arcticpunk: A genre defined by its setting in the extreme North Pole and the indigenous cultures that inhabit the icy corners of the globe, relying on thermal heat and technology powered by the Aurora Borealis. (So I made this up for fun for this post, but now I may have to write a story with technology run by magic from the Northern Lights…that has potential).

Starpunk/Galaxypunk: Punk genre set in space, where ships use starlight to travel between planets and solar systems. (This one is basically just Space Opera with magic, but whatever. Example would be Disney's Treasure Planet.)

Did I Miss a Punk?

Can you guys think of any other punks to add? Either ones you've thought up, or any you've heard of that I don't have listed. I'd love to keep this list updated. I find it's useful to look through when creating a new world to get the overall feeling of what I'm going for with the story and world-building.

What punk are you writing in for your current WIP?

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]]><![CDATA[Worldbuilding Series: Magic Systems Masterpost]]>Wed, 25 Sep 2019 19:33:39 GMThttps://www.megannkammerman.com/speculativepagesblog/magicsystemblogpost

“Power swirled through their veins, burning tracks down their spine and bursting through the cracks in their mind.”

Magic. It’s one of the defining characteristics of the fantasy genre. A writer has unlimited possibilities to choose from when building their world and the magic that shapes it. Flying. Shapeshifting. Characters wielding fire or healing with a touch. Magic potions and runic spells. Demon magic and necromancy. Witch marks and superheroes.

This guide is designed to walk you through each step of building your magic, from choosing the structure to figuring out how it's cast and what powers are included. Hopefully by the end of this post you have a clear path to building a workable system of magic for your fantasy world.

Let's make some magic...

Step One: Capturing the Feeling

Before we do anything else, take twenty minutes right here to do a free-write on what you want from your magic system.

Ask yourself: what emotions do you want your magic to create? In the reader? In your characters? In yourself? Do you want it to feel mysterious, mystical, disturbing, epic, powerful, sacred, moral, industrial, historical, epic?
You could also think about the story you’re telling: Is it an epic saga akin to Stormlight Archive or Wheel of Time? Or is it a smaller, character driven story like Fire by Kristin Cashore? Or a story about political maneuvering within a single kingdom like Twelve Houses by Sharon Shinn? The type of story you’re telling can help determine the magic system you use.
The bottom line is you want to capture the feeling of your magic.

Step Two: Choosing a Class

In my mind, magic systems fall into two major classes: Ability-Based and Spell-Based.

Ability-based is your basic superhero system — mages have a certain ability (or abilities), which could range from controlling light to super-speed. Their powers aren’t infinite. Mages could each have different, unique abilities, or they could choose from a set class (like Mistings from Mistborn).
Spell-based is your more classic magic — mages use power to cast spells, all (or most) have access to the same range of powers, and there are near infinite spells to choose from.

Like I mentioned in Step One, your choice should depend on the story you want to tell.

Think about your plot, world, and themes while we’re going through the two classes: which one will highlight or enhance the story you are telling?
Think about your characters: which class will fit them best?
Which one would you have the most fun writing?

Step Three: Theme

Once you know the class of your magic system, you need to consider its theme. This is where that free-write about the feeling of your magic is going to come in. Look at what you came up with. The emotions you wanted to evoke. The atmosphere. This is going to become your theme.

For instance — if you wanted your magic to feel disturbing, then maybe your theme will be necromancy or death magic.

Your theme is there to limit your magic. It will keep your system from feeling arbitrary, and will enhance the overall feeling of your world. It’s going to help you focus your abilities, powers, and limitations to create a unique system.

Step Four: Hard or Soft System

Some authors prefer to keep their magic shrouded in mystery and mysticism, while others love to lay out the rules and possibilities of their system with as much detail as a scientific experiment, with histories, theories, and runic charts in the back of the book (looking at you, Sanderson). Most systems are somewhere in the middle of the scale. You need to decide where you want yours to fall.

While deciding, consider Sanderson’s First Law of Magic: “An author’s ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic.”

If your reader knows and understands your magic, then you can use your abilities, powers, and cool effects to solve problems.
If your reader doesn’t know the rules, the powers, or how your magic works, then any time you use it to solve problems or plot issues, it will feel like deus ex machina. Though you can still use magic to cause problems and make things harder for your characters.

Step Five: Your Magic's Source

What is the origin of your magic? Power has to come from somewhere, assuming your world follows the laws of basic physics (which it doesn’t have too, but I would recommend having some sort of accepted laws of reality).

A few things to think about:

Is your magic powered by the character themselves (does it exist inside them)? Or do they need to draw on an outer source?
Remember that you can combine sources — such as in Mistborn, where ingesting metals gives the allomancers power, but that power is ultimately fueled by the god Preservation.
For the future: the source of your magic is going to play a large part in the limitations, rules, and abilities of that magic. For instance, if magic is fueled by the caster’s own life energy, it will severely limit the amount of spells they can cast. But if magic is an unlimited river of energy that runs through everything (like the Force), it will be much more abundant for huge epic magics.

