Howlina - Day 12 - Spectulative Element

A deeper look at the speculative

"Write down the snippets and images that you already know you want in your story.

Next, ask yourself the hard questions. "What if?"

Drill down on the big things and the details, decide what would happen if they work one way vs. another. Chances are, you'll find there are speculative elements that you need in your story to support or limit the power of the ones you've already created."

Transhumanism.  A large portion of the Howlers believe that the best way to forward their causes, and to find ways to fix their power issues as well as global climate issues is to reinvent themselves, embrace the singularities and to rise above the limits of their human forms.  The people who support this and work on it are called transhumanists.  The people who have been developed from this process are called Transhumans.

They are a good 25 - 30 years ahead of the rest of the world and have kept their work secret.

Transhumans are known to the general population. Currently they are small enough in number that they are not seen as a threat to normals. They are treated like promising children who will far surpass the accomplishments of their parents. The Transhumans for their part are not so sure that they are the answer that everyone is looking for. Also, they feel apart, like they don't really belong.
Transhuman work in Howlina is done through embryonic manipulation.  They use genetic engineering, and in-vitro treatments.  There are three segments of Transhumans:  the Radicals, the Cybers and the Supers.

Super and Cyber Transhumans have recently managed to develop workable cold fusion in a way that will allow plants to be built around the country. They are currently in the process of building the first fully active power plant based on this technology.


SUPERS:

The Supers are people that they have developed that are smarter, stronger, faster, have a stronger constitution, live longer, are staggeringly beautiful and don't age.  They have not yet tested the limits of the lifespan expansion because none of the subjects have lived anywhere near their expected minimum of 200 years.

The center for Super development is the more conservative Kaurorapolee with the University of Kaurorapolee being the lead.

These Transhumans are starting to grow in number, but they are still a very very small group with no real power yet.  Because of their expected longevity they are patient and as a general rule they tend to study and absorb for a very long time before determining when they will move.  When they do move they will do so slowly, but inexorably, and with a high probability of being correct in their assessments and actions.

There is a long expected by-product that people who live forever value their own lives too much to do anything.  What the Howlers have that counteracts that problem is the group needs and the strong feeling of complementary relationships.

Given another ten years they may grow to be arrogant, but it is unlikely because the current generation know that they are not the final end product.  They are the beginning of a line of development that should see even more improvement.
This may make it difficult for a character to fall in love quickly, but I think I can overcome that because the character may be desperate for normalcy and a complementary mate.

CYBERS:

Cybers are Transhumans that incorporate electronic technology into their biological bodies.  The work on these Transhumans is conducted mainly in the more business minded Protopolee and is led by several companies. 

They anticipate three levels.  The first level, called the Bionic Level is where the bodies are developed that will more readily accept bionic additions.  These additions are added manually to the Transhumans. 

The second level is called the Biological Level and they expect that at this level they will be able to create Transhumans who can grow electronics organically. 

The final level is called the Beyond Level and it is characterized as Transhumans who are machine centered with a humanistic mind.

Work on Cybers is less advanced and younger than the Supers work.  They have reached the point where bionics are sophisticated, powerful and becoming much more commonplace.  However they are having difficulty breaking through to the Biological Level.

RADICALS:

Also called Exotics, these Transhumans are based on custom body modifications.  The center for Radical development is the more wild and cosmopolitan Cheekagopolee.  There are several special interest groups working on this and they tend to clump themselves based on the modifications they are striving for, with support from different Universities, privately owned companies and any government help they can get.

Like the other Transhuman segments the people are not created as one-offs like custom modified cars.  The development is too difficult and expensive to create many series of single prototypes.  As with Supers and Cybers, a great deal of up front work is done to create an infrastructure and an environment before a single person is developed.  Radicals are custom built and not conceived as developing linearly, but there as only a small number of types.

There are basically thee Races of Radicals, they Cats, the Mers and the Fae. 

The Mers are Merfolk, sea dwellers.  They are modeled after a combination of otter and sea lion.  These have been the most successful and useful.  This group has found that they are useful in working in the surrounding seas.  Because of the usefulness and versatility, the Mers are the most populous race and are pushing for more responsibilities, rights and numbers.

The Fae are modeled after fairies, sprites, leprechauns, brownies, and elves.  They push the boundaries of how small and light a human can be.  They do not have wings, but are capable of flight with the proper winged clothing.  Surprisingly these are the second most useful race of Radicals and they have been striving to carve out a niche for themselves that is relevant in the general Howlina community.  They have decided that they can comfortably live on top of things and maintain green roofs.  They are strong advocates for environmentally friendly activities and efforts.

