Jan

31

Worldbuilding in the Gates of Amduat: Oaths and Curses

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After a skipped day, we’re back. Today’s topic is oaths and curses. Promises are important, and everyone has a need to swear or cuss once in a while.

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Jan

26

Worldbuilding in the Gates of Amduat: Language

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People talk, so we needs to take a look at the language the nomads speak, and the kinds of things they talk about.

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Jan

25

Demanding the Impossible

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Every writer knows that worldbuilding is important. It creates the backdrop for our stories. Sometimes the world is a character unto itself. While surfing around, I came across the January 14th Tor.com blog entry. Here’s the part of the article that really caught me:

As writers, one of our most important duties is to create settings which entertain, enlighten, and (most of all) captivate. In essence, we are asked to do the impossible—to create a fictional world every bit as nuanced and detailed as the real world. No, strike that. We are tasked with creating a more nuanced and detailed world because many readers pick up our books to escape reality. — Jon Sprunk, Worldbuilding: The Art of Everything

That is so true. The worlds we create have to be able to pull the readers away from our mundane world. It’s not just fantasy or science fiction that does this. Every piece of fiction needs to do this, whether it’s a contemporary romance to supernatural thriller to literary fiction. It doesn’t matter what genre you write in – you’re creating worlds your readers are invited into through your stories. Disappointing them or doing a half-arsed job is a disservice of major proportions.

What do you think? Am I and Jon Sprunk wrong?

Jan

24

Worldbuilding in the Gates of Amduat: Visits

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Welcome! For the past three weeks, I’ve been working through the worldbuilding for the world my novel-in-progress, The Gates of Amduat, is set in. Today I’m dealing with visiting someone (what to do, what not to do, what’s expected, etc.).

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Jan

21

Worldbuilding in the Gates of Amduat: Greeting, Meeting & Gestures

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If you’ve been following along, you’ll know we’ve covered the physical world (i.e. who lives there, geography & climate), magic and magicians, customs, eating and food. Today we’re looking at how people interact – how do they meet and greet people and the importance of gestures.

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