Whereas I'm a world builder, and characters only exist to populate the
world. I think this is why I will never be an addictive writer and why I
will always envy those who see writing through character not place
See, I was specifically taught not to do that. More than one creative
writing prof would tell students not to write sci-fi or fantasy because a
common mistake is to get wrapped up in theme and world-building and forget
to develop characters. So you were told no sci-fi or fantasy until you
could develop characters and plot first. If you tried, your story was
usually ripped to shreds, unless characters were clearly developed.
Now that's not to say, you can't develop the world first than populate with
characters -- actually it works better that way, because less likely to be
inconsistent. But there's a tendency among amateur writers to forget to
develop the characters or not be interested in them. (I think you can get
around it a bit with fanfic, because in a way the characters have already
been developed.)
That's actually the reason there is such a negative view of sci-fantasy in
certain academic circles -- because a common mistake is to forget to
populate the world with believable and relatable characters. And a lot of
established sci-fi/fantasy writers make this mistake.
So as a result of this edict, I wrote a lot of short stories in school --
one from the perspective of man who was struggling with what to do with his
aging mother, and the guilt that entailed. Another about two boys playing a
game of darts, and the fact that one was conning and playing the other.
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branchandroot
Re: Writing
Date: 2017-06-12 02:12 pm (UTC)Whereas I'm a world builder, and characters only exist to populate the world. I think this is why I will never be an addictive writer and why I will always envy those who see writing through character not place
See, I was specifically taught not to do that. More than one creative writing prof would tell students not to write sci-fi or fantasy because a common mistake is to get wrapped up in theme and world-building and forget to develop characters. So you were told no sci-fi or fantasy until you could develop characters and plot first. If you tried, your story was usually ripped to shreds, unless characters were clearly developed.
Now that's not to say, you can't develop the world first than populate with characters -- actually it works better that way, because less likely to be inconsistent. But there's a tendency among amateur writers to forget to develop the characters or not be interested in them. (I think you can get around it a bit with fanfic, because in a way the characters have already been developed.)
That's actually the reason there is such a negative view of sci-fantasy in certain academic circles -- because a common mistake is to forget to populate the world with believable and relatable characters. And a lot of established sci-fi/fantasy writers make this mistake.
So as a result of this edict, I wrote a lot of short stories in school -- one from the perspective of man who was struggling with what to do with his aging mother, and the guilt that entailed. Another about two boys playing a game of darts, and the fact that one was conning and playing the other.