Step Six: Powers & Abilities

I’m sure you have some ideas already, but now is the time to solidify what powers your magic grants or what spells your characters cast.

Stick to Your Theme: The most important thing here is to limit your powers with your theme. If you don’t, you’ll loose the theme completely, and your system will feel arbitrary and overused. Try brainstorming a list of powers or abilities that could fall under your theme. Note that this is the same if you are designing a spell-based system of magic or an ability-based system.

If you’re having trouble coming up with powers, then make the limits of your theme more general. If your powers feel too disconnected and random, then make your limits more specific.

Here are some other questions to consider:

Do all of your characters share the same abilities? Do casters get to decide what their ability is (a conscious choice) or are they simply born with a certain range of magic? Are some things harder to do than others?
Have you given your characters abilities that make them too powerful? Could they break the world, tear a hole in reality, or some other effect that would make your plot meaningless?

Step Seven: Casting Your Magic

Waving a wand, drawing a runic spell, gathering your will, burning metal, singing the right notes, or speaking an objects true name. Whether it’s with a thought, a gesture, speech, or a material object, there are as many ways of casting a spell as there are spells to cast.

Consider Your Theme and Story: The important thing here is to find how your characters use magic: what fits with your story, theme, and characterization? Will your characters cast spells against the forces of evil on a desolate battlefield, or will they use rituals and herbs to heal the sick in a wooded cabin, or sing their magic into being to cast illusions for the royal houses? An elaborate ritual won’t be very useful for a battle mage or a spy embedded in a foreign government.

Step Eight: Magic Users

You know what your magic can do, you know its source, and you know how it’s harnessed. Now you need to decide who has power.

Consider Your Characters and Story: how do those who use magic see themselves? How are they seen by others? Here are some questions for you to consider:

How accessible do you want magic? Is it limited to a certain few or can anyone use it?
If anyone can use it, do they? Or are there some who shun it?
Are mages simply born with magic, or can it be gained through training? Does it have to be stolen or bargained for?
Do people with magic think it’s a curse or blessing? Are your characters proud of their powers, or ashamed by them? How does this affect their personalities and motivations?

Consider Your Theme: go back to the feeling of your magic. What is it? What type of person fits into it? What kind of world does your magic exist in? Is it hidden and mysterious or built into the very fabric of your culture and civilizations?

Step Nine: Limitations

Consider Sanderson’s Second Law: Limitations > Powers.

This law is basically saying that your magic’s limitations should be stronger than your abilities. If your abilities are too overpowered, then your magic could end up breaking your story and plot.
The limitations of magic bring tension, drama, and risk to the story. They keep magic from being an easy way out by making your characters work harder, which can in turn up the stakes of your plot.
They can be the most interesting and engaging part of your system. For instance, mages that can control fire are pretty common, but what if a mage could only control fire if they were being burned at the time? That’s unique, interesting, and has story potential.

You build your limitations by determining the Rules, Cost, and Weaknesses of your magic. They may seem similar, and in some ways they overlap, but it’s important to consider each separately to build a complete system of magic.

Rules — what magic users must follow (could be breakable, with disastrous consequences, or absolute and above mortal control.) What can't your magic do? What are the limits or boundaries of its abilities? Remember, once you decide on your rules, you need to stick to them, or your magic won't feel believable.
Cost — the price a mage pays to cast magic. This could range from energy or stamina to actual life force or simply material cost or money. Remember, the higher your cost, the less your characters will use their magic.
- If you want it to be a common and everyday thing, then you need a small, manageable cost.
- If you want magic to be used only as a last resort, then have a high cost that few would think is worth paying.
Weaknesses — where does the magic fail? What can’t it do? How can it be beaten? What ways would the opposite side overcome the advantage of the mage’s power, workaround it, or make it useless? Weaknesses are intertwined with both the cost and rules of your magic, and so they may overlap. Take a look at your rules and costs and extrapolate to find the weak points of your magic.
- For instance, if a rule of magic is that a mage has to see something in order to cast a spell on it, a weakness would be that their enemies could simply stay out of sight, or find a way to blind their opponent in order to make their magic useless. Could an enemy permanently blind a mage, and take away their power forever?

Step Ten: Extrapolation & Organization

Go deeper, not wider: a magic with unlimited power can be fun to play with, but it could be more unique to have a magic with a small collection of powers, that are each explored in depth.

Remember Sanderson’s Third Law of Magic: “Expand what you already have before you add something new.”

Before you start to add multiple abilities, schools, types, or magic systems together, consider the implications of what you already have: even an ability as simple as making plants grow could be used in dozens of different ways.
- Could your character bring down a building by crumbling the foundation with tree roots? Could they grow a poison to take out an enemy? Could they grow foliage in order to hide from pursuers? Or grow a vine to climb up a cliff? How could your characters solve their problems, using what they have in different or unique ways?
- Two characters with the same power can use that power differently. This can be a good way to go deep into characterization and personality, and really show how each character sees the world. Perhaps the power is manipulating bone — one character might use their power to heal, and mend, while another might use it to break bones and control their criminal empire.

