Every story contains its own world and rules. Using a variety of exploratory exercises, this class will investigate how authors create believable worlds using sample text excerpts. Learn the difference between complicated worlds and simple worlds, how to plan and revise a story’s worlds/universes using charts, drawings, multi-media, physical storyboards without feeling overwhelmed by the myriad ways in which one can build a world (and sometimes get lost). The focus will be on marrying your story\’s world with your characters\’ intentions, emotions and desires.
Though world building is often associated with science fiction and fantasy, it\’s equally important to realistic fiction and memoir. The key in all storytelling is identifying a literary landscape that evokes emotions in the reader and is cemented in the central narrative. The class will also help troubleshoot common world building problems at both the drafting and revision stage.

TAKE THIS CLASS IF

You\’re working on a novel, short story, or memoir.
Your setting often feels like a backdrop that could be exchanged with another without changing the story.
You want your setting to feel like a character.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Britta Jensen’s debut novel Eloia Born was long-listed for the 2016 Exeter Novel Prize and reviewers are calling the book “both a dystopian narrative and a quest story; consider it a spiritual successor to Lois Lowry’s The Giver and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village.” The sequel, Hirana’s War releases October 2020. Her stories have been shortlisted for the 2017 Henshaw Press and Fiction Factory prizes and she was published in the following anthologies: Stories for Homes, volume 2 and Sakura Dreams. Britta’s plays have been performed in New York City, Japan and South Korea. She holds a BA in Acting Performance from Fordham University and an MA in Teaching of English Literature from Columbia University. She taught middle and high school English, Theatre and History for thirteen years in New York City public schools and taught for a decade overseas with DODEA. Britta spent twenty-two years overseas in Japan, South Korea, and Germany before moving to Austin, Texas.