The Cats model themselves off big cats with fur, claws, muscle, size, tail and improved senses.  Imagine a gorrilla's arms on a tiger's body with a face and color of a leopard.  Their legs are heavy but normal human sized in length, with mostly human hips.  The overall height of males is over 3 meters and they weigh about 500kg.  Their tails are slightly prehensile and their fur can be manipulated by their skin involuntarily to match the albedo of their surroundings.  This means they can be from black to gray to almost pure white depending on how their fur is presented which is dependant on their surroundings, giving them a superb natural camouflage.  They take after the more social cats, and they don't interact like normal humans or like dogs.  They work together, but there is no hierarchy, every male is an alpha and all females are subordinate to the males (at 75% the height and less than half the weight they have no choice).  The closest human society would probably be the Spartans.  They were designed to be military, guards, bodyguards and assassins.

Howlina - Day 11 - Focus In

"We have a bare-bones timeline, the bare-bones elements of a language, the bare-bones of an economic and political scene. Today, select one of these areas to flesh out....

...Write a complete timeline for your setting (last 500 years or so should do,...) and for your protagonist's life up until the novel opens. Make notes on how these forces will later impact the story...

...Write a 1-paragraph description of each major political body (churches, governments, kingdoms, factions, economic forces, guilds, etc.) and name them...

...Write a short glossary or lexicon for some common or important words ...Write down five place names and five character names..."

I think that I have actually done all this.  I did a timeline since 250AD, so that's covered (Day 7).  I wrote a one paragraph description for each political party (Day 8).  I wrote the names of the five cities and several words (Day 9).

The one thing I haven't done yet is a history of the protagonist's life.

First I have to come up with a protagonist or two.

I think that although it will be SciFi it will be a mystery, so I don't want to give too much away with the characters.  I have two main ones in mind, but what part they will play in the mystery I'm not quite sure yet (and I wouldn't reveal to you anyway).

This story takes place about 30 years in the future in July. 

The first character is a woman. 

She was born on 21 Dec 2012 and she is 30 at the time of the story.  She was born in Kaurorapolee and lives in Cheekagopolee (I took off the accents to ease the spelling, and I think that for place names the Howlers would do the same when using English).  She grew up in an accademic household and went to school at the University High School.  She has had several suiters and was quite social in school, although she was always very highly ranked in her classes.  She is a devout Kreetana follower.  She went to college in Rokafopolee because she wanted some space from her family.  She got a BS in Computer Technology with a job offer right out of school working for a large, Howlina based electronic company.  Her first position was in Protopolee, but after seven years and a failed relationship she moved to Cheekagopolee to get a fresh start.  She is fairly new to the city and the position.  She is a sales person and her new position has accounts overseas although she has never been out of the country.

The second is a man.

He is slightly younger than she.  He is half Argentinian and half Swedish from Minniapolis, MN.  He grew up in a trilingual home, went to the University of Minnisota and graduated with a Doctorate in Library Science.  He specializes in acuisitions.  Right out of school he got a job at University of Buenos Aires, fell in love and married.  Two years ago the marriage fell apart so badly that it also got him released from his position.  He returned to the US for a year, then traveled around the world for a year obtaining rare books for his employer in Stockholm.  At the start of the story he has just arrived in Cheekagopolee and is looking for a particular copy of The Veebeelo.

Howlina - Day 10 - Mood & Culture

Say Anything

Some of these days are kind of recaps, ways to keep you on track and keep things going in the right direction.  If other authors are like me they WILL tend to drift.

For instance, while I was reading the article on this I suddenly got the great idea to write a SciFi/comedy.  I had to reign myself in, take some notes on that concept and remind myself what I wanted out of this project.

"...Settle on the overall mood for your story ..."

There is a whole article written around this exercise direction, but it all helps you do this and boils down to this.

Prince Eric

So, the mood of this world/story is not SciFi/Comedy, it is escapist and meant to be fun, it isn't fully serious.  It's not meant to be a full on social commentary, it's not mean to be dark and brooding.  It is meant to be heroic, passionate, mysterious and revealing.

At the time I was working on the initial phases/days of this I was anxiously anticipating the return of Mrs. Prop from a week long business trip and that permeated my thinking and mood.  Consequently the mood of this story/world bent to that, so this IS really a good day to reevaluate that.

