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Hello, furballs, and welcome to the next part of my little writer's assistance guide! In my earlier guides, you've learned a bit about how to fight your way through writer's block, how to manage your time better, and how to craft deeper characters amongst other things. What we’re going to discuss here now is something a little larger-scale than the characters; the very foundation upon which a story rests. Be it realistic, high fantasy, sci-fi or any other kind of story, you need to consider the world around your characters. Here, we’ll talk about settings and worlds for your stories.
First, a reiteration of some core facts about this guide. I am NOT a trained writer. I've done no courses, no workshops. I don't attend any writers groups, and I don't claim to have professional knowledge. I HAVE been writing for over ten years, and I HAVE sought out the knowledge that I can to improve my skills. However, this little guide is going to have little to nothing to do with technical writing, if I have my way. Rather, this guide is being provided as a way to motivate and inspire other writers here on this site. I'm not going to tell you what to write, or how to write. I only hope to provide you with some mental ‘tools' that will allow you to craft your words to their greatest potential. That said, let us begin!
The next lesson is this: If the world isn’t believable, how can the story be taken seriously?
The answer to that question is obvious: it can’t be. You could have the most vibrant characters in the world, telling an amazing story that captures the attention of the reader… but as they go on, they’ll start to notice that the world around the characters is just a bunch of cardboard cutouts. That’s not interesting, and it can detract from an overly polished final piece. It can take a fantastic story and make it feel cheaper than it really is. Despite this, I find it absolutely HILLARIOUS when I read a story with a flat and uninspired world wrapped around the characters. Why? Cause building a world is just fun. Allow me to elaborate.
As a writer of sci-fi and fantasy stories myself, I find worldbuilding to be something I can just let my mind go wild with. There’s no stories just yet. There’s no characters to be tied to. Nothing is set in stone, and everything is malleable. It’s pure, creative freedom. Hell, I have more fun working on fleshing out the worlds and histories of my different projects than I do actually writing those stories. It’s a source of consternation for me that I’d rather write a 600-year timeline of events than work on a novel set during those years, but that’s just how it goes. How more writers don’t find such fun in their setting work I’ll never know.
Before I write any story of mine at all, I consider the world around the characters. I mentioned in the Characters guide that they must live and breathe and have real thoughts and feelings to be taken seriously. The same is true for the world you build for those characters. I’m not just talking genre fiction, either; it’s simple to take away those words as platitudes for the fantasy and sci-fi crowd. “But!” I hear you cry, “what about more realistic settings? What about a mystery-thriller, set in modern-day New York?” Well… I’d first suggest a different city; NYC’s been done to death there. Immediately after that though, I’d point out that you need to consider your setting as much – moreso, I would even go so far as to say – than if you were making up a fantasy kingdom or a galactic confederation.
First, to get it out of the way, let’s look at more realistic fiction. Chances are if you write thriller or romance or action stories (or any one of the hundreds of other sub-genres I’m lumping together to save my fingers from typing too much), then you’re dealing with the modern world. Occasionally (and more important to get right by far), you might deal with history. You might feel as though you don’t need to put too much effort into your setting, especially if you live nearby the locations mentioned in said story. Consider instead the possibility of your knowledge being insufficient, or incomplete. You’d then be doing your story a disservice by writing with a poor understanding of what your characters are going through.
Maybe the park you and your characters drive past every day to work wasn’t there fifteen years ago, when your story was set. Perhaps the landmark skyscraper is scheduled for demolition next week, but your characters in the years to come fight off a mad terrorist inside it. The city your story is set in (which you’ve never visited) could be written to suffer monsoonal rains on an annual cycle, when in reality it’s bone-dry. The assault rifle your support character carries might not pierce Kevlar in real-life, but it might do so in your story. Castles in Europe in the 1500’s might not have had the elaborate traps in place that you’ve attributed them. The majority of readers might not understand the difference between your fictional representation of a place and the reality of that place, but those who know the difference will find every misstep to be a quick, hard jerk back towards reality. It breaks immersion in your world, and that’s the last thing you want.
While these little things might not be apparent to some readers, others who thrive on details will wonder what you did wrong and why you didn’t care enough to do the research. Research is the key to making a story set in a modern or historical time and real location just work. If you’re not going to do the effort, then you’re going to come across looking silly at best, by the people that know better. At worst, people will cast your work aside because of the lack of care you showed when writing it. Having been on the end of that once about seven years ago (in my defense, I was a horrible writer then anyway), I can say that it really sucks. However, it teaches the lesson hard and fast: if you deal with reality, you need to make your story real.
Research is the key to a realistic, modern or historical setting, and that is supplemented by creativity when you add your fictitious spin on things. Conversely, when dealing with realistic fantasy and sci-fi settings, creativity becomes the key element in the construction of your setting. Research plays a role, but it’s not at the forefront. It helps with your understanding of dress codes, weapons and construction techniques for a fantasy setting, and the knowledge of basic physics and chemistry provide limitless resource for sci-fi universes. But the most important part of either a fantasy or sci-fi setting – and where you should spend most of your time and effort to create a ‘real’ setting, in my mind – is the creative creation. Since I deal with these settings myself, this is where I’ll spend the majority of my time here. Sorry, real-world nuts!
We’ll begin with fantasy. It’s a good idea to consider what cultural direction you want to go at a very early point. Do you want to try tightly-knit tribal societies, or age-old kingdoms? A nation built on the value of various castes, or a tyrannical empire ruling through force? Consider the ruler(s) for each different option here; not only can they be integral parts of stories for you to tell, but they can also set the tone for their land as a whole. Also consider what the peoples of these lands value most. Is it a sense of honor? Is it a devotion to a deity, or pantheon? Is it physical strength, or mental fortitude? Once you’ve considered these options, one or two will usually begin to stand out. Right there, one of the hardest elements is gone.
