How do screenwriters create rule structures for action, sci-fi, and fantasy worlds? Heard at a session with Marc Bernardin, Naren Shankar, and Emily Carmichael about building worlds at the ScreenCraft Writers Summit 2021:
Magic can seem like arbitrary solutions all the time. Don’t let it feel arbitrary.
Science-based stories feel more real.
Likes zombies and vampires because rules seem more simple, consistent, and believable.
Thinks of X-Men as a magic system. There’s always a cost to the powers they have. Need to include cost of having the powers.
Characters should have emotional response to situations.
Magic doesn’t make anyone’s life easier.
Magic is like literature and has properties of literature. Not everyone can write a great spell just like not everyone can write great literature.
People like Harry Potter because of the emotional threads. Hogwarts is more like reform school where kids haven’t gotten it right.