I wonder… What made you fall in love with science fiction and fantasy?
As a child, I loved fairy tales and myths. When I got older, the worlds of Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and Anne McCaffrey swept me away, surprising and astounding me with new ideas. Their worlds opened my mind to endless possibilities.
Worlds full of… WONDER.
Wonder: rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience.
David Farland, mentor for dozens of internationally successful writers including Brandon Sanderson and Stephanie Meyer, lectured on the importance of writing wonder into our stories, and often. He pointed out that JK Rowling introduced something wondrous in her Harry Potter series every three to five pages. When I needed some comfort-viewing, I rewatched the first few movies and it was true. Something wondrous happened every few minutes, immersing me deeper and deeper into her world of impossibility.
This is what our readers crave—to be transported.
The challenge lies in how to share the wonder present inside our minds with our readers. Don’t hold out on them. My tendency is to reveal little bits at a time, teasing the reader and saving the big reveal until later in the story. But if I wait too long to set the hook, I risk losing them altogether. Remember, they have chosen your sci-fi or fantasy tome because they want, no they expect to be fascinated. Don’t be coy.
Another point David Farland makes is that once the audience has been exposed to something new and wondrous, the author will need to provide a new magical experience. The next time they see it, they will not be struck with wonder, but filled with nostalgia. you must keep tapping into what makes them wonder, but with new experiences.
If you write science fiction or fantasy, it’s not because it’s easy. You love your genre, and you are compelled to share the worlds inside you. But after months or years of worldbuilding it’s easy to forget that not everyone knows the suns create seven seasons, or the cannibalistic flora are the sentient beings of their planet, and we assume that our readers will grasp the diabolical intent of a mental contract.
Build a world filled with wonder.
Then invite your reader in.
Star Trek promised new worlds and new civilizations—to boldly go where no one had gone before. Avatar’s world is full of wondrous creatures that don’t seem to move the story forward—it’s all part of the setting, right? But then these amazing creations show up powerfully, asserting their place in the narrative. Star Wars began with A New Hope, and while they were spinning that tale, introduced new robots, new powers, and new races. As much as we love to laugh at the cantina scene, we all remember it.
Look at your work.
Have you shown the wonder that you know exists in it? Pull back the curtain a little more and let your reader in on the special. It’s not spoiling—it’s deepening their experience.
Here is a link to one of David Farland’s seminars on Writing Wonder.
Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.
Fantasy and science fiction stories can push the bounds of what is possible in amazing ways. We design intricate magic systems and imagine future technologies with limitless potential. Yet, with the economic and political systems in our worlds, we seem to settle for well-trodden ground. Our hero must save the kingdom or overthrow the evil empire. The heroine faces down the forces of the amoral mega-corporation.
What other systems could we design? Like many areas of world-building, we draw inspiration from our real-world experiences and history. We’re going to look at the government and economic systems. These can apply to an array of organizational structures like kingdoms, federations, confederation and more. We will only scratch the service of these models. We strongly recommend more in-depth research into whatever system you wish to use for the inspiration of your world.
Autocracy
The most well-known and popular form of government in speculative stories is an autocracy. This is the rule by one individual. The supreme leader’s word is law. All economic and military power is under their control. They rule with unquestioned authority. Sometimes, the people think the ruler is divine.
The organization structure takes and title scales with the population. A chief’s chiefdom refers to a small tribe. A monarchy is an autocracy over an entire Kingdom while an emperor will rule many kingdoms. The ruler of the historical Holy Roman Empire was called potentate.
Oligarchy
Moving away from the rule of one, we have a rule by the few. This is a council of a handful of members. Three was a popular historical number. They awarded council membership for family ties, religious affiliation, military prestige, personal achievements, or other attributes. The council sets the agenda, debates topics and decides was “best” for the people. Much of ancient Greece (Corinth, Sparta, Thebes, etc.) had an oligarchy. The notable exception was the Athenians.
Ironically, many other forms of government will drift toward oligarchy. Political power concentrates in a small group, even in forms of government where larger numbers of people can claim power, through political parties or coalitions.
Republic
Power moves from the one (autocracy) to the few (oligarchy) and finally to the many in the Republic. Selected individuals who represent the people governed a republic. They collectively agree to and then rule by the power of a set of laws. Medieval Iceland had a parliament called the Althing. In pre-Columbian Mexico, the Tlaxcala Nahua state had a representative assembly that even included representation from the commoner class. For the western mind, the most famous republic from history is Rome.
One form this took on historically was the Merchant Republic. The richest merchants claimed the ruling seats. They focused more on economic advancement. Military might serves to either protect existing trade routes or open new ones. Tariffs and customs replaced more “aggressive negotiations” in diplomatic matters. Historically, Renaissance Italy provides the best examples of the merchant republic with powerful city-states like Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Florence. The popular science fiction rule by a mega-corporation is a rift on a merchant republic.
Theocracy
Where the traders hold sway over a Merchant Republic, it is the people of faith who rule in a theocracy. The deity has ultimate authority, but uses a human representative (historically, almost always male). This person must have a direct connection and speak for the deity. Alternatively, you could design a world where the deity speaks directly and see what kind of plot that leads to. The Israelites had Moses. The Arabs had Muhammad. Joseph Smith ruled the State of Deseret. Vatican City is a theocracy under the rule of the Pope. The Islamic Republic of Iran is another theocracy under the rule of the Ayatollah.
Fascism
Now we move into more modern forms of government. With fascism, we see the nationalistic pride of the country with authoritative power. This form of government developed in the aftermath of the First World War and a world-wide Great Depression. The name fascism comes from the historical Fascist Party from Italy, but fascism rose to power in Imperial Japan, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, and Nazi Germany through a combination of cunning, violence, or even free elections.
Fascism is an autocratic, totalitarian form of government. They intertwine military leadership with the political leadership. Unlike older autocracies, fascism controls the population through propaganda or even repression of opposing views.
Democracy
The direct opposite end of the spectrum from autocracy is democracy. This form of government provides the greatest decentralization of power. “For the people, by the people” is the mantra, though who exactly makes up ‘the people’ has been an issue in many democracies over history. This is one of those dramatic points you can use in your setting as you decide who may vote.
In a true democracy, those with the right to vote would vote directly on each issue. This quickly became impractical. The closest example we have today are various state and local referendums. Most democracies quickly moved to a republic form of government, but there’s nothing stopping you from designing your world to have a pure democratic government and seeing what story opportunities that creates.
Communism
Communism had its roots as more of an economic system than government, but individuals seized upon in the early 20th century. The intention was a government ruled by those who performed the actual labor. The core philosophy was “give according to ability and receive according to need”. It is deeply against all forms of religion, believing faith was as a tool to keep the worker class suppressed. It was one of the first forms of government to aspire to go beyond the boundaries of a single nation, and be a true world-wide form of government.
Like democracy, communism in its purest form proved difficult to implement. The most notable historical example is the Soviet Union. But even it switched over to more of an oligarchy long before its eventual collapse in the late 20th century.
Its up to you!
Perhaps your story world will have a nation that achieves a pure form of either democracy or communism. What would it change in your story? What if antagonist political force was a fascist or theocratic government? Use these historical examples to launch your imagination beyond the kingdoms, empires, and mega-corporations we see repeatedly in the genre.
F. Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer with a passion for reading and writing speculative fiction. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. His latest short story, The Preponderance of the Evidence, is available through Havok Publishing.
He writes the monthly Science Fiction and fantasy column for AlmostAnAuthor.com. In addition, he is a staff writer for BlizzardWatch.com, a premier fan site for the games produced by Blizzard Entertainment.
He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers.
Time travel is a stable in science fiction. Countless books, comics, movies, and TV shows have used it as their main plot device. Even more have incorporated it into a key moment of the story. Over the years, eight major types of time travel logic emerged. Recently, YouTubers Eric Voss and Héctor Navarro examined all eight types, and looked at which one gets it most correct in term of the real world science behind science fiction.
Type 1 Anything goes
Definition: Characters travel back and forth within their historical timeline.
This approach frees you to have fun and not get lost in the minutiae of how time travel works. Usually, there’s a magical Maguffin that to quote the great Dr. Ememett Brown, “makes time travel possible”. Writers have used a car, a phone booth, and a hot tub, among other options. This approach leads to inconsistent limits on the logic of the time travel, but this doesn’t mean the story is poorly plotted, won’t be enjoyable or won’t be an enormous hit. This approach is more science fantasy than science fiction with no basis in real-world science.
Examples: Back to the Future, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Hot Tube Time Machine, Frequency, Austin Powers, Men In Black 3, Deadpool 2, The Simpsons, Galaxy Quest, Star Trek TOS, Doctor Who, 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
Type 2 Branch Reality
Definition: Changes to the past don’t rewrite history. They split the timeline into an alternate branch timeline. This action does not change or erase the original timeline.
As authors got more familiar with the science behind time travel in theoretical physics, this type, based upon the many worlds theory in quantum mechanics, emerged. When the character travels back into the past and changes events, they create a new reality. Their original reality is unchanged. Branches themselves can branch leading to a multiverse of possibilities.
Examples: The Disney Plus series, Loki, used this extensively. See also: Back to the Future Part II, Avenger’s Endgame, the DC Comics multiverse, the Marvel Comics multiverse, Rick and Morty, Star Trek (2009), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Type 3 Time Dilation
Definition: Characters traveling off-world experience time moving more slowly than elsewhere in the universe, allowing them to move forward in time (but not backward).
This type is the based upon our scientific understanding of how time slows down as you approach the speed of the light. This is a forward-only type of time travel. There’s no going backwards.
Examples: Planet of the Apes, Ender’s Game, Flight of the Navigator, Interstellar, Buck Rodgers.
Type 4 This Always Happened
Definition: All of time is fixed on a predestined loop in which the very act of time travel itself sets the events of the story into motion.
This one can confuse and delves closer to the realm of theology than science. It feels gimmicky, and has become something of a trope making it hard to pull this off in a satisfying way for your audience. This type also invites the audience to question if your protagonist ever had free will or agency in the story.
Examples: Terminator, Terminator 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Game of Thrones-Season 6, Twelve Monkeys, Interstellar, Kate and Leopold, The Butterfly Effect, Predestination, Ricky and Morty-Season 5, Looper.
Type 5 Seeing the Future
Definition: After seeing a vision of their fate, characters choose to change their destiny or embrace their lot.
We’re stretching to call this time travel, but it provides your story with built-in conflict and stakes. Will the hero choose to walk the path knowing how it will end, or will they choose a different path?
Examples: Oedipus Rex, A Christmas Carol, Minority Report, Arrival, Next (Nicolas Cage), Rick and Morty-Season Four. Star Trek:Discovery-Season 2, Avenger’s EndGame with Dr. Strange and the Mind Stone.
Type 6 Time Loop / Groundhog Day
Definition: Characters relive the same day over and over, resetting back to a respawn point once they die or become incapacitated.
This type gained popularity after the movie, Groundhog Day, became a tremendous hit. Most of the other examples take the Groundhog Day idea and put a slight twist on it. Like Type 4 “This Always Happened”, the popularity of this type can make it harder to pull off in a fresh and innovative way.
Examples: Obviously, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Edge of Tomorrow, Doctor Strange in the ending battle with Dormammu, Russian Dolls (Netflix), Palm Springs, Star Trek TNG.
Type 7 Unstuck Mind
Definition: Characters consciousness transport through time within his body to his life at different ages.
Nostalgia for the past and dreaming of the future are core parts of the human experience. This type runs more metaphorically than scientific.
Examples:Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Desmond in the series Lost.
Type 8 Unstuck Body
Definition: A character’s body or object becomes physically detached from the flow of time within the surrounding universe, becoming inverted or younger. Only certain objects or bodies are unstuck from time. Also called Inverted Entropy.
This one will blow your mind if you think about it for too long. Like Type 2 “Branch Reality”, this one comes from the realm of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. Scientists and mathematicians have all the formulas worked out to make this de-aging a reality, but currently lack the technology to control all the variables in the ways needed. It would like scientists working out than an object could break the speed of the sound in 1890. It would look inconceivable, given the technology of the day, but I wouldn’t put limits on human ingenuity.
Examples:Dr. Strange (the Hong Kong battle). Tenet, briefly in Endgame with Scott Lang and Bruce, Primer.
If you’re writing a time travel story, you’ll need to decide which one of these types you want to deploy. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. In many ways, its similar to designing your magic system, especially if you go with a Type 1 time travel story. The most important thing remains to have relatable characters and to tell a great story while being internally consistent with the rules and logic of your story world.
Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles).
After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer.
He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query.
Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.
Happy New Year, awesome authors! As writers of speculative fiction, military forces are a staple in many of our stories. Basing these on a real-world equivalent force can bring greater realism to our writing and help the reader suspend their disbelief of the more fantastical elements. Last month, we delved into unit and officer rank break downs, and looked at the commanding officers in a military force. This month, we’ll dive into the real boots on the ground: the enlisted men who carry out the General’s plans and strategies.
Enlisted Ranks
The highest-ranking enlisted soldier in any military force is the Sergeant-Major. You’ll find these soldiers in the leadership of every Battalion, Brigade, Regiment and Division. These are the people charged with planning the actual operations of the enlisted men in their unit. The role of the Commanding Officer is to decide what needs to be done and communicate that vision to his men. It’s the Sergeant-Major who has to make it happen despite whatever obstacles might stand in the way.
Below the Sergeant-Major are the senior field soldiers. The name assigned to the rank represents its unique specialty. For a cavalry or infantry force, the name of the rank is a Master Sergeant. For your heavy artillery units, the name of the position is the Gunnery Sergeant. If you have a medieval or fantasy setting where archers are a major part of the military force, the senior field officer goes by Bowyer Sergeant. These three ranks are equal in the chain of command hierarchy.
Each of these positions also has a colloquial name. The colloquial term for a Master Sergeant is “Top”. Gunnery Sergeants are “Gunney” and your Bowyer Sergeant is “Strings”. Last month, we discussed the ‘Light Colonel’ alternative name for Lieutenant Colonel. This is only used as a conversational way to refer to the Colonel, but they are never addressed this way. The same applies to the alternative names for Sergeants.
The next rank down is your Senior Sergeant, also referred to as a Staff Sergeant. This is the first rank an enlisted man can achieve where management and coordination are the primary concerns. These men rose through the ranks as Sergeants where they excelled at showing the men how to get things done and kicking them in the rear when needed. The Senior Sergeant must now delegate those tasks. The opportunity here is for the classic trope where an employee or solider is great at their job so we promote them to management. But management is a dissimilar skill set from whatever their job previously was. Being good at the former doesn’t always translate to being good at the latter.
Under the Staff Sergeants are the Sergeants. This is the rank where soldiers prove themselves through years of service accomplishing their assigned missions. Sergeants have the primary responsibility for the training of the soldiers under his command. He acts as a surrogate father figure. Though typically around 24 years old, to the fresh 18- to 19-year-old Privates, the Sergeant is as old as dirt. His word is taken as absolute truth. If the Privates paid him no heed, the wrath of the gods falls on their miserable heads. In peacetime, a Sergeant can expect to remain at this rank for eight to twelve years before receiving a promotion. In wartime, that timeframe is reduced, sometimes drastically.
Below the Sergeants are the Corporals who are essentially Sergeants in training. This is the first enlisted rank with the responsibility to lead other soldiers, the Privates and Lance Corporals. Sergeants and Lieutenants evaluate the Corporal before handing them a squad of 13 other soldiers to keep alive.
Lance Corporals are your most experienced enlisted soldiers who have not yet been given command over other soldiers.
The Private First Class rank shows the soldier is no longer a fresh faced recruit and might actually be useful for something.
Privates are the lowest rank in the military force. The recruit earns this rank after completing their Boot Camp, or whatever name you give the initial combat training in your story world. The higher ranked soldiers continue to use many unflattering names for the Privates.
Differences between officers and enlisted men
In most militaries, the lowest ranking Officer is in a higher position in the chain of command and “outranks” the highest ranking Enlisted person. Despite that, there’s a certain amount of professional respect and courtesy between the ranks. A Lieutenant learns quickly to listen to an experienced Sergeant Major. If there is any disagreement, the chain of command is strictly observed. Its importance simply cannot be overstated.
In many medieval and fantasy settings, the officers come from the nobility. One requirement of being nobility is raising and leading of units from your population composed of locals, peasants, farmers, and indentured servants from your lands. In those cases, the rank of the officer frequently derived either from their societal rank, or from the size of the force they could muster. You can see different levels of this, as well.
Use this information as a launching point
Don’t look at this series as a strict model you must emulate in your stories. That’s not the intent. Rather think in terms of what roles you need depending on the size and purpose of your military forces. Get creative with the names or titles you use to describe them. I enjoy looking at historical sources, or other resources. For my WiP, Divine Choice, I used the names of the levels in the old Dungeons and Dragons games I played as a kid for the inspiration for my ranks.
This is an opportunity to reinforce your world building. The ranks need to sound like they belong in your world. You don’t want to create a fantasy world based on ancient Greece and then have your ranks named things like Lieutenant Commander.
Let your creativity and world building shine through, and make your military forces a seamless part of your world.
Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles).
After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer.
He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query.
As writers of speculative fiction, military forces are a stable in many of our stories. Basing these on a real-world equivalent force can bring greater realism to our writing and help the reader suspend their disbelief of the more fantastical elements. Let’s examine the ranks and numbers of a modern military force structure which you can use as a jumping off point to build realistic forces of your own.
The numbers you’ll see are the optimal numbers, but keep in mind we rarely see these in reality. Units are in constant flux as soldiers transfer into or out of the unit. Some soldiers will invariably be sick, or wounded — even in peacetime — as training accidents will occur. Even in the military, people take vacations, are on TDY (temporary duty), or even spending time at home.
Unit and rank breakdowns
I’m using the US Army at the end of the second World War (~1945) for the unit numbers, but this will apply to most of the US forces of the last hundred years. Authors can make their own choices to change these as needed to fit your science fiction or fantasy setting. Because of space constraints, we’ll only examine land forces. Naval ranks for a more science-fiction/space opera-based storyline may be a topic for future discussion.
We’ll work our way from smallest to largest. As an author, you want to spend the most time with small groups of soldiers. Big, climatic battles are great, but ultimately our stories are about our characters, and how they interact with the surrounding people. This is most easily seen in a smaller group setting. Always set up your story so that even in the titanic battle, it’s the action of your character or characters that sways the day. They should always be at the focal point. Your MC must take the one hill that controls the battlefield or make the perilous flight down the trench to hit the thermal exhaust port.
The smallest grouping is the Strike Team or Fire Team. This is six or seven individuals with various roles and skills. A Corporal or Lance Corporal leads a Strike Team. Two Strike Teams form a Squad. A Squad will have twelve or thirteen members and is led by a Sergeant.
Four Squads come together to form a Platoon. Fifty fighting men and women (and aliens depending on your world) acting in (we hope) unison. At this level, we refer to Commanding Officer (CO) and Executive Officer (XO). The XO is the second in command. He takes over should something happen to the CO. For a Platoon, the CO is a Lieutenant, and the XO is a Senior Sergeant.
Three Platoons form a Company. You’re up to 150 soldiers. CO is a Captain; XO is a Lieutenant. I never spell that right on the first attempt. Four Companies make up a Battalion. Here the CO is a Lieutenant Colonel (abbreviation Lt Colonel) or a Major. The XO is a Major or Captain.
Three Battalions form a Regiment led by a Colonel as CO and a Lieutenant Colonel as XO. A Regiment is almost 2,000 warriors strong. Three Regiments form a Brigade commanded by a Brigadier General. At this size, the commander needs more than one assistant. Brigades have an Officer Planning Staff, but this staff is not in the Chain of Command.
Finally, two Brigades make up a Division led by a Major General and his staff. (The famous 82nd Airborne is a Division.) It’s 10,800 warriors led by 642 Officers. 11,442 men, women, elves, dwarves and whatever other races inhabit your worlds.
Officers and Gentlemen
As you examine these ranks, don’t think you are required to use each one in your forces. Instead, think more of the roles you need for your characters and story depending on the size of purpose of your military forces. These will allow you to give realistic ranks to your characters. You can also get creative and come up with your own rank names, as I did in my current WiP, and eliminate ones you don’t need.
The highest ranking officer in a military force is the General. It doesn’t matter how many stars. Below him is the Lieutenant General. This character should have experience in multiple types of engagements. The Major General is a senior strategic official. Their experience is better used for developing an overall strategy rather than implementing tactics on the battlefield. Below them are the Brigadier General, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major. A Colonel might be in command of a Regiment, or a member of a General’s Planning Staff.
Lieutenant colonels are also referred to and addressed in correspondence as ‘colonel’. This gives rise to alternative terms. For Colonels, you’ll hear full colonel, bird colonel, or full bird colonel. A Lieutenant Colonel is called a Light Colonel. This is only used as a colloquial way to refer to the colonel, but they are never addressed this way.
The Captain is the first officer rank where your character must have shown true leadership ability. You’ll see Captains used as a Company Commander, or ‘detached’ as the Commanding Officer of many ‘special assignments’.
The first rank where the officer is given responsibility for the men in his command is Lieutenant (or First Lieutenant). A smart Lieutenant will rely on the experience of his Enlisted Executive Officer — a Sergeant Major or Senior Sergeant. The Senior Sergeant will show the Lieutenant him how to get the job done.
Second Lieutenant is an honorary grade for an Officer in Training. You’ve heard of low man on the totem pole. Second Lieutenant is the dirt into which the totem pole is placed.
Going Medieval
For more medieval or fantasy settings, you’ll see ranks like Knight-General for the Commander-in-Chief of an Order of Knighthood. The senior field Commander of an Orders’ forces is the Knight-Commander. Knight-Captain is the highest rank an independent Knight can attain without declaring oath to a liege.
The Holy Quest is a key accomplishment for any knight and a fantastic event to center your story around. Prior to taking the Quest, your character is a Knight. After they have completed their quest, they become a Knight-Lieutenant.
In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the real boots on the ground: Enlisted men and woman who get the job done and the ripe opportunities for conflict that arise between the enlisted men and officers.
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Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles).
After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer.
He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query.
It’s not always easy creating a whole world from scratch. Amy C. Blake agreed to give a few words of writing advice about building story worlds.
What is a common pitfall fantasy writers fall into when building their story world?
It’s easy for fantasy writers to forget they have to follow the “rules” they created for their story world. If they choose to break a rule, they have to explain why. Otherwise, readers get frustrated. For instance, in the first book of my Levi Prince YA fantasy series, I established that people can only enter Terracaelum (an invisible land suspended above Lake Superior) from Castle Island when the prince or princess lowers the drawbridge and admits them. In subsequent books, I couldn’t simply ignore my rule when I needed to allow access without the prince or princess being present. I had to not only create an alternate way in, but also to provide a logical reason why the exception was made.
What essential ingredients do readers expect from a story world?
Besides clear rules, readers expect to be given the proper amount of details to let them experience the story world. Too many specifics can bog down the flow of the story, but too few can make readers feel unmoored. Sprinkling sensory details throughout the dialogue and narrative tends to work best. Of course, in fantasy stories, readers expect something outside of their ordinary worlds—superhuman abilities, time jumping, mythical creatures, etc.—and they can best enjoy those elements when given the right particulars at the right moments.
How can writers make sure they balance their novel in regards to world building, character development, and the other elements needed?
Again, it’s a matter of dispensing information at the optimal time. Authors shouldn’t do an information dump about their character’s backstory any more than they should pile on too much minutiae about the story world. They don’t want to overuse dialogue, internal monologue, or narrative in any one spot; instead, they want to use the appropriate amounts of each at the appropriate times. It’s all a matter of finding the proper pacing to allow the story to unfold to maximize the reader’s delight.
Where do you find inspiration for creating a story world?
I’m an avid reader, and my family enjoys exploring museums and historical sites. I’m also an avid daydreamer, so I tend to find inspiration during quiet moments—sometimes while on a long car ride or when I can’t sleep. During those quiet moments, ideas blend with the information I’ve gleaned, and my story world expands. I just have to remember to jot down my daydreams so I can flesh them out later.
Great advice!
