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Welcome to the the official site for Christopher Armstrong.

Here you can find all of his up and coming works, along with insight from him, and his friends in the writing world.

The Walled Cities

Chapter One is out now on Wattpad.

Excerpt

Pffffff!

Exhaling heavily, I took a painful step up the mountain path. Hearing the cry of a raptor I looked to the sky, briefly glimpsing a hawk making its way along the ridge line in the distance. It like me was making its lonely way to some other place. Unlike me though, it had the wind to aid it in its journey. Wind either blew into me slowing my progress, or from behind forcing me to step carefully. Even though I knew there was a profit to be made from this trip, it did not make it any easier.

Despite the fact that trading with the Walled City of Notredram has always been my most profitable trade than any other trading I did during the year, my legs did not enjoy making the trip. At least I had decided to come now and not later in the season, as winter was only a few months away. Being caught in a storm in the mountains was the last thing I wanted, and without snowshoes or my winter gear sore legs would be the least of my problems.

For more go to https://www.wattpad.com/426051128-the-walled-cities-chapter-1

WORLDBUILDING 3.3a

Okay so I want to digress for a moment to talk more in depth about building ones character species. Like anything there are a lot of options, but this is the most important since this is the character who your story is based around.

Now there are a lot of things you can have different about your character, but for now i am going to work on one of the easier ones.

Skin is one that can tell a reader a lot about your character and their environment. Here are some examples…

Feathers – character is possibly a bird or hybrid that uses them to fly or glide in the sky

Hair – character is what we call on earth a mammal,

Fur – character has much thicker hair and its fur coat protects keeps it dry and warm

Scales – character is part snake or fish, used to stand out in its environment or as thick armor

Leathery skin – character lives in a tough environment where the weak fragile skin of earth humans is not enough

 

These are the basics different types of skin that one can have. Each type portrays different pros and cons. If you would like to learn more please ask in the comments section.

WORLDBUILDING 3.3

So sorry for the delay. I have been, meaning to get another post up here, I have just been distracted recently. This one is going to be kinda short I think since its one where all I can do is really give an example so that you guys have an idea what I did.

 

One of the major things that you as an author are going to have to decide on is what your main characters race is going to be. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using humans, but this is directed for those people who want to make everything brand new, or at least close to it.

Recently in a co-op that I am doing, the other author and I decided that what we had originally done as humans were more catlike, with actual tails sticking out where a humans tail bone would end. Or we took the original idea of a centaur and made it into a bear man, who looks like a neanderthal.

Really when it comes to building the main characters race and/or species, the sky is the limit. All you have to consider is what you have done so far, and make sure what they are makes sense with what you have built.

1. • Fairly similar to modern human
   • Average height = one tran and eight tra (4’4″)
   • Have two eyes, one nose, two ears
   • Ears thinner and taper to a point, a little farther towards the back of the head
   • Nose is close to cheek surface
   • Teeth slightly pointy and smaller
   • Do not grow facial hair at all, regular hair is red unless dyed
   • Have only four finger per hand, missing a thumb
   • Six toes on each foot
   • Legs and arms have some hair, but it is soft
   • Skin is smooth unless turned rough by hard labor
   • Eyes are black
   • Blood is copper
   • Skin is a solid color, discoloration due to inbreeding over the generations

Now I shared all this with you guys so that you get the idea for what I did. Yeah I did not go all out, but that does not mean that you have to limit yourself like I did. Along with that, you can use humans, as many amazing authors have done in the past and continue to do even now.

WORLDBUILDING 3.2

Im back. Sorry for the delay.

 

Animals in world-building is the topic for the week. Over the last few section we covered various plants, so now its time to do the other half of the kingdom. This is one just like plants where the possibilities are endless. Though the world is completely yours to make, there a few recommendations I can make.

• Think about what the main characters race is, then determine what they need to sustain themselves
• Think about if you want there to be predators in your ecosystems or not
• If you have water on your world, what may exist in it

 

I hope this was helpful. I am not giving examples since i will do individual posts over the next few weeks with examples of various creatures.

WORLDBUILDING 3.1

We interrupt this weeks briefing with an unscheduled change.

So two weeks ago I had said that we were going to dive right into animals of a world. We are still going to do that but due to the recent weather I thought why not side track to weather and climate for a week. Enjoy.

 

Weather and climate are two different things. For those of you who did not know the difference, here is the webster definitions.

 

Weather: The temperature and other outside conditions at a particular time and place

Climate: The usual weather conditions in a particular place or region

 

While one might not think about it, both of these concepts are relevant to both the world and the plot line. Snow that is falling and blanketing the ground will have different effects on the characters and the world instead of a heavy rainfall or a sunny day. Weather patterns are not always mentioned in storylines, but if they are mentioned, you want to make sure that they line up with the climate and time of year that the story is taking place in. Otherwise your readers and you will eventually become confused as things do not add up.

I hope this was helpful.

WORLDBUILDING 3.0

Again I disappeared last week. I was out of town. But I am back and ready to roll out worldbuilding knowledge once more.

 

Trees are something that most people here on earth see every day. They come in all shapes and sizes. There are conifers and deciduous trees. Some produce fruit, some do not. Color is different as well. All this occurs just on this one planet that we call home.

 

As authors, and if you are designing a brand new world, trees are something that are considered. They provide lumber, forests, and wilderness to be explored or feared. Some of you may have the full storyline of your story centered around such a forest, others may have it be something that is mentioned in a passing conversation.

