A Little Fun With Geography

Back in my school days, I would spend hours looking at maps in encyclopedias and atlases.  I loved geography so much, I knew the location of every country, their shapes, and their capital cities.  That was back in the 1980s.  Geography is still a love of mine, and I was very happy to discover a YouTube channel called Geography Now.  The host is going through every country in the world alphabetically, and is currently on Australia.  See the video below:

I love this channel! It’s a lot of fun and very educational.

As you know, I created the world Ariadne for my science fiction series, and I’ve drawn out the maps and created many countries.  Of course, you can discover my world in the Worldbuilding series I’m writing.  In the posts about physical geography and climate, I got to be scientific about Ariadne.  But I’ll be having a lot of fun with my next worldbuilding post about the political geography.  I’ve developed each country already to a minimal degree, but I really want to have fun with this and create individual pages that describe each country.  This includes physical geography, climate, cities, and so on.  I’m looking forward to that.

So, keep an eye out on here for my next worldbuilding post coming soon!

From Reality to Fantasy to Story

Have you ever been in a situation that would require you to behave in a civilised manner or to refrain from doing anything, yet you want to do something completely different?  For example, you see drunk man irritating passengers on a train, yet due to societal standards, you’re supposed to ignore the person.  But in your mind, you’re thinking of many things to say or do to get the person to be quiet or get off the train.

I have many train stories that ended with me doing nothing, since if I did anything, people would look down on me for not minding my business. Such is life in Japan.  Things I have seen include the following:

• A man stole a seat from a pregnant woman by sneaking behind her and sitting down just as she was about to sit down.
• A drunk man was talking with several passengers, then went to a junior high school boy who looked so terrified, he was looking around at people to help him.
• A man nearly walked into my wife and I in the train station, and then he followed us.  We waited for the train, but he came behind me and kneed me in the leg, then shouted at me, saying I should get out of Japan.
• An older man who had been hiking, was sitting between two seats, while his backpack was on a third.  He had his hiking boots off and was massaging his feet. The train was packed.  My wife was pregnant.  I commented to her that some people are so rude, and another man looked at me, hopeful that I’d do something.  I guess he wanted some entertainment.
• Multiple times people pretended to sleep in the priority seats the moment they see an elderly person or a pregnant woman.

I can go on.  But have you ever taken moments like this, imagined how you could change it, then wrote a brief story about it?  Let me know in the comments below.

The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour – Jonas Lee

We’re onto the third author in the blog tour now.  You can see the original posts by the hosts here and here.

Jonas Lee

Hello, my name is Jonas Lee, I’ve been writing since I was in elementary school, but published my writing just since summer of 2014. I am a dreaded Indie, circling the waters in hopes of getting caught by a traditional publisher one day. I have one title currently available, A Time to Reap, with its sequel, A Time to Live, releasing this month. Something quirky about myself, hmm, well I have a tendency to count to three between mile markers on car trips (no clue why). Beyond that, I have a love for M&M’s (peanut) and tattoo art. I have a hefty amount of tattoos myself and hoping to get more as time rolls on. I’d really like to incorporate my writing into a few designs.

What is the first piece you remember writing (from childhood or young adulthood)?

My first childhood piece was something extra awesome (at least as I remember it). I wasn’t much for original thought and started elaborating or recalling movies I watched. The first was Die Hard. So, my first story was all about this action hero taking out bad guys one at a time. My best friend was the main villain. He tells me he found a copy of the story and holding onto it for when I become famous.

What is your favorite aspect of being a writer? Your least favorite?

My favorite part of writing is just being able to play God with ink and paper. I can create whatever I want in whatever means I choose. Putting together dialog and analogies, description with metaphor, it makes a little fire of excitement burn in my belly.

Least favorite part of writing would have to be the editing. Seeing all of the mistakes and confusion left on paper when it was so clean in my head gets to be quite an annoyance. But I think the editing becomes fun again once I’ve turned out something far better than I expected. Although on the tenth or fifteenth time of reading through my story, I want to kill it.

Do you believe in writer’s block? If so, what is your best tip for beating it? If not, why not?

Oh, writer’s block is a thing, I’ve experienced it. Not more than a couple of times, but it’s a crippling feeling. All my thoughts are locked behind a door, pounding on it to be free and I can’t seem to find the keys let alone the door knob. My best method of curing it is to actually read. Reading always triggers my own thoughts and eventually that locked door opens on its own.

What is your current writing project? What is the most challenging aspect of your current writing project?

Currently, I am taking on another series that should begin in the next month. I have one more book in my trilogy, but Carter needs to learn patience and get a strong fan base before the release of the last one. The current project is going to be a supernatural fantasy taking place in a futuristic society. Citizens are classified through tattoos and magic is ever present, mixed into the science of the day.

It’s fun just constructing all of the parameters and rules of the society. With it though, I have to do lots of research, getting ideas of how certain materials can be forged. As much as I’d love to rely on the haunches of sci-fi and just make it a sweeping belief, I’d like there to be some basis for the majority of why the people act and do the things they do and the environment is the support structure for that.

What supports you in your writing?

Beyond family, friends and fans, my biggest support comes from a deep-seeded belief that this is my true calling in this world. I have a day job, yes, but when it comes to stripping away an education and a need for income, writing just feels like the moon orbiting my earthly soul. That feeling supports me in continuing to write and never stop.

What are you currently reading?

I’m trying to read more, so I have a rotation of books going around

• Revenge by Nina Soden
• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
• A Former Hero by Jeffrey Allen Mays
• The Gunslinger by Stephen King (audiobook)

Where can our readers find you and your books online?

http://jonasleeblog.com/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M8AZBKE

The Moon, Jupiter, and Halo

I was treated to a nice astronomical spectacle tonight. Take a look.

That’s the moon with Jupiter just above it. Visible is a halo, as I was seeing this through very thin clouds. You can also see jet contrails. Quite the view.