Magic. Oh, magic. If you’re not going to have magic in your setting, then you don’t need to worry about any of the other little troubles that go along with it. If however magic is a part of your fantasy setting, you need to consider it very carefully. It brings to you a whole new series of questions. Is magic genetic? How did it come to be? Is it divine, or arcane? Is it wild, or tempered? Is magic revered, or feared? Does magic dominate, or is it in the service of the population? What are the effects on the mages who use it? Does it protect against plagues? Can the dead be revived? Why are there warriors and archers when battlemages can do the job with more flair? These questions – and more – are all what you need to answer when you create your setting. I can’t even begin to answer them for you; what works for me won’t work for you. However, I can offer one piece of advice: don’t say that, “It just is.” That’s a cop-out. Magic always has rhyme and reason in any fantasy setting I create. You don’t point at a hyperspace drive on a starship and say, “Science happens and the ship goes.” Doing it for magic is as stupid as doing it for sci-fi, or for reality. Give serious consideration to your use of magic in a setting.
Once you’ve got those two aspects out of the way, you’re really pretty much done. Yes, there is a lot more to the inner-workings of a fantasy setting than that, but they should fall into place as you continue from there. If you hate world-building and you’re itching to get into the story, then political nature, criminal elements, money systems, wars and social elements will all fall into place. You don’t need to write out the full and complete history of your setting before you write the first story in it. You probably shouldn’t, actually. My Renthani setting, when I first came up with it, was pathetically small. It’s grown since then into a complete world spanning hundreds of years and probably at least a dozen books (if I get them all done). It was only through writing in the setting when it was small that I garnered an understanding of how the setting could grow, and how elements I had used were right or wrong. Don’t be afraid of failure, and don’t try to perfect it before you start writing. Leap in!
And my personal favourite, sci-fi. I love sci-fi, cause I’m a nut for detail. I would sooner read a university-level textbook on superstring theory and quantum physics and the nature of temporal mechanics than I would a lot of novels. I got into my sci-fi early on, with Star Wars. The nature of Star Wars’ setting has influenced my own a hell of a lot, and that’s only been expanded further with what many believe to be a sickening level of affinity for Stargate. Still, you didn’t come here to hear about how I learned to love the FTL. You came to hear what I thought about creating a setting!
We’ll start with FTL, actually. Faster-than-light travel is often considered to be the barrier between what’s known as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science-fiction. Hard sci-fi is firmly rooted in real-world physics: light is the speed-limit of the universe, our current understanding is complete and right, everything that’s remotely futuristic has a thorough explanation of how it works. Hard sci-fi has no faster-than-light travel or communications. Ships in those worlds (and the people inside them) suffer relativistic effects when travelling between stars, if they can even do that. Transporters? What transporters? That’s stupid; the equations for matter-energy conversion come up short all the time, and even if they didn’t, how do you reintegrate the energy into matter on the other side without another machine to translate it? You can kiss those alternate realities goodbye, too. Even if they exist, accessing them would rip apart the fabric of space. What’s that; power? You’re lucky if you have nuclear fusion reactors at that point! Time-travel? If you wanna see time travel, then accelerate to 0.9c for about fifteen years, then come back and talk to my grandchildren about time travel! So screw you, and your fancy DeLorean! “Bah!” says hard sci-fi to such fantastic technology, “Not on my watch!”
Soft sci-fi however is a lot more forgiving in the science department. FTL travel is more commonplace (but not always possible). You might see your Star Trek-style transporters in play here. Stasis pods can protect the occupants of a ship from the lengthy journeys between worlds, if they can’t break the light barrier or if they can only do so slowly. You’ll see wormholes safely traversed (or, in an example that often makes me want to eat my face right off, black holes), resource replication units, and all manner of awesome stellar warfare. Ships in soft sci-fi often have a maximum speed, in clear defiance of all established physics of the real universe. Fancy and flashy lasers can be shot about, rather than the less-elegant but far more realistic mass-drivers and missiles; and they’ll often be more effective to boot. Soft sci-fi uses the real world’s idea of space and physics in as a guideline and little more; if it furthers the story and betters the universe you’ve created, then the laws of physics themselves are yours to toy with. Often, this is where a lot of new sci-fi writers will start.
Early on, you need to determine where about you’re going to sit on the sliding scale of sci-fi. If it’s your first foray into sci-fi writing, you’re probably going to want to slide over towards the softer stuff. You’ll be less constrained by a necessary knowledge of real-world physics (astrophysics being just the tip of that particular iceberg), and more free to shape the universe around your characters in whatever way you choose. If you want to go that realistic route, or if you find that a more scientific application of physics in your story presents a better tale and universe for your characters, then you’ll probably want to go the hard sci-fi route. Your required research is going to jump way up with that, though, unless you’re a literal rocket scientist. If you’d have to ask me where I sit on my preference of writing sci-fi, I’d say I’m honestly somewhere in the middle. I do a lot of stuff commonly found in soft sci-fi with my Sol series (laser weapons, prevalent FTL, Star Wars-style starfighter battles, etc.), but I also include a lot of limiting or defining physics into the same series (mass-driver and missile weapons, limitations of FTL travel, real-physics as a base to most everything including FTL, etc.) for the purpose of expanding the realism of the world. If your ships accelerate to several times the speed of light, you’re probably writing soft sci-fi. If your ships travel at relativistic speeds, it’s hard sci-fi. If your ships travel in FTL, and you can write a ten-page document that explains how they do so, then you’re sitting on the fence with me. Hi there!
Once you’ve got your style of sci-fi down, you take part in the same two steps that I outlined above with fantasy settings. First, consider size. Are we talking about stories taking place in the entire universe? How about a cluster of galaxies? Just one galaxy? A sector thereof? Just a single solar system? One planet? Smaller than that? Once you’ve got the size and scope of your setting figured out (and hopefully tempered by your choice above; you’ll have a near-impossibly hard time of a hard sci-fi setting that takes place over a galaxy), you need to consider the composition of the established story area. Is it one-race in the whole of the universe? Are there just a handful of species? Is it practically a zoo with the amount of diversity out amongst the stars? If you’ve got more than one specie out there, how many are space-worthy? How many are expanded beyond their home systems? Once you have that sorted, what are their cultures?
Cultures are more important for a massive-scale sci-fi setting than it is for a small fantasy world. You might have a few kingdoms vying for control of continental resources in a fantasy setting, but in sci-fi, you need to consider the motivations and abilities (and technology!) of different civilizations. Is the ancient race with intimate knowledge of technology going to get along with the rapidly-expanding, viciously militant new aliens on the block? Is there a universal democracy, or imperial system? How do the different values of the various civilizations stack up? While you can often wing-it with a fantasy setting, cultures become more important in sci-fi, especially when there’s several races that the characters (and readers!) will encounter. Interactions between different species need to be weighted by all the same elements mentioned in the fantasy examples above. Even if you stick to one-race sci-fi settings, not everyone is going to have the same ideology. Factions and sub-factions need to be considered in the place of other species.
Technology is the big one, and again it’s based in which kind of sci-fi you chose to establish your world with. While you can get away with saying, “It’s magic!” with fantasy (cop-out though it is!), it’s a lot harder to do that with science. A basic understanding of physics will allow you to more accurately portray even the most far-fetched technologies of your soft sci-fi setting with some well-placed technobabble, but you’ll need to dig a little deeper to understand (and explain!) things for your hard sci-fi. If you have laser-based weapons, how are they charged? How often do they need to be replaced, or recharged? Have they phased out projectile weapons completely? What makes your ships go; is it chemical rockets, or ion drives? How do those ships get around the degradation of the ion drives themselves if they’re used, or the wasteful nature of chemical rocket fuel? Everything comes down to technology in sci-fi, and your characters are going to have to deal with it at some point. If your story is set in space, then an understanding of space is necessary. You don’t need to be a doctor of astrophysics or an MIT graduate engineer to write hard sci-fi, or sci-fi in general. But a little knowledge can go a long way to creating realistic technology levels that will leave your reader believing that every little futuristic technology is plausible. And in the end, you want the reader to be completely immersed at all times.
I mentioned before that I love world-building. I wish I had fewer stories for my existing settings in my head sometimes, so that I would have a real need to create more settings for new stories. Including the land of Renthani, I have two more fantasy lands that have a similar length and depth of history. I have another fantasy setting beyond them that I still flesh out in my mind from time to time. My Sol setting is that middle-of-the-road sci-fi between hard and soft, but I also have a very, very hard sci-fi setting that I can’t wait to write in. That’s six settings right there, each of them thoroughly fleshed out and waiting for tales to be written in. Each one of those tales will be made all the better because of my thorough understanding of the world they’re set in, and the settings themselves will be enriched and expanded upon by my writing. The cycle is never-ending, and results only in better and better writing.
Bullet point tiems! What have we learned from this?
- Story and characters can fall down if they exist in a cardboard-cutout world.
- Go wild with your world-building! You’re not bound by any stories or characters yet; hang loose!
- Give yourself at least a basic understanding of the world around your characters before you start writing their story.
- If you’re writing a modern or historical setting, then look into the information about that area and/or period. Take note of everything; research makes your world more immersive.
- Research, again. Do it, and your setting can make the reader feel as if they are, themselves, there.
- While creativity is what needs to drive the production of an original fantasy or sci-fi setting, don’t neglect your research! Especially with sci-fi!
- Focus on the culture and values of the peoples in your fantasy settings. What do they believe is important, and how do they behave? How are they ruled?
- Ask yourself every possible question in the world if you decide to include magic in your setting. Magic is a game-changer and story-breaker; make sure you understand how it works before your characters bust out the spells.
- Let your setting grow as you write in it. Take notes of changes and additions in a separate notepad, where you can record how the world has evolved.
- Hard or soft sci-fi? Choose carefully; it can shape the course of the stories to be set in that universe!
- Hard sci-fi has limits on technology and travel; don’t forget to incorporate those limitations into your world and stories! Perhaps even that limitation becomes an antagonist in and of itself!
- Soft sci-fi bends and often breaks the laws of physics to do things that are just cooler than reality allows. Give yourself some basic scientific knowledge to make the technobabble sound good, and go for it!
- Don’t be afraid to sit between the hard and soft sci-fi camps!
- Consider interspecies cultures and relations very carefully, if aliens are a part of your setting. If not, consider the various factions and ideologies of your solitary race and how they work (or don’t!) together. Create a living tapestry of a setting!
- Scale the size of your universe with your technology; the faster your ships can go, the larger your universe can become!
- Always provide at least a basic understanding of the science behind the various advanced technologies you’re utilizing, to give them some credibility. If you’re going hard sci-fi, use existing understandings of advanced science and engineering!
Again with my writing for the larger-scale projects, and I’d like to offer a sincere apology to any readers who like to stick to their short fiction. I do believe that there’s something to take away from this even if you’re not into the story series or novel-length works, but this guide is still pretty firmly pointed at those who are looking for deep works that span several individual projects. Even short fiction needs to have a believable location in which the story takes place, though the rules can be bent and broken far, far more easily the shorter a piece is. Keep that in mind; the larger the piece, the more work you need to do on the world.
Next time, we’ll get back to a subject that I think everyone here can really relate to! We’re furs; we hold a special appreciation in our hearts for the anthropomorphism of animals. And yet, it’s not as simple as just labeling a character as a fox, or a leopard, or a dragon. Anthro characters are not human, which is our default mental state (for the most part). So, how do we take those characters that are just called a fox, and make them seem like they really are a fox rather than just a human in disguise? Find out in the next guide! Until then though, take care and keep writing!
Faora
First, a reiteration of some core facts about this guide. I am NOT a trained writer. I've done no courses, no workshops. I don't attend any writers groups, and I don't claim to have professional knowledge. I HAVE been writing for over ten years, and I HAVE sought out the knowledge that I can to improve my skills. However, this little guide is going to have little to nothing to do with technical writing, if I have my way. Rather, this guide is being provided as a way to motivate and inspire other writers here on this site. I'm not going to tell you what to write, or how to write. I only hope to provide you with some mental ‘tools' that will allow you to craft your words to their greatest potential. That said, let us begin!
The next lesson is this: If the world isn’t believable, how can the story be taken seriously?
The answer to that question is obvious: it can’t be. You could have the most vibrant characters in the world, telling an amazing story that captures the attention of the reader… but as they go on, they’ll start to notice that the world around the characters is just a bunch of cardboard cutouts. That’s not interesting, and it can detract from an overly polished final piece. It can take a fantastic story and make it feel cheaper than it really is. Despite this, I find it absolutely HILLARIOUS when I read a story with a flat and uninspired world wrapped around the characters. Why? Cause building a world is just fun. Allow me to elaborate.
