Category: Worldbuilding
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she invites us in and holds us back
Stephanie Burt (at Strange Horizons) on John Plotz on Ursula K Le Guin; my emphasis. Leaving blank spaces for readers to see how well, and how often, we fill things in, Le Guin’s prose is (Plotz writes) “the antithesis of the well-rendered verisimilitude of a high-end video game” (p. 48). Those games show us everything,…
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leaving spaces for her readers to fill: Diana Wynne Jones as worldbuilder
I have talked a fair bit recently about building futures (and ways of futuring) that are open, and it looks like I’m going to be talking about it a lot more in times to come. It’s an idea that I’m very committed to, but I’m also aware that it comes very much from the creative…
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a tool, not a rule: thoughts on technique and worldbuilding
I’m off the the Netherlands next week, to give a couple of talks and run a workshop based on (among other things) the Magrathea Protocol essay. One of these events is public, so if you’re in or near Utrecht on Thursday 21st September (3pm to 5pm), why not come along and ask me awkward questions?…
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The Magrathea Protocol, part D: on the merits of openness over closedness
D—on the merits of openness over closedness It is my hope that you may now see why I abandoned my attempts to explain away the differences between various forms of futuring, and opted instead for this little wander through the narratological landscape. But to make it plain, my point is that yes, all these methods…
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The Magrathea Protocol, parts B5 and C: back to the futures
B5—from page to screen (and beyond) OK, that was a bit heavy—but the worst is done, and I promise I’ve done the best I could to compromise between making it simple and making it relevant. Now, to reiterate: Bal’s model was developed for prose fiction, and I’ve used prose fiction to illustrate its elements. Things…