That's One Cold Ocean...

About a month ago, I was contacted to put on a World Building Workshop for Fiction Writers. Tonight was that workshop, and it went very well. I'm posting a few of the things I talked about here, and will probably do a 3-part series on my own blog, as well as guesting on Emily Bryan's blog, where I will go into more depth.

Here are a few of my thoughts on world-building:

There is nothing more frustrating as a fiction reader than being dropped into the ocean. A metaphorical ocean, anyway. The proverbial iceberg analogy (typically used for psychological mobility) runs something like 10/90, I think. Ten percent of what we know is on the surface, accessible. Ninety percent is below the surface. Like an iceberg. I hold that this analogy works for fiction as well. Writers create a story on the page that really only encompasses ten percent of the world; the other ninety percent is backstory, history, rules, etc. When I read a story, I take a step out onto the surface of the ice, and if the worldbuilding isn't done effectively, I fall into the freezing ocean. If there are flaws or holes or a lack of foundation in the worldbuilding, I fall into the ocean. And writers, you don't want your audience in the ocean.

Think of some of the really fantastic worldbuilding that has been done in the last 100 years. Books like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings come to mind, as do movies like Star Wars and Avatar. Harry Potter, the boy wizard, lives in a world where magic does not exist. Until it does. And then he finds out that there's a whole alternate reality where magic is the norm. J.K. Rowling literally created another world inside the world we inhabit. J.R.R. Tolkien, on the other hand, created a completely new world. One with languages and people groups with histories and futures, mythologies, cultures, and countries that are unique to themselves. George Lucas reinterpreted a combination of Japanese feudalism and medieval European crusade culture, set it in "the past" in an alternate reality, and created a whole new world around it.

What do these worlds all have in common? Consistency. They have an internal consistency that makes them works of worldbuilding art. If you were to ask me to reduce the practice of worldbuilding into one word, it would be consistency. No flaws, no holes, no falling into the ocean. How do you, the 21st century writer, create a world with that kind of symmetry?

Well, you'll have to come over to my blog for the Six Big Questions of Worldbuilding. "Who, What, When, Where, Why, How." This is part of the "Why", and tune in to both the MTRWA blog and my NKotWB blog for more!