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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My ulterior motive (Mwa-ha-ha-hahhh)

I see I've got some comments already telling me about the larger story context for these excerpts. Thanks so much for your speed, guys.

My plan is to use this material for a devious purpose. :-)

With well-developed worlds like the ones I'm seeing, very often writers develop their own world-related notes and research at home. For a novel-length piece, it might even get its own file on the computer. A world developer will probably have worked to answer some of the following questions:

1. What is the nature of the environment? Planet? Nation? Underwater world?
2. What is the climate? What are the physical dangers?
3. What is the geography where the story takes place?
4. How do people live? In cities? In an air bubble on an inimical world? What do their homes look like/feel like?
5. What is the political layout of the area where the story takes place?
6. What do people wear? How does this reflect the climate and their social status?
7. How do people move goods around? Is it easy to obtain supplies in this environment?
8. What do people eat?
9. What kinds of objects or substances have value? Is there an economy? What kind?
10. Are there regional differences?
11. Are there religious differences?

Obviously there are many more questions that can be answered, and some questions are more relevant to a story than others. On the other hand, while you wouldn't expect regional differences between the different areas of Mars in Bill's piece, you might discover that the characters come from different regions of Earth, and that could conceivably have bearing on the plot. Which is just to say, think about all the possible ways that these world details can influence the story before ruling any of them out completely.

In this workshop, I didn't want to work with world descriptions so much as world demonstrations. So now that we've considered knowledge sets in each piece, I want to zero in on something else.

Consider how your world saturates your point of view character.

Let's take the questions above and put them differently, from the protagonist's point of view.

1. What is my home like? How do I visualize its boundaries?
2. What weather and physical conditions do I consider normal? What do I fear?
3. What kind of topography did I grow up in, and how did it influence my physical condition and my concepts of comfort?
4. In what kind of place do I feel most at home? What shapes and textures give me comfort, or discomfort?
5. Who is in charge here? Do I respect them, fear them, both?
6. How do I show who I am in the way I dress? What is comfortable? Will I endure discomfort for the sake of looking good or looking powerful?
7. Where do the things I own come from? Do I worry about getting more?
8. What is delicious to me? What do I consider unworthy of consumption?
9. What are my most prized possessions? Do I hoard anything? Do I have so much of anything that I care little if I must give it away?
10. Who do I consider to be unlike me? Are their differences charming or alarming?
11. Am I in control of my own actions and the happenings around me? What or whom do I believe in?

Changing these questions from general world questions into personal protagonist questions can deeply change the way you write about your world. This is why I have asked you to tell me about the point of view character and the main conflict. Once I have all the descriptions in hand I'm going to go off and think, but I'd like you guys to start thinking too, because I'm planning to give each of you a set of questions geared to your particular piece, and in the end I'm going to ask you to make changes to your text.

Here's the central issue:

Think about who your main character is, and what that person's goals are in this scene that you've given me. What does he or she want? Then think about how that person's goals relate to the world that you've created and the personalized questions above. Why does he or she want it? What value does it have, and why? What is standing in the way of him or her getting it?

The goals of the protagonist, and the worldview that lies behind him or her, including any specialized knowledge or experience in his or her untold backstory, will influence the protagonist's judgment of everything.

So to summarize what happens next: once I have a sense of the main character and the main conflict from everyone, I'll post a set of questions for each of you that relates specifically to your own piece, and we'll see where we can go from there.

12 comments:

  1. David,

    I'm glad to see you responding to the questions. This is a great first step; now I'd like to see you push it even further toward your character. Consider writing your answers in first person instead of third, to try to experience her mindset.

    This may seem like a point of view exercise, but in my experience of worldbuilding, I find people tend to take less advantage than they might of the protagonist's judgments to enhance the sense of the world.

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  2. K,

    Cool stuff. It's clear that you know your main POV protagonist pretty well. Are you planning to use Lison's POV much in the story? If so, it's worth doing something similar for him. I won't ask you to do another whole file, but I will give you some questions tuned to the piece you turned in, which will involve Lison's viewpoint.

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  3. Very cool to see this from you, Bill. You've given me a great idea for your questions. Got to go start working on those...

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  4. I love reading these. :)

    Juliette- I do use Lison's POV extensively, so ask away! I worked through the original questions for him, and learned a lot. I'm anxious to see everyone's individual questions.

    -K.

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  5. 1. What is the nature of the environment? Planet? Nation? Underwater world?
    Nova Britannia is an Earthlike planet in the Nova Europa system. I haven't worked out the full profile of the system. For all practical purposes, Nova Britannia is indistinguishable from Earth in matters of breathable atmosphere, gravity, etc., which makes it very easy to work with. I suspect its close similarity to Earth may have made it the first planet of the system to be settled, but the settlement is so far in the past, and has no particular influence on the story per se that I've given it little thought.

    2. What is the climate? What are the physical dangers?
    The story takes place largely in the subtropical and tropical zones of the planet. No idea about physical/environmental dangers. There must not be many, or they would already have impinged on my awareness through the perceptions of the characters.

