shutsumon (shutsumon) wrote in specficwriters, @ 2008-06-03 23:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | fantasy, worldbuilding |
Worldbuilding Project: Day Two - Physical Geography, Mood and Climate
Once again the quoted text comes from 30 Days of World-Building by Stephanie Bryant.
Sorry that this comes out as more of a rant/moan than an exercise.
Well, well, well Day Three already and looking at the exercise for today I just know this one is going to give me problems - and not only because, as I said in the last entry, I'm building this world as a home/venue for multiple stories (though that doesn't help) but because I don't think of the weather that way. I tend only to think about climate when it does something unusual. I could go on for hours about the great climatic anomaly that was the summer of 1976 but that's besides the point except that in a story it would set the mood by its unusualness. In a country where weeks without rain were normal life would continue without comment. And I've never met a climate I would describe as "Gothic" (you'll have to read the essay for today's exercise to understand my wondering how weather can be gothic. I understand how it can set a gothic mood in a landscape or in conjunction with a cliche castle but the weather won't be like that all the time anywhere.
I suppose I'm unusual in being so neutral towards climate as a mood setter and I might even be overanalysing here but the reason I ended up with a list on Sunday was that just description rather than feelings. I react to weather but not climate - if that makes sense.
When looking for mood for my story I tend to think of the type of cultures that give the right sort mood for what I want. That's the way climate effects my mood I guess. Climate is one of the things that shapes societies. So I guess that's what I'm going to go with.
Anyway sorry for the rant. Here we go with Day Three - Mood and Setting
Read over your list from Saturday (Sunday for me - guess the days come from the first September the author did this on the Nano forums) and then turn to a blank piece of paper. Close your eyes and think about what kind of feeling you like to have when you write or read. Write down four words that fit into that feeling: two adjectives, a verb, and a noun. Now return to the page with your list of climates and emotions. Do any of them match up? If they do, you have your climate. If not, try to find closest-match words.
If you spend 10 solid minutes thinking about this and still can't decide, pick two climates that express moods you like. You can make up your mind later, and you can even build your world with both climates containing equally probable sites for your story.