Marilyn Grant
Marilyn Grant asked:

Also!! How do you make your world feel so lived in and real? I feel like I’ve walked the spice-and-sun scented streets of Ari’el and drank Zair’s mother’s cinnamon teabags! I feel like you could drop me at the hill in Ari’el and I could find my way around the Sand Palace, or all the quarters. Also I would totally be part of the Kwali tribe if I was in Ari’el!

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Lucia Damisa Omg this is one of the best compliments I could get. Thank you sooo much!! Making a world feel real and lived in involves gathering lots of little details to place in the world. It is the small details that paint the big picture. At first when I started world building I focused more on how a city, for instance, looked in a snapshot. From a bird’s eye view. I wanted everything to be pretty and sparkling.

But I soon realized that with only big-picture stuff,I made these worlds that were pretty but felt almost shallow. Empty and decorative. And I saw that those books whose worlds intrigued me went beyond the surface to the tiny details and those were what made the world feel alive and animated.

So that’s my answer; look for little details!
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by Lucia Damisa (Goodreads Author)
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