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Creating a fantasy world? Ask 10 questions
World building is an important component of fantasy writing because your fantasy world must be grounded in a history and abide by certain rules in order to persuade your readers to suspend their disbelief when you bring in magic, fantastical beasts and other implausible elements. Below are some ...
October 17th, 2013
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How to create a fantasy world that everyone will believe
When writing in the fantasy genre learning how to create a fantasy world that feels real to readers is easy when you follow these five steps. How to define a fantasy book? According to Wikipedia: 'Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically ...
November 8th, 2013
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Creating fantasy worlds: Social critique
Creating fantasy worlds can be an excellent means for social critique because writers have the opportunity to imagine worlds that are entirely different from our own. This allows highlighting its quirks and issues through contrast and similarity. Here’s why it is important for writers to do so a...
July 30th, 2015
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Novel settings: 7 tips to get setting description right
Setting is the time and place that forms the backdrop for your story. Good novel settings require imaginative and vivid description. Immerse your readers in a mesmerizing fictional world and they will want to turn the page, not close the book. Here are 7 simple tips for getting your setting desc...
November 3rd, 2016
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How to describe setting: 6 ways to bring setting to life
Knowing how to describe setting vividly helps you craft settings that mirror your characters' psychologies and personalities. A character's home, for example, can give readers insightful details about them. Here are six ways to bring setting to life (sign up to Now Novel to get feedbac...
December 19th, 2016
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Story setting ideas: 6 effective setting examples and tips
The best book setting ideas are highly effective. Setting is a literary device where a writer establishes a time frame, location and the environment of a story. In a novel where the author performs careful worldbuilding, the story setting enriches plot events with atmosphere and...
February 20th, 2017
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Worldbuilding societies: How to create a civilization
In novel-writing, world building is an important concept, especially in genres such as fantasy and science fiction that explore alternate worlds. Good world building questions will help you create a detailed and immersive world. Here are some questions to ask: First, what do we mean by 'civil...
October 2nd, 2017
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How do you describe a place? 6 setting tips
The setting of your story is key to readers being able to imagine 'being there'. How do you describe a place so it is characterful and contributes effectively to your story? What physical descriptions can you provide to create a vivid image in your reader's mind? Try these 6 tips: How to...
November 19th, 2018
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Elements of setting: How to create a vivid world
The elements of setting - time, place, mood, social and cultural context - help to make a novel feel real and alive. This is an essential element of writing that helps anchor your writing within a specific place. Read more about using the ingredients of setting to make your story more vivid...
December 13th, 2018
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World building: Writing the natural environment
In epic fantasy world building, natural environments provide possible hazards (freezing cold, dangerous volcanoes) and mood or atmosphere. Even in 'realist' fiction set in our own world, environment (such as the details that make a coastal city familiar, for example), is a key part of setting. R...
December 6th, 2018
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Setting the scene: 6 ways to introduce place in stories
Setting the scene for a story is important. This is vital whether you are writing a fictional story or a nonfiction book, although the scene will not be fictional then, of course. Giving readers a vivid sense of where and when events take place anchors action and dialogue. When readers are able ...
April 1st, 2019
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Vivid story setting description: Examples and insights
Vivid story setting descriptions helps us anchor a story's action in place. Listed below are story setting description examples that reveal the varied functions of setting description. 1. Use setting description to highlight characters' turning points What characters do in a place tells us...
April 29th, 2019
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