Now let’s talk clothing! It’s easy to plunge into a story with a battery of standard clothing items: a dress, trousers, belts. These work well for most humanoid characters. How can they be made different? How do they decide what to wear? Who controls this?

From there: religion! What IS sacred? What do characters fear will happen if they don’t uphold beliefs? What are the gestures/words/tools they use to communicate moments of spirituality? How does society deal with different/opposing faiths? Is the faith’s realness in question?

What about food? Alcohol? Drugs? How many kinds are there? Who is in charge of supplying this? Do nuts/berries exist? Is cooking a thing? Is there one standard food animal and everything else is sacred?

So a broad landscape is selected&fleshed out. Let’s expand further. Weather! Is it consistent? Does it change based on season or location? Are there standard days, or long stretches of dark and light? How does the setting compensate for weather problems?

Also, as characters enter a new landscape, what happens to the emotion&power dynamic of the group? Fear changes everything. So does hunger. And cold, and heat, and humidity, and getting lost. Keep these things in mind.

The possibilities are truly endless. The originality of your landscape is truly what allows your readers to dive into the pages and forget they even have another life to participate in at all. This is a good thing.

Maybe each level of ascent up a mountain triggers a diff uncontrollable emotion. Maybe there are rocks that sing when you step on them. Maybe fire can’t ignite on found wood, only harvested wood, but harvesting it causes trees to swing at you in self defense.

Maybe the jungle smells like chocolate. Maybe the trees scream if you peel off the bark. Maybe there are lizards who try to climb under your toenails. Maybe there is grass so soft it’s tempting to rub on your skin, but is highly toxic and must be avoided at all costs.

Maybe there are trees that only bear leaves for a day&the rest of the year you’re walking on a maddening crunch of crispy dry leaves. Maybe there's no such thing as trees. Maybe your MC has never encountered a bird b4. Maybe sand melts into glass if you stand on it too long.

But few worlds have just one landscape. And you don’t have to choose between standard Minecraft biomes when developing these. Maybe there’s a biome that’s all rivers and cliffs. Maybe there’s a desert with spires of crystal for shelter.

Whatever landscape you choose, think about what entering this landscape does to the mental state of your characters. Again, use 5 senses, and attach emotions to each – and each character may process these things differently. This is immersion and authenticity.

If a space station: What is currency here? Any permits needed? Fuel? Food? Temptations? Someone in charge? What’s the floor made of? Is there a floor? Is there a ceiling? What is in the air? How do these things challenge your MC?

If a forest: Cool. How thick is the canopy? Is it green? Are there leaves, or feathers or needles or…? How does the clothing interact with this landscape? Is it suitable or do they need to improvise? What noises are constant here?

If a mountain: How tall? Shape? What surrounds it? What is it made of? What creatures lurk on the sides? Is there a path? Why or why not? What can you see from afar in the different stages of ascent?

If a city: How do the buildings look? Are there streets? Tunnels? What materials are common – glass, stone, brick, sand, etc? What is energy here? How do families dwell? Are there families? Use 5 senses to develop a list to draw from later when writing or revising.

Start with broad location. On Earth? Not on Earth? Space station? What kind of age? Does your story require a city? A mountain? A forest? A river? A tower? A volcano? A cave? Okay, cool. So take your required familiar element and see what you can do to make it different.

SFF worldbuilding has as many layers as the characters w/in it. You can’t sacrifice one for the other. It’s easy to duplicate a world that’s familiar in landscape &society, but coming up w/something original&immersive is another art altogether.

I was supposed to have a meeting this morning and tech issues are preventing that, so I thought I’d do a fun little #worldbuilding #thread on SCI FI FANTASY WORLD BUILDING, as inspired by @RaeLoverde Tweet about rivers!
#amwriting #querytip #writetip #askagent

A real winner of an opening line in my query box this AM: "I’m exploring literary agents to see if they are mentally equipped to understand and market my book." Sounds like I'm far too stupid for this one! #pubtip

Some #WednesdayWisdom from our agenting team: 'when submitting your work, use a clear and readable front to make your idea as accessible as possibe' (P.S. Arial and Times New Roman preferred) #WriteTip #MSWL #QueryTip #NationalWritingDay