Any writing endeavor leaves an author building a world. This is true for nonfiction as well as fiction. It is true for any genre.
Nonfiction Too?
Nonfiction is set in a real place. It is someplace you can see pictures of or visit. Except that isn’t the place you are writing about.
The author is writing about a place the author sees. It may be based on reality, but the author sees it according to the author’s point of view.
When I wrote “Exploring the Ozark Hills”, I chose the topics. I went out and took the pictures framing them to illustrate what I wanted to write about. It was the real world, but it was also the world I wanted to see.
Real World Fiction
Novels set in the real world, past or present, are like the ones for nonfiction. They may be based on real places, but they are written about as the author sees them.
Plot events influence what is most important in a setting description. Flower kinds and colors don’t matter much during a chase scene. During a romantic scene, these may help enhance the feeling the writer is trying for.
Fantasy and Science Fiction
No matter how hard a writer tries to create an imaginary world, it will relate to what is familiar. We may write about being telepathic, but it is not based on experience. Instead we write about what we think it would be like.
Building a world with strange plants and animals is the same. We have a mental picture of what an animal is, what a plant is. The imaginary ones will conform to these ideas to some extent as we can’t relate to something totally out of our experience.
Melding Truth and Imagination
As I struggle with “The Carduan Chronicles: Ship Nineteen”, I must meld the reality of nature with my point of view of these places with the point of view of these small people. The plants and animals are those I am familiar with. I must see them differently to make my writing feel real.
Building a world for any writing project is challenging. It takes time and thought. In the end, this world begins to feel real and that lets it feel real for a reader.
