What is a world – any world – without background (or back
story)? Stimulating surroundings and
locale can help make or break a story and a reader’s attention. Put your main characters into an environment
then add little things here and there to make it more real-life. Have them deliberately interact with their
surroundings (does your hero have hay fever?) to add depth to the plot,
emotion, and also can up the relationship tension. Have them work hard for their goals, fail
repeatedly (did your heroine overdraw her bank account by mistake?), dodge
obstacles in their worlds and make choices because of those problems.
Creating a setting that a reader can identify with is just
as imperative to an engaging plot as the characters are. Characters that face (or run away from) difficulties
in scenes can add thrills and chills. The
reader becomes invested in those main characters and what they are going
through and wants to know what will happen next.
All writers want this continued attention from readers and
hope they come back for more in the next book, and the next after that one
(YAY!). Like a favorite story (no matter
the genre) a world populated with people who have real issues and complications
to overcome in significance settings, on their way to getting what they want
(like in any of the Harry Potter books), are more memorable than those who are
set in environments that just get by with the basics.
Building worlds may seem daunting, but creating interest is
easy. Yet when done a little at a time, like putting together a puzzle or a
pizza, all the elements, sights, sounds, textures, and even inert clues aiming
toward the story goal can be very rewarding.
And that’s all it takes, just one step then another to create a
wonderful world full of fascination your characters and the reader will enjoy.
For more information, please see Raquel’s website,
Growing up with ghosts, native
Texan and author Raquel Rodriguez is used to things that go "bump"
24/7. With a passion for Science Fiction, anything paranormal, Space Opera, and
romance, she blends these elements into passionate stories with twists of action
and suspense. Raquel has studied, taught and lectured about Parapsychology for
over 25 years and loves to add touches of the unusual to her stories. Her
personal motto is, "Never give up, never surrender!" from one of her
favorite movies. When not teaching fitness or dance, Belly Dance, or plotting/
planning, or writing (where her cat, Merlin, usually supervises from her lap),
she can be found at SciFi conventions, Renaissance Faires, performing, or
experimenting with a new chocolate recipe. FMI, please visit
www.RaquelRodriguez.com
I hope you will join my class
Fiction World Building
for writers
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1 comment:
What is more freeing than building a world from your own imagination? I can picture the kind of hunky alpha males would populate MY world. Thanks for the tips.
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