Adventure Time and Lord of the Rings obviously have a lot in common, but how much? There is a strong temptation to write worlds that entirely consistent ships in a bottle, where all the details are ironed out. That world, as long as it stays bottled, is perfect. When you put characters in it, though, and start writing your story you’ll find that the ship in a bottle is insufficient and the world must be experienced to truly come alive. Worlds can’t be separated from their audience or their media and as we experience those worlds the unknowns that we see, those dark shapes just beneath the surface of the narrative, drive a sense of wonder which is what draws us deeper into the world. Adrian Gramps and James dive into creating worlds that endure and find that, as ever, narrative and characters are what drive a vibrant world.
Horror lives just outside of our eyeline. In the peripherals of our vision. It's a feeling we can't quite shake when something seems amiss...
In Ross’s latest book we see a man displaced from all he finds familiar adjusting to a new world he knows only through academic...
Writing engaging worlds and creating evocative settings with words is good, but what kind of feelings and character can we portray from visual worldbuilding?...