On Creating Imaginary Worlds: Questions and Answers

[Cyricus]

I'm writing a novel "Sons Of Errias". It is based on the one province (Errias) of the Dúsurian Empire. The story about cultural and religious differences and the final war that could end Errias' ancient tradition. During the political situations, three great noble houses of Errias are making some 'backstabbing' and court-intrigues, but also some other things happen, as mystical "symbols" that are a part of "holy manuscript", three important carnival nights, discus throwing competition, summoning of the dryad, inquisition and great secrets in the underworld of the Empire's heart.

Sorry for my English is bad... and I'm sad for I can't share with you any of my chapters. I'm seriously writing this novel, but on my own language (Croatian). And I'm living for a day I will have my own book in my hands.

Regards.

[lin robinson]

No ethnic cleansing?


Seriously...good luck, Cyricus

[Cyricus]

Kind of, yes. But on the half of the process (of chistka, lol), comes an inversion. Old board, new pieces are marching.

Thank you for wishing me luck. ^^ I'll need it, although my best friend helped me a lot in chastening all of my NPCs, cities and villages, cultures and nations, storyline and time line.

[Laerten]

My fantasy story is set on a world where magic is becoming scarce, it started centuries ago when a war between magicians turned part of the land into a desert as all the magic was used up. Will it seem odd if at the end of my story magic can be re-absorbed, bringing the land back to life, therefore restoring magic in all its forms?

[Culhwch]

Originally Posted by Laerten

My fantasy story is set on a world where magic is becoming scarce, it started centuries ago when a war between magicians turned part of the land into a desert as all the magic was used up. Will it seem odd if at the end of my story magic can be re-absorbed, bringing the land back to life, therefore restoring magic in all its forms?

Not if it's well written, no. You need to sell it, and make it believable. Easy to say, not so easy to do, unfortunately...

[Hilarious Joke]

I have a Kingdom on a peninsula separated from the rest of the continent by a great wall. I want to make it so that no-one has heard from people within this kingdom for years, but it flourishes within itself. How do I make it believable that no-one from the rest of the contintent has seen the Kingdom, i.e. from ships, and do not know what happens on the peninsula?

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by Hilarious Joke

I have a Kingdom on a peninsula separated from the rest of the continent by a great wall. I want to make it so that no-one has heard from people within this kingdom for years, but it flourishes within itself. How do I make it believable that no-one from the rest of the contintent has seen the Kingdom, i.e. from ships, and do not know what happens on the peninsula?

A number of peninsulas have a mountain range separating them from the mainland; I cite Italy and the Iberic peninsula (Alps and Pyrenees respectively)
Not only would this simplify the building of an impassible wall, if ocean going ships were coast-hugging (normally the case before the invention of sophisticated navigational aids) and the peninsulated themselves were not maritimely inclined, the cliffs and reefs would tend to keep outsiders at bay, Oh, there'd be a few shipwrecked, from time to time – but as long as they didn't get back home, there would be no return news.
Obviously, a few volcano-generated "'ere be dragons" legends would do no harm…

[lin robinson]

Maybe something like the Baja peninsula? It's not that far from mainland Mexico but was long separated because of being arid and remote by land.

There are lots of reasons for it to be unvisited: a bank of cloud, history of savage natives, bad legends and curses.

[gil]

Funnily enough, setting the lost land on a peninsula (or island) makes matters more difficult, just because of access or observation by sea.

A hidden land in the crater of a difficult to scale extinct volcano in the centre of a dense jungle is much more feasible... Oh dear, I just invented Conan Doyle's Lost World.

[Hilarious Joke]

Thanks people. I especially like the cliffs and the reefs idea. In fact, I'm inspired by it.

In my story this Kingdom has just being breached from the mainland by undead invaders and the King has decided to send boats out past the treacherous reefs for help, or maybe to find a place of refuge should things go bad, I haven't decided yet. The thing is though, that he will be forced to rely on the only people to have negotitated the tricksy reefs, pirates, to navigate his ships.

Pirates, Undead, and Kings! How cliched!

[RodneyMcKay]

Ok... what sort of explaination can I use for this solar system I have where one race can manipulate the elements naturally... see because it is an advanced world, a group of scientists are planning on creating a way of synthetically synthesizing this power, however, to do this they need to know how it works.
Any ideas?
McKay

[Zubi-Ondo]

The answer we all love to get: It depends.

It depends on how you want the tone of the work to come across. Do you want the reader to see the effects of the science (softer SF), or do you want them to see the science itself (harder SF)?
If you go with the hard SF approach just be aware that some of us readers (yes, I admit it) are scientists. So you may have to do a lot of research so that you don't violate rules of physics, chemistry, etc. - that is unless you have come up with some elaborate and believable way of explaining why those laws don't apply in your imagined universe.

Try the chart on this website to decide where you'd like your work to fall (what approximate category). Grading Science Fiction for Realism

- Z.

[asher marquering]

i have an idea for the a interstellar colonial-fantasy story which takes place on a planet that only consists of brackish water, desert and mountain, the dominant creature on the planet is a 20m long 88 ton dinosaur/dragon-esque creature called a Demgon

is such a planet and situation plausible?

[lin robinson]

Nope.

Seriously, who "calls it" Demgon?

[Zubi-Ondo]

Originally Posted by lin robinson

Nope.

Seriously, who "calls it" Demgon?

Yeah, but if you add an 'a' in the middle (Demagon) then it works. Seriously, call it anything you want - that's why they call it fiction. I do have a question though - What does the Demgon eat? Your planet sounds a little barren. Will the brackish water support vegetation? There has to be some sort of food chain. Good Luck!

- Z.