Comments on: World-Building: Captivate Readers & Never Let Go

By: About This Writing Stuff… | Phil Giunta – Paranormal, Fantasy, & SF Writer

Sat, 23 Jul 2022 17:10:46 +0000

[…] World-Building: Captivate Readers and Never Let Go by Kristen Lamb […]

By: Rachel McMahon

Rachel McMahon — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 22:50:52 +0000

It’s funny that you mentioned the use of “okay” in another comment, because I have a whole conversation in my book where my character has to explain why she keeps saying it in a world where they don’t use the word.

I’m always on the lookout for overdoing or neglecting my world building. I can easily be put off by either one when I’m reading.

By: Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 14:34:38 +0000

In reply to V.M.Sang.

That would be super helpful. Some other bugaboos are when characters in ancient times mention what time it is, or how many hours they have left or how many miles to travel. And yes, idioms and even certain vocabulary words can be massive red flags.

When I wrote a Western, my writing partner almost had to swat me with a stick to stop using “okay.” That is a 20th century creation. They would have asked, “Are you well?” or “Are you unwell?”

I also started to use barbed wire, then hesitated and looked it up. I wouldn’t be invented for almost another ten years. So yes, anything with a historical element to it, one has to be SUPER careful.

By: Jean Lamb

Jean Lamb — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 03:04:14 +0000

Wait, Vikings had steel swords, so not seeing anything wrong with ‘nerves of steel’, though I could be wrong.. Although I was put off by one book during the reign of William Rufus where someone mentioned hummingbirds in the forest, um, nope. And then there was the ancient Roman book where the Empress ate…pineapple. I don’t think so.

By: Charlayne Elizabeth Denney

Charlayne Elizabeth Denney — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 19:32:46 +0000

Love it, as usual. I always end up reading your blog and trying to figure out if I’m doing something wrong. My series is mostly made in the real world with non-real vampires who have real names. But next to them, I have angels and demons, Heaven and Hell. Those can be taken from lists in other books. The angels, for the most part, have –el in their name. I’ve tried to keep that but changed it for a few, those who need to stand out (Eistered, now Sully, is the main male protagonist; Rebangiel is Reba, the nurse who is a guardian angel in the ‘human’ world). I have kept a list of all of the various 1-off characters so I don’t reassign a name and I’m hoping to do a “World of Fangs & Halos” book for the series.

I had to laugh on the language thing, my husband tells me that they have some weirdness in that language. They put the negatives at the end of the sentence and the verbs in weird. His example, “I went to the castle, hat in hand, to see the wizard, not.” It’s one of the things he remembers out of his college German classes.

I’m a life-long 1st generation ToS Trekki (I was 9 when the series started). I used to marvel at the various “cool” tech, like the communicators, the tablet pads, and such. We’ve had a few generations of fans who looked at that and said “hmmmm.” We now have communicators–the cell phones. My tablet is more power than anything we dreamt of back in the 60’s and 70’s. Many fans went into technology classes and jobs because of their love of Trek and have made many things come into the real world. I’m still waiting the transporter, though. My husband wants the Holo-deck 🙂

Live Long and Prosper.

By: V.M.Sang

V.M.Sang — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 17:13:53 +0000

A wonderful post. I, too, love the world of Dune. And Raistlin must have had a lot of young girls lusting after him.
I write both fantasy and historical fiction. As an ex-science teacher, I try to make sure my fantasy worlds don’t go against physics. For the world of Vimar, I researched meteorology and geology so I didn’t get a desert in a place it couldn’t be, for example. Of course, magic exists.
When writing historical fiction, not only would we not have toy trains at the time of King Arthur (who would even contemplate that?) but we should be careful of words we use.
In Viking Britain, where one of my books is set, no one would say ‘he has nerves of steel,’ because steel hadn’t been invented.
A wonderful book for this type of thing is A History in English Words. I forget the author, but apart from its interest, it tells you what words belong to what era.

By: Roger Nay

Roger Nay — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 02:21:07 +0000

Great post, one of my favorite. I share the “bugaboo” of too many names thrown out in the first page or two, especially difficult to pronounce names and common titles changed to bizarre made-up words with weird spellings.

By: Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 01:58:27 +0000

In reply to Deborah Makarios. Good one!

By: Deborah Makarios

Deborah Makarios — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 01:10:41 +0000

Tea and potatoes are another trap for unwary anachronists. How can one imagine the British working classes without tea and potatoes? Well, unless you’re in recent enough history that they a) had reached Britain and b) weren’t just luxury goods available for the elites, it’s small beer and turnips for you!