    3. What is the geography where the story takes place?
    A large city. Also a provincial town, possibly regional capitol of its island chain. This is a bustling and picturesque little port. Also a bucolic island, not associated with the just mentioned archipelago; a perfect or fantasy island if you like. Assorted interiors. A spaceport and a short haul spacecraft. A sailing craft.

    4. How do people live? In cities? In an air bubble on an inimical world? What do their homes look like/feel like?
    See Q 1. Homes very much like those on Earth. No doubt there are differences, but these have not yet become apparent or important through the writing.

    5. What is the political layout of the area where the story takes place?
    The planet has a world government of some sort. I think it is also part of a larger federation or consortium within the Nova Europa system. One important legal detail: Nova Britannia is one of a minority of worlds where the age of majority is twenty-one. On most worlds, the age of majority is seventeen.

    6. What do people wear? How does this reflect the climate and their social status?
    *Shrug* See Q 1.

    7. How do people move goods around? Is it easy to obtain supplies in this environment?
    People and goods can be moved by ground, sea/river systems, air and space. I haven't worked out the economic situation. My characters, being middle to upper class, have no procurement problems.

    8. What do people eat?
    That's an interesting question. Obviously, there are local Nova Britannian foods. I think, though, it's pretty much a diet and cuisine structured on what we would recognize. They have tea in the afternoon. They eat fish and chips. Again, I haven't worked this out in detail yet, primarily because it doesn't impact the storyline.

    9. What kinds of objects or substances have value? Is there an economy? What kind?
    There is an economy. Again, I haven't worked it out, though I have a feeling it's not quite like any economy we would recognize. Some people employ, others are employed. But I haven't bothered with the currency or whether they're on the gold standard or anything. Again, this is something the characters are so familiar with that it doesn't impact the story; so, I haven't had any need to know about it.

    10. Are there regional differences?
    There are, as there would be on any world. However, the inhabitants speak one language, British. Some also speak the indigenous language, officially designated "the Aboriginal language."

    11. Are there religious differences?
    There are, but fewer than you might think. Brontë and Charlie happen, coincidentally, both to be Catholic. Emma, and presumably her parents as well, is some sort of evangelical Protestant. I don't know Jocelyn's religious views if any. I need to investigate the indigenous faith.

    ---

    Such intense thought is very tiring. Not sure I'll be able to answer the second set of personalized questions tonight.

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  6. Catreona,

    Thanks for engaging with the questions even though it's tricky. I hope you have a chance to do the second set, but don't push yourself to do them today.

    I think it was the similarities to earth that gave me a sense that this was a fantasy and not a science fictional world. It might be worth pushing your world knowledge further in the "shrug" areas, because even a single detail here or there can really give your world extra dimension. Though the characters will not necessarily think consciously about these questions, they will be built into the characters' concepts of what is right and wrong, what is normal and not normal. For example, the economy of the world may have some influence on the plight of the disabled, since it may be difficult to support them.

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  7. Juliette @ 3:51

    Roger that. Though I hadn't conciously thought of it, you're right that it may well be details in the shrug areas that make this world stand out, make it real.

    I don't quite like the perhaps unconscious assumption behind "it may be difficult to support the disabled." Everyone who is capable of being schooled and is capable of having some sort of job or making some sort of contribution to society is given that oppertunity, be he disabled or able bodied. The disabled are not some dependant underclass, as unfortunately we all too often are here in the United States.

    You know, writing that last sentence brought something clear, something which was till now an unspoken assumption that I never really thought about. Nova Britannia is not some sort of Eutopia, nor is it in any sense what we would recognize as Socialist or Communist. Perhaps Social Democrat... But, one undergirding principle of the society is "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." That is, those who can, do; those who can't, are provided and/or cared for.

    Very interesting. Another whole facet, socio-economics, to investigate. Thanks.

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  8. I'm glad to see your thoughts are deepening; it's really a great thing to have your convictions built into the underpinnings of a world.

    When I said "difficult," I didn't at all mean that it shouldn't be done. However, there are different ways of supporting the disabled. Technological support for their disabilities, such as wheelchairs etc. can present a cost to the individual and the family. The question then becomes who is standing up to support this cost. In a case when the family is expected to cover it, you would expect that disabled people among the poor would have a tougher time integrating than those among the wealthy. In your world there seems to be a government system that covers the cost of adaptations to allow full integration; on the other hand, I know that bigotry against the disabled is a big deal in your story. Is it only outside the planet that they encounter this? Or is there also a more subtle form of discrimination associated with the more supportive society? All of these issues might be interesting to explore at some point, though they are largely beyond the scope of this workshop.

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  9. Ryan,

    Sorry, I guess I should have been clearer about what I wanted - thanks for giving it a shot. It's very helpful information for me, and I hope will help you focus on some areas to deepen as well.

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  10. Catreona,

    I'm very pleased to have you in the workshop and I'm glad that you're finding it helpful.

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  11. Catreona,

    This is very cool. I feel like I'm seeing many nuances in Bronte's answers that I didn't see when you originally tackled the questions. I'm sure you won't find the effort wasted, even though Bronte isn't the central character in the excerpt you gave me.

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  12. Catreona said: "It's amazing how much I know or assume about this world that never till now, thanks to your questions and observations, made it onto paper (or computer screen)."

    I have to agree with that.

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