Belmont Literary & Historical Society Free Library

Story credit to Eileen Budd and The Druid’s Cauldron on Instagram

In the middle of a loch, there is an island and in the middle of that island is a Rowan Tree. This tree is very special because the berries are magical, they can heal all wounds and cure all diseases. lots of people have tried to steal those berries, but wrapped around that rowan tree there is a dragon. One night, when the moon was full, a young man called Angus, came to collect some berries. His mother was very ill and all other cures had failed. He dived into the icy water of the loch and when he got to the other side his feet crunched on the gravel, and the dragon awoke. Angus begged for his life and the life of his mother. The dragon agreed to let Angus have the berries on one condition, that in one year’s time he returned to the tree and guard it for eternity. Angus was only thinking of getting home to heal his mother so he agreed, and the berries worked, she got better and Angus forgot about his promise. Then a year later, when the moon was full, he felt his body being dragged over the hills and woods, and he found himself at the bottom of the Rowan Tree. There was no sign of the dragon, but Angus felt his own body twist and grow and become scaly. He saw his hands and feet grow talons and he sprouted a huge tail, which wrapped itself around the trunk of the Rowan Tree. His head became heavy with fangs and a plume of smoke escaped his nostrils. He heard a voice say “Thank you.” and he looked up to see a very old man slip into the icy water of the loch and disappear.

Imagine your home. All the living memories you have of it, all its little quirks. Now imagine it after you are gone. Maybe your grandkids moved in, or perhaps, a stranger now lives there. But imagine even further ahead, to a point where no one alive remembers the most common elements to be found in your home, to where you once lived is forgotten and in ruins. What then?

Lets look at a real life example of an abandoned place. Ancient Egypt. We are fascinated by the ruins of a world that ended almost five thousand years ago. Why does it haunt us so? In fact, civilizations across history have been so fascinated with Ancient Egypt that there is a word for this cultural obsession: Egyptomania.

The forgotten past is a powerful tool in our real life and in our literature. The YouTuber “Hello Future Me” talks about abandoned/forgotten places and how they are intertwined with story telling in the two videos below. Enjoy this pondering and may it help you as a reader and a writer.

“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs” is a show that combines two passions I never would have thought of, cars and dinos.

Created by Steven E. de Souza (based on the comics of Mark Schultz), this animated story takes place in the far future where, after the collapse of civilization, dinosaurs roam the Earth once more. Humanity struggles to find a balance to this new life. With a surprising emphasis on environmental conservation issues, the show follows the character Jack Tenrec, a mechanic, and his new friend ambassador Hannah Dundee as they journey forth in this world of dinosaurs and machines.

A dystopia is a society that is an opposite of a utopia, i.e. a society where everything is bad, usually with an over-controlling corrupt government. In literature, dystopias are reflective of the time they were written in. From Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” to the Maze Runner series by James Dashner, dystopias show us our fears of what our society might evolve into.

Older styles of writing dystopias usually feature a character that is part of the society and remains static within the story. Modern dystopian stories more often have a hero character that rises up and tries to resist/escape/defeat the dystopian society they are in.

Below is a YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me as they talk about how dystopian stories work, how they have evolved, and examples of literature. Enjoy this introduction to dystopian story telling and world building.

(note: mild language and mature ideas, age rate PG 13 ish, this is my personal guess of an age rating)

Enjoy!

(YouTube video by Overly Sarcastic Productions and Hello Future Me)

For the first time in 50,000 years, a comet will be passing by our little planet. A comet is a ball of ice and rock that is caught in our Sun’s gravitational pull. Some, like Halley’s Comet, can be seen regularly every 75 to 79 years. Others have orbits centuries long. As the comet gets closer to our star, the energy from our star starts melting part of the comet. The comet’s “tail” is a debris trail that points away from our star as it is melted off of the comet. These cosmic events have been witnessed by humans since our kind first looked at the stars and wondered.

Called “Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” by scientist, it is a once in a life time experience to see something that has not come our way since the age of mammoths and Ice Age humans.

It will be brightest on the morning February 1st just before dawn. You can see it with the naked eye and find it located in the north-western sky. You can get more information in the link below to the Star Walk 2 website. Don’t miss this cosmic spectacle!

https://starwalk.space/en/news/comet-c2022e3-to-pass-earth

A common part of fantasy novels is to include a map of the world where the story will take place before the chapters begin. This is a great way to help immerse your readers into the reality of the world you are making. A map makes the world feel alive, like you can chart a course and sail there. It adds a sense of physicality to your story and also can help readers understand the scale and shape of your story’s world.

Creating maps for a story is also a good way to generate ideas for a story. As you make a map, you may find blank spaces that you want to fill up or add to, and as you add to them your story develops a need to see these added locations to your map. It is a good idea to plan on visiting most of the key locations of your map in your story to make sure they justify being marked on the map in the first place. However, maybe you cannot visit all the maps locations in your first story. Do not despair, this is a great way to leave your world open to further exploration in another book in the same world. Some stories will advance their plot by the discovery of a new map that leads to somewhere previously undiscovered in the world. Have fun and try making your own maps of your worlds!

Below is a video on how to get started drawing your map. This is just an introductory video to help you get started. Use it as a stepping stone to launch yourself forward on your creative journey in map making and world building!