Quite the Life (and all in Times New Roman 10pt!)
I’ve yet to encounter a created world that does not make use of climate and weather directly or indirectly. That includes this one. Consider the history of earth and the interdependencies between life and climate become obvious (I hope). Read anything by Brian Fagan and you’ll get a taste of those interdependencies beautifully written. Examples … Continue reading “World-Building – Weather”
There are three basic questions when considering language in world-building: Does language play any role in your world? Does everyone speak the same language, or is there a variety? Do you need to invent any slang or terminology as part of the world-building process? Here I paraphrase Aristotle’s Poetics, “Avoid neologisms unless introducing some new … Continue reading “World-Building – Language”
When asked, “How do characters move from mundane to fantastic settings?” the correct answer is: The take the 45st L, get off at the first stop, then go left at the bottom of the stairs. By grounding the unfamiliar in the familiar. In the Harry Potter Universe, children get to Hogwarts from Platform 9 3/4 … Continue reading “World-Building – Moving from Mundane to Fantastic Settings”
Every time you have an opportunity to show something most people aren’t familiar with, do so to add color to the story provided you can do it in a way the reader understands and can relate to. Ground the unfamiliar with the familiar You have to ground the unfamiliar with the familiar so that … Continue reading “World-Building – Revealing Settings Through Relatable Characters”
[Much of this series is excerpted from a post on Phoebe Darqueling’s blog] World-building is an interesting and amusing phrase to me. I don’t think it existed as such when I started writing professionally (1970s). Perhaps people understood it without naming it as such. Consider authoring concepts such as atmosphere, character, description, dialogue, narration, pace, … Continue reading “World-Building – Getting Readers Interested in Your World”