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 Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 7:29 pm
What makes a fantasy world? What makes it seem beleivable what are the necessary things that all fantasy worlds need to have to make a story seem real in the realms of fantasy so the world does not fall apart nor the story. Does your fantasy world change from time to time or does it stay consistent? Is there any historical background in your world that is prevalent in the stories you write?
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Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 1:40 pm
Historical background? Most definitely!
And what makes a fantasy world? Hmm....
Tough one I think.
Many think it needs to be unrealistic, surreal, and nothing but imaginary.
I see these things as alternate universes or alternate "worlds", as I've mentioned before. I don't want to get into a long drawn out discussion with anyone talking reality and unreality. We only know THIS reality ourselves, so other worlds are considered to be only figments of our imaginations. My opinion differs from that.
I'll have to think more on this one, but what I will say for now is that a fantasy world is what you want it to be, so long as it's different from our reality and science-fiction (futuristic) worlds.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 12:45 pm
a fantasy world is what you want it to be.
thats interesting, i agree that the historical background is important but what makes the world a world is a question i still seek to find the answer to.
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Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 5:57 pm
I was basically going to say the same thing. I got beat to the punch, hehe.
The historical background makes it a lot better and more believable, but what if there are only like, ten people living on the world, but what it people come there all the time?
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:52 am
What makes a world a world Midnight?
* Countries
* Governments
* Races
* Cultures
* Continents
* History
* Diversity
* Love
* Hatred
* War
Those are just some of the things that make a world a WORLD, I feel.
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Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 11:36 am
Fantasy worlds are believable and unbelievable all at once for me. So long as it's a World like Melkhar described then it is a good one.
I have enough history in my fantasy world to leave an archeologist enthralled. hehe. I have so many side stories and fables and legends just for myself that I haven't even put into my stories. I think I could make a book from those alone. It's just one of the ways to explore your own fantasy world, ya know?
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Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:58 pm
Gee, another thread I overlooked, apparently... gonk
I'd say Mel has the elements of a world pinned down. I also know what Miss Ellia is talking about. I also have lots of things in my worlds and almost every single one has a lot of info and stuff. The only ones that don't have a lot of things in them or going for them are planets that are dead or that blew up/no longer exist. Like in many galaxies, there are stars in one of my stories that have gone supernova and nothing remains there. Most are left as black holes anyway...
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:20 am
Regarding what Mystic Wondering said though, if a world only contained no more than a village population, then it's not a world and would probably be only a fragment of one. World's can be microscopic depending on the context you're using the word WORLD in, but it depends on the size of the characters. One could write about the world of Germs, but it's only a world from a Germ's understanding, if that makes sense. This is perhaps why beyond our planet we can comprehend other worlds out there that exist in a much bigger environment that we call space, the cosmos, or the universe.
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Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 4:03 pm
Great point Mel! But what if said world with only one village or two was in an evolutionary stage like, our world when the first humans evolved? I bet there must have been a few villages of cavemen around, right? I have at least one world like that but my story doesn't focus on it unless I make an important character visit that world. It's a pretty boring world so I just have it cuz the galaxy I'm writing about has to have lots of planets. And besides, the republic has to keep tabs on all of the worlds in the galaxy, at least in my story anyway... mrgreen
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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:41 am
I'm talking a literal world though, not a single environment that is a world to the individuals living in it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 12:09 pm
A world can be just as real if you build it from the inside out as from the outside in. You don't necessarily have to start with the big picture if a village will suffice. Village-level history and conflict can be just as intense a literary experience, sometimes more so, since it's much more personal. It all depends on the story you're telling.
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Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 1:36 pm
I never said a world couldn't begin that way though. Sorry if I've missed something, but I've not read myself that this thread was about how worlds begin. I thought it was about what makes a world a world. The way I see it, a village or a series of small villages may be the "foundations" of a world before it grows more considerably in an author's mind. I know there are different concepts of the word "world", but in this particular case I got the impression we're talking on large scale environments in which to set short stories or novels.
If a writer's world only ever consists of one or a tiny number of villages, then....sorry, it certainly not going to interest me unless it's a short story, and even then I'd be wondering what the rest of the planet is like, because heck, if the world consisted of five miles, where I live you'd probably fit Costessey and Taverham in it with a few fields in-between. The biggest storyline I think you'd get from it is the kind of mutual conflict between Shelbyville and Springfield in the Simpsons.
Your point is a good one Berz, it's just that my imagination appears to be endless and I can't see a world as being anything less than a planet in this particular context of WORLD. However, if a world begins with a couple of villages and then expands gradually, all well and good. Everyone has to start somewhere.
If we think along the lines of most fantasy often you'll only be reading about events on one or two continents. One or two continents isn't the world. To me, this analogy is like "you don't itch a scratch, you scratch an itch" - aka continents exist in worlds, but worlds do not exist on continents. Again this is within this particular context of the definition of world.
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Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 8:43 pm
That's different from the literary concept of a world, though. You can tell a whole story in a single room, if you want to. That's the world of the story. If you don't believe me, look up a little book called 1984. Or, if you want a more fantasy-oriented example, there's "the shortest RPG adventure ever" which consists of a ten-by-ten-foot room, an orc, and a pie (no joke, it's actually published material, by Monte Cook. Well, it was kind of a joke, actually, but it's still a full story).
A short story is still a story and not necessarily any easier or harder to write just because of the scale of its setting. Really, the smaller the setting, the more important the characters. And the literary definition of a world is actually pretty loose and varied.
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 10:41 am
Hmm, that's pretty strange Berz. So it's a joke story, huh? Like a story meant as a joke?
I gotta agree with Mel cuz whenever I hear or see the word "world", I can't imagine anything less than a planet myself. It doesn't matter if the planet is as small as Pluto or as big, if not bigger, than Jupiter. 3nodding
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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:27 pm
I know what Berz is saying though, Hypno. It entirely depends on what context you're using the word "world" in, as I said before. In my mind, a world comprises a planet, and if you then consider other environments inhabited by other races, you can then call their habitat their "world". Many versions of elves, for example, have been given forests to live in and they do not venture out of it, so the forest is "their own personal world" although they are part of a much bigger world, which is a planet.
The Viera tend to be like this in FFXII. Are they like it in tactics, Hypno?
They live in a dark jungle, and it's a sin to them to leave it to go out into the outside "world".
Of course though, Berz, a story can be told in a single room but it doesn't make it a world. The world of the story as you say, perhaps, but then it's a story taking place in some kind of world - which we then don't get to see. Which route is this topic going to take? Because I think it's meant to be more about actual planetary type worlds rather than just the environment in which a particular story is set.
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