Checking on Culture: An Aide to Building Story Backgrounds

World-building isn’t just for science fictionEvery story—SF, fantasy, spy thriller, mystery, historical romance, western, or the Great American Novel—happens somewhere. Every story involves characters whose background has helped make them what they are. The author must create the place and characters.Checking On Culture provides a structured approach to that creation, a checklist Lee Killough developed for writing her own books. The fifty-two items, arranged alphabetically, cover cultural activities from Agriculture to Weights and Measures. Augmenting each category are commentary, examples and questions to help the writer consider all aspects of the category. Habitat determines the materials available for making clothing, and how it is used. Furs keep Eskimos warm in arctic cold. In the desert, long robes hanging loose from the shoulder not only afford protection from the sun but cool by allowing air to circulate up along the body. How do your characters dress? Does clothing differentiate class? The sexes? If body fur, say, makes clothing unnecessary, what do they use for pockets?Whatever the genre, and whether the writer needs just a reminder to be sure of local details in a book set close to home, or wants to construct an entire civilization, the checklist is an adaptable, ideal tool.