| Hello, my pretties! I was tempted to use Independence Day as an excuse to declare freedom from blogging for a day. Alas, I could not, for I actually have a topic today. For our U.S. readers, today is a holiday that marks a big occassion in the history of our country. It celebrates the day America first discovered fire crackers. Or beer.* I can't remember exactly. However, for people in other countries its just another Friday. And that got me thinking about writing, or more specifically, world building. A well-built world--even when set within our own-- will include things like religion, government, cultural traditions, and, yes, even holidays. Even if the race you're writing about doesn't have their own holidays, they'll at least have opinions about the ones happening around them. For example, what would a vampire think of Christmas? Or a werewolf think of Halloween (they already have a costume)? Just some food for thought. What made up holidays can you think of for paranormal creatures? I'll start. Mummy's Day. *Seriously, don't send me angry emails. I know what the holiday celebrates. Obviously, it's the day we chose to honor Bastille Day. |
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Who can be angry about discovering beer? Everytime I open my fridge it's a holiday!
In my WIP, I came up with an event that signified a traumatic change for everybody. I think it's a great idea to wrap plot around timelines and events.
For today, I'd like to celebrate the Mange, a day when all were's shed their fur. All custodial workers and road maintenance crews get double time that day for cleaning up the mess.
Pike, it's like a little party in a bottle.
In my novel Black Heart, the protag tells the vampire that changed that it was Anti-christmas. In Anti-Christmas they don't give presents, but take them away. That way everyone is miserable. Great holiday!
The Euro-vamp was not amused, especially since he was believing her at first. But then Yuri didn't then she was funny.
No sense of humor.
Tom Gallier
Man, I really need to proof read my posts. Note to self: NO MORE POSTING DURING COMMERCIALS!
Oh, my shows back on. Sorry!
Proofing comments is a pain.
Jaye - for light weights like me, it's a BIG party in a bottle.
Great point on world-building! That's one of the reasons why authors like Robert Jordan are so successful--they excel in describing the mundane minutiae of life as well as the large-scale "ooh" and "aah" elements of the story. Only by combining the two does the writer achieve that total buy-in of the reader.
Tom, I'd probably believe in Anti-Christmas too. But that's just because I like the idea of stealing presents. Don't judge me.
Pike, that's me and wine. My husband keeps telling me I'm supposed to use a glass, but I say, why dirty more dishes?
Lee, I saw a bio on J.K. and someone made a great point. The reason her world building feels so real is the reader instinctively knows there much more to the world than we see in the books. I think that's key. The author has to know all those little things even if they don't make it in the novel.