Sophie's World

Haven't gotten much writing done the last two weeks, mainly due to Christmas and holiday preparations at home. For some reason, kids like gettin' stuff for Christmas, and we as parents must oblige them.

Now if I can just keep away from Guitar Hero long enough to revisit my novel every day I'll be in good shape.

Ah, the novel. One thing about fantasy worlds is, not writing does not necessarily mean no development. I have spent a lot of time and effort on world and character development, which are both equally important. In fantasy/sci-fi, the world is just as important as any other element in the story. The world should be thought of as a character in its own way, with personality, quirks, dysfunctions and problems, as well as strengths and virtues. Even the darkest cyberpunk fantasy world has some light in it. For every North Korea or Zimbabwe there should be, say, a France or England. For every George W. Bush there should be a Pope John Paul II.

I'm sure you get the point. Bad must be balanced out with good, or the world becomes less believable. It's true that some worlds appear irredeemably bad on the surface, but even that's largely due to the POV of the main character.

Anyway, world development. It's important. And I've spent a bit of time working on Sophie's world, which in many ways mirrors ours but with several major differences. I shall attempt to explain them in greater detail in future posts, but the major areas of change are Magic, Technology, and Society.