nano_writers | Let's Build a World: Day 16

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

- Eden Phillpotts

It's Day 16 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - More Speculation - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Let's open up those notebooks and read today's exercise:

What are the limits of your speculative element? What's the trade-off for using it? Magic usually comes at a cost-- what is that cost? If there's no cost, then what's the trade-off? What keeps it from being used all the time, for everything, or is it used that much after all? What keeps people from spending every hour in the holodeck? Why would anyone bother to learn to pilot a ship when there are transporters? Can your vampires go outside in daylight, or are they strictly limited to the dark?

Write down your rules, specifically focusing on what's impossible, and what should be established as unstable early, so when it fails conveniently in your novel, it won't be out of place or throw your reader out of the story. Establish the limits and boundaries of your spec element today.

Here are some links for your consideration that might help with today's exercise:

Fantasy Is Not for Sissies: Real Rules for Real Worlds - by Holly Lisle

Functional Magic - from TV Tropes

Science Versus Magic — Is There a Difference in the World of Fiction? by Annalee Newitz

Are you playing by the rules, Nano Writer? Hope to see you tomorrow!