Exploration is cool

Well, I’m going to assume that my readers are all fans of fantasy and sci-fi(because otherwise why else would you be here), and exploration is an important aspect in both of those genres.

The neat thing about writing in the second world is that you get to invent these things all on your own, you aren’t bound by existing topography or even physical constraints. Create a nice sci-fi environment, you can have whatever crazy stuff you can adequately explain.

Detail is everything. Be descriptive, be precise. Tell what color the trees are, describe the season and the ambient temperature, tell how the wind moves through the plants and then compare it to something.

Here’s a part from an as-yet unfinished or named story:

Lina turned again, as just as her eyes fell upon the broad side of the indicated mount, the sun slipped behind a cloud and dark shadows cast by jagged rocks here and there etched out a foreboding face.

Nothing so fancy as a hill figure, just a bunch of rocks that when the light was just right formed the face. It was difficult to say if it was natural, yet equally hard to believe anyone could have conceived to arrange such a display. Visible only from a certain height, at a certain angle, and under certain conditions; it had to be an accident.

As the cloud continued to move, one of the shadowy eyes seemed to wink, and then it was gone. The only marker to the forlorn tomb.

This is the sort of thing that really draws people into a story. Tomorrow we’ll be going into more detail on that subject, but for now work on obsessively describing setting.

And, if you haven’t already, read my books!