Since we saw a humorous piece from Patrick Rothfuss yesterday, here’s another chance to delve into his mind with this author interview conducted by the Concurring Opinions website. It’s not like most author interviews you see out there. It doesn’t focus on the inspiration for his fantasy world, or publishing issues, or literary agents.
Instead, Rothfuss is asked about various legal matters in his book, like, how does the justice system work? Are there ways to govern magical use and education? What rules control the economy?
Intriguing stuff, and maybe it’ll get you thinking about some issues in your own story that you hadn’t really considered before.
Rothfuss does make the point that a lot of the legal and policing issues in the book are all background aspects. They aren’t an overt part of the story, but he has obviously thought about them, and so can explain a point if asked about it. Otherwise, the information given in the story remains relevant to the plot, and everything else becomes cursory.
This is the level of detail, research and thought I enjoy seeing in a story, and try to include in mine, if I can. I’ll admit, I’ve never given a ton of world-building effort to mapping out an entire legal system, but it sounds like a good challenge.
What about you? Are the governing laws of your world thought out? Is their a judicial system? Some sort of council? No idea? Are there any other areas of a story that you think tend to be glossed over or ignored…like the plumbing system or the economics?
I see that smile.