This post is part two of two in a series on worldbuilding. To read part one, click here. Last week, we explored how to plan and develop a speculative world, how we must situate ourselves along a continuum between the real and the absurd, how we can tie into existing cultural concepts while still making... Continue Reading →
Worldbuilding #1: setting fits the story
The worlds we construct inside our stories, especially in speculative genres, carry our readers to new possibilities, new ways of thinking about life and what is set and normal. Worldbuilding is one of the great excitements of the writing process, as our minds, omnipotent in the world of the story, trace out societies and structures... Continue Reading →
Spoons and stories: rethinking the ordinary in our writing
It's been a quiet week along the fjords. Students have been busy with a first-aid course and an immersive Model United Nations simulation. That left us teachers with a little time on our hands, and my husband and I took the opportunity for a few days' sojourn south to Bergen. We found ourselves in the... Continue Reading →
Why speculative fiction compels us: place, time, and the imagination
Near the end of my journey north, the bus drove onto a ferry crossing the Sogn Fjord. I disembarked and went to the boat's edge. Beneath me, the motor sounded deep and long, like a brilliant foghorn sweeping out over the water. Mountains jutted up on either side of the fjord, and swirls of gray... Continue Reading →