Steve’s Update 1/3/2015

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Hello everyone, and Happy New Year!

Not too much to report right now.  Let’s see where I am:

I’m considering my next generator plans at Seventh Sanctum.  I want to do the Plot Twist generator, but admit the Writing Prompt Generator gave me pause as I have to think how I can do it right.  Still, i want to do it, because it was requested and after seeing how the Writing Prompt Generator went over, I see it as very useful.

Beyond that generator I have the Magical Power Generator and a few more ideas.  In the year to come I have a few non-generator ideas I hope to work on.

Writing-wise, the redone MuseHack has really got some good stuff coming.  I’ll be speaking on geek health in the coming week, and plenty more to come in the future.

If you’re in the SF Bay Area, be sure to come by AODSF, I’m going to be doing some great presentations there!

How’s your New Year’s looking so far?
Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/.

He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.

Way With Worlds: It Comes Apart – Conflicts And The World

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war ruins city bombed

(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)

So there’s a reason I covered humans (and human-alikes) and the psychology of conflict first. Characters and their institutions are often the causes of conflicts – and characters are the lenses through which players/readers experience your world. We have to think about them first in the case of worldbuilding because it gives us the right perspective.

But with that said, you need something to get your cast to engage in (or prevent) atrocities. What are he drivers and elements that create wars and conflicts?

Again, it’s often a matter of perspective. Which is the problem in fiction – and come to think of it real life as well . . .

Read more

Link Roudup 12/31/2014

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Culture

  • Silicon valley is a hall of mirrors – The whole idea of meritocracy in Silicon Valley is seen as a bit of a joke, and this column further meditates on the idea.  Living there I can attest that though I love it, there’s definite tunnel vision of people promoting people like them.

Economics

  • The Oil crash shows vulnerabilities in Texas (an other economies) – I’ve been skeptical about the Texas miracle, and this column lays out the flaws in that statement.  For TLDR, Texas was propped up by oil, a regressive tax plan meant less services (and gravel roads), and it’s not looking good.  As Texas has hopes for being a tech hub, I’d say those hopes are now in danger.

 

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.