Coherent World Building

One of the great paradoxes of fantasy writing and role playing is this:

All fantasy, on some level, must be believable.

Every time we leave the mundane world that we currently inhabit, that realm of the every day that confines us - each time we create alternate worlds of the imagination to explore, there must be believability embedded deeply in the foundations of the fantastical.

The mind craves coherence, even when we are engaged in escapism and won’t tolerate stories that don’t make sense, (all of human life is based around the stories we tell, so it’s hardly surprising that we take these narratives very seriously indeed)

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A trip to the cinema to watch a fantasy, sci fi or super hero movie can be written off as easy escapism, but it’s anything but.

When we immerse ourselves in darkness for two hours, with only a giant screen in front of us where fantasies are played out that speak to our innermost feelings and desires, a narrative that we can’t believe in becomes a painful experience.