Thank you so much for stopping by, Amy.
Award-winning author Amy C. Blake is a pastor’s wife and homeschooling mother of four. She has an M.A. in English from Mississippi College and has written articles, devotionals, and short stories for a number of publications. She’s also writing two series for the Christian market, her On the Brink Christian suspense trilogy and her Levi Prince YA fantasy series.
Have you ever walked into someone’s house as a first-time dinner guest and felt out of place? Ten other people are there and it’s a laid back, serve yourself kind of dinner.
You grab your food, spilling some ketchup on the counter in the process, and clean it up with a napkin. You don’t know where the garbage is although you know they have to have one. Dessert comes around and you want a clean fork but you don’t know which drawer to open and don’t want to look through every one.
By the time you leave you’re flustered. You KNEW there was a garbage can and a drawer full of forks, but because you didn’t know the layout of the house you couldn’t find them.
If you’re reading this post it’s because you’re writing fantasy or science fiction, which means by default, you have other-worldly elements in your writing.
When readers open to page one you want them to feel at home, not confused as they figure out how the world is set up and what goes where.
A simple, reader-friendly way to do so this by dropping in elements humanity relates to no matter where they’re from.
Just as ever house is designed in a different way but with similar features, every world has certain elements that are similar and will feel grounding for the reader.
You might be writing science fiction but the protagonist still can feel lonely. That’s relatable. You might write fantasy but your characters still eat. In The Lord of the Rings Tolkien makes meal time a very important part of hobbit lifestyle. This is something we can all relate to, even though his books are about dragons, magic, and rings of power.
Here are some questions to ask that will help your reader feel at home when plunging into a world they’ve never been to:
Where do my characters sleep?
Do they eat food from the ground? How is it grown?
How many seasons are there?
What does personal hygiene look like for my characters?
How are friendships made?
As you answer these questions you may feel like you’re brainstorming, and to an extent, you are. However, including personal, daily occurrences like eating and sleeping will ground your reader and make them feel more comfortable as they dive into your hero’s journey.
Remember, the more your reader can relate to your world, the more believable your fantastical elements will be. The more believable your story, the more memorable.
Happy writing!
Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.
Writing during a global pandemic is probably not something you thought you’d be tackling. Writing is hard enough by itself!
But handling history well, whether you’re living it or researching it, is part of being a writer. Recently I saw an article that stressed how one publisher is not particularly focused on dystopian writing because of the current state of the world.
They stressed the importance of finding hope through historical events. Fantasy and Science-fiction can be used to build that hope, if done rightly. Here are a few ways to use the current global crisis for the benefit of your readers:
Enforce your writing with historical moments.
Countless moments have shaped history, and therefore storytelling, as a whole. This is one of them. Going back often helps us move forward.
As you plan, draft, or edit your current work-in-progress, focus on historical moments that looked bleak but ended in a brighter future. Draw inspiration from these moments and allow them to influence your writing. Readers need hope, and you’re one of the best people to give it to them.
Use history to teach.
The Civil War brought tension between family members and friends. The Great Depression was a drastic life change for many. COVID-19 is a different circumstance bringing similar emotional responses. Research those who lived during historical moments, look up their stories, and choose different aspects of these very real people to influence your characters.
For your protagonist, consider drawing different character traits from figures who experienced global moments in different centuries. Combine some of these characteristics into a fictional character, add your own twist, and use your character to bring hope to your story. This will show readers what characteristics still bring hope today.
Look to the future.
History shows us how to interact with the future, what to do, and what not to do. Science-fiction in particular points to the future. As you craft your story, pour yourself into world-building and research that will make readers want to escape into your world. Layer in supporting characters and scenes that will inspire your readers to return to their own world wiser, and with more hope, in how to handle their present circumstances.
Writing is a powerful tool. While writing for entertainment may not be our primary focus right now, it can be used to teach, inspire, and bring hope. Now more than ever it’s important to write powerful stories and strong characters. Let’s be the writers who encourage readers in a dark time. Write on!
Sarah Rexford is a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.
There’s
something immersive about opening a fantasy or sci-fi book and feeling like
there were hundreds of pages of history that happened prior to sentence one,
page one.
It’s hard to pull off.
It’s also important to pull off.
Let’s do a quick case study on
two well-known trilogies: Divergent
and The Hunger Games.
Case
Study 1: Divergent
The first book of the trilogy
starts with the main character in front of a mirror, glimpsing her reflection
as her mother cuts her hair in preparation for her aptitude test.
As a reader, some questions
quickly arise. Why can’t she look in mirrors on a regular basis? What’s an
aptitude test? Why is she so nervous to take it? Why is Beatrice’s world
sectioned into factions? What’s the Choosing Ceremony?
Case
Study 2: The Hunger Games
Page one starts with the main
character wondering where her little sister is. Seems normal. But then we find
out her little sister has bad dreams about the reaping that will take place in
their district today.
Why is this world separated into
districts? What’s a reaping? Why would a little girl have such bad dreams about
it she’d leave the comfort of her big sister?
From paragraph one I realize I’m
immersed in a dystopian society that’s been around for a long time. Long enough
to establish rituals that implant themselves in a little girl’s nightmare.
When you or your agent submit
your manuscript to a publisher, it’s important to pay attention to these
examples. Note the themes. In both books, the reader is:
Plunged
into a life-changing event from page one
Wondering
how the main character will survive in a world that’s against them
Deeply
entrenched in years of destructive customs
Note these themes, but create
your own. The important thing to remember is that from the first sentence the
reader knows they’re entering another world.
Divergent begins, “There is one mirror in
my house.” A simple statement that begs the question, why?
The
Hunger Games,
“When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.” It makes you keep reading,
and by the end of the paragraph the reaping has already been introduced.
Here’s the point.
As a reader, you feel like you’ve
just jumped into the middle of a massive, historical event. You want to
discover why there’s a Choosing Ceremony and a reaping. Questions leap off the
page with nearly every sentence.
Write this way.
Drop hints that your world has
been around for ages. Show your reader that what’s
happening now, on page one, is the most important part to jump in on.
Happy writing!
Sarah Rexford is
a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform
through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah
equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal branding.
She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers behind-the-scenes tips on
the publishing industry through her blog itssarahrexford.com. She is
represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.
Margaret
Atwood is well-known for her novel The
Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian first published in 1985. Her novel covers the
story of a handmaid living in what’s known as the Republic of Gilead. The
catch?
Most every, if not all, major
plot points were written based on reality. I imagine this was a large
contributor in making Atwood’s novel a TV show. Why?
It was relatable.
The Republic of Gilead is not a
real place, although to readers, it might seem to be. The same is true of your
work in progress. Whatever country you create is not real, but it can seem real
to readers when you create it using details that aren’t fiction.
When
building your fantasy world, pull details from existing countries.
One of my first novels takes
place in a country much like Australia — but only in shape and location. I
mixed the layout of Australia with the topography of the US. I haven’t lived in
Australia, but I have lived in the US. I know the US. And as the old adage goes,
write what you know.
Secondly, I incorporated aspects
of US history into my story, but pulled different aspects of Australian
government into my fantasy government. This way the reader will never say, “Oh,
this world is based on the history of the United States but set in Australia.”
Pieces are pulled from both countries, but it’s not based on either.
Use
details of historic figures to put skin on your characters.
When researching my characters, I
looked up many historic people who’d had a big impact on either their country
or the world. I pulled details of their personality and made them
characteristics of my own characters.
Readers know names like Frederick
Douglass, Mary I, Joan of Arc, and Adolf Hitler. It’s likely they also know
more about them then they may remember learning in high school history. Pulling
different details from each, a hair style, a personality trait, a character flaw,
etc., then combining them to create one specific character, adds the ring of
truth.
Mix
customs.
If your book does well, you will
likely have readers from around the country and possibly the world. Part of the
fun of writing fantasy and science-fiction is the freedom to make things up.
When it comes to the customs of the characters in your world, this freedom
continues.
However, to really make your
world come alive, research customs from centuries ago to present day. After you
have ten to thirty customs, assign several to each of your characters. This
will round out your characters, provide you with centuries of backstory to draw
from, and use reality to strengthen your fantasy.
Don’t forget to add your own
creative ideas to the mix. After all, that’s what writing fantasy and sci-fi is
all about. Happy writing!
Sarah Rexford is
a Marketing Content Creator and writer. She helps authors build their platform
through branding and copywriting. With a BA in Strategic Communications, Sarah
equips writers to learn how to communicate their message through personal
branding. She writes fiction and nonfiction and offers writers
behind-the-scenes tips on the publishing industry through her blog
itssarahrexford.com. She is represented by the C.Y.L.E Young Agency.
When it comes to writing, some of us like to picture it in our head and write what we see, while others like to plot every scene before ever sitting down to the keyboard. No matter if we’re a “plotter” or a “pantser,” writing well requires something we often overlook but learned way back in kindergarten–the five senses.
Recently I asked some beta
readers for feedback on the first page of my WIP. Many of the comments were
positive. They loved the action and felt drawn in from the first sentence. But
while many felt intrigued in the story, several also said they didn’t feel like
they understood the world.
They couldn’t see where the action was taking place.
As a writer, that’s on me. I
could see it all in my head, but I hadn’t communicated the location well enough
to my readers. What had I missed? Some of the five senses.
Readers want to see where the story is taking place. They want to hear the wind in the trees and feel the snow crystalizing on their skin. They want to taste the last drops of water your MC shared with his fellow traveler.
A good way to do this is write with your eyes closed.
If you’ve ever tried to take a
nap in a crowded room, you can relate to just how much your sense of hearing
works overtime. The same is true with sight. When one sense is dulled, others
heighten. New writers are often great at describing what things look like, but not what they smell,
taste, or feel like.
Smelling the remains of a carcass
on the dragon’s breath is much more evocative than telling a reader the dragon
has scales.
It’s easy to forget one sense
when focusing on the others. In my example, I’d focused so much on smell and
touch I’d mostly forgotten about sight, one of the most important senses when
it comes to orienting a reader in the first paragraphs (especially in fantasy
and sci-fi!).
Feel free to steal these tips when writing sensory details:
One: Write the first draft focusing on sight only.
Two: Write the second draft focusing on hearing.
Third: In the third draft work in touch.
Fourth: Don’t forget the all-important sense of smell!
Fifth: Finish it off describing the taste of fear, the salty tinge of saltwater on the tongue, etc.
The more you incorporate this
exercise into your writing, the more likely it’ll become second nature to you
and you’ll find yourself combining steps one and two, or three and five, etc.
Everyone experiences different struggles
when it comes to incorporating the senses, but keep at
it. After all, all writing is rewriting!
Sarah Rexford is a
Marketing Content Writer, working with brands to grow their audience reach. She
studied Strategic Communications at Cornerstone University and focused on
writing during her time there, completing two full-length manuscripts while a
full-time student. Currently she trains under best-selling author Jerry Jenkins
in his Your Novel Blueprint course and is actively seeking publication
for two books.
Most of us have probably been
told to “plunge your main character into terrible trouble as quickly as
possible.” This is a good motto to write by, and will help as we pitch to
agents, our agents pitch to publishers, and ultimately, our readers decide
whether to keep reading.
But there is also a whiplash-like
phenomenon when we try to dump all the terrible trouble on our MC at one time,
reveal the character arc in that great, epic scene we spent three days on, and
tie it all up with our final, thought-out sentence.
To be clear, terrible trouble is a necessity, character arc is needed, and that epic scene provides the great payoff to the readers that we set up at the beginning.
However, especially when it comes
to fantasy and science fiction, where we’re world-building like crazy and using
uncommon character names, there needs to be a level of believability.
Just like building character in
the real world takes time, building characters in fiction requires time as
well. This demands specificity in our writing. It demands setups we may not
even realize we’re writing into our story.
Pet-the-dog
Moments
Including moments when our MC shows unnecessary compassion on a person or even an animal goes a long way in building credibility. Scenes where they tip generously when no one’s looking, stop to pick up the bottle in the dirt, or listen to the homeless person when they’re in a rush, these types of scenes build character credibility. Credibility brings believability.