Step Eleven: Name of Magic

There’s a lot to consider when naming your magic: here are a few questions to ask yourself.

What’s the magic itself called? Magic? Mana? Force? Energy? Or something unique like Aon Dor or BioChromatic Breath?
What are mages called? Wizards? Casters? Or something like Mistborn, Shapers, Riders, Radiants, or Powder Mages?
What is the act of magic called? Do mages cast a spell? Or weave a thread of magic? Or burn metal? Or draw in Stormlight?
Are there multiple names for the magic or magic users? If you have different cultures, nations or planets, perhaps they have their own words for mages. Like Dragon Riders and Argetlam (meaning silver hand) from Inheritance Cycle.

Consider your theme, or an element of your theme: what is the main focus of your magic? Does it have to do with fire? With metal? With wood or plant growth? Whatever it is can help you decide your names and terms.

Perhaps your characters are members of the thieves guild, and they’ve been hired to steal a magic gem from a corrupt lord. Perhaps magic in this world manifests as an ability to see through any wall, a skill perfect for thieving, so Thief is synonymous with mage.

Just Like Magic!

“Starlight fills the corners of the night, dancing in the space between worlds. Spinning dust in the hearts of stars, it creates worlds full of magic.”

And that’s pretty much it. You now have a working magic system. As you start to write your story and further flesh out your world and characters, you’ll need to edit your magic accordingly. You’ll always be thinking of new things and exciting additions, but now that you have the bones, your magic system can grow to be functional, unique, and engaging for your readers.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on if this post was helpful! You can either comment down below or find me on my various socials across the web (linktree here).

If you enjoyed this post, I go into even more depth for each step in my downloadable Magic System Worldbuilding PDF Workbook and my even more extensive Ultimate Magic System Notion Template. And since you made it all the way through this blog post, here's a link for an exclusive promo code for my Magic System Notion Template!

claim code!

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1. purchase an ISBN

2. assign your ISBN to your book

3. turn your ISBN into a barcode

4. apply for an LCCN

5. create your title page

1. Outline Critique

2. Developmental Editing

3. Line Editing

​4. Copyediting

​5. Proofreading

​Common Questions​

Where does beta-reading fall in the editing process?

I'm self-publishing, can I edit my own manuscript?

Do I need all levels of editing to self-publish?

Do I need to self-edit if I'm submitting my manuscript to a publisher?

about the author​

The Basis of Your Fictional Martial Art

1. Choose a real-world martial art to base yours on (preferably one you have experience with and an understanding of beyond google) 2. Choose an already-built aspect of your world to build off of

Choose a Real-World Martial Art

Build Off an Aspect of Your World

Philosophy of Your Art

Magic Systems & Martial Art Styles

List of Examples in Fiction

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

Codex Alera by Jim Butcher

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

Avatar the Last Airbender

Now You Have Your Martial Art

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Step One: Character Overview

Step Two: Character Profile

Step Three: Physical Attributes

Step Four: Character Personality

Step Five: Expression of Emotion

Step Six: Everyday Life

Step Seven: Skills/Powers/Fighting

Step Eight: Family

Step Nine: Relationship History

Step Ten: Background

Step Eleven: Story Goal & Motivation

Step Twelve: Projected Character Arc

Step Thirteen: Relationship to Theme

And that's a character!

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Spark Before a Blaze

Find an idea...any idea

Where do you get ideas?

Okay I have an idea...what now?

Three main ideas = a novel

How do you know when it fits?

about the author

A Writer’s Master List of Fantasy Punk Genres From Magicpunk to Steampunk to Piratepunk

Punk Genres: From Magicpunk to Steampunk to Piratepunk...and Everypunk in between

Established Fantasy Punk Genres: An Incomplete List

I Can Punk Too

Did I Miss a Punk? ​

about the author

​“Power swirled through their veins, burning tracks down their spine and bursting through the cracks in their mind.”

Let's make some magic...

Step One: Capturing the Feeling

Step Two: Choosing a Class

Step Three: Theme

Step Four: Hard or Soft System

Step Five: Your Magic's Source

Step Six: Powers & Abilities

Step Seven: Casting Your Magic

Step Eight: Magic Users

Step Nine: Limitations

Step Ten: Extrapolation & Organization

Step Eleven: Name of Magic

Just Like Magic!​“Starlight fills the corners of the night, dancing in the space between worlds. Spinning dust in the hearts of stars, it creates worlds full of magic.”

about the author​

4. Copyediting

5. Proofreading

Common Questions

about the author

1. Choose a real-world martial art to base yours on (preferably one you have experience with and an understanding of beyond google)
2. Choose an already-built aspect of your world to build off of

Punk Genres: From Magicpunk to Steampunk to Piratepunk
...and Everypunk in between

Did I Miss a Punk?

“Power swirled through their veins, burning tracks down their spine and bursting through the cracks in their mind.”

Just Like Magic!

“Starlight fills the corners of the night, dancing in the space between worlds. Spinning dust in the hearts of stars, it creates worlds full of magic.”

about the author