Hello fellow humans, I think a thread like this could be useful for anyone trying to create their own fictional world. _______________________________________________________________________________ I'm trying to define a ghoulish society to readers through a series of short stories.That means I would dedicate one short story that references how the education system works, one short story that references how religion is practiced, etc. My conundrum is this: what aspects of society do I need to consider? I've googled this, and it's helped, but I'm trying to also tell an overall story that serves to explain how things work in this haunted world, which google can't help me with. The aspects I have now are: ----- art, science, media, law, social interaction, agriculture, economy, religion, education, family ----- So I would have ten short stories, which I feel is a solid number. I reached 28 at one point, which is of course madness. Is there any particular aspect you think I'm missing or do any of them seem redundant? Do any of them sound too boring to explore? I'm starting to get tunnel vision!
Have you thought about the distinction between rural / suburban / urban? What a society is like in the countryside is very different to what it's like in a slum, or amid tower blocks. You could combine these with your existing stories. So rural would be agriculture, art could be based in a dense metropolis, etc. I'm not sure about 'economy' and 'science'. I think these will pervade the others. Is work, faith and learning not fundamentally tied to how a society's economy functions and what tools and machines they can use? I also wonder how interesting a purely science story would be. Similarly, social interaction will be in everything. I'm tempted to put family in the same bucket but for different reasons. A short story dedicated to family would be excellent. My concern is that if you take family out of the others, they risk becoming a little sterile? For example a story about an artist will still hinge on the artist's character more than their art, and that character is likely wrapped up in friends, family, etc. Does 'law' include police, criminal justice or both? A short story about two beat cops is radically different from a court room. Finally, have you considered military? My overall point would be that rather than trying to figure out what all the pillars of a society are and write stories about them (with inherent massive overlap), maybe it would be better to decide on ten unique, stand-out short stories and then make sure all your pillars are covered at least once.
What about social taboos and mores, and ethics? That could be pretty revealing, and has the potential for really shocking and thought-provoking material!
