31 Day Challenge: The Legion, Day 21: World Building Challenges

THINGS FANTASY WORLDS SHOULD HAVE, EVEN IF ONLY MENTIONED IN PASSING

-sports. so few fantasy worlds have established sports but look how important sports are to our own world. it'd be remiss not to at least mention sports
-newspapers or other forms of public communications

— lindsay beth (@ellle_em) January 22, 2018

I read this tweet a few days ago and I could just feel tingles going up and down my spine (The entire thread is amazing, so you should totally click over and read it) because I was already doing that in The Legion. I created merjua, a cross of rugby, soccer, and lacrosse, and Irika was a singer that showed up in the first original novella, A Million More to Go. I had developed these intricate societies and histories that definitely drove where a lot of my characters chose to go narratively (Ren is a good example of this), but I took a lot of inspiration from Battlestar Galactica there. I loved how they had the Pyramid game, which of course Starbuck played, a very active news system, and a main public religion that some bought into whereas others were more or less cultural followers of Kobol. The entire world felt real, and I wanted to capture that same feel.

But creating entire worlds is hard, y'all. It's not that I don't enjoy it because I 100% do. There is something so satisfying about looking down at a city and its inhabitants (at least, in word form) and smile at the little society that just sprang from your dome. But then you realize, "Well, this is a part of a bigger world, so ... my work has only just begun." And that is kind of where my biggest problem is. I get way more invested in creating the histories of my characters' surroundings and realize that, oh, right, I should probably write the actual story now?

Speaking of which, I'm actually going to go do a bit of writing right now. I'm still sick - because of course I am - and I want to take any opportunity to use whatever energy I have to do something positive. 

< DAY TWENTY: HARDEST SCENE TO WRITE

DAY TWENTY-TWO: FANTASY MIXED WITH SCI-FI >

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