Sanderson’s Laws
- Motivation: Some stories feel like they cheat with their worldbuilding. That is, they feel like plot contrivances and deus ex machina.
- Note: These are not actually laws, they are rules for a particular style result.
Law 1
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Your ability to solve problems with “magic” in a satisfying way is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic
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Inventing new systems at the halfway point just to bail the characters out of the conflict, thus, feels like cheating.
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There is a continuum with regards to magic. On one end is a sense of wonder with magic, and on the other, magic-esque science (that is magic with pre-defined rules).
- As you move towards the magic-esque science side of the spectrum you lose the sense of wonder given by thee magic system.
- As you explain the rules, you define the toolset that the characters have under their belt.
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There are two types of magic:
- Soft Magic involves magic where the rules are not entirely known to the users or the reader.
- Hard Magic involves magic with a well-defined rules.
- Hard and Soft Magic can coexist.
- Whether to use hard or soft magic systems will depend on the needs of the story as a whole.
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This rule is a rule of foreshadowing. That is, the audience could have figured out what will happen.
Law 2
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Flaw or limitations are more interesting than powers.
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In developing a magic system, developing the flaws, limitations, and costs of these powers leads to interesting stories.
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The severity of the cost can be used to control how often we would like the characters to use the magic system.
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If the limitations are contrived, the audience will question the validity of these limitations. The limitations should feel natural and explained sufficiently.
Law 3
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Before adding something new to your setting, see if you can instead expand what you have.
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Less is more. Bigger settings are not always better.
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Having 10 worldbuilding features is better than having 10,000 features.
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The audience will latch on a deep idea rather than multiple shallow ideas
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Most notably, while we may be tempted to make a very deep world, pragmatically we can develop the depth just enough to give the illusion of depth (but not to the point the story becomes shallow).
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Do the bare minimum that is necessary in worldbuilding and no more.
Law 0:
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Always err on the side of what is awesome.
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Start the premise of your story with something very interesting for you and the reader.
Some Tips
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Remember: The goal is to make a good story. Worldbuilding is a means to an ends to tell a story in an interesting way.
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Convery worldbuilding through the characters and the plot. Avoid the info-dump or the encyclopedia entry.
- Instead have the worldbuilding come out through the dialogue.
- Caveat: Avoid maid-and-butler dialogue where the characters talk about things they should already know for the sake of exposition for the reader.
- Give less worldbuilding than needed. Give the audience the opportunity to fill in the blanks.
- Ground the audience in a firm, concrete foundation so that the more high level things do not feel like a manifestation of the author’s hand.
- Show don’t tell, but use less filler words.
- Ground the audience by showing them a concrete example of your more abstract ideas.
- Instead have the worldbuilding come out through the dialogue.
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Worldbuilding can be divided into two kinds:
- Physical - pertaining to objects that can exist on their own without people.
- Cultural - pertaining to products of culture (i.e., people)
- There are many aspects of worldbuilding. Realistically, it is not possible to depict all of this.
- Highlight the interesting things of the world, and then how they impact the culture of the world.
- Importantly, have everything be interconnected. Run with the logical consequences of the core focus of the worldbuilding.
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The Tiffany Problem - Things that are historically accurate tend to sound anachronistic.
- The implication for worldbuilding is that the names for these things will be jarring or immersion breaking.