I'm starting on my Q4 now and which is a medieval type of fantasy, my first try at this. I was hoping for some advice.
I know that Dave has said that he dislike cliches, that when describing a tree so many writers will just say "pine tree" or if not, "oak tree", Dave wants original worlds, where the mileu is something real and imaginable.
The problem is I don't really know where to start. (I have a magic system pretty much worked out, it's the map that's the problem.) And even the ideas that I do have, I'm not sure how to go about describing them. (Although that's a secondary problem.)
So my question to everyone is: How do you go about creating and displaying your (fantasy) mileux?
Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm ~ Winston Churchill
V37: R, R, R, HM
V38: SHM
I imagine a world which I would love to visit, put myself in it and then describe it.
I use my senses. What are the smells? How does it feel? What does it look like? Are there any ambient noises? What are the colors?
Example: Harold looked up and saw white puffy clouds kissing the tall redwood trees. Cool moisture from the fog dripped from the tree's green needles onto his head. A mild scent of cedar tickled his nose. He could hear a blue jay mocking him.
Did this put you there?
That's what you do. Put your reader there through their senses.
Vol. 36: 3rd -- R, 4th -- R
Vol. 37: 1st -- R, 2nd -- HM, 3rd -- HM, 4th -- SHM
Vol. 38: 1st -- HM, 2nd -- HM, 3rd -- HM, 4th -- HM
Vol. 39: 1st -- SHM, 2nd -- RWC, 3rd -- RWC, 4th -- HM
Vol. 40: 1st -- HM, 2nd -- R, 3rd -- RWC, 4th -- R
Vol. 41: 1st - R, 2nd -- pending, 3rd -- WIP
"Never give up! Never surrender!" -- Galaxy Quest