I’m starting a series on writing exercises which will all be linked down on the tab above on the “Writing Exercises” section. These exercises will consist on three simple questions per post which you should answer in topics or as a short essay. There will be no logical cohesion between the three questions and this will help you have more flexibility while jumping in different parts of your story.
Tip: – Never skip one of the questions. These are specially made for you to find the plot holes in your story or the missing spots in your worldbuilding. If you can’t answer one of the questions immediately, start working on the answer, connecting all the dots you need until you reach a final conclusion. There should be no thing such as “oh, I’ll just skip this one”.
- In a scale of 1 to 10, how pleasant (or oppressive) is the world you are building? Describe how you would feel if you were subjected to the same social behaviors, natural catastrophes, or any other negative afflictions. If the world you are building has different major societies, answer this question to each one of them. Are your feelings similar to the ones of your characters?
- How many different “major” emotions are you trying to portray through your main character? If you have already a plot draft, are there situations in which we can see the hero act violently, cowardly, generously, etc? Is the hero dominated by a single emotion or does he/she have more depth of character?
Tip: People have many different emotions, even if they have a strong and biased personality that makes them adopt a very cohesive behavior. You can make some biased secondary characters but the hero is someone who interacts constantly with the reader— as such, even if your main character is a very rational person, he/she will probably be emotional and desperate in some point in your story. This is important because it’s a “wow” moment and will suddenly unveil a whole new side of the character that the reader has never seen before.
- If you could choose a country, civilization or culture (fictional or non-fictional) which one would adapt the most to the world you are building right now? Is your world themed in a way that resembles Ancient Rome or Ancient Greece? Does it resemble Japan or other oriental cultures? On the other hand, have you used a fantasy inspired visual ground to edify your world? Do the people in your story live in the trees like Tolkien’s elves? Do they live in the mountains, like Tolkien’s dwarves? Are the colors, the fashion and the mannerisms of the people in your story somehow influenced by these cultures? If so, in a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you want to identify your story to one of those cultures? Looking back on what you’ve written or thought so far, do you think that you’ve accomplished your goal? If you haven’t, what can you change in your story to reach it?
Happy writing!
Fantasy Unboxed 