More Race Building

Two more interviews today and one more tomorrow. And would you believe there's already a job offer on the table? Man... this is turning out amazing. There is a new adventure just waiting to begin and I can't wait to tell you all about it. But, in the meantime...

Let's talk about something literary. I don't have a lot of time, but this blog is about writing, dang it. So let's talk a little more about world building. In this case, I want to talk about the integration and relationship between races in your story. For me, I'm doing Urban Fantasy, which means everything takes place in a modern setting, but supernatural stuff is inserted. Think Supernatural, like, the CW show with Sam and Dean Winchester.

For me, I have to think about things like "What do vampires do for day jobs?" Does the world at large know about their existence? What is their legal status? How do they run a culture within a larger culture? For you this may be something completely different. Let's look at a more high fantasy example.

Let's take a world full of elves and dwarves and stuff like that. Now let's drop a whole load of humans in there. How do the different races actually get along? It's one thing to think "Yeah, they all exist peacefully," but you'll need to consider the world you've built. Are there enough resources to satisfy the needs of all the races? If not, you're going to have conflict.

For my story it's pretty cut and dry on that point. There are plenty of ways for something like vampires to get blood without having to resort to mass homicide. It's a modern world with things like blood banks or animal blood. I hesitate to use it as an example, but I'm pretty sure Twilight did exactly this. And you know what? For all the crap I can give the books, that's not one of them. It's a legitimate way to look at the needs of a group and find a way for your world to meet them.

But what about your elves and dwarves? Is there enough farmable land? Are they in competition with one another for any particular resource? Remember that clothes, food, medicine, shelter and many other things need to be considered when you map out the needs and wants of your fictional races. The more races you have in your world, the more you need to worry about what each one needs and whether they're going to be able to satisfy that need without conflict. You may want a peaceful Eden to start your story in, but remember, not everyone's friendly when they're starving.

​DFTBA