4-Week: Relational Worldbuilding

When we think of "worldbuilding," we might think of a taxonomic accumulation of rules, technologies, and artifacts inside a fictional universe. But worlds are built every time characters speak to one another—in the assumptions they make, the questions they ask, the desires they harbor, and the way they work together to navigate shared reality. In this four week workshop, writers will practice growing vibrant universes out of the taut threads connecting their characters. We'll look to authors working in both speculative and realist modes who contour their worlds not with top-down authority, but through the specificities of organic relationships. Both fiction and non-fiction writers will come away with a deeper understanding of how to structure the cosmologies of their work through dialogue and scene blocking.