As a writer of sci-fi and fantasy stories myself, I find worldbuilding to be something I can just let my mind go wild with. There’s no stories just yet. There’s no characters to be tied to. Nothing is set in stone, and everything is malleable. It’s pure, creative freedom. Hell, I have more fun working on fleshing out the worlds and histories of my different projects than I do actually writing those stories. It’s a source of consternation for me that I’d rather write a 600-year timeline of events than work on a novel set during those years, but that’s just how it goes. How more writers don’t find such fun in their setting work I’ll never know.
Before I write any story of mine at all, I consider the world around the characters. I mentioned in the Characters guide that they must live and breathe and have real thoughts and feelings to be taken seriously. The same is true for the world you build for those characters. I’m not just talking genre fiction, either; it’s simple to take away those words as platitudes for the fantasy and sci-fi crowd. “But!” I hear you cry, “what about more realistic settings? What about a mystery-thriller, set in modern-day New York?” Well… I’d first suggest a different city; NYC’s been done to death there. Immediately after that though, I’d point out that you need to consider your setting as much – moreso, I would even go so far as to say – than if you were making up a fantasy kingdom or a galactic confederation.
First, to get it out of the way, let’s look at more realistic fiction. Chances are if you write thriller or romance or action stories (or any one of the hundreds of other sub-genres I’m lumping together to save my fingers from typing too much), then you’re dealing with the modern world. Occasionally (and more important to get right by far), you might deal with history. You might feel as though you don’t need to put too much effort into your setting, especially if you live nearby the locations mentioned in said story. Consider instead the possibility of your knowledge being insufficient, or incomplete. You’d then be doing your story a disservice by writing with a poor understanding of what your characters are going through.
Maybe the park you and your characters drive past every day to work wasn’t there fifteen years ago, when your story was set. Perhaps the landmark skyscraper is scheduled for demolition next week, but your characters in the years to come fight off a mad terrorist inside it. The city your story is set in (which you’ve never visited) could be written to suffer monsoonal rains on an annual cycle, when in reality it’s bone-dry. The assault rifle your support character carries might not pierce Kevlar in real-life, but it might do so in your story. Castles in Europe in the 1500’s might not have had the elaborate traps in place that you’ve attributed them. The majority of readers might not understand the difference between your fictional representation of a place and the reality of that place, but those who know the difference will find every misstep to be a quick, hard jerk back towards reality. It breaks immersion in your world, and that’s the last thing you want.
While these little things might not be apparent to some readers, others who thrive on details will wonder what you did wrong and why you didn’t care enough to do the research. Research is the key to making a story set in a modern or historical time and real location just work. If you’re not going to do the effort, then you’re going to come across looking silly at best, by the people that know better. At worst, people will cast your work aside because of the lack of care you showed when writing it. Having been on the end of that once about seven years ago (in my defense, I was a horrible writer then anyway), I can say that it really sucks. However, it teaches the lesson hard and fast: if you deal with reality, you need to make your story real.
Research is the key to a realistic, modern or historical setting, and that is supplemented by creativity when you add your fictitious spin on things. Conversely, when dealing with realistic fantasy and sci-fi settings, creativity becomes the key element in the construction of your setting. Research plays a role, but it’s not at the forefront. It helps with your understanding of dress codes, weapons and construction techniques for a fantasy setting, and the knowledge of basic physics and chemistry provide limitless resource for sci-fi universes. But the most important part of either a fantasy or sci-fi setting – and where you should spend most of your time and effort to create a ‘real’ setting, in my mind – is the creative creation. Since I deal with these settings myself, this is where I’ll spend the majority of my time here. Sorry, real-world nuts!
We’ll begin with fantasy. It’s a good idea to consider what cultural direction you want to go at a very early point. Do you want to try tightly-knit tribal societies, or age-old kingdoms? A nation built on the value of various castes, or a tyrannical empire ruling through force? Consider the ruler(s) for each different option here; not only can they be integral parts of stories for you to tell, but they can also set the tone for their land as a whole. Also consider what the peoples of these lands value most. Is it a sense of honor? Is it a devotion to a deity, or pantheon? Is it physical strength, or mental fortitude? Once you’ve considered these options, one or two will usually begin to stand out. Right there, one of the hardest elements is gone.
Magic. Oh, magic. If you’re not going to have magic in your setting, then you don’t need to worry about any of the other little troubles that go along with it. If however magic is a part of your fantasy setting, you need to consider it very carefully. It brings to you a whole new series of questions. Is magic genetic? How did it come to be? Is it divine, or arcane? Is it wild, or tempered? Is magic revered, or feared? Does magic dominate, or is it in the service of the population? What are the effects on the mages who use it? Does it protect against plagues? Can the dead be revived? Why are there warriors and archers when battlemages can do the job with more flair? These questions – and more – are all what you need to answer when you create your setting. I can’t even begin to answer them for you; what works for me won’t work for you. However, I can offer one piece of advice: don’t say that, “It just is.” That’s a cop-out. Magic always has rhyme and reason in any fantasy setting I create. You don’t point at a hyperspace drive on a starship and say, “Science happens and the ship goes.” Doing it for magic is as stupid as doing it for sci-fi, or for reality. Give serious consideration to your use of magic in a setting.
Once you’ve got those two aspects out of the way, you’re really pretty much done. Yes, there is a lot more to the inner-workings of a fantasy setting than that, but they should fall into place as you continue from there. If you hate world-building and you’re itching to get into the story, then political nature, criminal elements, money systems, wars and social elements will all fall into place. You don’t need to write out the full and complete history of your setting before you write the first story in it. You probably shouldn’t, actually. My Renthani setting, when I first came up with it, was pathetically small. It’s grown since then into a complete world spanning hundreds of years and probably at least a dozen books (if I get them all done). It was only through writing in the setting when it was small that I garnered an understanding of how the setting could grow, and how elements I had used were right or wrong. Don’t be afraid of failure, and don’t try to perfect it before you start writing. Leap in!
