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If your question is, can you set a story in an imaginary place without telling the reader that you have done so, the answer is yes, but the reader will not know that you have done so. The problem i...
Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2020-01-03T20:41:52Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26830 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T06:08:42Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/26830 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
System
·
2019-12-08T06:08:42Z (about 5 years ago)
If your question is, can you set a story in an imaginary place without telling the reader that you have done so, the answer is yes, but the reader will not know that you have done so. The problem is, if any of the features of that imaginary place are necessary to the plot, then the plot will not make sense to the reader. So, if your question is, can you write a story in which the plot does not make sense to the reader because the reader does not have enough information about the setting to understand the plot, the answer is yes, but your readership is apt to be small. If your question is, having done all this worldbuilding, do I need to include all of in my story, then the answer is no. You should regard worldbuilding as a hobby entirely separate from storytelling. Story does not need worldbuilding, it needs setting. Setting performs a particular function in a story. It creates the stage in which the conflicts that drive the story make sense, and it provides the grittiness, the sense of reality, that makes the story seem real. You don't need or want any worldbuilding details that do not fulfil those purposes.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2017-02-20T16:11:36Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 2