Enter the Worldbuilder - an introduction

in #introduceyourself7 years ago (edited)

Greetings!

My name is Zak Ludick. I enjoy writing fantasy and sci-fi which will be my main contribution to the Steemit community. I am known as a fastidious world builder with a tendency to go completely overboard. I believe however that many good authors that I have read and enjoyed have immersive worlds with plenty background being built over which the story is built.

About Me

But before I ramble on about world building and the content that I will be sharing let me introduce myself a bit more.

I am 31 years old, I live in sunny and unusually dry Cape Town, South Africa. I am a proud single father of 2, a 9 year old daughter and a 7 year old son. I also support my father who is staying with me to help me raise his grandkids while he trades online.

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My work - the Career

I work in HVACR industry (that’s Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning and Refrigeration). We do marine work on oilrigs and ships, upgrades to AC systems in the construction environment and monthly services of malls and office buildings. I myself started as an IT guy to learn Building Management Systems, but have since branched out to become the Company’s OHS Officer, Quality Control and being a learner to get my Trade Certification in Industrial Refrigeration. The work is hard but enjoyable, challenges the mind and I have learned a lot about engineering in my 4 years in the trade.

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Hobbies

My hobbies include creative writing (of course), playing tabletop games or board games, sometimes painting my tabletop miniatures and some light PC gaming. At this stage I have a huge workload in my career and my writing is my primary passion and creative outlet. I try to stay away from my addictions such as Series, Movies, RPG Gaming all of which I love but can be a major excuse to procrastinate when I could be writing.

I feel that in the past there was no urgent need for me to work on my writing because I was getting feedback slowly. On Steemit however, I can post my work without trying to determine a price for an eBook, anyone can read it and enjoy it. This is the most important thing, for someone to read my work, my stories, my world that I want to share.

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The story so far

I was told about Steemit and Discord on the 11th of January by @Sigrfolkr and applied for my Steemit account that evening. I then joined the Discord PAL>MSP community on the 11th and the users instantly engaged with me, welcomed me and got involved with me about my work. I made a new friend @negativer who coached me a little and of course we discussed my world that I write about.

On the 12th due to my enthusiasm (and a golden heart) I was helped out by @Sykochika to get my account going because the verification process was down at the time.

In Summary

Thank you so much guys for introducing me and helping me get everything sorted.
I will let the pictures introduce the World of Kedra, my main writing project. World of Kedra is the brand name of the collection of Epic Fantasy Series, pulp fiction series, stand-alone novels and short stories that all occur in the same World. If this sort of thing interest you, then a lot of content is coming your way!

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The World of Kedra, especially as it is known from the Kingdom of Railor where the story is mainly based.

Enjoy!

Zak Ludick

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Some more photos:

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Some really old drawings that I saved and I pin up on the inside of my cupboard. The front is for something else I am doing in the future - stay tuned!

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Some really really old pictures of maps I hand drew a long time ago.

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Congratulations on joining. Do you write in English only? Or also South African? Not curious at all...

Thank you very much for the welcome. I am Afrikaans speaking, like my friend @Sigrfolkr I grew up with that as my first language.
I don't write in Afrikaans though as in my High School I switched to English and I went into IT. Stewing in the Computer shop for a few years made me loose a bit of my edge for a bit however it was still useful to speak Afrikaans to some customers. I then went to live in a very Afrikaans town for two years and I think I have most of it all back now.

Living in Cape Town now however, so there are a lot of both English and Afrikaans speakers as well as the other 9 official languages and all sorts of foreigners.

Dankjewel!

Too bad, I just read my very first Afrikaans short story and LOVED it!!! :-) Hop into the Nederlands workshop on the writers' block from time to time. ;-) I speak dutch myself but Anike and I understand each other quite well.

This is going to sound like one of @Sigrfolkr 's drunken Viking stories but I met some Dutch guys one night in a pub. They spoke Dutch and I spoke Afrikaans and we understood each other the more we drank!
Basically the less you worry about the differences and the more you just talk the more info passes across. :D
I actually have Dutch on my list as a language to learn on Memrise (A language learning app, its very good) and my family has Dutch and German bloodlines. We own a 200+ year old Bijbel. :)

Dat is geweldig cool. Ik heb zelf Belgische en Duitse roots. ;-)

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I wish you lots of success with your IP. Let me know if you need any cover art or character design...

Now you are talking! Cos I can doodle a basic thing like above but I am no artist. I have a whole world of stuff to get out and art would help me present it better. It would of course refer back to you then as well... Steemit is wonderful that way!

Check out the afterword on this post: https://steemit.com/writing/@zakludick/raiders-of-the-middle-sea-part-2-a-world-of-kedra-story

For all of them excepting Dreadknight there is no art for it. Dreadknight's cover was done by @anikekirsten already.

So we should talk!

I really need to turn on the IM function, among other things...

Chat on Discord? I am in PAL-MSP, Writer's Block and Isle of Write.

WulfenZA#7488

this is perfect!

Thanks! Just learning the ins and outs of formatting still. Once again @negativer has been a great help!

Finally! Welkom op Steemit!

Hey! It's about time!

Dankie baie.

Welcome to steemit, fellow writer! Looking forward to reading some of your work, instead of just seeing screenshots of it :)

My coach! Thank you so much man! I will get right on it! Preparing, formatting, planning!

welcome ! :) good luck here on steemit! can't wait for your work

Thanks very much Ella! I hope to get it running this weekend latest.

Great introduction! Have fun. I have followed you and waiting for your 1st piece on steemit.

Here is my debiut from 2 weeks ago or so bioink:family

I read your story and it was very intriguing. Bioprinters and a very real handle on the concept of "starting over".

Thank you. I will be posting that soon! As well as an overview of available content that I can put up. Instead of being a new writer that needs to think of new things, or an old writer that is re-posting his stuff, I am a writer who has plenty content built over years and never published! lol

So hopefully I can put something up that will entertain you. There is a whole world out there, the World of Kedra!

Welcome to Steemit. I am sure you will enjoy the Steemit Platform.

Thank you very much! I think I am enjoying it already!

You are very welcome. I have just followed you on steemit so we can earn steem together. Have a great weekend👍

Welcome buddy!
A great and honest introduction, if you need any help starting out you can always ask me (Lion) on Discord :)

Thanks a lot Lion! I will definitely hit you up if I do!