And my personal favourite, sci-fi. I love sci-fi, cause I’m a nut for detail. I would sooner read a university-level textbook on superstring theory and quantum physics and the nature of temporal mechanics than I would a lot of novels. I got into my sci-fi early on, with Star Wars. The nature of Star Wars’ setting has influenced my own a hell of a lot, and that’s only been expanded further with what many believe to be a sickening level of affinity for Stargate. Still, you didn’t come here to hear about how I learned to love the FTL. You came to hear what I thought about creating a setting!
We’ll start with FTL, actually. Faster-than-light travel is often considered to be the barrier between what’s known as ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science-fiction. Hard sci-fi is firmly rooted in real-world physics: light is the speed-limit of the universe, our current understanding is complete and right, everything that’s remotely futuristic has a thorough explanation of how it works. Hard sci-fi has no faster-than-light travel or communications. Ships in those worlds (and the people inside them) suffer relativistic effects when travelling between stars, if they can even do that. Transporters? What transporters? That’s stupid; the equations for matter-energy conversion come up short all the time, and even if they didn’t, how do you reintegrate the energy into matter on the other side without another machine to translate it? You can kiss those alternate realities goodbye, too. Even if they exist, accessing them would rip apart the fabric of space. What’s that; power? You’re lucky if you have nuclear fusion reactors at that point! Time-travel? If you wanna see time travel, then accelerate to 0.9c for about fifteen years, then come back and talk to my grandchildren about time travel! So screw you, and your fancy DeLorean! “Bah!” says hard sci-fi to such fantastic technology, “Not on my watch!”
Soft sci-fi however is a lot more forgiving in the science department. FTL travel is more commonplace (but not always possible). You might see your Star Trek-style transporters in play here. Stasis pods can protect the occupants of a ship from the lengthy journeys between worlds, if they can’t break the light barrier or if they can only do so slowly. You’ll see wormholes safely traversed (or, in an example that often makes me want to eat my face right off, black holes), resource replication units, and all manner of awesome stellar warfare. Ships in soft sci-fi often have a maximum speed, in clear defiance of all established physics of the real universe. Fancy and flashy lasers can be shot about, rather than the less-elegant but far more realistic mass-drivers and missiles; and they’ll often be more effective to boot. Soft sci-fi uses the real world’s idea of space and physics in as a guideline and little more; if it furthers the story and betters the universe you’ve created, then the laws of physics themselves are yours to toy with. Often, this is where a lot of new sci-fi writers will start.
Early on, you need to determine where about you’re going to sit on the sliding scale of sci-fi. If it’s your first foray into sci-fi writing, you’re probably going to want to slide over towards the softer stuff. You’ll be less constrained by a necessary knowledge of real-world physics (astrophysics being just the tip of that particular iceberg), and more free to shape the universe around your characters in whatever way you choose. If you want to go that realistic route, or if you find that a more scientific application of physics in your story presents a better tale and universe for your characters, then you’ll probably want to go the hard sci-fi route. Your required research is going to jump way up with that, though, unless you’re a literal rocket scientist. If you’d have to ask me where I sit on my preference of writing sci-fi, I’d say I’m honestly somewhere in the middle. I do a lot of stuff commonly found in soft sci-fi with my Sol series (laser weapons, prevalent FTL, Star Wars-style starfighter battles, etc.), but I also include a lot of limiting or defining physics into the same series (mass-driver and missile weapons, limitations of FTL travel, real-physics as a base to most everything including FTL, etc.) for the purpose of expanding the realism of the world. If your ships accelerate to several times the speed of light, you’re probably writing soft sci-fi. If your ships travel at relativistic speeds, it’s hard sci-fi. If your ships travel in FTL, and you can write a ten-page document that explains how they do so, then you’re sitting on the fence with me. Hi there!
Once you’ve got your style of sci-fi down, you take part in the same two steps that I outlined above with fantasy settings. First, consider size. Are we talking about stories taking place in the entire universe? How about a cluster of galaxies? Just one galaxy? A sector thereof? Just a single solar system? One planet? Smaller than that? Once you’ve got the size and scope of your setting figured out (and hopefully tempered by your choice above; you’ll have a near-impossibly hard time of a hard sci-fi setting that takes place over a galaxy), you need to consider the composition of the established story area. Is it one-race in the whole of the universe? Are there just a handful of species? Is it practically a zoo with the amount of diversity out amongst the stars? If you’ve got more than one specie out there, how many are space-worthy? How many are expanded beyond their home systems? Once you have that sorted, what are their cultures?
Cultures are more important for a massive-scale sci-fi setting than it is for a small fantasy world. You might have a few kingdoms vying for control of continental resources in a fantasy setting, but in sci-fi, you need to consider the motivations and abilities (and technology!) of different civilizations. Is the ancient race with intimate knowledge of technology going to get along with the rapidly-expanding, viciously militant new aliens on the block? Is there a universal democracy, or imperial system? How do the different values of the various civilizations stack up? While you can often wing-it with a fantasy setting, cultures become more important in sci-fi, especially when there’s several races that the characters (and readers!) will encounter. Interactions between different species need to be weighted by all the same elements mentioned in the fantasy examples above. Even if you stick to one-race sci-fi settings, not everyone is going to have the same ideology. Factions and sub-factions need to be considered in the place of other species.
Technology is the big one, and again it’s based in which kind of sci-fi you chose to establish your world with. While you can get away with saying, “It’s magic!” with fantasy (cop-out though it is!), it’s a lot harder to do that with science. A basic understanding of physics will allow you to more accurately portray even the most far-fetched technologies of your soft sci-fi setting with some well-placed technobabble, but you’ll need to dig a little deeper to understand (and explain!) things for your hard sci-fi. If you have laser-based weapons, how are they charged? How often do they need to be replaced, or recharged? Have they phased out projectile weapons completely? What makes your ships go; is it chemical rockets, or ion drives? How do those ships get around the degradation of the ion drives themselves if they’re used, or the wasteful nature of chemical rocket fuel? Everything comes down to technology in sci-fi, and your characters are going to have to deal with it at some point. If your story is set in space, then an understanding of space is necessary. You don’t need to be a doctor of astrophysics or an MIT graduate engineer to write hard sci-fi, or sci-fi in general. But a little knowledge can go a long way to creating realistic technology levels that will leave your reader believing that every little futuristic technology is plausible. And in the end, you want the reader to be completely immersed at all times.
