Combining Two Worlds: Compare and Contrast

Hi! P. J. Hoover, and I’m back for my final day of guest blogging about world building. It’s been a fun week, and I hope you guys have enjoyed it.

Anyway, we now have a book with two distinct worlds created within its pages. What can we, as the author do, to combine these two worlds and make them into one compelling story?

My biggest tip? Compare and contrast. I’ve talked about the outer world with its global heating crisis. The government is taking an active role to make things better (or in some cases worse). In the Underworld, there is turmoil and chaos, too. And the council of gods must do their part and act upon this. Two worlds. Same answer. Is the government right in both worlds? Not at all. Remember, nothing is perfect, either above ground or below. Showing these two councils (or at least the repercussions of them will help compare and contrast our two worlds).

Is a dystopian story with the world aboveground suffering so badly from the heat, brainstorm what else can be happening in the other world (in this case the Underworld). What other troubles does that world have? Is the rule threatened? Are the boundaries weakened? Is there a mutiny about to break out?

An important part of comparing out two worlds is to maintain a proper balance between them. Both worlds have plot and crises. Both worlds must be given equal page time. Spending too much time in either of the worlds can risk alienating the reader. But . . . for every scene switch, there must be a believable reason. Simply “wanting to visit” is not enough. Why would a character want to escape one world and go to another? What would draw them to do so?

Keep your yin and your yang in alignment.

So that wraps it up for world building and Solstice. Two worlds in turmoil. One girl who can make a difference.

Thanks so much for joining me, and I hope you’re inspired to build some worlds of your own! And thank you to the League of Extraordinary Writers for letting me hang out here for the week!

P.J. Hoover is March's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

P. J. Hoover first fell in love with Greek mythology in sixth grade thanks to the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton. After a fifteen year bout as an electrical engineer designing computer chips for a living, P. J. decided to take her own stab at mythology and started writing books for kids and teens. When not writing, P. J. spends time with her husband and two kids and enjoys practicing kung fu, solving Rubik's cubes, and watching Star Trek. Her first novel for teens, Solstice (Tor Teen, June 2013), takes place in a global warming future and explores the parallel world of mythology beside our own. Her middle grade novel, Tut (Tor Children's, 2014), tells the story of a young immortal King Tut, who's been stuck in middle school for over 3,000 years and must defeat an ancient enemy with the help of a dorky kid from school, a mysterious Egyptian princess, and a one-eyed cat. For more information about P. J. (Tricia) Hoover, please visit her website www.pjhoover.com.

Solstice

by PJ Hoover

More info

Piper's world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles that threaten to destroy the earth. Amid this global heating crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom.

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth.