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Worldbuilding Wizardry

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Worldbuilding Wizardry Worldbuilding Wizardry By Pat Hauldren www.pathauldren.net [email protected] (This booklet assumes worldbuilders are of the Paranormal-to-Speculative Fiction genres. If you are not, please do not be offended. This booklet began as an online class for Paranormal and Speculative Fiction authors and has grown and now hopes to help all genre writers understand the basics of worldbuilding.) Copyright 2015 Pat Hauldren LESSON 1: WHAT IS WORLDBUILDING? Worldbuilding WizardryWorldbuilding Wizardry/ 1 LESSON 1: WHAT IS WORLDBUILDING? ........................................................................................................ 3 What is worldbuilding? ............................................................................................................................. 3 Genre? ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 Discussion 1 – Class genre chart ............................................................................................................... 4 Venn Diagram........................................................................................................................................ 5 More on genre fiction ............................................................................................................................... 6 DISCUSSION 2 – Define Worldbuilding ..................................................................................................... 7 EXTRA CREDIT -- LESSON 1 ............................................................................................................................ 8 TOPIC: BOOKSTORE GENRE CATEGORIES ................................................................................................. 8 A. TOPIC: CURRENT BESTSELLING GENRES ........................................................................................... 9 LESSON 2: GENRE CONVENTIONS ............................................................................................................... 10 Big or little? ............................................................................................................................................. 10 What is “little worldbuilding?” ........................................................................................................... 10 What is “big worldbuilding?” .............................................................................................................. 10 Genre elements....................................................................................................................................... 11 1. Science Fiction & Fantasy ............................................................................................................ 11 2. Fantasy ........................................................................................................................................ 13 3. Romance ..................................................................................................................................... 14 4. Paranormal Romance .................................................................................................................. 17 Young Adult ............................................................................................................................................. 18 Young Adult fantasy ............................................................................................................................ 18 DISCUSSION Lesson 2 .............................................................................................................................. 20 LESSON 3: SETTING ..................................................................................................................................... 21 What is setting? ...................................................................................................................................... 22 Why is setting important?....................................................................................................................... 22 How do we create setting? ..................................................................................................................... 23 Is your setting on Earth or off Earth? ..................................................................................................... 24 On Earth .............................................................................................................................................. 24 Off Earth .............................................................................................................................................. 25 Planet size ........................................................................................................................................... 25 Contemporary or not contemporary? ................................................................................................ 27 Top down or bottom up? ........................................................................................................................ 28 Top down ............................................................................................................................................ 28 WORLDBUILDING WIZARDRY© with Pat Hauldren LESSON 1: WHAT IS WORLDBUILDING? Worldbuilding WizardryWorldbuilding Wizardry/ 2 Bottom Up ........................................................................................................................................... 32 Remember .............................................................................................................................................. 33 READING 3: Geographical Mythology ......................................................................................................... 36 DISCUSSION Reading 3 ............................................................................................................................ 36 DISCUSSION Lesson 3 .............................................................................................................................. 37 READING 4 OTHER WORLDBUILDING TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER ................................... 39 LESSON 4 MAKING IT WORK ....................................................................................................................... 42 PRE-PLANNING WORLDBUILDING .......................................................................................................... 42 Maps and World Pre-Plan Sheet A .......................................................................................................... 44 Maps and World Pre-Plan B .................................................................................................................... 45 RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................................. 46 Links on the web ..................................................................................................................................... 46 Books ....................................................................................................................................................... 46 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ................................................................................................................................... 47 WORLDBUILDING WIZARDRY© with Pat Hauldren LESSON 1: WHAT IS WORLDBUILDING? Worldbuilding WizardryWorldbuilding Wizardry/ 3 What is worldbuilding? The question almost answers itself, doesn’t it? Worldbuilding is building worlds. Sounds so simple. And in a way it is, simple, but easy? Well, that’s where this class comes in. What do you think worldbuilding is? That answer will probably depend on what you are currently working on and what genre you are writing in. If you are writing a Western, for instance, our world probably consists of the “wild west” or at least, it is west of the Mississippi. But a western-styled mixed genre story doesn’t have to stop there. There are Westerns in space, Westerns in other countries, Westerns can be anywhere because -- what makes a story a Western or Western-styled story? Aye, there’s the rub. What makes a story a Western? Or a Romance, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, Detective/Crime, Christian Fiction, Horror, and so on? That list is a list of genres and to worldbuild, we need to understand our genre. So now is the time to ask, Genre? In what genre do you write? (Notice, I purposely worded the question so there was no dangling participle. I get kudos for this because, as a native Texan, we glorify not only in long, multi-syllable words, but dangling anything with a drawl just tickles our pickle. ) There are a few things that even I can deduce just because you are taking this class or reading this book. For instance, I can deduce that 1. You are a writer. Tadaaa! LOL and 2. You are writing in a genre that requires some kind of worldbuilding. Tadaa daaa! And 3. You’re not an expert at worldbuilding. Tadaa daa daa! (Unless, of course, you are either 1. A workshop addict like me or 2. You sadistically show off your talents in which case, I will get the $$ for teaching this class while I sit back and let you ramble .) By the way, I’m no expert either. However, I’ve done a lot of worldbuilding over the years (we won’t say how many, except that I played D&D in the days
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