I mentioned before that I love world-building. I wish I had fewer stories for my existing settings in my head sometimes, so that I would have a real need to create more settings for new stories. Including the land of Renthani, I have two more fantasy lands that have a similar length and depth of history. I have another fantasy setting beyond them that I still flesh out in my mind from time to time. My Sol setting is that middle-of-the-road sci-fi between hard and soft, but I also have a very, very hard sci-fi setting that I can’t wait to write in. That’s six settings right there, each of them thoroughly fleshed out and waiting for tales to be written in. Each one of those tales will be made all the better because of my thorough understanding of the world they’re set in, and the settings themselves will be enriched and expanded upon by my writing. The cycle is never-ending, and results only in better and better writing.
Bullet point tiems! What have we learned from this?
- Story and characters can fall down if they exist in a cardboard-cutout world.
- Go wild with your world-building! You’re not bound by any stories or characters yet; hang loose!
- Give yourself at least a basic understanding of the world around your characters before you start writing their story.
- If you’re writing a modern or historical setting, then look into the information about that area and/or period. Take note of everything; research makes your world more immersive.
- Research, again. Do it, and your setting can make the reader feel as if they are, themselves, there.
- While creativity is what needs to drive the production of an original fantasy or sci-fi setting, don’t neglect your research! Especially with sci-fi!
- Focus on the culture and values of the peoples in your fantasy settings. What do they believe is important, and how do they behave? How are they ruled?
- Ask yourself every possible question in the world if you decide to include magic in your setting. Magic is a game-changer and story-breaker; make sure you understand how it works before your characters bust out the spells.
- Let your setting grow as you write in it. Take notes of changes and additions in a separate notepad, where you can record how the world has evolved.
- Hard or soft sci-fi? Choose carefully; it can shape the course of the stories to be set in that universe!
- Hard sci-fi has limits on technology and travel; don’t forget to incorporate those limitations into your world and stories! Perhaps even that limitation becomes an antagonist in and of itself!
- Soft sci-fi bends and often breaks the laws of physics to do things that are just cooler than reality allows. Give yourself some basic scientific knowledge to make the technobabble sound good, and go for it!
- Don’t be afraid to sit between the hard and soft sci-fi camps!
- Consider interspecies cultures and relations very carefully, if aliens are a part of your setting. If not, consider the various factions and ideologies of your solitary race and how they work (or don’t!) together. Create a living tapestry of a setting!
- Scale the size of your universe with your technology; the faster your ships can go, the larger your universe can become!
- Always provide at least a basic understanding of the science behind the various advanced technologies you’re utilizing, to give them some credibility. If you’re going hard sci-fi, use existing understandings of advanced science and engineering!
Again with my writing for the larger-scale projects, and I’d like to offer a sincere apology to any readers who like to stick to their short fiction. I do believe that there’s something to take away from this even if you’re not into the story series or novel-length works, but this guide is still pretty firmly pointed at those who are looking for deep works that span several individual projects. Even short fiction needs to have a believable location in which the story takes place, though the rules can be bent and broken far, far more easily the shorter a piece is. Keep that in mind; the larger the piece, the more work you need to do on the world.
Next time, we’ll get back to a subject that I think everyone here can really relate to! We’re furs; we hold a special appreciation in our hearts for the anthropomorphism of animals. And yet, it’s not as simple as just labeling a character as a fox, or a leopard, or a dragon. Anthro characters are not human, which is our default mental state (for the most part). So, how do we take those characters that are just called a fox, and make them seem like they really are a fox rather than just a human in disguise? Find out in the next guide! Until then though, take care and keep writing!
Faora
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I look forward to your next guide, it's a topic I feel I could use some work on.
Hmmm, nice to know that I am a little better at settings then some folks. Some writers, they have one gem of a location idea covered under a pile of figurative crap. Still, Queen of the Pirates has a ways to go...
Hmmm, nice to know that I am a little better at settings then some folks. Some writers, they have one gem of a location idea covered under a pile of figurative crap. Still, Queen of the Pirates has a ways to go...
I just think that in general, a lot of people could stand to stick a bit more effort into their setting work. It's an important aspect of the writing process, and a story can't stand well without the world seeming believable. At least, that's what I reckon, heh heh. Hope you enjoyed the guide, and that the next one meets your standards!
Faora
Faora 
Helpful guide ya got here. I'm quite enjoying the explanations of all the technology I'm using in the novel I'm presently writing. I don't even intend to explain ALL of it in the story; just enough to make everything understandable and plausible. What I do obsessively prepare is a whole ton of notes on exactly how everything DOES work, to make everything consistent and so that if anyone asks, I can answer.
In working on my hard sci-fi setting, the technology all came first. Originally it was just a bunch of ideas based in the tech I had in mind, but it evolved into a proper story as I looked into it. I make a habit of being just as obsessive as you in understanding how my technology works, and at being quick at making something up to explain something away that someone finds a problem with. *laughs* That's some of the most fun in writing sci-fi, to me!
Faora
Faora 
This is an excellent guide. I always really enjoyed making my settings as well; no painting can be made without a canvas or sculpture without rock.
The description and amount of freedom is really what makes writing fun for me. Sometimes I go overboard, but I enjoy it all the same.
Sci-fi for me is a nice balance between hard and soft. Soft enough to make it malleable and fun, but hard enough to keep that semblence of realism. Explaining the technology is really what makes it fun for me.
The description and amount of freedom is really what makes writing fun for me. Sometimes I go overboard, but I enjoy it all the same.
Sci-fi for me is a nice balance between hard and soft. Soft enough to make it malleable and fun, but hard enough to keep that semblence of realism. Explaining the technology is really what makes it fun for me.
A cat after my own heart! I swear, I have hours of fun just laying out how a hyperdrive works, or exactly what method is used to achieve a proper energy shield around a starship. Part of it is for the enjoyment of it, and the other part is because it really does help make the world more immersive and believable. Just as a personal question out of my own curiosity, as one sci-fi writer to another, where do you sit on the fence between hard and soft sci-fi? Do you lean towards the hard, or the soft?
