Let's Build a World: Day 18 - Speculation and Society

[ladyseishou]

Society is a masked ball, where every one hides his real character, and reveals it by hiding.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson



It's Day 18 for Nano Writers's Let's Build a World. Read over - Speculation and Society - from Stephanie Bryant's 30 Days of Worldbuilding. Notebooks ready? Now for today's exercise:

Revise your cultural write-up from Day 10 to include your speculative element, and to answer these questions:

How the addition of your speculative element, with all of its powers and limitations, affects your culture and society. How are people different in your culture, now that you have this new element?

How is society the same? Fundamentally, people are people, and even cultural differences don't change certain basic behaviors. What do you think those behaviors are? What do you think people will continue to do, with or without your speculative element?

How do "ordinary" people react to those with or without the speculative element? In any culture, there will be outsiders, people who do not have what others have, or who have something that no one else has. Your speculative element is one example of something that can separate people.

As a bonus, you can get back to your character sketch and figure out where your protagonist and supporting cast fit into your speculative elements and society.

Here are a couple of links that Nano Writers may find interesting:

Countries and their Cultures - overview of the world's cultures, a good reference

Exploring Ancient World Cultures


Have you cultivated an interesting story world, Nano Writer? Be here tomorrow for the next installment!