Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Implying Culture

Finished Ch. 43; 76,620 word count
broke 400 pages and 75K Hurray!

Writing Tip: Part of developing a world is establishing the culture of the society there. You could say, visiting with this dragon would require certain protocol. Because of his age and position among his fellow dragons, your character needs to dress well, speak in very polite terms, don't whistle, don't hiccup and giggle at the same time, for this is considered to be very rude.
That is telling, not showing.
So how do you imply what is correct behavior?
In this chapter, I had Fenworth instructing Hollee on how to behave while she was talking about something all together different. Other times you might have an outsider watching and reporting the ceremony. You could have someone do everything wrong and another person constantly correcting the first. make it fun instead of an information dump.

3 comments:

  1. Hiccup and giggle at the same time. Very... Fenworth. :) I cannot wait to read it!!! You are doing so great with the word count! Keep it up.

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  2. I've always loved the cultural aspect of fantasy stories...
    Thanks for the tip! And applause on hitting 75k! =D

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  3. Oh, that sounds just like Fenworth! I love hearing about the Do's and Don'ts of a mythical society, some things are just so funny!

    Can't wait to read this book! After all the tantalizing tidbits you give us, its almost impossible to wait!

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