Do I want to keep this mood?  I have to chuck most of the work I've already done to re-direct the mood of this.  I do want to keep the mood that struck me in those days of anticipated reunion, but I want to make it a bit more serious.  I can keep it fun an escapist, but a bit more passionate and maybe just a tiny bit impactful.

I've actually been working ahead when I can and when I got to day 11 and the Speculative Element I realized that this whole exercise was originally written for people writing SciFi, Fantasy and Horror.  I wasn't really intending to write that at all, originally.  After mulling it over I realized I could keep my mood and yet still be SciFi.

Add caption

In fact I realized that this story must be SciFi.  You will see why when I get to tomorrow, but sufice it to say for today that there will be a bit of the Blade Runner love story in it.

You can probably guess from the pics on this post that my POV character and/or protagonist is going to be the boy.  Don't worry though, there's hero-work enough for the girl as well.

Howlina - Day 9 - Language

"Write down some generic preferences for your languages...then go listen to what those things sound like. Write down the syllables you hear ... Those sounds will be your "root" syllables when making up your names for places and people and things.


Bonus Exercise:

If you want language to play a strong role in setting the mood of your story, ... sort out some of your names for your people, places, and things. Note that, in doing this, you will likely get a firmer grip on your character's background, as well as need to pull out your map to now fill in the names of some of your key landmarks and settlements. This will probably take an addition 15-30 minutes more."

Houla'nya''ta, is the name of the language and is an example of the spelling conventions.

The  language is similar to Ancient Greek.  Very tonal and musical.  Uses syllabary, and CV pattern on all syllables.  Accents indicate the tonal relationship of a syllable to the others in the word (' half tone up, '' two half tones up, ''' three half tones up).  Commas indicate half tones down (, one half tone ,, two half tones ,,, three half tones).  

There are no genders.  To indicate a gender you say what gender that person or thing is (male or female, for instance dog is skee'low, a female dog is fau,tee' skeelow, a male dog is mou,to, skee'low,).  Things that are neither male nor female obviously don't get any kind of gender.


There are no suffixes, and very few prefixes.  The word being modified follows its modifier.

The name of the island is Houla'nya''.  The people are called Hou''po (in English they prefer Howlers).

Names of the cities:
Pro''topo,lee (capital)
Cheeka'gopo,lee
Kau"rorapo,lee
Roko'fo,po,lee
Jolee"po,lee

The eastern mountain range:
Di'ka"bou'na 

The western mountain range:
Rista"ra"bou'na 

The Great Desert:
Ree'mo,ko,, 

The big bay that Pro"topo,lee sits on:
Me'galo,kopo 

Man:
Dre

Woman:
Neka' 

Water:
Ne'ro,

Land:
Gee

Yes:
Ne

No:
Hho

Please:
Pa''ra'ka'lo''

Thank you:
Fa,re,sto,, 

Their religion:
Kree"tana"

Their sacred book:
Veebee"lo

Howlina - Day 8 - Econ and Politics

"...make a few notes on the map to mark places that have more of a type of resource, and jot down anywhere that has a definite deficit of something needed. Also check your timeline; some of your pressure-point conflicts in the last 100 years may have resulted from an unexpected increase or decrease in the resources of one area or another.


When you're done with the resources, take another ten minutes and identify which major groups in your civilizations care about which resources."

The island of Howland Howlina has no fossil fuels and they are very low in most minerals, except the southern island which has a huge deposit of nickel and iron because of a meteorite.


The main resources are fish, lumber, tree fruit, agriculture and high tech items.  In recent history they have provided mid ocean communications, satellite and spacecraft observation and data haven.  There is a very good deep harbor.
The people took to aviation early.  There are several airports on the island.

The lack of fossil fuels has been a severe detriment since the beginning of the industrial revolution, but the people were aware of this from the beginning as well and have worked to make that as little impact as possible.  They are further advanced in alternate fuels than any other country in the world.  They have wind power, hydro power, tide power, geothermal, bio-fuel and nuclear.  Over 90% of their power generation is alternate fuel.

During several occasions they have tried trade arrangements to get a better line on fossil fuels and it has always turned out badly for the islanders.

Trade arrangements have always been very important for raw mineral materials.  There has always been a high percentage of artisans and craftsmen in the population.  They import raw materials and export finished and technological goods.  This has been a difficult and precarious balance at times.

There are three main political parties (and these are their representative colors):

One World Party:  Their platform is one of outreach,  They are the party that always tries to negotiate for fuel.  They also believe the future is in a wold economy and Howland Howlina needs to be a part of that.

Earth Party:  Their platform is green, ecofriendly and high technology.  They support the idea that we can use technology to be better stewards of the Earth.  They aren't isolationists, they just support the idea that Howland Howlina can embrace the outside world or not, but it all depends on those other nations agreeing to support the biosphere.  They support space exploration.

New Democrocy Party:  Their platform supports transhumanism.  They support the idea that uplifting people out of the human level will bring a new prosperity and happiness.  They actively support medical and technological advances.  They push for the Singularity.  They also support a more democratic form of government with the idea that if we reach our full potential there is no reason for rulers because we will all be able to make decisions and work together at an unprecedented level.  They do support the idea that this will evolve naturally and will not have to be forced.  In this they are very different from historically communist countries who tried to force this sort of development through total government control and forced redistribution of wealth and power.

Howlina - Day 7 - Recent History

This is supposed to be the history of the last hundred years, but I have ideas for earlier than that and not for more recent stuff.  I think I need to lay the ground work for the society and let the recent history grow from that.

The anchor I want to use is independence on 5 November 1826.

I also know that these people were living in the Sudete Mountains in Poland when they were kicked out.  They their Book and had been living in Poland as part of the Catholic Church until the time of St. Augustine.  They were appalled by his stance on sexuality and felt they had to break away.  That's probably the best place to start.

425 - Broke away from the Church.  They did like the structure of priests, bishops, cardinals and pope so they maintained it in their own community.  They even gave all political power to their church leaders.  In their case though, the clergy was required to be married.  The local priests had to be voted into being pastors by their congregations.  Bishops came from the community of pastors and had to be voted in by the College of Cardinals.  The community of bishops voted their members to the College of Cardinals and the College voted for their pope.  They cited Christ's advice that wherever two or more are gathered in his name God is present.  No one person can make these sorts of decisions as well as a group gathered in prayer.

1505 - When Poland developed their Golden Liberty, the people moved away from a Theocracy to a more secular government.  Their church maintained it's structure and many clergy maintained positions of power, but the requirement to be a member of the clergy was removed.  Artisans and bankers began to move into positions of power.  There was no restriction on banking for their church so they became quite wealthy.

1650 - During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, with it's religious upheaval, the church was seen as a threat.  There was probably a natural disaster combined with a military action that precipitated this, but I don't have time to look it up now.  The people were driven out.  They found themselves moving to the Netherlands just as the Puritans did, but they too clashed and decided to move out.  At that time the island was known and owned by certain Dutch holdings who wanted it settled.  They suggested the people move there.

1660 - Arrival at Howland Howlina.

1665 - End of the migration of the people to Howland Howlina.  Cities were established on the South Coast and in the Delta.  The island was mostly abandoned because it was too far west for most of the Dutch trade route.  Basically they were left to wither on the vine and fend for themselves.

1673 - Howland Howlina was captured by England in the Third Anglo-Dutch war.  The English presumed this would be a blow to the Dutch at little cost to themselves.  In fact it was a welcome reopening of trade with Europe and the Americas for Howland Howlina.  They welcomed the English as trade partners, but kept their distance.  They had one overriding stipulation before they willing became a British colony, anyone emigrating to Howland Howlina had to either convert or be subject to immigration restrictions.

1765 - Howland Howlina was completely uninvolved in the Seven Years War, so in 1765 when England levied taxes there to help pay they was outraged even more than in America.  Howland Howlina was not involved in the fight at all and felt they should no shoulder any of the burden.  Being predominantly pacifist, they did not have a revolution like the US.  They simply boycotted British goods entirely.  They turned all their trade over to the US, fearing being a lap dog to any European power.  They knew the US would value trade above any political control, and the US was in no position put pressure on them anyway.

1813 - Howland Howlina expelled any and all British officials.  They declared their independence from England on 4 January 1814 and sided with the US in the War of 1812.  Both the US and England mostly ignored this.

1823 - They invited the US Navy to include them in the Monroe Doctrine and provide protection.  England, seeing little value and much cost let them go.

1826 - Treaty of New York signed 5 November officially granting Howland Howlina independence.  The US had been invited to broker the deal and the British ambassador in New York signed.

I've gone way past 15 minutes so I'll just say that they shadowed most of the technological advances by less than 5 years through the 19th and 20th centuries.   I'll also cover their involvements in world events briefly.

WWI - Maintained neutrality throughout.

WWII - in 1939 they declared war against Germany for invading Poland.  They refused port to any German, Italian or Japanese ships, but otherwise played little part.  They sent no one overseas.  They provided port facilities to the Allies and acted as spotters for German Uboats and commerce raiders.  They were the recipients of refugees especially from Poland and Czechoslovakia early on in the war (the occupation of the Sudetenland).

Korean War - Voted for support of South Korea in the UN, but not in a position to provide any support.

Cold War - Maintained close ties with the US until Castro's rise.  They felt that the US was unfounded in their punishment of Cuba.  Although they have not fought the US and still maintain close ties to them, they freely trade with Cuba and are a strong supporter of Cuban interests.  They have also been strong supporters of Poland and the Solidarity movement.  When the Iron Curtain fell they provided many skilled workers and teachers to help Poland rebuild.

Falklands War - The British had not consulted with them nor given them warning of the attack.  They had ignored Howland Howlina and discounted any support they could give.  Although friendly with Britain, Howland Howlina was insulted by this and did not offer port facilities or combat air support.  They only provided sea rescue and emergency landing facilities. 

Papal Visit 1985 - Pope John Paul II visited Howland Howlina and there was brief hope of some kind of reconciliation between the religion of the people and the Roman Catholic Church.  In the end it only solidified the feeling that they never could be brought to see eye to eye.  After the visit there began an explicit effort to point out the faults of the RC church and to actively work against several of the positions of the church which had been quietly disdained before.  The people of Howland Howlina have become outspoken champions world wide for Women's Rights, married priests, women priests, responsible abortions, family planning, the acceptance of careful, protected pre-marital sex.  Some of the traditions of the Book had fallen into disuse and were now brought back into vogue.

Gulf War - Voted for it in the UN, but had no means of supporting the efforts.  There was very hot debate over how they could leverage the war for fuel supplies.  It caused a regime change in the government twice, first to a Pro-Oil contingent who proved completely ineffective in putting any pressure on anyone for fuel.  Disgraced, they fell to the Pro-Alternate Fuel faction, who changed their name from the Green Energy Party to the Earth Party.  The debate and fight solidified that party from the many factions that had previously vied with each other.  They now stand for environmental issues, alternate fuels/energy sources, eco-technological compatibility, and human rights.

9/11 - Sent rescue workers to New York and Washington DC.  Tightened their own borders and expelled anyone with even the most remote ties to the terrorists, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.  In the years to follow they also either expelled or refused entry to basically all Muslims.  After about a year of near persecution, the effort has been changing slowly to one of making Howland Howlina simply not attractive to Muslims, and then to invisibility.  The current thinking is that they don't want any terrorists to even know they exist.  Though there were some close calls in 2002 and 3, the effort has largely been successful.  Currently there are no Muslims living in Howland Howlina.

Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom - With the One World Party (considered the party of international relations, diplomacy international banking, multinational industry, espionage and anti-isolationism) in power they voted for these measures in the UN but could provide little support.  They do participate in Doctors Without Borders and have a strong news media presence in both theaters.

Boxing Day Tsunami 2004 - Although not affected they provide a large amount of air-sea rescue and monetary support.

Election of Pope Benedict XVI 2005 - Many Howlanders Howlers made an international spectacle of themselves during the proceedings.  They traveled to Rome and protested very obviously.  They not only alienated themselves to the world in general, they forced the new Pope to officially denounce their religion and lock out any ecumenical talk for the entirety of at least one more papal reign.

Howlina - Day 6 - The Races

This is easy.  Although I don't agree with the concept of "race" (there is no scientific basis for this level of distinction) it will be easy to do this day's exercise because Howland Howlina was uninhabited when it was settled by Europeans.

The Europeans that settled the island are from one ethnic group that I am inventing, and some smatterings of other ethnic groups, but I'm not creating them so I don't have to work on them here.

"Spend 10 minutes figuring out what people who evolved in each major area of your world would look like. Then spend another 5 minutes asking "what if this group encountered that group?" Would they fight? Trade? Both? Inter-marry and blend their genetic types? Would they remain largely separate, with pure strains of both racial groups co-existing (not necessarily peacefully)? How would that encounter be brought about in the first place?"

What do the Howlanders Howlers look like?

