Worldbuilding Needs You!

WORLDBUILDING NEEDS YOU! I hate to do it, however this one is primarily for Seattle-area people . . . The next eight-week session of my Worldbuilding class at Bellevue College is beginning on July 1, and there are nonetheless spots open. Register now! If you do live within the space, right here’s what the syllabus looks like . . . If you don’t reside within the area, good news . . . thanks to our friends at Writer’s Digest University there shall be a four-session online version of this class coming up within the subsequent couple months. Keep your eye on Twitter for that announcement. Syllabus Worldbuilding Philip Athans Summer We will meet each Tuesday at 6:30 pm-9:30 pm from July 1, 2014 via August 19, 2014 at Bellevue College North Campus. Come prepared to talk and write! In this course, The New York Times finest-promoting writer and veteran editor Philip Athans, creator of The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction (Adams Media 2010), gets into some significantly detailed techniques for creatin g worlds for fantasy and science fiction stories, novels, screenplays, and games, drawing from a quarter century of expertise creating new worlds. Coursework will embrace weekly studying and writing assignments, review of your written work, and an opportunity to satisfy and share concepts with different aspiring science fiction and fantasy authors. Our textual content for this term might be The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Seven, Edited by Jonathan Strahan. Week 1: Where to Start An introduction to the course and coursework, and advice on where and how to begin creating a fantasy or science fiction world. We’ll talk about research and sources of inspiration, and the significance of setting and following your personal rules. Writing assignment: Describe your world in one paragraph. This is your “statement of purpose.” Reading assignment: “Domestic Magic” by Steve Rasnic Tem & Melanie Tem for discussion of magic, and “Immersion” by Aliette de Boda rd for dialogue of technology Week 2: Magic & Technology It’s not fantasy with out magic and it’s not science fiction with out advanced expertise. What your characters can do, the means by which they convey, defend themselves, journey, and so forth, will have to be as plausible as they're imaginative. Writing task: Describe in detail one side of your world’s magic (an artifact, spell, ritual, and so on.) or superior know-how. Give it a cause for being, limits to its power, and an emotional/story context. Reading task: “The Easthound” by Nalo Hopkinson for dialogue of monsters. Week three: Monsters Monsters are a staple of the genre, and should be created with care. Discussion will include monsters as metaphor, monsters as characters, and how to construct them in a believable, believable method. Writing assignment: I’ll provide a type, you fill it out, describing your monster. Reading assignment: “Katabasis” by Robert Reed for dialogue of individuals. Week 4: People H umans, elves, and Martians alike, the fantasy and science fiction genres have imagined a wide range of sentient creatures. We’ll learn to populate our worlds with plausible and compelling characters. Writing task: I’ll provide a form, you fill it out, describing your “individuals.” Reading assignment: “Great-Grandmother in the Cellar” by Peter S. Beagle for discussion of cultures. Week 5: Cultures From wild flights of fantasy to educated predictions of near-future society, people are extra than just their DNA. This week we’ll take a close have a look at the way people interact with each other and the world around them, drawing inspiration from history, present events, mythology, and more. Writing task: Using the paragraph from George Orwell’s Why I Write for inspiration, distill your world’s popular culture into a pair paragraphs. Reading project: “Macy Minnot’s Last Christmas on Dione, Ring Racing, Fiddler’s Green, The Potter’s Garden” by Paul McAuley fo r dialogue of governments and “The Woman Who Fooled Death Five Times” by Eleanor Arnason for dialogue of faith. Week 6: Government & Religion If “culture” defines how people view each other, governments and religions outline the foundations by which they stay their lives. We’ll discuss both the optimistic and negative features of the institutions that ship us off to prayer or warfare, a marriage ceremony or a voting sales space. Writing task: I’ll present a form, you fill it out, describing both a faith or a government. Reading task: “A Bead of Jasper, Four Small Stones” by Genevieve Valentine for dialogue of geography. Week 7: Geography We’ll draw maps, focus on geographical options each terrestrial and cosmic, and look at how the distance between issues can effect your story. But in the end this might be a discussion of the significance of building a sense of place. Writing assignment: Take as many as 2000 words to describe a major place in your setting, referrin g to prompts provided at school, or higher yet, draw a map! Reading task: The Fathomless Abyss Series Bible and different material to be supplied, for discussion of series bibles, fashion guides, and notes. Week eight: Bringing it All Together We’ll discuss types of story, world, and character bibles; type guides; and how to keep and develop your creation through an ongoing collection. And hopefully time for ultimate questions, comments, and thoughts. I hope to see you there, or online later this summer season! â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Fill in your details beneath or click on an icon to log in: