In this next post on world building, we’ll talk about prejudice and how it shapes a character’s worldview, with a particular focus on Scar and the narrative environment of Angel Fall.

Right or left. Centrist. Moderate. Radicalised. Extremist. Fundamentalist. We live in a divisive and prejudicial age, and no matter where we stand on the political and social spectra, we will hold certain beliefs and make assumptions about our opposites. We’re this and they’re that, we say, and they’re wrong because we are the keepers of truth. Them and us, that’s what it boils down to. Battlelines drawn, we oppose our enemy and stand ready to defend our beliefs.

Prejudice, our pre-judgements about a person, place, group or institution, separate us from each other and draw our world in charcoal shades. One look at a person’s appearance, a handshake, a gesture, just the wrong sort of smile, and we can instantly decide whether we like them or not. Skin colour. Creed. Country of origin. Social class. Call it an instinct if you will, but prejudice can be sinister and insidious, and is very much a part of who we are as a species because there is a survival advantage to being a member of a pack.

I like to think of this as the mathematics of belonging, which I’ll discuss in terms of Scar’s world in Angel Fall.

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Whether one is writing a modern literary short story or a galaxy sprawling sci-fi epic, some degree of world building is required to create a plausible environment in which our characters can live and breathe. It becomes their playground where they learn and grow, but they bring themselves to the party, flaws and all, and are very often the authors of their own good or ill fortune.

The richer the world we create for them, the more refined and textured it is, the more plausible it will be to our readers. There’s a limit to what we can do though, and what the reader can absorb. If we dump a whole load of descriptive text on them from the outset, we risk disengaging them from the story. How then can we get across our vision without having them toss the book or story in the corner?

The answer is to reveal it little by little as the protagonist experiences, explores, tests the limits of, and learns about it, while being aware that their perception will be coloured by certain factors, such as their relevant life experience, any prejudices they may be nursing, and the prevailing attitudes they have towards themselves, others and their environment.

There are other factors we could consider, but in this post and subsequent ones, I’ll deal with these primary ones, starting today with life experience.

Life Experience

We are constructed of many parts, and though the sum may be greater, each facet of our beings plays a role in determining how we look at the world.

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