Faora
Faora
I lean a little more towards the soft, but only on certain things. I still use mass drivers and missiles; lasers are still theoretical. FTL has been banned due to space-time damages (it's set only in Sol, in any case). Energy shields are impractical due to the energy cost to shield size and I balance out the number of ships I incorporate with the ease of destruction due to the clearly steeper increase of offensive to defensive technologies through history.
Even the most basic scientific incorporation makes the read so much more immersive. I'll probably never actually get my story out, but I like to create a fully fleshed out setting in case I come up with a plot to fit.
I love world building in more than just sci fi, but science fiction gives the most freedom in expression, I find.
Even the most basic scientific incorporation makes the read so much more immersive. I'll probably never actually get my story out, but I like to create a fully fleshed out setting in case I come up with a plot to fit.
I love world building in more than just sci fi, but science fiction gives the most freedom in expression, I find.
Ahh, you do a few of the things that I do, though some of your concepts are a little harder than mine (the lack of lasers, the impracticality of energy shields, difficult of space travel, etc). I do like your explaining that FTL causes problems; one form of FTL in my revised Sol setting does the same thing. Interconnected space gates utilize space-folding technology to bridge two points in space together, and way way back when, ships used Fold Drives to get around very quickly. However, a few points in space got folded a few times too many across each other, and the drives were outlawed for their damage to the fabric of reality. The gates continue to operate based purely on careful mathematical calculation and planned connection times. They're like airports, heh. Of course, they're just one form of FTL I incorporate, so maybe I go overboard.
Never assume that your stories won't get out; I don't! Instead, write the stories you want to write, and worry about sharing them with the world once you think you have them in a state that would allow them to be picked up by the average reader. Always work on those projects that are worthy of your time and effort, and give thought to publication only if you want that to be your end goal. Focus more on the fun of the moment and the enjoyment of the writing.
Never assume that your stories won't get out; I don't! Instead, write the stories you want to write, and worry about sharing them with the world once you think you have them in a state that would allow them to be picked up by the average reader. Always work on those projects that are worthy of your time and effort, and give thought to publication only if you want that to be your end goal. Focus more on the fun of the moment and the enjoyment of the writing.
That's excellent advice, thank you. I have read through some of your works and I have been very impressed, even inspired.
My works vary on their restrictions, depending. I'm a slave to my muse, heheh.
*nods understandingly* I always found the idea of folding space fascinating in concept. And in my view, there's no such thing as going overboard in things like that. Of course, that's just me.
The way I see it, any restriction in writing can be worked around with enough creativity and logical thinking.
My works vary on their restrictions, depending. I'm a slave to my muse, heheh.
*nods understandingly* I always found the idea of folding space fascinating in concept. And in my view, there's no such thing as going overboard in things like that. Of course, that's just me.
The way I see it, any restriction in writing can be worked around with enough creativity and logical thinking.
Inspired? *Blushes* Well thank you very much; I'm glad that something more than just entertainment can be taken away from my work! Always something to strive for, but I'm always pleasantly surprised when I find someone can take that sort of boon from my work!
That last line of yours is absolutely true. In writing, there are plenty of rules. You need to understand the language, you need to understand dramatic convention, you need to understand this and that and the other. The the beauty of writing is that after you understand all the rules, you're given the freedom to throw them out the window entirely and experiment. Writing unlocks absolute freedom that I would argue is lost on just about any other pursuit in the world. The only limitation to writing is the imagination, and with sufficient imagination and ingenuity ANYTHING that's written on the page can seem real to the reader. And that right there -- taking the fantastic and making it seem real -- is why I'll never be able to stop writing.
Faora
That last line of yours is absolutely true. In writing, there are plenty of rules. You need to understand the language, you need to understand dramatic convention, you need to understand this and that and the other. The the beauty of writing is that after you understand all the rules, you're given the freedom to throw them out the window entirely and experiment. Writing unlocks absolute freedom that I would argue is lost on just about any other pursuit in the world. The only limitation to writing is the imagination, and with sufficient imagination and ingenuity ANYTHING that's written on the page can seem real to the reader. And that right there -- taking the fantastic and making it seem real -- is why I'll never be able to stop writing.
Faora
It's a world of your creation, and you can go as wild as your imagination allows. It's the satisfaction and the enjoyment of getting your ideas and creativity out there.
Not only is there a wider array of topics and possible subjects that easily outstrips anything else, but it's your world when you're writing and that's a very rewarding feeling.
If you can communicate your ideas and that mental image in your mind about how you want it to look and feel, there's a limitless amount of choice in how you want to take it.
Not only is there a wider array of topics and possible subjects that easily outstrips anything else, but it's your world when you're writing and that's a very rewarding feeling.
If you can communicate your ideas and that mental image in your mind about how you want it to look and feel, there's a limitless amount of choice in how you want to take it.
I had, literally a half hour ago, a conversation with my wolf about the merits of art and the true intention behind it. I wholeheartedly bashed the paint-splattered-randomly-on-canvas approach, because it took perception of the piece completely out of the artist's hands and placed the true meaning of the picture in the viewer. To me, art in any form is grasping hold of an idea, or an emotion, or a thought, and producing a way to share your depiction of that idea, emotion or thought with an audience. To me, art is the product of effort and creativity brought together, to produce something of meaning for others to understand and take from.
Actually, I've also recently given in to my procrastination on my Christmas writing project and decided to sit down and work on setting-enhancement myself. Not only have I a noted history of approximately four hundred years of Renthani's existance, but I also went and made myself a map of the whole damn continent (on my FA page, if anyone cares to see) as a reference for myself. Going forward I might revise that map and change some elements, but on the whole I find it's already a valuable resource in regards to how I plan the stories that fit into that setting. I'd even go so far as to suggest doing just such a thing to any writer who plans to write a lot of work in a single area. Be it a city, a kingdom, a continent, a world, a solar system or a galaxy, map it out. Learn where everything is. Give yourself something to look at as a distinct reference, because it will REALLY make things easier to visualize. You may even discover new things about your setting that you didn't see before. I did!
