Building A World

As a writer, I realized writing a novel which takes place in our time and in the area where I live, was relatively simple. However, when I began the task of designing a world for this myth/fantasy, it began as a single book, changed to three, and eventually morphed into seven, I had a much larger task before me.

We live in a technological world, where computers and smart phones and virtual everything is commonplace. I could say in my writing that ‘I took my laptop from the desk,’ and almost all people reading that phrase possess a picture of a laptop and a desk very firmly in their minds. It doesn’t matter if the computer visualized is an Apple, an ASUS or an HP. Everyone knows what a computer laptop is. But if I transport my story back to ancient China, and I discuss an abacus, I may have to describe it and how it functions. If I write about today, I need explain very little about the world in which I live.

However, for a myth, or a fantasy, or science fiction, I need to spend a lot more time familiarizing my readers with the world in which my story takes place.

A big undertaking indeed.

Over the course of my blogs, I will describe some of the challenges I encountered, and how deeply I needed to create the back story for each of my characters. A myth has a large number of characters and many opponents, so the job kept expanding.