Warping the World
World building (Kushiel’s Dart)
Earth or Alt. Earth
Morphy Earth - Kushiel’s
Good reasons for using our world
The world shapes the story/the possibilities of the story
Why Medieval?
Use other periods
- Other histories
- Other religions
- Carey - how does she do this?? (Brilliantly!)
You can make almost any time period and any place/culture work for fantasy
- But you must know it fairly well (by which I mean very well)
Kushiel’s Dart and France/Southern France
World Building vs. generic “Fantasyland”
Where do we start?
What interest/intrigues us?
Area of the world/culture you know & love?
What DRAWS you in fantasy???
Logical connections
Physical world
- What people eat
- What they wear
- Where they live
- How they travel
- How they fight
➞ Cliché of medieval world
- What era is Carey using to work from? (Early Renaissance)
How is it different from cliché medieval world?
- Look up - Stew, Cloaks, Gold
MISTAKE - Medieval world (SCA version) with magic!
Grimdark - medieval world
- Nasty as it really was
Science Fantasy worlds
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McCaffery, Anne. Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern - Volume 1). Ballantine Books, 1986. ISBN: 9780345335463. (Suggested reading orders of books and stories in Anne McCaffery’s Pern series (PDF))
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Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Darkover Landfall. RH Canada UK Distribution, 1987. ISBN: 9780099154105. (Reading order of books in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover series)
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Norton, Andre. Witch World. Ace, 1963. (Publication order of the Witch World series; Reading order recommended by fans)
Gaslight Victorian Fantasy. Battlefield Press, 2015. (Steampunk but fantasy)
Culture & aesthetic but play fast & loose with the history (Carey)
The Lord of the Rings - NOT vague medieval land
- Pre-industrial/agrarian
Martin - Grimdark
Why is Arthur medieval - it’s actually pre-medieval! (in actual time)
Research/lack of research
Historical/non-medieval:
