Steve’s Update 4/18/2021

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s what’s up with me!

I’m in a big giveaway with my fellow creatives! Pick up some creativity and writing advice, and a FREE copy of my first Way With Worlds Book! https://books.bookfunnel.com/saygoodbyetowritersblock/suwa6uuxdg

The Roadmap is here to help you see what my overall plans are, check out the new Roadmap – https://www.stevensavage.com/roadmap

A School of Many Futures edit is to chapter 6 out of 13, and that includes grammar checking!  I’m at the halfway point, so you can definitely expect your pre-reader copy in May. 

On the Way With Worlds series, the “Disaster Trilogy” is locked into my schedule, with the Natural Disasters book in May or June. The new covers will start coming soon, but I’m not sure when (likely with that book).

The Seventh Sanctum rewrite continues but hit an annoying roadblock on those complex generators where you pick different categories of options (like the Pizza generator). There’s an issue with filtering to avoid repetitive results that is probably due to a stupid mistake, and I need to find that.

Steven Savage

Steve’s Book Roundup

I write a lot and have quite a few books.  So now and then I’m going to post a roundup of them for interested parties!

My sites:

Fiction

I’ve been returning to fiction with a techno-fantasy setting of several planets orbiting a star called Avenoth.  Take a typical fantasy world of magic and gods, and let it evolve into the space age and internet age . . .

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet – Two future teachers of Techno-Magical safety find trying to earn their credentials hunting odd artifacts backfires when you’re hired to put some back . . . on a planet where gods go to die!

The Way With Worlds Series

This is what I do a lot of – writing on worldbuilding!.  You can find all of my books at www.WayWithWorlds.com

The core books of the series will help you get going:

  • Way With Worlds Book 1 – Discusses my philosophy of worldbuilding and world creation essentials.
  • Way With Worlds Book 2 – Looks at common subjects of worldbuilding like conflicts in your setting, skills for being a good worldbuilder, and more!

When you need to focus on specifics of worldbuilding, I have an ever-growing series of deep dive minibooks.  Each provides fifty questions with additional exercises and ideas to help you focus on one subject important to you!

The current subjects are:

Creativity

I’m the kind of person that studies how creativity works, and I’ve distilled my findings and advice into some helpful books!

  • The Power Of Creative Paths – Explores my theories of the Five Types of Creativity, how you can find yours, and how to expand your creative skills to use more Types of Creativity.
  • Agile Creativity – I take the Agile Manifesto, a guide to adaptable project development, and show how it can help creatives improve their work – and stay organized without being overwhelmed.
  • The Art of The Brainstorm Book – A quick guide to using a simple notebook to improve brainstorming, reduce the stress around having new ideas, and prioritize your latest inspirations.
  • Chance’s Muse – I take everything I learned at Seventh Sanctum and my love of random tables and charts and detail how randomness can produce inspiration!

Careers

Being a “Professional Geek” is what I do – I turned my interests into a career and have been doing my best to turn that into advice.  The following books are my ways of helping out!

  • Fan To Pro – My “flagship” book on using hobbies and interests in your career – and not always in ways you’d think!
  • Skill Portability – A quick guide to how to move skills from one job to another, or even from hobbies into your job.  Try out my “DARE” system and asses your abilities!
  • Resume Plus – A guide to jazzing up a resume, sometimes to extreme measures.
  • Epic Resume Go! – Make a resume a creative act so it’s both better and more enjoyable to make!
  • Quest For Employment – Where I distill down my job search experiences and ways to take the search further.
  • Cosplay, Costuming, and Careers – An interview-driven book about ways to leverage cosplay interests to help your career!
  • Fanart, Fanartists, and Careers – My second interview-driven book about ways to leverage fanart to help your career!
  • Convention Career Connection – A system for coming up with good career panels for conventions!

Culture

  • Her Eternal Moonlight – My co-author Bonnie and I analyze the impact Sailor Moon had on women’s lives when it first came to North America.  Based on a series of interviews, there’s a lot to analyze here, and surprisingly consistent themes . . .

Steve’s Update 12/15/2019

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

A few big announcements!

First, Chance’s Muse, my book on random generators – is out! You can get it from a variety of sources at this link!

Secondly, I’m back at generators with the Promare-Inspired Super Professions Generator!

So what have I done since last time?

  • Way With Worlds: The Gods and Deities Book’s first draft is almost done – I expect to have it this week!
  • Chance’s Muse: As noted is done. Out, published. Launched! Whew!
  • A School Of Many Futures: I took a break on this to replot some things, so though a lot is written, I’m only “confident” out to Chapter 3 – but oh, what a Chapter 3!
  • Seventh Sanctum: I got out a new generator, the Super Professions Generator! Back in the swing of things!
  • General: Prepping for the holidays of course.

What’s next?

  • Way With Worlds: Finish the draft this week, then off to my editor, who hopefully has time . . .
  • Chance’s Muse: Well, it’s done. But I have ideas for the future.
  • A School Of Many Futures: Editing Chapter 3 while doing some more replotting. A few twists surprised me, and I want to get them in there – I mean when you suddenly discover a three-century old conspiracy in your story . . .
  • Seventh Sanctum: Nothing right now, mostly some tweaks. But I’m feeling that mojo again!

Steven Savage