posted
Hello; I just recently finished reading Ender's Game for the first time (horrors that it took me this long to discover OSC!)
I was fascinated by the book enough that I was inspired to check out the website; and much to my delight, found these forums.
I've read through a couple of old posts, and can see that people get help and advice on their writing here, which is the primary reason I'm posting.
I've had an idea for a sci-fi series rattling around in my brain for several years now, to the point where I'm actually trying to write it.
Problem is, I can't get started. I had written the prologue, but then got stumped. Each time I sit down to write it, I realize there's another aspect I overlooked, that I need to think through.
How I typically write, is I start with several character sketches, then get the characters to interact, and eventually the plotline comes to me. This time, though, I've got the plotline, and no characters! In order to create the characters, I have to come up with a culture for them to have grown out of. But, I really am at a loss as to where to begin; I have a general history for the culture, but beyond that...
How do I go about creating the rest of the culture, now that I have the general history?
posted
If you have the plot, think about "what kind of person would allow or assist in this happening?" Then deal with what happens in this person's life to make them the kind of person who would do this, and I'm pretty sure you can keep going backwards until you get to the beginning of the story.
I mean, with Ender's Game, I don't think that OSC had Ender beating up Stilson first.
posted
I remember how horrible the first page looked...
Anyway, I would advise for you to try and figure out what is it you are trying to achieve throughout the book. For example: You have character A and B. You want to show how A turns into X. Then you determine how you can do this in the book.
posted
Ooh, now that's an interesting way to look at a prologue. Makes a lot of sense.
As for culture, well, you have a general history already, right, Brain? Well, history is a result of culture, so a good way to figure it out is to think "okay, now what exactly caused the people to rise up in Salasthar in 690 BBD (Before Bob Dillon)?" Whatever you decide, be it religious persecution, slavery or whatever, will force you to decide exactly why the Nomids were being persecuted (and therefore what the Nomids believe and what their persecutors believe), or how the Durnads came to be enslaved by the Billies and why it took said Durnads so long to rise against their masters so on, so forth.
Another way might be to simply take your own culture (and those around you) and change it. Perhaps you think it'd be more fun to have communal families (a la communism), which then has an impact on the characters' lives; they don't come home to Mum and Dad, but two biological parents, a half dozen other, non-biological parents, and a fair few siblings, biological and non-biological.
Those aren't the only ways, but they're my favourites. Hope I've helped, and good luck with it.
Create you protagonist, the character that will drive the plot, and create your antagonist, the character that will resist and thwart the protagonist till the plot resolves in the protagonist's favor.
Put one of them in the position of representing and defending your world's culture, and the other in the position of being alienated from and attacking that culture.
Reiterate with supporting characters on both sides. It is okay for you to have more than one cultural theme, say a dominant culture of one traditional religion that has become repressive and a sub-culture based on certain original tenets of that religion like a warrior's code of honor or monastic lifestyle or charity missions. Alternatively you can make the dominant culture good and have a extremist sub-culture attacking it. Either way.
You don't have to do this, but it might be a good place for you to start. Perhaps the hero (or villain) doesn't belong to the main culture himself but is acting on behalf of someone else (or several such persons) that does represent the culture. Different "good" aspects of the culture can be represented by the good characters and various "bad" aspects of the culture can be represented by the bad guys. And so on and so forth.
posted
Glad you have that special felling, survivor . An interesting twist to what he (or so I assume) said would be if the hero is attacking the culture the antagonist is defending.
Posts: 697 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I feel so special 
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