Wednesday, October 07, 2015

[ojurbeqo] Fiction in a large setting

Create a story takes place over a large area, perhaps a continent, or the whole planet.  What literary devices can effectively communicate how large the area is?

On one hand, radically violating the Aristotlean unity of place.  On the other hand, the difficulty of answering this question makes one wonder if any work actually violates that unity.

Speed of in-story communication and speed of transport.

Science fiction often takes place in even larger areas, but usually completely fails to effectively convey the vastness of space.

A virtual interactive story in which the next "chapter" is only released to you after a time period, during which the characters are traveling.  An alternate reality story in which you physically have to travel to the next setting.  A game, vaguely similar to the joke game Desert Bus, in which you have to travel, in real time, to the next setting (though you can take breaks).

The space between "important" places has to have stuff in it, happening in it, or else it becomes compressed in the reader's mind.  It also violates unity of action.

Inspired by how Westeros and Essos are supposedly much larger than Middle Earth.

Perhaps it takes place on a planet that is much larger than Earth.  (But less dense?)

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