1) What is your genre? Adult dystopian.
2) What is the majority of the setting like? It's somewhat urban, considering we have the (very old) trains and cars. There are buildings and palaces in the traditional Chinese style. However, most of Delenno is farmland, and we see some of that too.
3) Has this world got a memorial landmarks of any kind? There's the palace that Talisa, a recently-dead-and-usurped queen, built after her coronation.
5) What time period is it set around? Have you used an concepts from historical eras? Well, I mentioned when the Kuomintang ruled in the mainland at the beginning of the post, but I also took inspiration from the Qing dynasty, the Japanese occupation, as well as a smattering of more recent history.
6) Who is in control in this world? Who is leading? Is it a Monarchy, or is it run by a Government? At first, the Qihrin were an elite minority. But there was a President with an absolutely useless Senate. (No, America, I'm not looking at you.) Then the aforementioned Talisa became the ruling queen and tried to restore Delennian social status. However, she failed and when the story starts, Delenno is ruled by a Qihrin king.
7) What are some of the laws this world has? Nothing special, actually. Basically do not insult the state, do not steal from the state, do not make war on the state. Just try to behave. *nods*
8) What is the common religion of this world? And what are traditions they have? Religion is something I have yet to work out in detail, but the culture is very Confucian. Respect is a huge thing, to the shock of Heather, my CP. Unfortunately, so is misogyny.
9) Are there any special (annual) events or holidays that are celebrated? There's a thing I call first newday; each month starts like newday, secondday, thirdday, fourthday, and so today, 17th February, would be second seventeenthday (of the year). However, it should actually be following the Chinese calendar ... hmmm. Anyhow, first newday is essentially New Year, wherein everything is painted red, people go to the theater, and kids light
Am I lifting too much from Chinese history? What suggestions do you have with regards to worldbuilding, especially religion? Is this all too much Chinese culture to swallow?* Share in the comments!
*have no fear, I shall explain more this Saturday. Not about Winner Takes All, about Chinese culture.
I think it's so cool how you're making your own historical parallel—I do not have that kind of patience for even modern-day writing, as you probably know. XD You'll have to forgive me, though; we haven't gotten to Confucius in my philosophy class just yet, so I'll have to do a little extra research to figure out what's what. At the same time, though, I say bring it on, because it's fun to bring in extra cultures and show parts of the real world that sometimes we never see. :) I loved getting this extra snapshot—tell me there will be more?
ReplyDeleteI'm not even sure the historical parallels were intentional. I wanted elements of Chinese culture, but slowly everything just seeped in and I stared at the ms and told it, "You are totally China. Can I be penalised for plagiarising a country?"
DeleteI'm pretty sure the obscure Confucian stuff is my fault, because I spent the last ten years in school being spoon-fed ancient proverbs and texts. Thanks so much for pointing out that I need to clarify :D (And, like, all of your other comments. You are insanely helpful.)
There will most certainly be more! This Saturday, I'm doing a post on Chinese culture, and next Wednesday I'll post a snapshot of a character. :)
You linked up! Yay! I love that you have taken parts of places you know/love and added them into your story. And I think its awesome that you are bringing lots of Chinese culture into it, because we don't really see a lot of that.
ReplyDeleteIndeed I did ;P I'll also be doing the Antagonist link-up, I think, despite the completely wrecked schedule of this blog. Yeah, I really tried to base a lot of Delennian culture on Chinese elements. Thanks for reading!
DeleteThis sounds SO interesting, not to mention well-thought out! And I honestly don't see how there could be too much Chinese culture in it--I've read countless fantasy books that are basically set in a jazzed-up version of Scotland or Ireland. Personally, I think giving a made up world the feel of a certain country makes it seem more real. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you!! You definitely make a legit point there, but the fact of the matter is many fantasy books are still heavily Anglocentric, and such a jarring switch to a completely different set of moral values and cultural norms might feel strange. I'm still working on how to present them well to the reader. But this Anglocentric thing is one of the reasons I keep harping on "diversity in setting" whenever I mention representation.
DeleteThank you so much for doing the link-up. It's so exiting that its going round. I love the sound of this world. I love anything dystopia...
ReplyDeleteI like it how you've got the Chinese culture going there. And how you really seem to know what your talking about. :)
Yep, it's awesome! I tried to incorporate as much of Chinese culture as possible, because I wanted to describe a realm like China without the Western world. So instead of just relying on skin descriptors or geographical location, I had to build it from the culture and let it seep through.
DeleteThanks so much for joining in on the tag! So exciting! and your story world sounds fantastic! Seems almost like a parallel of sorts :) Very cool
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I'm glad you like the worldbuilding :D
DeleteHi, great post!! I really love your answer to #7. You've given this a lot of thought, which is great. The Secondday, Thirdday thing is something I see a lot in fantasy novels instead of the usual day-names, but I've never read it in a dystopian.
ReplyDeleteI would like to give advice on Chinese religion but unfortunately I don't know enough about it. Similarly, I don't know enough about Chinese history to know if you're lifting 'too much!' But what you've got sounds extremely interesting to me. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! I actually came up with that [number]day idea when I was trying to find a substitute for Chinese New Year without saying 'New Year' or resorting to a sucky translation. So I decided to work with 'first newday', which sounds less awkward. (I hope.)
DeleteAhaha, that's okay :D I will probably meld a little more religion into the next draft. Thanks for the encouragement!