Project: Shadow

Let’s talk about Setting the scene and go through my draft (here).

How are you setting the scene for your work? What do you think about How I set up mine?

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

Let’s dig into the Foundations page by talking about how to use it. I will be using mine as an example (here).

What are the foundations of your world? What do you think about mine?

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

Since I am taking part in World Anvil’s World Building Summer Camp for Camp NaNoWriMo this year, I am working on my prep homework.

So let’s talk about mine:

I have never felt more secure in my story world and what I am building, I hope you come along for the ride.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

For Camp NaNoWriMo this July, I am doing World Anvil’s World Building Summer Camp! Specifically, I am building my Dragons of Night setting (here) so I can write my new Blinded Angels series.

I hope you are excited to work on your own project and interested to follow along with the creation of mine. Let’s do this together.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

If I had a penny for every time I have been told that I am limiting my audience by writing so many Queer characters, I would be rich. I have been called out in my hometown as a race traitor for having non-white characters characters in my books…

I am not trying to pat my self on the back or show my bona fides on these issues, but to explain that world is full of people trapped in their own minds.

All I want is for people learn to ask themselves how much you engage with protagonists that are different from you. If you are a part of any minority, that answer is probably either “all the time” or “way too much.” If you are a cis gender, heterosexual, white male, would you answer the same way?

Too many voices in fandom and society speak out anytime representation happens. No, they don’t represent the majority opinion and they are outliers, but the problem is, large and small media companies cave in to them all too often.

Diversity in fiction allows more people to see and empathize with people from different backgrounds, and in so doing, we learn to empathize with everyone as human. That is what these people don’t want to have happen. 

They believe that division is power. They are wrong. Unity is power. Diversity is power. It is where our real strength resides.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

The biggest lie that threatens our world is that left behind king and queens when we became democratic societies. We didn’t, we simply changed the way we named people part of the ruling class.

In a democracy, we believe that the power belongs to the people. When well organized, this is true. Unfortunately, we have constructed an idea that we should elect “leaders” and then follow them. Nothing could be less democratic.

A representative at best should be a Vox Populi, or voice of the people they represent. They are meant to follow their constituents not the other way around.

When we examine real movements like the ones that are happening right now such as the Black Lives Matter protests for George Floyd, we are watching the entitled ruling class bristling at the mere suggestion that they should listen to much less follow the will of the people or even work for the people.

We have to learn to see the through these ideas and start seeing people as coordinators, mediators, and organizers, and abandon the language of leaders and leadership. It does more harm than good.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

If you are working on your world building or wondering why your work feels unoriginal, then the problem isn’t really with your story, it is with your world building or lack thereof.

Janet at World Anvil has made a great video about this (here), and they have example pages (here and here).

Let’s talk about this starting point in world building.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

Whether it is the experience of People of Color, Women, or the Queer community, too many people refuse to believe stories from lives so different from our own. Why?

We mistakenly believe that we see the world as it is, or understand how the world works. We don’t. We tell ourselves stories. Every new piece of information we get, every new story we encounter, we both compare to our existing narrative and weave it in, but that weaving is the problem.

Other people’s stories are shaped and altered by the stories we already tell our self in order to fit them in. We have predefined shapes for those stories to take and will find a way to justify changing those stories so they work with our own meta narrative. So we don’t see the truth right before our eyes.

Until we are honest about this process, we will continue to reject stories different from our own until something happens so horrible it makes us question our own stories. The solution is simple. Always question the way you see the world and be proud to grow and change as your understanding of the world develops and changes.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

With everything going on in this country, the idea of diversity has become a buzzword, and I am afraid it is a momentary meme and not something we are dedicated to.

Some have finally had their eyes opened by the murder of George Floyd, but we can’t let this be the cause of the moment that we forget when the protests die down.

Black Lives Matter.

Diversity is not or at least should not be virtue signaling.

We have to fundamentally change or all of this is for nothing.

Gene Roddenberry said:

“If humanity is to survive, we will have learned to take delight in the essential differences between people and between cultures. We will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life’s exciting variety, not something to fear.”

That is how IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combination) starts, but that is not the end of it.

IDIC means that our strength comes from our diversity and how we come together to make the world better for everyone.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/

Creativity isn't free when it is encumbered by the requirements of privilege. We need more voices, not more of the same.

If you want to support the work that I do, you can join the project on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cedorsett

YouTube Channel= https://www.youtube.com/user/cedorsett/

Site: https://www.projectshadow.com

Ash Dancer: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ash-dancer

Barrens' End: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/barrens--end

Dragon's of Night: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/dragons-of-night

Princess Rescue Squad: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/princess-rescue-squad

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cedorsett

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/projectshadowsite/