Fiction Writing - World Building - QU Writer's Club
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Fiction Writing – World Building
02
Writing as a Craft
• Blueprint for a Best Seller
• Commitment
• Writer’s Mental State
• Development & Research
Tip: Always understand the genre that you choose
to write in
03
Why is it important?
• The truth in the lie
• Total Escape
• 3D / IMAX Experience
04
World Building
creating a sense of place
Set Up Confrontation
05
World Building
creating a sense of place
Totally New Worlds:
Building a whole new world.
Set Up Confrontation Solution
06
World Building
creating a sense of place
Different Realities:
Reimagining life and creating alternate realities and parallel universe.
07
World Building
creating a sense of place
Real Worlds:
Both the time and geographic location within a narrative or within a work of fiction.
Set Up Confrontation Solution
Tip: Check concept arts, anime cities and
video games locations
08
We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste
strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is
something old and true in fantasy that speaks to
something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that
one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast
beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever
somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La. They can
keep their heaven. When I die, I’d sooner go to middle
Earth.
George R. R. Martin
09
The devil is in the details!
Time Location & Government Magic System
Environment
Tip: Speak with your senses
10
Cultures
Customs & Traditions
Class System & Society Structure
Architecture
Food & Food Source
Entertainment
Weather
Religion
Weapons
Economy & Currency
Daily Life
Cloths
Languages & Accents.
Sigils & Symbols
History
Tip: Make your world Dynamic!11
Maps
Understanding the World
Tip: Helps you & reading to follow up on stories12
When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story.
When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the
things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being
just for you, but then it goes out.
Stephen King13
Writing Exercise
Build your World
2 minutes
10 minutes14
Magic Systems
• Rules of Magic
• Sanderson’s Type of Magic:
• Soft Magic
An author’s ability to solve conflict with
• Hard Magic magic is directly proportional to how well
the reader understands said magic.
• Hybrid System Sanderson’s First Law15
Soft Magic
• Vague & undefined
• Never fully explained
• No hard rules
• Identify with the main character
• Main conflict is not solved with
magic
• Main conflict is solved by
valuable lessons the main
character learns throughout the
course of the story
• Never know what can and can’t
happen
Be AWARE: it can too easily be used
to cover up plot holes.
Tip: Use the magic for visuals and for ambiance, but not for plot.16
I would argue that Tolkien himself is on this side of the
continuum. In his books, you rarely understand the
capabilities of Wizards and their ilk. You, instead, spend
your time identifying with the hobbits, who feel that
they’ve been thrown into something much larger, and
more dangerous, than themselves. By holding back laws
and rules of magic, Tolkien makes us feel that this world
is vast, and that there are unimaginable powers surging
and moving beyond our sight.
Brandon Sanderson17
Hard Magic
• Specific Rules of Use
• Effecting the World
• Clear Costs & Limitations
• Reader understands the Magic
System
• Characters can solve conflict with
Magic
• Does not have to follow hard laws
of science
• Clear magic users
• Magic rules are consistant
Be AWARE: avoid the cliché of magic
mysteriously making everything better.
Tip: the reader need to understand of what the magic can DO.18
Hybrid Magic System
It falls in between the above extremes.
Soft Hybrid Hard
Each of these books outlines various rules, laws, and ideas for the magic of the world. And, in that
given book, those laws are rarely violated, and often they are important to the workings of the book’s
climax. However, if you look at the setting as a whole, you don’t really ever understand the
capabilities of magic. She adds new rules as she adds books, expanding the system, sometimes
running into contradictions and conveniently forgetting abilities the characters had in previous novels.
These lapses aren’t important to the story, and each single book is generally cohesive. In specifics, her
magic is hard. In the big picture, her magic is soft.
Brandon Sanderson19
Magical Characters
Classic Characters – Myths & Legends
Witches & Wizards Elves
Set Up Confrontation
Dwarves Vampires & Werewolves20
Magical Characters
Create your own Characters
Set Up Confrontation
Grisha Antari Shadowhunters21
Magical Creatures
Classic Creatures – Myths & Legends
Dragons Sphinx
Set Up Confrontation
Mermaids & Sirens Cerberus22
Magical Characters
Create your own Characters
Set Up
Hippogriff
Confrontation Søk Ewoks
Think: Powers – Purpose – Abilities – Names – Appearance23
Magical Plants
What does Mother Nature look like in your novel?
Set Up Confrontation24
Magical Plants
Source: 80 Iconic Plants from Fantasy & Fiction
Set Up Confrontation25
Inspiration
You can find inspiration ANYWHERE!
Set Up26
Publishing and Editing!
• After Draft 1
• Types of Editing:
• Development Editing
• Copy Editing
• Writer’s Block
• PublishingThank You!
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