Blogs in this series: 

1. A New Place
2. Fantastic Details
3. Concocted Cooking
4. Worship
5. Walk in Your World

When we think of a fantastic world, we often think of the broad strokes, but it’s the small details of the world that make it come to life. Those little details are what we’re going to focus on in this blog series. ​

In William Gibson’s Neuromancer, the characters are hardened, often augmented by artificial body parts, and spend half of their lives in cyberspace. They speak their jargon and refer to people and events beyond the narrative, which would not be possible without a developed world history.

Consider this quote from Neuromancer, describing the forced removal of the main character’s (Case) cybernetic augmentation, which had allowed him to access cyberspace:

• “They damaged his nervous system with a wartime Russian mycotoxin. Strapped to a bed in a Memphis hotel, his talent burning out micron by micron, he hallucinated for thirty hours. The damage was minute, subtle, and utterly effective.” 

To an observer, Case has a scar – but now we know it’s so much more.

This passage is in the first few paragraphs of the first chapter of the novel. With examination, I can tell that there was a war, Russia makes mycotoxin, they use cyberspace at a microscopic level, and cybernetic ability can be painfully extracted. These are all pieces of the world history, acted, or in this case inflicted, upon the character. But, these pieces are meaningless if not rooted in a consistent and developed narrative.

Characters need orientation in their world to be able to act and react to plot points. They have access to a small sliver of the universal knowledge, to which you have unlimited access and creative power. Give characters a diversity of expertise, so their fragments of understanding come together to form the world you created.

When I write a story, sometimes I include just the small detail, and sometimes I write the full history behind it – whatever fits in the narrative. What’s important is I know, and my characters know, the story behind these unique details. Even if I don’t use the object history right away, I might use it further in the story. As I build the web of my world, these details and their accounts can connect to make a strong structure and vibrant setting. 

 This is # 1 of a 5-part blog series on how to make fantasy and science-fiction world's feel real. It's based off of a science fiction and fantasy world-building prompt session I ran at this year's Ladder Literary Conference. 

If you love imaginative worlds, you know the setting is itself a character, with a history, distinct features, strengths, and weaknesses. A well-written fantastic world could be as vivid in your mind as the last new place you visited and as familiar as your backyard. When I can walk through my science-fiction or fantasy world in my mind and see it with in-depth detail, that’s when I'm ready for my characters to set foot in the places I've made for them.

When we think of a fantastic world, we often think of the broad strokes, but it’s the small details of the world that make it come to life. Those little details are what we’re going to focus on in this blog series. 

​Sometimes, to write in the extraordinary, I like to ground in the ordinary. For this exercise, I want you to remember the last time that you went someplace new. Perhaps you went to another region or country, or maybe it was just the next town over or the next street over. What did you notice that was different about that place. Common cultural differences include languages, religion, accents, food, architecture, and customs. There’s also variance in the landscape, climate, flora, and fauna. 

Why do want you to write about the last place you visited? Because the little, and sometimes big, details you notice when you are in a new place are the same elements  you should feature in the description of your fictional world.

• These differences are the details that make places stick in your memory. They are what make the locations you’ve been to real and accessible in your mind. The same types of details will make your imaginary worlds real to your readers.

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The more fantastic your world, the more fanciful you can be, but you be, you should have ordinary details as well. These details ground the reader and give them a common reference point. Maybe there’s a science fiction world where everyone walks on floating sidewalks, but they also all eat boring cabbages because it’s easiest to grow in the depleted soil underneath. 

Since my word for the scavenger hunt is “remembers” I thought I’d write about some of the way Solstice has been celebrated throughout history.

• The Ancient Greeks observed the Summer Solstice as New Year’s Day and the festival of their agricultural god, Cronos. During this festival, the classes switched places, masters served their slaves at the feast, and all social ranks celebrated together.
• Romans used the Summer Solstice to celebrate Vesta, the hearth goddess. Married women would go into Vesta’s temples and give offerings in exchange for a blessing on their homes.
• Ancient Chinese also saw the Summer Solstice as a feminine holiday and threw festivals honoring “yin” and the Earth.
• European Pagans commemorated the Solstice in “Midsummer” rituals that included bonfires meant to boost the energy of the sun, scare away demons, and unite maidens with their future husbands.
• The Vikings used the Summer Solstice as a time to settle legal disputes.
• Native Americans performed Sun Dances on the Solstice, sometimes erecting stone circles for this purpose. 

​Facebook’s Fantasy & Sci-fi Readers’ Lounge is running a Solstice Scavenger Hunt. The game runs from June 16th to June 29th.  The grand prize is $75, and entrants also have a chance to win one of 19 eBooks by one of our 19 participating authors.

To play the game: you are hunting for the words featured on each of the blogs below. Once you collect all the words, unscramble them to make a quote from a famous book. Then enter to win here:

Giveaway requirements:

1. Follow Facebook’s Fantasy & Sci-fi Readers’ Lounge so you can see the list of winners when the admins announce them:                                                 https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasySciFiReadersLounge/
2. Use the above "Enter the Giveaway Here" link to enter the giveaway.

Here are all the books you could win! Talk about a summer reading list! Visit the author's blog and start collecting words for the Solstice Scavenger Hunt:

Azimuth by Rennie St. James: https://writerrsj.com/blog/
The Glass Gargoyle by Marie Andreas: http://faeriesdragonsspaceships.blogspot.com/
This Cursed Flame by Selina J. Eckert: https://sjeckert.wordpress.com/…/solstice-scavenger-hunt-20…
The Fox and The Hunter by Linn Tesli: https://linntesli.com/blog/
Witch's Moonstone Locket by Marsha A Moore: https://marshaamoore.blogspot.com/…/solstice-scavenger-hunt…
Elven Jewel by Kasper Beaumont: http://huntersofreloria.weebly.com/kaspers-ramblings
Wolves' Gambit by PJ MacLayne: http://www.pjmaclayne.com/mountain-musings/
Ian's Realm Saga by D.L. Gardner: https://diendrial.wordpress.com
Dragon Blood by Katie Cherry: https://www.facebook.com/KatieCherryFantasy/
The Shikari by Dora Blume (DM Staley): www.dorablume.com
Sleepless Flame by Odin Oxthorn (Ox Woden): https://www.odinsmusings.com/
The Hand of Atua by Charity Bradford: charitywrites.blogspot.com
Schrodinger's Cat by Eileen Schuh: http://eileenschuh.blogspot.com/
Shadow's Hand by Noelle Nichols: www.noellenichols.com
Forever People by Alison Lyke: http://www.alisonlyke.com/blog
A Bit of Magic by Mae Baum: https://maebaum.com
Curse Breaker: Enchanted by Melinda Kucsera: https://melindakucsera.com/blog/
Bonded by Cheryllynn Dyess: www.cheryllynndyess.com
Tattoos by Stacy Overby: www.thisisnothitchhikersguide.com
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