Men:  Tend to be medium height with wide shoulders and thick chests.  Their torsos are on the shorter side and they have very long, thin arms and legs, down to their fingers and toes.  They have heavy beards the same color as their head.  Men are hairy all over, arms, legs, hands, and back.

Women: Tend to be curvy with the golden proportions very common.  When women are heavier they tend to get bustier first.  They too have long, thin limbs and extremities.  Their hair is surprisingly thin compared to the men.  There is really no sign of body hair anywhere but their heads and there it is very light and thin.  Women are actually more likely to go bald then men.

Hair:  straw blond and very curly, almost afro
Eyes: gray green or hazel
Hands: thin with very long thin fingers
Feet: on the small side, but toes too are long and thin
Skin: bronze.  They always look well tanned, even when they haven't been in the sun
Nose: fairly wide and square
Lips: on the the thin side but dark red so that they stand out against their skin
Ears: small and very round

I've answered the second half.  When the Poles were forced to deal with them, they kicked them out.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Ain't this the truth?

Today is my birthday.  I kind of liked 45 because it was Doug Fencik's number and it's a multiple of 5, I kind of like the number.

But now 45 is SO yesterday.

Now I'm 46, who else is 46 (or at least born in 1966)?

Star Trek
The Atlanta Falcons, the Miami Dolphins
SR71 Blackbird
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Australian Dollar
Torn Curtain
Uniform Time Act (in US) (daylight savings time)
Fantastic Voyage
First course in the United States to carry the title "Historical Archaeology",
Busch Memorial Stadium
It's a Small World
Miranda v. Arizona
Dark Shadows
National Organization for Women
Freedom of Information Act
Revolver
The Doors
Toyota Corolla
first ever regeneration in Doctor Who:
 Barbados
The Jungle Book
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Kwanzaa
Surrealist Movement in the United States
BCPL
Jerusalem Bible
HIV to the Americas

Now for people:
January 13 – Patrick Dempsey,
February 6 – Rick Astley,
February 20 – Cindy Crawford,
February 22 - Rachel Dratch
February 24 – Billy Zane,
February 25 - Téa Leoni,
March 3 - Tone Lōc
March 5 – Michael Irvin,
March 10 - Edie Brickell
March 16 – Rodney Peete
April 8 - Robin Wright Penn,
May 16 - Janet Jackson, Thurman Thomas,
June 8 - Julianna Margulies,
June 27 – J. J. Abrams
June 28 - Mary Stuart Masterson, John Cusack,
June 30 - Mike Tyson,
July 8 - Mike Nawrocki,
July 31 – Dean Cain,
August 14 - Halle Berry,
September 1 – Tim Hardaway
September 2 – Salma Hayek,
Septmber 9 - Adam Sandler,
October 19 – Jon Favreau,
November 2 - David Schwimmer,
November 8 – Gordon Ramsay,
November 17 - Daisy Fuentes,
November 21 – Troy Aikman,
December 8 – Sinéad O'Connor,

Who do you think looks FABULOUS at 46?  Besides me of course.

Howlina - Day 5 - The Map

I very often get carried away with this exercise:

"draw out the physical contours of your map, and then identify at least three places that your people might live."


A couple of things I want to point out:
Black is high mountains with snow peaks of white.
Dark green is conifer forests on slightly lower mountain levels
Light green is deciduous forests in the foothills
The pale green is grasslands
The gray is the deadlands
The house symbol in the middle is the capital and oldest city.

The island is centered on 32W and 32S in the middle of the South Atlantic.  It is about 350 miles long and 200 miles wide giving it an area approximately equal to the US State of Illinois.

Here is my map (the squares are 10 miles on a side):

Howlina - Day 4 - Cataclysmic Events

Today I need to come up with some cataclysms.

"... jot down some of the Really Big Land Features you want in your story and just think "what if that were made by...." Write down a couple of causes for those features and scars..."

Big things:

1. Mountains
2. Snow Caps
3. Vast Forests
4. Desert
5. Fertile Plains
6. Rivers
7. High Lakes
8. Low Lakes

Causes:

1. Plate uplifting and/or volcano chain that grew very slowly so the peaks are not jagged, but spread out.  This ended a very long time ago.
2. The mountains are high enough (like Mona Loa) to have snow caps even if the land is in the tropics.
3. Forests are caused by seeds growing into trees, but I'm thinking of several levels/layers of forest, from rain forest to deciduous to coniferous.  I'm thinking this layering is because of a terraced set of mountains dividing the land into different altitudes and different rain patterns
4. A great fire swept an area of little rain a few thousand years ago and maybe an Earthquake changed the river that fed the previous grasslands
5.  The same Earthquake that devastated the desert also brought up an area that had been underwater, maybe freshwater, and it became a very fertile grassland  OR somehow all the topsoil slide off one area resulting in a wasteland and doubling the fertility of a neighboring area (or land filling that lake).
6. The rivers have great floods after the rainy season and the snow melt.  There are mountain rivers and navigable lowland rivers.  The rivers tend to cut the land so there aren't too many spectacular waterfalls.
7. The terraces tend to accumulate waters and there are high valleys that bottom in beautiful lakes, no claderas
8. The low, meandering rivers have several oxbow type lakes and there are some hydroelectric reservoirs.

Howlina Day 3 - Mood and Setting

"Close your eyes and think about what kind of feeling you like to have when you write or read. Write down four words that fit into that feeling: two adjectives, a verb, and a noun. Now return to the page with your list of climates and emotions."

I think I've already done this, but here goes:

Adjective 1:  Passionate (not in the amorous way)
Adjective 2:  Heroic
Verb:            Surprise
Noun:           Character

Thank you Calvin, so true.

Now, I had an idea in mind for a people and a land.  I had envisioned a people forced out of their land for religious/cultural reasons who find a place to live their lives their way.  They are meticulous and all the other moods I listed on Day 1.

What strikes me is that they probably came from an alpine climate and ended up in a tropical rain forest with mountain rivers and maybe a desert plain.

These all do match up.

EDIT:  BTW, I've decided to change the working title of the country to Howland because I think they came from part of Poland "originally."

It has been brought to my attention that Howland is a real place, so the name is going back to Howlina.

Howlina Day 2 - Physical Planet

As I said, I'm building only a country so the actual Physical Planet will be Earth, but I'll do the exercise anyway and see what I come up with.

"Your exercise for today is to jot down ten plot devices that relate to weather, and what you think they do to the story."

Okay, so I was wrong, I have to quote the website a bit.

Again, this is backwards.  I know what she is doing here.  She is trying to provide ammunition, she is trying to get you to think outside the box, but again I need to do it backwards.  She also provides some questions that presumably will come up later:

"What role do you anticipate weather playing in your story? Do you have a lot of travel that you want to complicate with bad storms? Are you going to snow in your mighty heroes? Will there be a mighty battle, determined by sudden flooding? You actually don't need to know right now."

That is actually more my speed, because again I already have my mood, I don't want to think about unconnected plot devices.  I think I already have some.

But then, when I need additional plot devices as the story goes along I will probably want to look them up and use them.  Who better to ask than myself?

1. Flood - rivers swell, stranding characters, making characters that need to be rescued, that have their metal tested, allowing heroics to be done against non-human enemies
2. Monsoon - constant pouring rains frustrate the cleanly-minded, make travel difficult
3. Lack of Monsoon - the monsoon's unexpected late arrival leaves characters hanging, waiting, anticipating
4. Draught - desert and blight stricken lands widen, another threat to characters that need to be rescued or have their strength of will put on trial, surprising you with their resilience
5. Storm at sea - what becomes flotsam and jetsam?  Who is lost?  What promises are offered for a calming of the sea?  Could find you an uncharted land.
6. Blood tide - a sudden death and destruction of the fishing
7. Avalanche / Rock slide - this could expose things, maybe that's what precipitated the great migration
8. Fog - things are hidden, crimes may be committed, blindness and confusion
9. Hurricane - destroys what we have made.  Preparations for hurricanes may show a need for ingenuity, resilience and engineering prowess, rewarding the prepared.
10. Eclipse - not strictly weather, but nature related.  Could allow bank robberies, show that a character is particularly clever.

Howlina - Day 1 - Climate & Variety

I'm going to do 30 Days of Worldbuilding for fun.  I'm only allowing myself 15 minutes a day for this because I don't have a lot of time.  I'm going to use the "world" I build for a mystery or spy story.

First off, I'm using 30 Days of Worldbuilding by Stephanie Cottrell Bryant.  I'm not going to copy any of her writing here, but I will put links to the day I'm working on.

I'm planning on building a country and I'm using Howlina as the working title of the country I want to build.  I was listening to a Howlin' Wolf song when I wrote this.

