 Fantasy: May 04, 2022 Issue [#11341] |
This week: Cities Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.
—Aristotle
But a city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time.
—Patrick Geddes
As a remedy to life in society I would suggest the big city. Nowadays, it is the only desert within our means.
—Albert Camus
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Since the beginning of civilization, humankind has been building and living in cities.
This is essentially a tautology, as the etymology of the word "civilization" implies the presence of cities.
Cities serve several important purposes: they are centers of culture and socialization; they can provide for mutual defense; they're hubs of commerce and trade; and they serve as religious gathering-places.
It should be no different for those fictional cities that you might use in your fiction writing. A city doesn't (usually) just spring up out of nowhere; it generally starts small, perhaps a trade grounds for agricultural products, or a place where there's good fishing, or there's a natural harbor for shipping. Sometimes it's just at a convenient location on a trade route between other cities.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't always persist. One might start out as a mining village, but as the mines become exhausted, the city might have taken on other industry.
Distinctions have been made between such things as cities, towns, villages, etc. But the definitions are arbitrary. You might say, for instance, "any settlement with a population over 10,000 is a city." But there will always be exceptions, and the population of a city might fluctuate with the seasons. No, it's not the size of the city that defines it, but the functions it serves. So when I say "city" here, I really mean any reasonably large settlement.
And each city has its own unique flavor. Different architecture, certainly, but also different customs and laws,a different mix of people, different cuisine and climate, and all of these factors work together to give each city its particular vibe. A city, in a story, is often more than just a setting; it can be a character in its own right. In a way, it's alive. And like a living thing, it's born, it grows, it matures, and sometimes, eventually, it is abandoned and dies.
When considering a city setting for a fantasy novel, consider not only the kind of beings who created it and live there, but also: where do they get their food from? Their water? How is waste disposal handled? What defenses are there? What kind of architecture? What sort of trade do they have? Are the roads narrow and crooked, or does it boast wide avenues, or is there some mix?
How does your city handle outsiders -- is it welcoming, or distrusting? What's its relationship with the neighbors? Who rules, who roams in the shadows, and who does all the real work?
Or if you're building a world without cities, how does that work? |
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Last month, in "Stars" , I wrote about great balls of fire.
brom21  : It is interesting to note stars are mentioned in the Bible to describe angels. If the universe does go on forever, than so are the number of stars. Great NL!
It's no surprise that someone made the connection between one kind of heavenly body and another.
So that's it for me for now -- see you near the end of the month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!!
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