Good morning Christian writers! How fictional is your fiction? Strange question? 🙂
I would venture to suggest that as regards fictional worlds, there are three types of novel:
- Those that are firmly rooted in the real world (e.g. Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books)
- Those set in a completely fictional world (e.g. The Hobbit).
- Novels that come somewhere between the two: they have certain characteristics that are based in this world, but have fantastical elements (e.g. The Wind in the Willows. We would recognise the countryside, but Toad drives a car!)
To a certain degree, however, every story has its own world, which the author has to create.
Depending on the complexity of the world you are creating, you may or may not need to spend time making a study of your world and how it works before you start writing. But it’s always worth doing at least a bit of planning: it’s amazing how many details can be missed, completely inadvertently, even from books which have nothing fantastical about them whatever. An example that springs to my mind is a manuscript sent to me, where the children walked to two different places; the journey to the hospital, several miles away, took them less time than the walk to the nearest village. The author hadn’t noticed, but it didn’t make sense.
Why not check your own work in progress for any such anomalies? And if you’re just starting out, why not take the time to plan your world first?
Trust that helps! Keep writing, folks, because someone, somewhere, is waiting for your story!
Janet
Found this helpful? Please share with your writer friends, on facebook and twitter – as they say, sharing is caring! Thank you very much. 🙂
P.S. We are taking an in-depth look at building fictional worlds in our Monthly Programme this month. If you would like to join us, click here. Be lovely to have you!