Appropriate
On-the-Nose Moments
No one wants to read about the
character answering the phone by walking through their kitchen to the bedroom,
unplugging it from the charger, swiping to open, and saying hello. (Or taking
the parchment from the carrier pigeon, depending on your time period!) The
important thing is to show routine in an engaging way. Once readers connect
with the MC at a base level, they’ll connect with their humanness. Connection
brings believability.
Destroying
the Status Quo
Once we’ve set up that our MC is
credible, believable, and someone readers can connect with, it’s imperative we
destroy the status quo again, and again, and again. After all, we need to
plunge our main character into terrible trouble as quickly as possible. Not
just in the first pages, but that trouble needs to follow them like a shadow
until they bring their heroism into the light of the final pages.
Slowly building credibility will
leave readers deeply connected with the MC. That type of connection is what
makes MC’s not only credible and believable, but memorable. Memorable
characters stick with readers. And when characters stick, publishers will want to publish!
Sarah Rexford is a
Marketing Content Writer, working with brands to grow their audience reach. She
studied Strategic Communications at Cornerstone University and focused on
writing during her time there, completing two full-length manuscripts while a
full-time student. Currently she trains under best-selling author Jerry Jenkins
in his Your Novel Blueprint course and is actively seeking publication
for two books.
Most Mystery/Suspense/Thriller stories are set in the real
world, but the realities of that world cover a wide spectrum from light, cozy
and optimistic to dark, gritty and despairing. On the light end of the spectrum
are cozy mysteries, where crime is an unexpected event that mars an otherwise
pleasant world. On the other extreme are hard-boiled detective stories, where crime
is rampant and the tough, cynical P. I. or cop sees the world as a harsh place.
Is your story world closer to the light or to the dark side?
The dark side is characterized by:
A story world that is a broken place with little
hope for improvement, where crime and violence are a normal part of life. This
is a tough world that requires tough characters.
An underlying assumption that society is
basically flawed and there isn’t much hope things will get better.
An atmosphere that is dark, gritty, edgy, pessimistic,
bleak, or cynical.
A flawed main character who fights a losing
battle against crime but keeps striving to stave off total darkness.
Violence, harsh language, and gritty realism
Murders and
victims described in brutal detail rather than being glossed over
In contrast, the light side is characterized by:
A story world filled with compassion, forgiveness
and hope, where crime and violence are the exception rather than the rule.
An underlying assumption that there is hope for redemption
in every person
An atmosphere that is cozy, soft, gentle, humorous,
or optimistic
A main character who hopes to solve the crime
and restore order to her world. She believes order can and should be restored.
Little or no violence
Little or no swearing
A murder that often happens off the page
Limited details regarding the brutal realities
of the murder
Obviously, most stories fall somewhere between these two extremes.
Where does your world fit into the spectrum? Do you know why
you chose your setting worldview? Is it simply a reflection of your own
worldview or did you intentionally choose it to fit your story?
Some considerations when choosing how dark to make your
story world:
Does it fit the subgenre? Readers who prefer
cozies don’t want gritty realism and readers of noir don’t want sugar-coated optimism.
Know the norms of your subgenre before defining your world.
Does it appeal to your target audience?
What are the underlying assumptions of the
characters regarding the world you have defined for them? What do they take for
granted and how does that affect their choices and attitudes?
How does your world augment or conflict with the
worldview of your main characters?
How easy will it be to show redemption at work?
Choosing the right degree of darkness will enhance your
story and attract the right readers, so consider your choice carefully.
Happy world-crafting.
Lisa E. Betz
believes that everyone has a story to tell the world. She loves to encourage
fellow writers to be intentional about their craft and courageous in sharing
their words with others. Lisa shares her words through dramas, Bible studies,
historical mysteries, and her blog about
intentional living. You can find her on Facebook LisaEBetzWriter Twitter @LisaEBetz and Pinterest Lisa E Betz.
The trend within the fantasy and sci-fi genres is to push for more detailed world-building within our stories. While this might work for some novels, it isn’t always necessary. When writing a sci-fi story set on earth in the not too distant future, less is actually more. A story can be just as effective—if not more so—when the writer keeps the setting simple. Keep in mind that in reality, the next generation or two probably won’t be living too much differently from the way we do now.
Names.
I personally know teenagers named William, Julia, Benjamin, Robert and Elizabeth. I also knew teenagers with these names when I was a young girl in the eighties. Today, we’ve also got names like Truxton and Abcde, but every generation will have new and different names. Overall, they haven’t changed that much. I would expect there will still be boys named James and girls named Grace in the year 2118. When creating your cast of characters, throw in an unusual name or two, but don’t bog the story down with odd names that are too difficult to pronounce. It’s perfectly futuristic to give your characters normal names.
Technology.
Computers have changed our way of life forever. Technology is moving at a faster pace each and every year. But that doesn’t mean earth will be unrecognizable in another century. With each new technology, it takes years of testing and then more years of production, before a company or government can implement it into society. Pharmaceuticals take decades to pass through the FDA. We may have the first self-driving cars on the road, but will that really mean all vehicles in our country will be self-driving in just a few decades? Most likely, not. Remember to incorporate some of these changes as occurring slowly over time within your story. However, no one will expect our skies to be filled with flying cars by the year 2068.
Geology.
What’s happening on our planet? It’s no secret that polar ice caps are melting and changes in our atmosphere are causing scientists to scratch their heads. But how will this affect our world in the future? Many futuristic stories include the same countries and landmarks that exist today, but use different names or have new alliances, causing the reader the need to learn about our planet as if it were not our own. But how will our world be different geologically? Including small changes in the natural world around us may be the key to your world-building without having to “reinvent the wheel” by creating all new nations just to make our world seem different.
The differences needed for world-building within a sci-fi story on earth don’t need to be complicated. Remember to keep things simple, pull from what is familiar to you, and think about the next logical step for the future of our world. This just might be the key to keep your reader reading, without getting hung up on complex details.
Laura L. Zimmerman is a homeschooling mama to three daughters and a doting wife to one husband. Besides writing, she is passionate about loving Jesus, singing, drinking coffee and anything Star Wars. You can connect with her through Facebook and Twitter @lauralzimm and at her website Caffeinated Fiction.
So you want to create a storyworld, eh? Well, it took God six days to complete the one you’re living in, so don’t expect to make yours in one day. Worlds are complicated things, and in order to make one believable, you’ll need to take into consideration a whole host of things from politics to geography. But first, let’s approach the philosophy of world creation. There are two extremes, but most authors approach the task with a little give and take from both.
[bctt tweet=”So you want to create a world, eh? #storyworld #scifi” via=”no”]
From the story, arises the world…
In this approach, you start with a story idea and create the world as the story progresses. You haven’t mapped out the flora or fauna and you may have no idea what the planet’s political structure looks like, but you’ll figure everything out as you write. The principle advantage to this method is speed. Specifically, you can start writing immediately and fill in details later as you figure them out.
But before you get started, you’ll need at least a general idea of the storyworld’s outlook. Even something simple like knowing your universe is similar to Star Wars, or that magic and technology are used like Final Fantasy VII, that can help a lot. You can’t copy the intellectual property, but a general idea can help.
A word of caution: when you use this process, you MUST go back and examine your manuscript for consistency. If you flippantly mention the protagonist grew up climbing trees, you can’t later say his hometown was a desert. Similarly, if you realize midway into your book that you’d like to populate the earth with elves or cyborgs (or cyborg elves, whatever), you’re going to have to go back and add details to that effect earlier in the novel unless you intend to completely catch the reader off guard.
From the world, arises the story…
With this style, you design maps, ideologies, technology, and fantastic creatures early. Your characters are crafted within the realm of this fictitious land, and as a result, they feel genuine. Why? Because their motivations are drawn from the rich history you’ve created. In fact, the main advantage to this method is that the world will feel alive, because you’ve already considered how its inhabitants fare in their daily routines.
One problem I’ve seen with this approach is when a proud author frontloads his manuscript with world-details instead of the actual story. It’s understandable, right? I mean he’s created an entire ecosystem in his head. But the result is a lengthy prologue that belongs in a reference manual for a roleplaying game. Boring! Instead, display the richness of your universe in the way your characters interact with it. Subtlety is the key.
The other drawback is “analysis paralysis.” If you worry too much about the way your world will hold together, you may never get around to actually writing your story. If you want to be an author, you know you eventually have to write a book, right?
[bctt tweet=”If you want to be an author, you know you eventually have to write a book, right? #author #writer” via=”no”]
Finding middle ground…
As I said, most authors approach world creation with a hybrid of the two methods. As they write a couple chapters, their heads are filled with ideas for international drama. As that grand-scale conflict solidifies, new incentives are born into their characters. And so it goes. Most importantly, understand the advantages and disadvantages of the two philosophies and pick a method that works for you.
The carbine was still jammed and Jim couldn’t do anything to fix it. He finally tossed it aside and cursed the shoddy Adronni weapon manufacturers – maybe their world would be next on the alien invasion tour. A shrill whine filled the air, and Jim pressed himself tighter against the debris-covered groundcar. A scant thirty feet away the earth erupted in blue smoke. As the remains of a prefab shelter rained harmlessly over his powersuit, Jim took inventory. A Gilgamesh repeater pistol, a single frag, and a suit of armor with a busted rebreather. As long as the reptilians didn’t gas him first, he’d probably live long enough for one of their walker units to plasma-blast him in the chest. He sighed. No, there was one last thing he possessed – the souls of his charred comrades pushing him on to avenge them. Jim unholstered the pistol and peered around the corner. Time to move – vengeance would be his!
On the surface, the above paragraph looks like an action scene. It’s dripping with tension, and Jim’s fate looks pretty bleak. But even an action-packed paragraph can be used to build your world. In fact, study it a minute and try to identify some of the foreign storyworld elements.
We’re not sure what kind of weaponry Jim has (laser? projectile?), but his attackers clearly have plasma weapons that explode in puffs of blue gas. And we can guess based on the grisly state of his allies that either the plasma weapons burned them alive or that the aliens have some other kind of burning weapon.
Let’s look at some of the subtler elements though. Take the use of the word “groundcar.” What is the implication there? Obviously a “groundcar” is a type of vehicle distinguished from some other type. An aircar? A hover car? We don’t know specifics, but use of that word reveals that methods other than ground-based vehicles are used for transportation in this world.
We also get a glimpse into the intergalactic relations. First of all, these reptilians are not only invading Jim’s planet but have apparently been on “tour,” invading many planets. We don’t know if “Adronni” is a company or a race of aliens, but we do know that either Jim or his military outfit purchased firearms from otherworldly suppliers. This establishes that the storyworld has interplanetary trade.
All of this could be done from a detached, third-person omniscient perspective, but the story is told from a deep, although third-person, POV. This not only conveys the gobs of storyworld information above, but it also does two other things: 1) it gives the action emotional impact. Sure, the battle scene is only a paragraph long, but you’re emotionally involved in the character. It inspires you to read onward and learn Jim’s fate, even as your imagination processes the alien elements. And 2) the world is shown with Jim’s particular biases. A comment like “shoddy Adronni weapon manufacturers” shows us Jim has preferences in firearms and the Adronni-supplied weapons are apparently not among them. This doesn’t mean his preferences are necessarily right, and a different character’s POV may reveal a different perspective on the carbine and its manufacturer. Your storyworld’s inhabitants, like those in the real world, won’t always agree on things.
This isn’t to say that every paragraph in your 90,000-word manuscript must be packed with exotic storyworld elements, but the first few chapters should do so as much as possible. And if you’re trying to get your audience attached to your characters in that same timeframe, doing so from a close, ground-level perspective can really help.
Last year, my favorite novel was Monster Hunter International written by Larry Correia. A contemporary fantasy novel like this doesn’t need as much storyworld explanation as a distant-future sci-fi novel, but the author does equally amazing jobs at world-building and deep character exploration. I’ve also just started Marc Turner’s When the Heavens Fall, an epic novel with some well-developed fantasy elements and several great POVs. A final verdict will have to wait since I haven’t finished it yet, but thus far it’s a great read and exemplifies some of what we’ve discussed here.
That’s all for now. Next month we’ll kick off a series on alien and fantastic biology. Until then, let me know if there are any other storyworld elements you’d like me to explore in this space. Thanks for reading!
