Questions 22: Setting and Worldbuilding

jdsawyer Going Pro / Nanocast February 5, 2016 January 26, 2016

Sgt Mike asks:
How do you make the setting its own character? How do you avoid spoon-feeding setting to the audience?

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jdsawyer

After a childhood in academia, J. Daniel Sawyer declared his independence by dropping out of high school and setting off on a series of adventures in the bowels of the film industry, the venture capital culture of silicon valley, surfing safaris, bohemians, burners, historians, theologians, adventurers, climbers, drug dealers, gangbangers, and inventors before his past finally caught up to him. Trapped in a world bookended by one wall falling in Berlin and other walls going up around suburbia and along national borders throughout the world, he rediscovered his deep love of history and, with it, and obsession with predicting the future as it grew aggressively out of the past. To date, this obsession has yielded over thirty books and innumerable short stories, the occasional short film, nearly a dozen podcasts stretching over a decade and a half, and a career creating novels and audiobooks exploring the world through the lens of his own peculiar madness, in the depths of his own private forest in a rural exile, where he uses the quiet to write, walk on the beach, and manage a production company that brings innovative stories to the ears of audiences across the world. For news and free stories, sign up for his occasional newsletter. Or find his contact info, podcasts, and more on his home page at http://www.jdsawyer.net

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2 Comments

If you are self publishing, are there any fonts that you can’t use because of copyrights? What font do you recommend for new authors? Feel free to address any general formatting issues for new self-publishers.

jrhandleyblog

February 5, 2016 at 3:28 pm 8 years ago

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I heard you say practice various techniques while writing short stories, which is where I need your help. I’ve tried writing short stories and always end up writing novels, even when I wanted short story length works. What is the trick to write a short story that DOESN’T unintentionally become a novel?

jrhandleyblog

February 5, 2016 at 3:39 pm 8 years ago

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jdsawyer

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