[Scot C. Morgan]

Thanks, Marilyn. Yes, the DDD people are wonderful. I’d definitely work with them again.

[Scot C. Morgan]

Thanks, Ryan. Nice of you to offer assistance. I’ll keep you in mind and check out your cover site. Not currently sourcing covers, but I will be later this year.

[Scot C. Morgan]

Writing:
Scrivener (https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview)
Available for Windows, Mac, or Linux.
Comprehensive in its functions & methods of organizing all your writing, as well as your references/resources. Multiple ways to view your work (draft mode, corkboard, TOC, etc). Useful color-coded tagging system. Numerous icons to clearly indicate purpose for any given document or folder. A multi-staged revisions function, which allows you to change text color for new revision passes and to revert back to previous revisions or do a side-by-side comparison. So many other functions, there’s too much to list here. BUT you can use as much or as little of Scrivener’s capabilities as you want. It’s easily usable ‘out of the box’, and the makers have amazing video tutorials.

Formatting:
Vellum (https://vellum.pub/)
Available for Mac. Usable on Windows via MacInCloud or VMWare or equivalent.
Absolutely amazing software, created by two guys who helped create rendering software for Pixar. They keep it updated regularly, to account for any backend platform changes. The UI is intuitive yet powerful. Multiple text and layout options. Exports to all major publishing platform formats. It handles ebooks & print. I also use Vellum for my final review of the text for my books before uploading for publication.

Graphic Design/Image Manipulation (covers & promo images):
Gimp (https://www.gimp.org/)
A free near-equivalent of Photoshop. Available for Windows, Mac, & Linux.
While I pay professional cover designers/artists to create my covers, I sometimes use Gimp to do some font work or repurpose the covers (allowed by the contracts in my case) for promotional images for my website & elsewhere (ads/social media). When possible, I get the .psd or .xcf files from the cover artist/designer, so I have that (file w/layers open to manipulate) to do more with in Gimp.

Graphic Design/Image Manipulation (covers & promo images):
TinyPNG (https://tinypng.com/)
A free site that will reduce the file size of a jpg or png, with a minimum of loss to quality (usually imperceptibly so). I use this to shrink the image file sizes of images on my website, so the site pages load faster.

Non-standard Book Distribution:
Bookfunnel (https://bookfunnel.com/)
In addition to using Bookfunnel to distribute draft copies to alpha and beta readers, I will be making use of Bookfunnel for my April 2020 release to implement direct sale through my website, prior to distribution through Amazon. Depending on how this first run goes for me, I may make this early direct sale option standard procedure.

[Scot C. Morgan]

I do most of my worldbuilding tracking in Scrivener. As part of the novel template I created therein, I have a Series Bible folder. It varies as to how much I fill out for a given book.

-Series Bible folder
—Names & Places document
—Characters folder
—–Character w/Tags & Traits documents
—Brief Book Summaries document
—Places folder
—Magic System(s) document
—Maps folder (I use Inkarnate to make maps, but I’d like to upgrade to Wonderdraft)
—Tech & Artifacts document
—Misc worldbuilding document (politics, flora, fauna, climate, history, etc.)

To fill in some of the above, I sometimes take excerpts from the text of a one of the books and put it in the appropriate document, so I have not only the details but also the flavor of how the character/place was introduced/described.

In my Outlines folder…
—Plot structure/outline
—fight confrontations document (showing chapter/scene, participants, gist of it)
—locations/situations of characters throughout timeline of story

Also…
-Research folder
—Notes

I use other folders, icons, & tags in Scrivener for other organizing, such as tracking POV or scene/chapter pacing, but those are outside the Worldbuilding topic, at least in a straightforward way.

For my Jake Mudd books, I created a timeline on my website. It was meant for readers, but it’s there if I need to refresh my memory. I also created on my website a not-too-exhaustive Guide to the Mudd-verse, which has short entries for characters and locales in the books.

Btw, Brandon Sanderson’s BYU class lectures available on YouTube have some good worldbuilding ideas/methods. Worth watching.

It’s also worth learning many different story structure/development models. One needn’t follow a particular model, but understanding many aids with story problem solving and conceptualization. These are not necessarily worldbuilding tools, but they can aid in worldbuilding, I think.

Some models/methods:
Eric Edson’s screenplay story structure
Brandon Sanderson’s per his aforementioned BYU classes
Scenes & Sequels/Tags & Traits per Jim Butcher’s blog/videos
Libbie Hawker’s presentation in Take Off Your Pants
This list could go on for days, of course. Just some favorites of mine above.

[Scot C. Morgan]

Thanks, Rob. Feel free to delete my posts in this thread aside from the one which has my titles hyperlinked. Getting rid of the others would clean up the thread. I don’t think I have the ability to delete them through the edit function. If I do, just advise and I’ll do the cleanup of mine. Thanks.

[Scot C. Morgan]

Scot C. Morgan’s books
Tangled Peril (A Jake Mudd Tale) — scifi adventure
Deadly Cargo (A Jake Mudd Tale) — scifi adventure

Triple Threat (Jake Mudd Starter Library) — scifi adventure

Forced Vengeance (Jake Mudd Adventures Book 1) — scifi adventure
Heat Seeker (Jake Mudd Adventures Book 2) — scifi adventure
Broken Solace (Jake Mudd Adventures Book 3) — scifi adventure
Lost Humanity (Jake Mudd Adventures Book 3) — scifi adventure

Supers Incorporated — superhero fiction

From Earth To Hennion — scifi, fantasy, adventure mashup

Stasis No More — scifi adventure short story

Dennis the Conqueror (Sword & Sorority Book 1) — 18+only sword & sorcery adventure
Swing and Thrust (Sword & Sorority Book 2) — 18+only sword & sorcery adventure
Deep Into Destiny (Sword & Sorority Book 3) — 18+only sword & sorcery adventure

Sordid Sorcery — 18+only fantasy

[Scot C. Morgan]

And one more example why being part of a good author community is such a good idea. Nice to have each others’ backs. Thanks. Kudos to Ingram Spark too.

[Scot C. Morgan]

Thanks for doing this, Craig. I catch it in the 20Books group link, but it’s nice to have the doc link here too. Good service to us all.

[Scot C. Morgan]

I have a scifi adventure series. MC’s last name is Mudd, which is an intentional choice based on the jams he gets into. I refer to that universe as the Mudd-verse. Simple and obvious, yes I realize such a simplistic choice may not work for many cases, but there it is. Just an example of one way to do it.

[Author]

Posts