The answers to these questions can be provided with character conversation and exposition, which is perfectly fine. This instantly raises questions-why is he afraid? What’s with mermaids? Is it a fear only he has? The writer wants to start out the story with the protagonist, who is a young pilot nervous about his first mission over mermaid-infested waters.Īs the story begins, the protagonist expresses his apprehension about flying over the water and his fear of mermaids. This is a take on mermaids that is rather different from the usual fare. The people of the kingdom avoid overseas trade and have developed technology to fly over the sea rather than sail, all to avoid the mermaids. In the sea surrounding the kingdom, hideous, skeletal mermaids prey on sailors. Let’s say a writer has created a basic idea of an island kingdom. This is because lore is a story your characters would tell. It invites the readers to ask questions about the world and wonder what else might be hidden within the story. More than that, it can invoke curiosity far more than dry exposition can. The biggest advantage of using lore to establish a fantasy world is that a piece of lore doesn’t have to be long or detailed. In fact, I don’t know a fantasy story that doesn’t include at least one old, complex culture.
Lore tends to exist in cultures with long and complex histories, something that is extremely common in fantasy genres. Lore is defined as “a body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.” How will you ever fit everything into your story without making your book one big exposition? The Solution: Write Lore You want to start using those magical gadgets and mysterious technology and leap into the action.īut you also don’t want to spend five pages explaining the history of the kingdom that created the gadgets or how and why the ancient technology work like they do.īut without it, how will your readers know what you’re talking about, or how amazing and deep this world you’ve created is? Not to mention a world is so very complex. After all, creating an entire world is no easy task.īut what if you don’t want to spend a lot of time world-building? Your characters are raring to go, ready to fire up that magic, and go on that quest. The best way to achieve this immersion is through world-building, which can be an arduous and intimidating process. It pulls you in and makes you feel like it’s real, even though it very obviously is not. We can all name a few good fantasy stories off the top of our heads- Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings come to mind.
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