IMG_20160729_170401 Escape From Clichea worldbuilding workshop

Arianne "Tex" Thompson gave a 1.5 hour workshop that alone was worth the ArmadilloCon admission price. Subtitled "Escape From Clichea", it was ostensibly on worldbuilding, but turned out to be about much more than that. It was chockfull of useful writing exercises that would let you better organize your thoughts and carve out your identity as a writer, surmount the hurdles everyone experiences writing a novel, and avoid the pitfalls that can sink a novel.


It suggested ways of developing your identity as a writer -- what makes you stand out from others -- by writing down lists of three items, and defining their intersection. Worldbuilding exercises: how to make a reader want to know more about your world. How to create a world that your readers want to return to again and again. How to avoid infodumping and cliches (a big theme in the workshop, hence the title) -- or how to use them to your advantage.

Here is my entire blog post about Arianne "Tex" Thompson's worldbuilding workshop.