by A.C. Williams @ACW_author
Have you ever just sat in a cafe or restaurant in another country to simply listen? That’s one of my favorite pastimes on international trips. I love to grab a cup of coffee and find a seat in a pub or a coffeeshop and watch people and listen to how they speak and what they say and how they say it. Because, let’s face it, what we say and how we say it communicates a great deal about who we are as a culture (for better or for worse).
You don’t even have to be in a different country. You could do this in your own city. Regional cultures are a thing. Even the districts within a city can be unique in their own way (someday I’ll share about the passionate divide between East and West in my comparatively small city).
Vocabulary, pronunciation, attitude, and body language can express an extraordinary amount of information about a person and what culture shaped them. That’s why language and communication are such valuable tools for developing the storyworld in your novel.
So far in this Worldbuilding 101 series, we’ve talked about Existing History and People and Social Circles. Both of those concepts are essential building blocks of creating a storyworld. (links to previous posts can be found at the end of today's post)