Faora
Actually, I've also recently given in to my procrastination on my Christmas writing project and decided to sit down and work on setting-enhancement myself. Not only have I a noted history of approximately four hundred years of Renthani's existance, but I also went and made myself a map of the whole damn continent (on my FA page, if anyone cares to see) as a reference for myself. Going forward I might revise that map and change some elements, but on the whole I find it's already a valuable resource in regards to how I plan the stories that fit into that setting. I'd even go so far as to suggest doing just such a thing to any writer who plans to write a lot of work in a single area. Be it a city, a kingdom, a continent, a world, a solar system or a galaxy, map it out. Learn where everything is. Give yourself something to look at as a distinct reference, because it will REALLY make things easier to visualize. You may even discover new things about your setting that you didn't see before. I did!
Faora
Yes, exactly. It's the manifestation of the inner feelings of the artist in a format that others can view and hopefully enjoy. Seems like slacking off on the artist's part and requires the viewer to interpret and imagine.
That is honestly an excellent idea. When I was writing another of my stories, which has gotten novel sized at the moment (though I don't think I'll upload it till I'm finished) I would draw out a map about how I wanted everything to look so I could think about how all the pieces would fall together. I saw that map and I was very impressed, you have a full self sustained area that could be the platform for lots of events. Usually in your mind, you have a lot of different landmarks, but when you put it in a map, the blank spaces inbetween these landmarks can take on an importance. It's gotten me very interested in a lot of your work and I'm looking forward to your Christmas writing project.
That is honestly an excellent idea. When I was writing another of my stories, which has gotten novel sized at the moment (though I don't think I'll upload it till I'm finished) I would draw out a map about how I wanted everything to look so I could think about how all the pieces would fall together. I saw that map and I was very impressed, you have a full self sustained area that could be the platform for lots of events. Usually in your mind, you have a lot of different landmarks, but when you put it in a map, the blank spaces inbetween these landmarks can take on an importance. It's gotten me very interested in a lot of your work and I'm looking forward to your Christmas writing project.
Well, it's always nice to have someone new interested in my work, and I value any input you could offer on my pieces! In regards to the map you saw (I assume, anyway), I'd note that the Training series of adult stories are set in that land, and the Incendia novel teaser takes part in that land as well. The map was made with the state of the land in the days right before Incendia starts, actually, so the map is most accurate for that novel work. But listen to me, plugging my work. I should be holding a proper conversation about the above article!
If one properly considers the world around their characters, then every single blank space CAN take on a special meaning and purpose. The statement in one story that a town exists in a certain place can allow for that place to be fleshed out in a future piece that takes place in it, and such writing can tie together continuities in various, interesting ways. But then, I'm the sort who enjoys a convoluted story (even though I try not to write like that, personally), so your mileage may vary.
Faora
If one properly considers the world around their characters, then every single blank space CAN take on a special meaning and purpose. The statement in one story that a town exists in a certain place can allow for that place to be fleshed out in a future piece that takes place in it, and such writing can tie together continuities in various, interesting ways. But then, I'm the sort who enjoys a convoluted story (even though I try not to write like that, personally), so your mileage may vary.
Faora 
I'm the type who has literally spent entire days on Wikipedia, so I love a detailed well put together world choke full of "realistic," consistant limitations and history (especially the history part). That's one thing that bugs me a lot of fictional settings in general is that they do not flesh out the backdrop enough, and when they do it's flat, underlying details.
They say that when you've created a vibrant, "realistic" character, the character actually dictates to you what they would in a given situation, and that this doesn't limit your storytelling options, but actually enhances it. Setting, in my view, should be the exact same way. When you have a vibrant, well contructed setting, it shouldn't just say "oh species x and y can't have a war because we already established earlier that the fight against species z is too important;" it should tell you "Ok, we've established that these two peoples developed an understanding with each other, but how did the circumstances of coming to that understanding shape it? What are its limits? How does this affect the intricacies exactly how species x views and tolerates species y?" Settings are just as mallable and open to interpretation as characters, and authors who learn this will thrive.
Anyway I have begun to ramble, so I had best stop myself.
They say that when you've created a vibrant, "realistic" character, the character actually dictates to you what they would in a given situation, and that this doesn't limit your storytelling options, but actually enhances it. Setting, in my view, should be the exact same way. When you have a vibrant, well contructed setting, it shouldn't just say "oh species x and y can't have a war because we already established earlier that the fight against species z is too important;" it should tell you "Ok, we've established that these two peoples developed an understanding with each other, but how did the circumstances of coming to that understanding shape it? What are its limits? How does this affect the intricacies exactly how species x views and tolerates species y?" Settings are just as mallable and open to interpretation as characters, and authors who learn this will thrive.
Anyway I have begun to ramble, so I had best stop myself.
Wikipedia is usually a good go-to for me, as well. When I'm looking up particularly modern pieces of information regarding scientific advance or engineering marvels for use in sci-fi works, I'm often more inclined to check elsewhere. For most everything else though, a quick look at Wikipedia can present enough correct information to get you by in most any story. It's an invaluable resource!
I wholeheartedly agree in regards to character creation, and I also agree that a setting needs to be just as realstic and deep and well-constructed as any character. Much as with imparting information about characters, information about a setting should be given in dynamic ways, too. Simply stating, as you put, that species x and species y can't fight a war is silly. There needs to be not only the proper depth behind that fact, as you put it, but also the right delivery of information. It could come up as a piece of dialogue between two characters where it's being explained to one of them, or overhearing a news report detailing that particular piece of information, or the like. Information about a setting can be the hardest to impart in a story, but if done right it can be completly seamless.
And never be afraid to ramble! I invite discussion regarding any element of any article of mine, or any responses therein!
Faora
I wholeheartedly agree in regards to character creation, and I also agree that a setting needs to be just as realstic and deep and well-constructed as any character. Much as with imparting information about characters, information about a setting should be given in dynamic ways, too. Simply stating, as you put, that species x and species y can't fight a war is silly. There needs to be not only the proper depth behind that fact, as you put it, but also the right delivery of information. It could come up as a piece of dialogue between two characters where it's being explained to one of them, or overhearing a news report detailing that particular piece of information, or the like. Information about a setting can be the hardest to impart in a story, but if done right it can be completly seamless.
And never be afraid to ramble! I invite discussion regarding any element of any article of mine, or any responses therein!
Faora 
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