Drama: January 11, 2017 Issue [#8055]
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Drama


 This week: Creating the Story World
  Edited by: Joy Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

“People don't believe me when I tell them I'm a magician who makes portals to other worlds. So I tell them I'm a writer instead.”
Genesis Quihuis

"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself."
Henry Miller

“This is a work of fiction. Still, given an infinite number of possible worlds, it must be true on one of them. And if a story set in an infinite number of possible worlds is true in one of them, then it must be true in all of them. So maybe, it's not as fictional as we think.”
Neil Gaiman, InterWorld

“One of my favourite things about being an author is waking up knowing that there are worlds just waiting to be discovered and created.”
C.S. Woolley

“Some build their castles 'mid thunderbolts and fireworks. My worlds take shape in silence.”
Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year

“The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no?
Doesn't that make life a story?”

Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Hello, I am Joy Author Icon, this week's drama editor. This issue is about the significance of the story world.

Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, successful, and prosperous 2017...



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Letter from the editor

A gift to me


Welcome to the Drama newsletter


         The story world is the predominant groundwork of a fictional piece that causes the readers to relate to what they are reading. Even in realistic stories where the arena the story takes place is not exactly defined, there exists a setting with time and place to anchor the reader’s attention. In such a story, an imaginary town like any other town on earth becomes that story’s world. In such a situation, the storytelling may express real life or even the reverse of real life, still sounding truthful.

         In real life, we are born into a world to which we have to adapt. In a good story, the characters come first, and the world is designed accordingly, so the manifestation of those characters can be correctly detailed. Through this process, the story world becomes a part of the human psyche, which lends itself to the definition of the story world as: The story world is everything surrounding the characters all at once together with the physical boundaries and the sequence of the plot lines.

         Most people, however, take the idea of the story world to be simply the arena or the physical boundaries of a place and time. Still, when we look at the created worlds of fantasy and sci-fi stories carefully, we see the application of the story-world concept from a wider angle. Just think about these stories: Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Harry Potter’s two worlds--one in London and the other in and around The Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, The giant’s place on top of the beanstalk in Jack and the Beanstalk, Winnie the Pooh’s Five Hundred Acre Wood in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England, the royal-blue-tang fish Dory’s undersea world in Finding Nemo, the universe of worlds in the serials of movies and books of Star Wars and Star Trek.

         Just as in real life, story worlds operate within a spectrum of physical and societal rules, to make them believable and explorable. Sci -fi and fantasy worlds are built with rules, maps, lineages, universes, alternate universes, cultures, and languages. Fictional worlds, when written well, cause us to feel, learn lessons, and relate to our own world in a more profound way.

         The simplest way to build a story world could be:

         • First deciding on the premise and characters, as to the kinds of characters the writer is comfortable with.

         • Pinpointing a basic place and time.

         • Creating a timeline for the story world’s background and history.

         • Creating the rules of the world, its society, government, what is valued the most and the least by its citizens, the weather, the conflicts, relationships, and physical looks of the topography, plants, animal, and inhabitants.

         • Creating the magic and what it means in this world if what you have is a magical story world.

         Then, as the writer’s own reference, you-the writer-can detail the story world with maps and outlines to show the geography, history, technology, religion, languages, culture, government, astronomy and guidelines for the magic if any magic exists in this world. You can also have the story world and the hero develop together, but it is always a good idea to have the basic guidelines as reference points before you put the first word on the first page.

         In addition, if you plan an epic and come up with several sub-story worlds, you’ll need a passageway between those worlds. Think about the relationships in the Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon and her several different worlds whose borders are drawn by different eras of time. She designed the passages from one era to another through rock formations such as the circle of stones on the hill Craigh Na Dun near Inverness in Scotland.

         In a nutshell, the world of the story is what affects the reader the most, especially when it is written as a web encompassing all other story elements.

          Until next time! *Smile*



Editor's Picks

*Reading**Moon**Music1**Music1**Music1* *Butterflyb**Moon**Coffeep**Reading**Moon**Butterflyb**Coffeep**Moon**Reading**Moon**Coffeep**Butterflyb**Moon**Reading**Moon**Butterflyb**Coffeep**Music1**Music1**Music1* *Moon**Reading*


          *Gold*   Enjoy!   *Gold*

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#781932 by Not Available.

Dandelions Open in new Window. (ASR)
Dandelions were only the _first_ thing to disappear...
#880186 by Beauregard Vine Author IconMail Icon

 The Shining Shards Open in new Window. (E)
An Eraknian creation myth
#880890 by BD Mitchell Author IconMail Icon

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STATIC
The Golden Door Open in new Window. (13+)
“Nothing can be excluded from life. It is all one thing.”
#838971 by W.D.Wilcox Author IconMail Icon

 Net Between the Worlds Open in new Window. (13+)
Pounding headache, no memory, the woman's only hope is a strange antique shop
#1593647 by ElaineElaine Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#1541160 by Not Available.

 The Shadows Open in new Window. (13+)
The shadows showed us a glimpse of what could have been our lives as well
#2046834 by Josh T. Alto Author IconMail Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2098861 by Not Available.

World Builders, LLC Open in new Window. (E)
Creating worlds in your image, one day at a time.
#1375469 by Jeff Author IconMail Icon

Waltz Amongst the Stars Open in new Window. (13+)
Said the Excalibur to the Defiant, may I have this dance?
#754081 by Imzadi Author IconMail Icon


A Few Interesting Contests

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Magic Words Contest  Open in new Window. [13+]
A fantasy short story contest. Fantastic Prizes. Closed
by A E Willcox Author Icon

 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

Image Protector
Paranormal Romance Contest Open in new Window. [18+]
Now, Open Exclusively to HSP students & members - a 2016 & 2020 Quill Award winner
by Jim Hall Author Icon

 
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Ask & Answer

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*Bullet* This Issue's Tip: Revelations, as the story progresses, should be inserted with care and at just the right time and place, so they can magnify the plot by going under the surface and deepening the story.

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Feedback for "Let’s Not Preach Thematic ArgumentsOpen in new Window.

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Quick-Quill Author Icon
Regarding: "Pay Backs" "Pay BacksOpen in new Window.

Themes are great when disguised. Every Hallmark Holiday movie has a theme. It may not hit you in the face with every line, but we all know it's going to be about Christmas, giving, restitution and forgiveness. It isn't preachy. We know when watching that channel its what we want to see.
I like themes. I like to see them unfold.


Thanks for the input. *Cool*
And I agree with you. I like it better when the theme is not the at-your-face type.

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