This week: The Boundaries We Create Edited by: Dawn Embers  
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Fantasy Newsletter by Dawn
Some talk of how we can create and use different boundaries in fantasy worlds. |
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When it comes to setting and world creation for fantasy there are many things we consider that can be influenced from things in our current world whether we're doing something similar or very different. It has also been a while since I've done a newsletter that focused on part of the setting. While creating worlds and stories, not only do we build but cities but we also have to consider how and where to set up boundaries. There is more than one kind to consider too: physical and emotional.
Physical Boundaries
These are a little more obvious. They come in different forms that include walls, fences, cliffs and the occasional beach front with a view of the ocean as it spans off into the horizon. Maybe it's not only a wall but you included a moat to surround the castle. But then you have to wonder, how much help is the moat? What is the purpose of a little water? It might cause a slight delay and the characters just hope it's enough time to keep them from getting into the castle. Or if the set up boundaries more for show than actual purpose, there is that to consider as well.
Something you have to consider is the fact that the borders can either be used to keep someone out, or they could keep people from leaving. It could be something bigger too. The world is often made up of more than one town, more than one community and probably even more than one country. It could even involve more than one galaxy.
We create borders and boundaries for a variety of reasons, whether it's in a matter of personal space, protection from nature/the elements or to distinguish one country from another. Some are more noticeable than others and some are worth questioning.
Other Boundaries
Walls aren't always physical. Sometimes they can be emotional, mental or created by some other means. We are writing speculative fiction, so there are going to be some boundaries created by magic or a different type that can't be found within our current world.
There are also different reasons for a non-physical boundary to be put in place along with the issue of whether or not the character even knows about it. A magical block might be put in place to keep the person from remembering something in particular or from having access to certain abilities before they are ready to handle them. It might be put into place by themselves yet they have no memory of doing that, or it might be something done on a very conscious level.
In developing your world and the characters, boundaries are one of those things that can be considered in different ways. This can be done both during the world building process or through discovery when writing things outs. Depends on your methods, the world and the story you are creating. If you don't have boundaries set in place that you're aware of in your fiction, maybe take a few minutes and try writing about one just to see where it leads. If you've got a writing block too, you could use the concept of a block as a spark of inspiration. Even when talking about walls and borders, one can find their way out or in, depending on how you look at things and what you write.
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What kind of boundaries do you use in your world?
Last time, which was at the very beginning of January, I wrote about the creation of worlds in fantasy and sci-fi. Here is the comment sent in from that newsletter:
Comment by Eric the Fred 
In my short "Cosmogony" (no bitem because I'm not sure if that's kosher or doable in a comment here) I began with a hard science fiction story and ended in a creation myth. It's one of my personal favorites out of my writing.
Coming up with something unique is a great challenge for this particular question, but it is also a wide-open field of possibility.
- Thanks for the comment. Fun that you started off in one particular direction and how the story developed from there. And good point on the struggles for finding something unique but also how there are so many different possibilities. Some people do submit items with their comments and the editor decides if they are going to link them in a future newsletter or not.
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Fantasy: January 30, 2019 Issue [#9357]
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