HOL

World building can seem very intimidating because of the sheer size of the undertaking. While some people spend years cleverly constructing a world over centuries or even millennia of development (J. R. R. Tolkien), others explore it as they go and only create what they need (a little like JK Rowling). There are advantages to both: creating as you go can be more exciting as you’re telling yourself a story but it also means you might have to spend time fixing inconsistencies later on.

Whichever way you choose to go, you need a seed that can grow into a world. For this prompt, I’d like you to find that seed by either looking from the outside in or inside out. By this I mean you could just write an idea or a vague description of an entire nation, continent or planet, with a view to populating it with places and characters. Alternatively, you could write a scene in a very specific place and then start to think what might lie beyond those borders.

Whichever you choose, it should be a minimum of 200 words long. You’ll earn 20 beans for completing this prompt as well as it counting towards the chance to snag our shiny Quill and Ink award.

There is no deadline as such for these prompts but if you’d like it to count towards your chance of earning the award for a specific year, we’ll need it by the end of that school year. If you’re comfortable sharing, then post below. If not, email your story to us via hol.bookclub @ gmail.com (without the spaces). Oh and remember it’s a good idea to check through your piece carefully for spelling and grammatical errors as they make it harder for people to properly enjoy your work.

Once you have more of an idea about what your world looks like in a geographical sense, head over to Ink Splatters where you can map it out.

On the island, or rather islands (as one was barely large enough to hold a good game of hide and seek on), the village of Tisle existed. Most people went their entire lives never hearing its name and the villagers went their entire lives with very little if any contact with the outside world (if they even knew a world other than their own existed). While Colombus was 'discovering' America, wars were being fought and won, and politicians were attempting to solve crises, the village of Tisle existed relatively peacefully in its own little bubble. Every now and then someone would leave the cluster of islands and its magical boundaries searching for someplace else (they never came back) and once in a while people would become shipwrecked and end up on the islands for some reason making it past those boundaries.

The islands were clustered together, each one incredibly small compared to most people's standards. For instance, if a group of children wished to have a race, it wouldn't be much fun staying on one island and the race could include as many as ten at once. Small but sturdy bridges separated each island from the next making it very easy to travel between them. Each little island was different from the last, no two were the same. Some had pine trees growing on them while others had small hills and mountains.

Legend was that the islands cropped up after a swirl of magical forces hit that section of the Earth forming them. THe islands didn't show on any cameras that were taking photos of the Earth and weren't able to be seen unless you somehow made it past the magical boundaries. The weather always maintained a pleasant temperature - never went below 60 degrees and never above 80. Storms rarely ever cropped up and if they did, it was barely a sprinkle of rain, just enough to give the tops of the trees a nice brush of water to keep them ever so lush and green.

In fact, the only thing the villagers had to worry about was the water surrounding the outskirts because in that brilliantly blue and temptingly cool water where so many spent their days swimming, dangerous sea serpents and giant squid hung out ready to grab the first villager that dared wander into the depths. However, this wasn't an issue most of the time because any sea creatures that would be of concern only hung out on the outskirts of the cluster of islands which made the water running through them entirely safe to use. The villagers were lucky that the creatures chose not to go through the narrow channels between the islands because it made it easy to collect water for everyday necessities (which was surprisingly salt-free even though oceans normally have high levels of salt).

Living on one of the islands of Tisle made for a very content life without many cares in the world.