The Alliance of Worldbuilders

            It is hard to believe I haven’t written a post about the Alliance of Worldbuilders yet. I’ve mentioned them once or twice, but it’s about time I actually told you who they are.

            It all started, amazingly enough, about four years ago. It was a year after I’d finished writing my first book and I was still extremely ignorant of the world of publishing. I had timidly stuck my toe out to test the waters with no results – usurping for me now, with all that I’ve learned. It was during this time that I discovered Authonomy.

            With all the trouble I was having writing query letters, this website seemed like the perfect opportunity for me. It allowed me to share my writing, get criticism and, if I got enough support from the other writers on the site, I would get a review from a Harper Collins editor and potentially a publishing offer. How could I pass that up?

            So, I signed up, uploaded my book and headed over to the forums to post a shameless plug. There, I was almost immediately recruited to the Alliance of Worldbuilders by Sam, the Vice Captain in charge of Cake.

            How to join? It was a simple matter of hopping over to the Alliance of Worldbuilders forum thread, eat the ceremonial virtual cake (that in no way had any mind-controlling drugs to bind us to the will of the Dark Lord TRM) and I was a member. I was even offered a title, which I chose to be Lord of the Wyrms (I felt, as a new member, Dragon Lord would be too pretentious – plus, I couldn’t pass up the play on Lord of the Flies).

            So, what is the Alliance? Well, it was started by Dark Lord TRM (along with his evil rabbit, Midnight) as a criticism group for fantasy writers and anyone else who built their own worlds for their writings. It grew into much more – a writing support group and a group of close friends from across the world, all dreaming of being published. There were probably over 100 people who joined, but there are about twenty of us who made up the core of the group.

            The group ended up talking about everything from writing through philosophy, real life issues and, of course, our plans for global domination. We soon became the thread with the most posts on the entire forum (the legendary battles between Vice Captain Sam and Ice Queen Lisa helped – come to think of it, neither of them returned the dragons I lent them...) Of course, the forum wasn’t built to handle that much traffic, so we were requested to start a new thread. Which we did, then brought it up to the top threads before starting a third.

            We all learned quickly enough that to get the editor review on Authonomy, we’d have to play the political game that had become rampant on the site. So, most of us didn’t bother. We gave each other reviews when we had time, chatted, supported each other and became a close-knit group.

            Thanks to this group, I was able to improve my writing substantially. More than that, though, I learned far more about the publishing world than I ever had before. Plus, I had fun.

            Then things changed a bit. Many of the group started getting published, some traditionally, some self-published, and there wasn’t quite as much chatting happening. Then Authonomy did an overhaul which we were disenchanted with, so we moved out headquarters over to Facebook. We’re still a close group, we just don’t chat or battle as much.

            So, why do I choose to tell you about this wonderful and talented group now? Why, because we’re about to release an anthology of short stories! On September 4^th, we will be releasing A World of Their Own in memory of our fallen comrade, Lindsey J Parsons, with all proceeds being donated to the World Literacy Foundation.

            This collection of short stories is extra exciting for me, as it will contain my first published works. It should also be exciting for you, because it’s an opportunity to discover new favourite authors from a very talented bunch.

            So, mark your calendars and join the Facebook release party. Invite your friends, too! While you’re waiting, you can even check out the group’s Facebook page, website, and scout out all the authors who will be in the anthology. Then you, too, can share in the wonderful imaginations of the Alliance of Worldbuilders.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.