Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Saturday Writing Exercise 5-22-10

Today's writing exercise is inspired by the fact that a vast majority of fantasy settings feature monarchies in the government.  There are so  many other choices just begging to be explored!  Anything else you pick will be out of the ordinary, although a few others -- such as matriarchy and democracy -- have been done occasionally.

1) Read this "Forms of Government" list.  Choose at least five different types.  You may research the types further if you wish.
2) You now have five countries.  They are neighbors.  Scribble or randomly generate a map showing where they are in relation to each other.
3) For each country, choose at least two exports (things they have) and two imports (things they need).  Here's a list of common trade items for inspiration.  This helps you figure out who might want what from whom.
4) Each country may be reasonably peaceful and tolerant, although they may not agree with each other on everything; or belligerent, causing strife even if they are similar to each other or their neighbors.  Flip a coin for each country: heads = tolerant, tails = belligerent.
5) A war starts.  The above material is your background.

Option A:  Five characters from a single country must travel through all the others in an attempt to stop the war.
Option B:  Five characters, one from each country, are stuck together by some authority and given an assignment.

Write the results.
Tags: fantasy, writing
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  • 9 comments
lokicarbis

lokicarbis

May 23 2010, 05:07:32 UTC 11 years ago

Thanks for this one - it could not have come at a better time for me. I'm just about to commence writing a series of fantasy short stories that start of relatively generic in terms of races, and this gave me inspiration to twist each one of them into something new.
ysabetwordsmith

Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

May 23 2010, 05:11:14 UTC 11 years ago

I'm so happy to hear this! I would love to hear more about your project as it develops.
lokicarbis

Re: Yay!

lokicarbis

May 23 2010, 06:34:01 UTC 11 years ago

Well, so far I haven't got much more developed than: "A low fantasy story about cleaning of the docks of a nameless fantasy city" - but largely due to your influence, I am considering trying a crowdfunding model with it.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Yay!

ysabetwordsmith

May 23 2010, 16:17:30 UTC 11 years ago

Your starting point sounds fun. Working from the prompt, that's probably going to suit the 5-nation team well. Justification: put them in the busiest port that serves ships from all the nations, and nobody would really trust a monofocal team.

"And then what...?"

What are some of the cargo contents? If it's food, the docks will have extra-extra scavengers (gulls, rats, some weird fantasy critter). If it's treasure, there will be theft problems. If it's flesh goods, some will try to escape. Those all cause different problems for your heroes.

Since you're starting with a very small idea core, crowdfunding could help you develop the story as well as raise money. You could, regularly or periodically, ask readers what should happen next or which of several possible worldbuilding ideas to include. This can help raise money if you tie it to patronage, making votes a donor perk; or raise activity if you tie it to comment frequency, making votes a participant perk. Using our cargo example above, you might let eligible voters stipulate a cargo for one ship each ("The Gilded Spittoon is carrying lead, marble, and tobacco.") or one nation ("Outbound Klabberfwee ships usually carry timber or bluewheat, and always carry at least one bale of magical garbage to be dumped on a distant island.") or whatever.

If you develop this as cyberfunded project, let me know; I'd like to see what happens.
ravan

ravan

May 23 2010, 08:25:53 UTC 11 years ago

Hmmm. I may play with this one.
ysabetwordsmith

Go for it!

ysabetwordsmith

May 23 2010, 16:42:40 UTC 11 years ago

I would love to hear how that plays out if you do.
reileen

reileen

May 23 2010, 16:55:24 UTC 11 years ago

Gah, I am so bad with understanding governments and politics in general! Which is probably why they rarely make it into my stories. But I think the links you've provided, and this exercise, can help a little, so thanks. :)
ysabetwordsmith

You're welcome!

ysabetwordsmith

May 23 2010, 17:35:18 UTC 11 years ago

I'm glad this helped.

I'm not particularly good at politics in general, but I have enough grasp to play around with it in fiction. The examples provided were very simple starting points. For further exploration and comparison of government types, here are some good resources:

http://www.stutzfamily.com/mrstutz/WorldAffairs/typesofgovt.html
http://www.exxun.com/aba_notes_defs/nd_government_type.html
http://www.wccsonline.net/web/html/computerLab/Assignments/7th%20Grade/Megan%20Gov.pdf
http://www.ehow.com/list_6303925_types-government-african-nations.html
reileen

Re: You're welcome!

reileen

May 23 2010, 18:29:01 UTC 11 years ago

Thank you very much for those links! I'm sure they'll help out.