I talked about the importance of setting last week. Now that I've sent my contemporary realistic novel back to my agent for her review, I'm getting back to business on my middle grade fantasy. So that means world building. Setting on steroids. The key to making a fantasy feel real--an oxymoron, I know. If the world feels real, the story will feel real.
I've got about 20K written, but before I do more, I need to build the world a bit. I googled "world building" and came up with a great article by Patricia Wrede. She has a list of fabulous questions to ask when you're coming up with your world--http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/
So what questions do you use when you world build?
Wish me luck.
7 comments:
I don't know if I have a list of questions but I list out details to be included about the character and the setting.
I hope your agent loves your rewrites!
I blogged about this topic last week.
I recently received feedback from an agent on my ms (YA contemp) after winning a crit in an auction. I was suprised at what she considered world building. World building definitely exists in ALL genres. Most of us just assumed it's something only fantasy writers (and its subgenres) have to worry about.
I love Wrede's questions. I use them in my classes when we talk about world-building. My students tend to get a little overwhelmed by the fact that there's so much to think about, but they also enjoy the challenge. Good luck!
World Building is so important. From a story grounded in reality, where setting is a minor character, to a fully realized other world, it always helps to weave the setting into the narrative organically.
Good luck using that questionnaire. I used that to flesh out my UF and almost died because there are tons of things I never even considered.
I could use some help with world building if I get a notion to try fantasy again. Thanks for the tip. Have a great week. :)
Good for you, switching gears and working while you wait! Haha, "setting on steroids." Love it. Thanks for the world-building link!
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