Assembling Storyworlds

Abstract

A fundamental assumption regarding fantasy worlds is that they need to have a certain degree of internal coherence and consistency, otherwise the audience’s ability to immerse themselves in the storyworld will collapse under the weight of its contradictions. It is time to reconsider some of our ideas about storyworld design. “Building” imaginary worlds implies construction according to an architectural masterplan. In Imagining the Impossible volume 2, issue 1 we consider whether “assembling” may be a more productive term, implying the conjoining of different modular parts into forms that may be put together in various ways by different fans, like someone playing with Lego pieces drawn from several different sets.