Not matter the reason, forests should be thought about and planned out. Do you want the forest to be young or old? Is it damp or humid? Cold and snowy, or hot and rainy? There a lot of options, but for connivence sake I am going to stop. There will be a subsection of ecosystems which will go into much much more detail.

For now let me give an example of what I mean. In the Ozakkie Wilds, there are numerous species of tree that call it home. One such tree is the Kant. It is a broadleaf deciduous that thrives in shaded moist areas. Kants are known to be tall and their leaves of five are the size of one’s palm and lobed. Xyergies’s like to roost in its boughs. Malstag is another tree residing in the Ozakkie Wilds. It is thin and tall, providing excellent sources of lumber for use in a variety of crafts and tools. Its bark is an orange hue, and can be ground up for the flammable oils inside of it. The leaves of the Malstag are thin leaflets clumped together, high in the canopy. Chanter is a small shrub like tree that grows interspersed with Cunucks Foe along the forest floor. It have small oval like leaves that are a slight green-yellow in color. Being more of a shrub, it produces many thin branches which archers use as arrow shafts.

 

Poetry

Ok So I don’t do a whole lot of this, and I was just going to use this blog to promote my writing, but my girlfriend really liked this poem I wrote for her. She asked me to share it as much as possible so here it is.

Ever they walk down a changing road

Sometimes together, sometime alone

Always thinking of one another

Always willing to be together

Never straying far apart

Ever following their beating heart

WORLDBUILDING 2.9

First off I want to apologize for my absence these last two or so weeks. But this series shall continue. We left off with nettles like plants or plants of a medium size. Next week we will move onto two a quick entry on trees. This week though I want to change to plant ecology.

 

When you build a world, one should consider how plants and animals evolve or change. Everyone knows that nothing stays the same throughout its life. That being said plants do not change as much as other things, but that is only the reality of Earth. Author can break any and every rule that defines Earth when making their world, since it is just that, their world.

 

Having a plant change as it ages is something unique. It can be as simple as just its height as it grows older, like most plants on Earth, or it can be as complicated as something that in its youth is a cure for a specific disease, but in its age it causes death, paralysis, or really anything you want it too. Plants an also change names if the inhabitants differentiate between them. They can also change color or appearance.

 

This might be a little confusing so I am going to give a few examples from the world I have been building during this sequence. “Fireweed is a plant that produces a sticky substance used in firearms. But beware, after its tenth year it becomes unstable and is prone to combustion in the swamps that it calls home. Plants of this age can be easily identified, for they turn a sickly grey color and produce a sulfur smell that gives swamps a bad name.”

 

Hope this had been helpful. I know that this series has been fun for me, and I keep thinking of subsections to work on.

WORLDBUILDING 2.8

So I took a one week stay of doing this. I’m sorry I was trying to finish up my studies for finals. Two weeks ago I talked about mosses and pioneer species. Hopefully some of you guys found my more technical aspects useful.

 

There are so many different types of plants out there. I do not know if I am personally going to cover every family of plants possible, but I will try for the man ones. If you guys want anything specific please ask me.

 

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of is stinging nettle. Obviously that specific nettle will not be used, or maybe not nettles at all. But for this advice we are going to look at plants toughly the same as it.

 

Stinging Nettle – 2ft – 5ft tall plant. Single stalk plants. Arrowhead like leaves that have small barbs on the underside of the leaves.

 

Nettles can be a pioneer species, I do not actually know, but they are an early successional species. Plants like that may or may not exist in the world you are building. But they could be used for a variety of things, edibles, poisonous plants, etc. Essentially the take away message is that plants similar to nettles are the next step.

 

“Veynxer is a nettle like plant. It exists wherever there is adequate water and partial sunshine. Very commonly found in the Ozakkie wilds. Leaves are club-like, and in sets of three.”

 

I know this was a little different than in the past, but I hope its up to snuff. There are a few more weeks worth of plants to do, and there will be a couple of subsections reading edibles, water, and poisonous.

WORLDBUILDING 2.7

Geography and Topography were briefly covered last week. Later I will give more in depth on them along with many other subjects, but for now we must press onward.

Since we have now designed what the world will look like, or atlas what the physical ground will look like, its time to add life to it. Flora and fauna need t be added, but I want to break this up into sections so that each part can get the detail it deserves.

First and foremost from an ecological standpoint, (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Biology is what I am studying in college right now, so I apologize if I get technical on you guys) pioneer species are needed.

Pioneer species – A plant or animal capable of establishing itself in a bare, barren, or open area and initiating an ecological cycle.

These are most commonly mosses, which is going to be this weeks advice.

Moss – Mosses are small flowerless plants that typically grow in dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple, one-cell thick leaves, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients. They are typically 0.2 – 10 cm (0.1–3.9 in) tall.

Ok I apologize now if that was really technical, but I feel like description help one decide how they want there versions of something to compare to the earth’s version.

Yes some of you might be confused, which is why I give examples.

“Far to the north, in the cold bitter mountains, there is a small moss that grows near caves. It is a deep cherry red in color, and at night is said to sparkle like the crystals it protects.”

“The Ozakkie wilds are home to many a strange thing. One can get lost easily. Yet water can be found it one is only to look for the yellow eyes of Shakena. They are a deep yellow color that grow on either side of a body of water.”

I hope this was helpful. Next week I will be moving on to plants. That should take three or so weeks. After that i will be animals, and then finally the inhabitants of your world.