Climate & Variety

I've started this exercise several times and this day just doesn't do it for me.  It doesn't work.  It doesn't get my creative juices going for two reasons.  First, this is missing the way I start thinking about story telling and world building.  Since it is the start of this process and not MY start I feel out of sorts and not creative.  I start with a concept I want to explore, a mood, a feeling.  Very often this is evoked by something someone says or a song.  It is born of a gamut of inputs hitting me at once and defies digitization.  It is systemic, not piecemeal.

Second, this is not how I look at climate.  Climate doesn't evoke a single mood or emotion it opens a symphony and just like a symphony it can't be described in one word.  If I hear a song I feel a lot of different feelings, but if I want to feel a certain way I can listen to a particular song.

Climates are a pallet that I can use to paint them, just as Ms. Bryant suggests, but I don't need to stare at my pallet and try to cook up some moods, it works the other way around.

So, I HAVE moods I want to evoke.  I will start with them (this may derail some later days, but too bad, I'm doing this to amuse myself and this is the way I want to do it) and think up some climates I want to use.

1. Romance, lustful and passionate, desperate and hot, loving and long lasting
2. Rescue, welcome relief and rejoining of forces
3. Music, personal and intimate
4. Desperation in view of a solution
5. Cleanliness, orderliness, intricate and full but uncluttered, precision and accuracy

1. Tropical rain forest (like James Bond showering in The World is Not Enough) OR a ski lodge on a fur rug in front of a fire place
2. Temperate forest in Autumn (just outside the Fireswamp in Princess Bride), Eastern Europe (the kitchen in Winds of War when Jan Michael Vincent rescues his Jewish wife just before the Nazi's get her) OR along the trail in mountainous forests.
3. Alpine Lake, Sound of Music, a man in a boat with a woman and a ukulele, an Irish pub
4. Desert hills, scrub land OR a fast flowing river in rocky mountains (not THE Rockies necessarily)
5. Bavarian town, cookoo clocks, Bach

I'm trying to keep a variety, but it is getting more an more likely that I will want to use a sort of alpine setting.

Καλό μήνα! November!

Happy November everybody, mine and Mrs. Prop's birthmonth.

I am very far behind on this:

I had intended to report on the status of my goals each quarter, and here we are, one third into the fourth quarter and I have only reported once.  I will sum up what I've done in the second and thrid quarters and let you know where I think I will end the year.

Commissioner Arrowhead - Good - Well, I met all the requiremens, but I haven't gotten it signed off because I was asked last month to be the next District Commissioner.  I've started working in that capacity already so I guess I really should get that paperwork filled out and signed.

Greek - Good / Bad - I was supposed to schedule time for Greek every day for my Mental Goal. I'm not really sure how to score this one.  I finished the class as the lead in a play entirely done in Greek.  We got to read our lines, but still it took a tremendous amount of work.  After that I decided that I did not have the time to go to a class once a week so I did not sign up for this year's class.  That meant that I had to find that missing Rosetta Stone CD, which I did not do.  I think I must have loaned it or something.  I did figure out that my original set of Rosetta Stone CDs were split into level I and level II.  I started in on the Level II disk and I think I'm far enough along that it is not too hard for me.  I was doing that every day for a while, but this District Commissioner thing has gotten me very busy.  I will have to work on getting back on track with this.
Dates - Not good, not good at all - I was supposed to schedule times with Mrs. Prop for my Social Goal. The closest thing we had was driving my oldest daughter to school in Boston, but we ended up being rushed and it had no romance in it at all.
For Physical Goals I had Get A Mentor for my Find a New Job Goal and Find Out P90X Requirements for my Health Goal.

Job Goal - Poor - I have a mentor and we've worked on my resume. I've met a lot of people in informational interviews and learned a lot about the business.  I've even figured out my work goals.  I've applied for a couple of jobs too, but I've had no interviews.  I don't really seem to be much closer to moving jobs or moving toward my work goals.  There is a system here at work that will alert you of when positions open and I've set it to alert me.
Health Goal - mostly good - I've been riding to work, not as much as last year, but Mrs. Prop has been gone more this year.  I've also just started P90X because of a generous gift, but I've been going less than a week on that, so I have to keep it up.  I have another health screening next month.

What's next?

My Next - Next Steps:

Commissioner Arrowhead - Get the darn thing officially.
Greek - Get back on that CD daily
Dates - We will have a date night, even if I have to make it a surprise

Job Goal - Submit to the jobs I've been alerted to this week.

Health Goal - I'm going to mix riding and P90X until the snow and then it's all P90X.

When I get these done I will report them and I set my next steps.