In this episode Andy and Sharn discuss world building. What it is, why it's important, and how they go about it for their novels.
Below is the definition of Worldbuilding that Andy read out from Wikipedia (because he thought it was such a good summary):
Wikipedia: Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers.
Essentially, when discussing worldbuilding, they are talking about:
magic systems in fantasy
technology
culture
politics
economics
clothing/style
architecture
flora and fauna
food
entertainment
After going through what world building is, Andy then discussed the Universe that both Star Ranger and Agent. Mother. Other. are set in, including the initial concept, developing the history of the universe, the lore of the universe, working in the story arch, and the importance of leaving the world open enough for the reader's imagination.
Andy also talks about the usefulness of reference photos when developing locations and worlds.
Sharn then discusses her process of developing the world of Tir-Na that she self-admits is an evolving process that she is still refining while editing Agent. Other. Mother. Her process is wide ranging and involves lots of various approaches (from drawing maps, to researching deep sea creatures and paleolithic animals for inspiration), as well as working through what would make plausible sense in the world she developed. Unfortunately Sharn couldn’t find the hand drawn copy of the Tir-Na map she drew.
Andy then runs through the various planets he has created in Star Ranger and how he has used different planets to explore different aspects of the Star Ranger universe.
To wrap it up Andy and Sharn outline the other universes and worlds they have built in their minds for other future projects. As promised again, below is a pic of Sharn’s terrible map she drew around 10 years ago while working through ideas for her Young Adult Fantasy story idea.
You can find this podcast episode (and all our other episodes) here: https://anchor.fm/invokecreations , or directly on your favourite streaming services.
NOTE: Everything discussed during the podcast is simply our own interpretation of information we come across as we research topics, or is commentary based on our own personal experiences. We highly encourage everyone to conduct their own research into topics of interest as information, especially in the technical space, changes regularly.
Music track featured this week was titled Metallic Gleam and can be viewed/listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXtJ2VfB03M
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As always, we’re off to put our bums on seats and do some work, so until next time stay dangerous!
Byeeeeeeeeee!
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