I have the power to create anything I want in any place or
time. It’s quite a pleasure, really. By tapping my fingers across the keyboard
I can give life to characters that react to each other and their environment.
Similar to a science experiment, you don’t always know what will happen until
you’re in moment, feeling it with them. Sometimes your own story can surprise
you.
When building a world in a fantasy series there are many
things to consider. If magic or paranormal powers are involved, where did they
come from? What are the rules? In my series, The Shapeshifter Chronicles, I had
to sit down and think it over.
A good rule of thumb – nothing should be all powerful. Everything
must have a chink in the armor, no matter how strong or impressive, like one of
my favorite childhood stories, The Hobbit. Smaug the dragon was a powerful
creature that harassed the people of Middle Earth for generations. It was the
wise and watchful hobbit, Bilbo Baggins who noticed a weakness in the beast’s scaly
armor, which is what led to the dragon’s downfall.

I have always loved reading fantasy, but one of my pet
peeves is when the rules in a world just don’t make sense. Okay, I know that
sounds silly, because c’mon we’re talking about things that are make-believe.
They aren’t really real, right? Sure. But that’s not so in a fiction story. If
you don’t believe in the world you’re reading about, there’s a problem. You should believe and completely forget
about your shopping list, or your dinner sitting on the table. The good old fashioned reasoning of, ‘because
I said so’ doesn’t always work with world building. I am not a physicist and I
did not get a Masters in college. But I don’t need one to create a new world.
All you need is patience and time to think it through (then think it through
again). Look at it from all sides and try to poke as many holes into your
reasoning as possible because everyone else will.
There will always be people who won’t buy it. There are
actually readers out there that never liked The Hobbit, or A Wrinkle in Time
and countless other classic fantasy novels. But everyone’s a critic. As a
writer, the most important thing to remember is – first you must believe it if you’re going to try to convince anyone else.
So, squeeze your eyes tight and repeat after me, I believe.
Natasha Brown
Buy her books at Amazon:
Very striking covers!
ReplyDeleteI believe, I believe... Great article Natasha! You gave me some fresh insight into world building. I agree, just because we write fantasy doesn't mean we don't have certain rules we should follow. I'm loving "Prodigy" so far :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the Hobbit when I was first introduced to it--took me years to get around to reading Lord of the Rings, but then I was hooked and loved the Hobbit too. So, even if the reader's not impressed today, real world-building just might worm its way into the same reader's heart tomorrow.
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