Guest bloggers visit my website twice a month on Tuesday and Thursday. If you would like to be part of this, feel free to check out my Be A Guest Blogger page.
This week’s guest post is brought to you by Nthato, about world building. This is part three of a four-part series. In case you missed it, you can read Part One and Part Two here. Thanks, Nthato!
Via http://firedudewraith.deviantart.com/
In this third post we look at mapping out the world with the intention of driving our story forward. Remember that your world supports your story, and not every detail you map out will appear, but it will help shape your writing as well as your characters.
Mapping it out:
Depending on the type of story you’re writing, your map might vary from very minute detail to grandiose table spanning details. This is of course, laid out by the story you’re looking to tell and where it will take place. These are a few things to consider regarding mapping out your world:
- What kind of world is it? How do my characters react to this world?
- How much of my world do my characters get to see? What will my characters face in this world and how will details of the world guide the narrative?
- What are the key features in your world that will appear in your novel and how are they affected by the narrative of the story?
- What has been affected by your world, like technology, foods, clothing etc and how have they been affected.
As I write this I think of Harry Potter and the detail by which the world was built. Imagine Hogwarts without details of the castle and its walls, of every room, staircase, cellar hidden or in plain sight. No whirling movement of the Whomping Willow. No magnificent description of Diagon Alley. I think of the little things that added that extra bit of magic like Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans that may seem insignificant but were actual representative of the magical world Harry Potter had found himself in. Details not missed by readers.
What are the little things in your world that add that extra bit of “magic” to your story?
South African born writer working as a freelance writer for Gamecca Magazine, hobbyist blogger and writer of short stories. An avid reader and aspiring digital artist hoping to finish a couple of novels from previous NaNoWriMo years, including a Steam Punk novel, a political thriller, and a South African Historic Fantasy.
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