World Building at Long Story Short

World Building for Writers: Beyond the Science to help writers worldwide get an edge on establishing comprehensive and imaginative alternate realities.

Hamburg, MI (PRWEB) April 8, 2006 -- A new course covering the topic of world building has been added to the curriculum of the Long Story Short School of Writing. Originally developed as a half-day seminar presented by author DM Kraft, this workshop has been expanded into a six-week course offering additional materials and hands-on opportunities for writers to hone their world building skills.

Long Story Short, a website developed by Denise Cassino, Linda Barnett-Johnson and Susan Scott, has been voted among the top 101 websites for writers by Writers’ Digest magazine for the past two years. Featuring a monthly ezine to showcase works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, in addition to providing the writing school and other resources, the goal of Long Story Short is to promote and advance the work of writers worldwide.

DM Kraft has experience teaching at the secondary school level as well as in the corporate world, and is pleased to become a part of Long Story Short. In keeping with their stated goal, she hopes her new course will help writers get an edge on establishing comprehensive and imaginative alternate realities. A quote from the electronic textbook for World Building for Writers: Beyond the Science explains it as follows. "It could be said that every work of fiction introduces an alternate reality. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fantasy and science fiction genres. But how do you establish a reality that feels real even when it is different enough to be nearly incomprehensible to us in this reality? You make it as comprehensible as you can!"

The concept of world building is not new. Writers and role-play gamers have been discussing and studying this topic for decades, often focusing on the physical sciences involved and covering issues such as planetary orbits and gravitational pull. DM Kraft's workshop instead focuses on the human sciences. Her goal is to assist writers in developing multi-dimensional cultures, complete with historical roots. Still, she does not ignore the physical sciences. Even magical realms require some degree of logical physics. Since Ms. Kraft fully admits her right-brained thought processes have never been inclined to study astrophysics, her workshop offers suggestions to guide writers through tricky technical traps without having to dive too deep into left-brained, scientific wizardry.

Workshops are scheduled to commence in May, and more sessions will be offered throughout the year. Long Story Short will also be featuring two non-fiction stories written by DM Kraft in the May edition of their ezine. The website can be accessed at http://www.longstoryshort.us.

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