Saturday, June 3, 2017

Fantasy and SciFi...

Good Saturday morning! I hope you're all enjoying the weekend :)  Today, it's not raining in my neck of the woods so I'm grateful to see that, lol, and hopefully, the sun will be out for a bit, crossing fingers ;)

Before I get started, I should warn you, not enough coffee in me yet, so not really sure the direction the post will turn out in the end, sorry in advance, lol ;)

Fantasy and SciFi.. both genres are really a creators heaven, so to speak. You really have almost total freedom when creating your worlds and characters and whatnot; I think it's fab! That said, I've only written one in the category so don't have much to base things on. But I will say this, writing the book was a blast. Anyway, back to the topic for today..

When working on your characters and world building there are so many different ways you can go about doing so. Take the Twilight Saga for an example: sure, they're vamps living among humans, but they're not like the ordinary blend of what we are use to when thinking of vampires. For one, if they go out in the sun it doesn't kill them, for another, they do not typically take part of drinking blood of humans. And another, they sparkle.. and that, is the most important part I'm trying to stress here. Your characters and their world can blend between their world and Earth, but make them stand out, different from the norm, make them unforgettable. Give them something, that wow factor that will make a reader think, omg, I so didn't see coming and how cool was that, type of deal.

Take a witch for instance.. there are good witches and bad witches, and witches who don't want to be a witch. If this is your target market, you've read countless books to get the feel of things so you know what I mean. But how about making a witch that is new, can't control her spells yet, and it can happen any time, day or night. So, you're thinking, yeah, that's nothing new.. you're right. I've read many books that have at least one of the points listed.. but how about making the heroine cast a spell in a shopping center, while having coffee with a potential business client, and have the Iris and pupil of her eyes split down the middle and one half move to the left side of her eye, and the other, to the right.. so that all of the white color is in the middle.. and have that part glow from bright white to neon, and so on.. now that's a little different. A small detail, yes, but it's enough to make it stand out just a bit, making her a little unique.

SciFi.. there are so many great books out there in the genre, not to mention movies. My fav at the moment is Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah, I realize it's based on a comic, but think about the movie for a minute.. or Star Trek or Star Wars, if you haven't seen Guardians.. Think about all the 'little unique' moments in the characters and their world. You see, the important thing is that it's not just another space story, it's the part where you place your characters in 'their' world, and make them stand out, make them not so like the 'norm'. Create a story that is just about them, their homes, their lives, their purpose.. and then layer, up the ante, make them stand out like only you can.

The downside to world building, is knowing when enough is enough. It can be a stickler when creating worlds, because you have to add details, to know when you're bogging the story down. The only advice, and it's just my opinion.. layer in details about them and the world you're creating. Keep the action moving forward, slow it down when needed using a smidgen of details or whatnot, then move the pace forward/faster again with things happening in your story.

Hope this helps :)  Happy Writing!