Found Another Map Maker

Found another map maker…

The last one was very good for continents and wider world building, but for the little bits and pieces like settlements, not so much.

Inkarnate have a free tier map making service, so I decided to give that one a go. This is what I came up with:

You would not believe the number of note pins I’ve got for this… Or perhaps you would?

It’s difficult to keep track of everyone you understand, but now I know precisely where everyone lives!

Oh my gosh. I just found this website that walks you though creating a believable society. It breaks each facet down into individual questions and makes it so simple! It seems really helpful for worldbuilding!

Hey guys, you know about the Same Energy website right? has someone made a post about that? Cuz otherwise im gonna sing its praises to high heaven for its artistic references

Looking for a random cause of death for a character? Click here.

Looking for a random city? Click here.

Looking for a random city that people have actually heard of? Click here.

Need a random surname for a character? Click here. (They also give prevalence by race, which is very helpful.)

Helpful writing tips for my friends.

spells that should be available at the discount spell shop:

water walking: the nearest bucket grows legs

summon skeleton: it’s inanimate. just some bones

shock: the spellbook is just full of dirty jokes

detect life: detects bacteria

shadow shape: your shadow takes on an interesting new shape

divine intervention: the nearest bush catches fire

mark: summons a guy called mark

Is it a copyright issue if a character jokes, "Call the Avengers!" in a manuscript?

No, it is not a copyright issue.

You CAN reference characters from other properties, names of bands and brands, titles of songs and books and movies, etc, in your book. Titles and names can't be copyrighted; they can be trademarked, but that's not the same thing.

So, if you want to mention the Avengers, fine. If you want to copy the Avengers - not fine.

What you CAN'T do (without permission) is copy lyrics, copy text, copy art, all of which are copyright violations. So if, say, you want to include lines of actual Beatles lyrics in your book - you need to obtain permission from whoever holds the copyright for that song. BUT, if you want to talk ABOUT the song -- "Noah is literally obsessed with The Beatles and I hear his annoying humming rendition of Yellow Submarine all during breakfast" -- fine.

So, if you want to mention the Avengers, fine. If you want your characters to banter about the Avengers, or dress as the Avengers -- fine. If you want to copy the Avengers - not fine.

(And, non-book-related, you can't start a breakfast restaurant and call it Waffle House, or make dolls with red and blue bodysuits and gold lassos and call them Wonder Woman dolls. Things that use another company's name or logo etc and might "cause confusion in the marketplace" would be trademark violations.)

Also, for the next question -- you CAN mention celebrities, real stores, restaurants, etc. But a) that might date your work, because what if that thing doesn't exist anymore later, and b) if you are insulting the celeb or having *weird things happen* in the shop or whatever, maybe better to make up something that is LIKE that shop but has a different name. Basically, you can't disparage actual people or brands in such a way that they could sue for libel or make the case that you've damaged their career, diminished public trust in their brand or something like that.