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Chosing a Setting for my novel?

Hi guys,
I'd really like some input with my idea. Originally it was going to be set in ancient Greece, and the story revolves around Greek Mythology. My main character was a young Amazon woman, who is exciled from her tribe by the new Queen and plans to find back to regain her tribe and be there Queen. I have written Greek Mythology type stories before.

Then I got thinking, as dangerous as that is, that we have a lot of this sort of stuff around. So I thought about creating my own planet that closely resembles earth. It looks very much like our earth did in ancient times. That way I could create my own Gods and cities. And have my own clan, a bit like the Amazons, but obviously they wouldn't be human. However, I've never tried creating my own planet before, and I can see pros and cons of both sides.

So I was just wondering if anyone could give me their opinions on what they think, and share what it's like building your own world and what you have to think about.

Thanks for your time
x
 

shangrila

Inkling
I find created worlds more interesting so, personally, I'd rather go with that. That said, you don't have to create an entire world, and taking on that kind of a task could be daunting. Just start with the necessary stuff for your story; obviously your amazon-esque culture, their religion and likely the culture and religion of whatever place she got exiled to. From there you can add bits and pieces as needed, but don't feel like you have to create an entire working world from scratch, unless you're intending for your characters to go globe trotting.

That's what I've found the easiest, at least. The important part of any story is, of course, the story. As long as your world building enhances that, then you can't go wrong.
 
If I were you, then I would posit that your created world is the mythological Mt. Olympus that the myths come from and somehow they got transmitted to earth (an oracle, multidimensional portal, FTL communication, etc).
 

Taro

Minstrel
This sounds like a great idea, i alwasy have trouble writing anything that is set in our own earth, i love to create my own continents, races - which are vased of norse or whatever you want them to be., religions and cultures and etc. but most of all write what is most comfortable for you. but i do find created ones better.
 

JCFarnham

Auror
And have my own clan, a bit like the Amazons, but obviously they wouldn't be human.

Got to say, it's not that obvious to me. Why can't they be human?

I hope that's a question you've thought of an answer for. Even if you say "Earth exists some where, but this isn't Earth" then I'd need to see a difference, because otherwise why are they trying to be different at all?

That's not meant as harsh. We are, after all, talking about fantasy. Where any thing can happen?

Anyway, there are certainly pros to writing in your own created world, which fellow scribes have kindly talked about. For the sake of a more complete discussion I'd like give you the pros and cons of real world fantasy.

Chief amongst the reasons to write t is that the learning curve is much more shallow. People subconsciously know how the setting works. This presents a problem however. You need to be 100% concrete on how fantastical things can happen or readers may not buy in to the tale.

It goes with out saying then, that other/alternate world fantasy can have a much more difficult learning curve. That being said, it doesn't have to. The beauty of writing in a created world is that you have the freedom to do ANYTHING (create lots, don't and lift from Earth history, you name it), which comes at the price of having to make sure that all your readers understand where your coming from.

By that reasoning it should be harder to write outside the real world. Right? I'm sure you can see from this thread that many people are world builders at heart. I know I am.

What I would say about creating your own world is, yes, only do what's necessary for your story (unless you intend to set more in that universe), but consider how different your world is to what we human beings know. The more different, the more difficult it becomes to suspend disbelief.

Hopefully I haven't scared you, that wasn't my intention either. By all means, worldbuild. I would, I mean, that's the fun part ;)
 
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Chilari

Staff
Moderator
I agree with JC, your characters can be human even if it isn't earth. Most fantasy characters are human, after all. I'd say, pick which real world rules you want to keep (gravity, earth revolving around sun, stars being distant balls of burning gas, etc) and pick what you want to change (magic, gods, origins of humanity, length someone might expect to live, mythical creatures, etc). Then work out the geography, put in the Greek flavour - the olive trees and vineyards, the boats with scary faces painted on them, bronze swords if we're talking about the mythical age, the city states, the protogeometric pottery style or whatever else you're using. It really is that simple. Hell, you can even use the real world geography if you want, who's going to know if you don't include a map?

Greek mythology sounds like a great starting point. I'm quite a fan of ancient Greece. Did a degree in it and everything. If you need help with research, create a thread in the research forum and drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I also agree with JC. It's important for your readers to be grounded in your story. For the vast majority, readers need to feel a connection with a major element (characters, setting).

If my setting takes place in a foreign environment, it helps to have the characters be human. That's the reader's connection. If the story has fantastical, inhuman characters, you may find you need a familiar setting to aid acceptance. That's not to say that you couldn't write a good story with inhuman characters in a foreign setting. However, I'm firm in my belief that it will have a much broader appeal if you include humans or world elements we find familiar.
 
Wow! You all really helped a lot. So you're saying I could build my own world, but only add in what's necessary to the story, and keep my characters human. That doesn't sound so scary.
I'll try looking on line for something in world building just to get me started.
 
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