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On-Line Workshop: World Building for Writers

Where? Long Story Short School of Writing, www.lsswritingschool.com

It could be said that every work of fiction introduces an alternate reality. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fantasy and science fiction genres. But how do you establish a reality that feels real even when it is different enough to be nearly incomprehensible to us in this reality? This workshop aims to address that very question by exploring 4 primary Building Blocks for Believability:

PEOPLE -- religions/belief systems, language, family, education and other factors that help to define the various cultural influences and to establish your characters' motivations;

TOOLS -- travel, communication, architecture and other things that enable your world's inhabitant's to act/take action;

RULES -- scientific/magical/judicial laws, political systems, economics, and other things that constrain your world's inhabitants in whatever action they need or wish to take; and

BACKGROUND -- historical figures/events, myths/legends, prophecies and other elements that have served to shape the cultural viewpoints in your world.

These Building Blocks should help you to establish the foundation for a world capable of sustaining your characters and the stories they have to tell.

PO Box 87021

Canton, MI 48187

To contact us:

Guiding Principles

Before you enter the workshop, please consider the Guiding Principles of world building. They should be easy to remember. There are only two, and they are aptly named: Character Channeling Cloak and Suspension of Disbelief.

In order to complete this workshop, you must agree to willingly don a Character Channeling Cloak, or "CCC."

· This cloak enables you to think beyond your own limitations. You must be willing to project yourself into other people's brains, to see through their eyes, to process information based on experiences you, yourself, have never known, experiences your characters may find exciting, compelling, or even sacred, while you -- as yourself -- might find them horrific and appalling (or vice-versa). You must be able to think beyond your own political, judicial and even religious views--not permanently, of course, just long enough to seed your world with sufficient dimensions by populating it with a multitude of attitudes and viewpoints. After all, a world entirely populated with one mind-set would be an awfully boring place, and one your readers will probably not be willing to spend much time visiting.

The idea of setting aside your own views brings us to the next Guiding Principle: Suspension of Disbelief, or "SoD."

· SoD must be infused into your veins. Imagine yourself taking it as a shot. Whether you envision it as a shot of whiskey, a needle-born injection or something entirely different is completely up to you!

You cannot completely wrap yourself in a CCC without SoD.

· The two go hand-in-hand, because SoD enables you to shed your own skin long enough to step into someone else's.

Workshop Materials

· Textbook will be emailed to students in Adobe (pdf) format at or prior to the start of the workshop. The body of the email will identify weekly reading assignments, including sections and page numbers

· Worksheets will be emailed to students as they apply to the work assigned.

· Message Board will be used to clarify weekly reading and writing assignments, as well as to discuss them. Students are encouraged to use the board for posting questions, suggestions, speculations and whatever else comes to mind on the subject at hand.

*Please do not:

post private messages to the board, or

submit posts to the board in text message format. In other words, we should see "Are you ...." not "R U...."

· Character Channeling Cloak (CCC) is a required tool, and is the student's responsibility to obtain. (*See the Guiding Principles; and don't worry--it's all 'virtual' and completely up to your own imagination.)

· Infusion of SoD*, like the Cloak, is required, and is the student's responsibility.

Email: DMKraft