World Building - for sci-fi and fantasy

[Leiah]

Yep! Card carry member, "Nerds Are Us"! I am glad you like the analogy. I learned a lot from that one lesson, and I never forgot it. And your "real world" example was also very pertinent.

It is funny, we are so set in what our surroundings are, and what they are called. I remember when I went to college and there were many people from other countries. Words like "boot" and "bakgat". Huh? Took me a bit to learn that boot was car trunk and bakgat was an Afrikanerism for my buddy from Africa's pickup truck. Plopping down in the middle of the African plains would be much different from plopping down in the middle of Wyoming flat lands. That has to be described, in order to be 'seen'.

[R.M.F.]

Leiah wrote: "I don't need every nut and bolt, R.M.F., but I absolutely want to know why things are happening the way they are. To do that, I love having a great background to lay the characters against. I am no..."

Fair point, but the point I was making is that there is this idea that sci-fi and fantasy = world building. Plenty of good fantasy out there that bucks this trend.

[M.L.]

I may be derailing from the line of thought a little. But since this conversation has been going on, I have been searching for a set of articles I saved many years ago while involved with RPG's. I couldn't at first remember the name of them but finally did find an old word file where I compiled all of them, that reminded me of the author and original publisher.

Anyhow the articles were originally titled Dungeoncraft by Ray Winninger and were published in dragon magazine. I realize these articles are geared to RPG creation, but I have found the ideas presented work well for creating interesting settings and worlds for which to graft your favorite fictional characters to.

Anyhow, a quick search of the interntet turned up a site where all the articles can be viewed. Warning! This is a huge compilation of information, so just dig through the titles and read the ones that interest you!

Here's the site: http://www.darkshire.net/jhkim/rpg/dn...

[Robert]

^That look an interesting site!

As for worldbuilding - I love it! I'm not so hot on maps, either as a reader or a writer. I like delving into the history of the land and the legends of people who have lived there. As a writer I try to keep it relevant to the story I'm telling, so a myth of that land might be something that mirrors what the main character is going through, as a reader I don't really mind when the author gets carried away.

[Vardan]

The character and the setting are both actors in the great quest to tell a story and both have to be balanced to a point of ensuring a smooth flow of the storytelling that will engage and push the story forward. I think that in the age we live, many of the concepts that were once deemed fantastical enough to explain in detail are a common knowledge to point where it is safe to presume that your reader knows about them as much as you do. So, in this sense, it is both easier and harder for the writers to tell the story that will both be new and also based on some of the core principles of the genre. In this sense, the plotting aspect is definitely moving up the importance scale as simply describing a fictional technology will most probably just emulate some of the works of the sci-fi greats and not talking about technology at all will leave a void in your work.

[A.C.]

M.L. wrote: "I may be derailing from the line of thought a little. But since this conversation has been going on, I have been searching for a set of articles I saved many years ago while involved with RPG's. ..."

I'm a huge rpg fan so I'll have to check that out. Thanks.

[A.C.]

Vardan wrote: " not talking about technology at all will leave a void in your work..."

Interesting point this one. I've always taken the definition of sci-fi to mean something that is possible even if not necessarily plausible.

My story doesn't have technology at all - except for almost medieval stuff - because the creatures who inhabit my world are incapable of creating it. However the astronomy of a planet orbiting one of two binary stars is possible, as is the biology of the creatures on it. That, imho, makes the story science fiction.

The telepathic/paranormal abilities of the intelligent species, however, pushes the story towards the fantasy end of the spectrum. But even there, I've tried to keep everything within the realms of the [very distantly] possible.:)

[Stan]

I did a map for The Colors of Passion and Love as a way of keep the storyline straight. I am not an artist, so it was crude, but it helped me catch some initial mistakes. If you are creating a world it is a good idea to make a map, even if it never appears in the book.

[A.C.]

Stan wrote: "I did a map for The Colors of Passion and Love as a way of keep the storyline straight. I am not an artist, so it was crude, but it helped me cat..."

So right! I've drawn maps for the world and even for the cave systems in which my creatures live. Sometimes the mere process of trying to figure out where things go on a map highlights obvious plot points. Couldn't live without maps. :)