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What makes novels impressive? Aside from the characters that breathe life within the pages, realistic fictional settings help make them more believable and vibrant.
In between the whimsically uncanny world that steered Alice’s adventures and the magical underneath the normalcy in Harry Potter, fictional settings are banked on intricacy and originality. This holds true, especially for fantasy-centered plots requiring more tweaking in their environment. What better way is there to convey magic than reflecting it in the physical realm, on evident representations of its magnificent and spellbinding allure?
Fantasy settings are created around enchantment.
They’re expected to hold the gravity and excitement of the plot and the untamed characters running on its streets. Governing the inventiveness of fiction, these settings’ ability to transport readers to other dimensions is among the genre’s definitive hallmarks. They improve the story’s vision, satisfying the readers’ desire to escape and be mesmerized by its elements. However, balancing with this enchantment, the setting should remain within realistic bounds.
After all, a story, regardless of how fictional it is, will be more gripping and entertaining if readers imagine it happening or themselves being in it.
What Happens to Extremely Impossible Stories?
Fictional stories are imaginary and borderline impossible, but among this pool, some will leave readers questioning the possibilities. For instance, dystopian stories have gradually become a probability given society’s movement. Science fiction can also turn to reality with the development of today’s technology. Indeed, fiction now generally veers toward reality.
But some remain to be a dream.
One is Scott Harral’s Moon Luck, a story of astronauts living on the moon. While there have been encounters of men traveling to space, none have genuinely resided and lived comfortably on the moon. This concept has been explored countless times in novels but remains a hopeful fantasy and aspiration for humanity. Yet, despite its improbability, Scott Harral still delivered the fiction through a believable lens with his realistic fictional settings.
However the author might have achieved this feat seamlessly, but this doesn’t mean it’s an effortless task. When most fictional settings have revolved around reality with subtle tweaks, what happens when plots revolve around space – the vastly empty and quiet setting that’s a vacuum of nothingness?
This is where the trouble begins. It’s easy to portray this setting as darkness, relying on what one sees when the night arrives. But doing so doesn’t make the stories more enjoyable.
How to Draft Realistic Fictional Settings?
Creating realistic fictional settings for these stories may require more work. After all, there needs to be a solid foundation for how this setting may appear and how it feels to reside in it. But with creativity, research, and a little imagination, crafting a believable world isn’t impossible.
The Setting Must Support the Action
What made Scott Harral’s moon base a perfect example of realistic fictional settings is primarily because it works well with the story. The base has been drafted to perfectly fit the plot and the requirements that make it enjoyable. However, the moon may be a simple sphere made up of rocks. But Harral built up elements that support the plot. Realistic fictional settings don’t only depend on how authentic the place has been defined. Instead, it must also serve an actual purpose.
In order for the setting to work, it must complement the story’s development, supporting it throughout the conflict and resolution. Authors must consider how the settings can enhance the story, elevating the drama when necessary.
Research About the Setting
A thorough research will never fail a story’s development. To create realistic fictional settings, researching about the place or a similar place will do God’s work. For instance, if the tale primarily happens within the ocean or on a significant event in history, it works to look deep into the scene and use any available resource to write around it.
By researching about the setting, authors can put themselves in first-hand experiences, making their narratives more believable and engaging.