Tyler van Opstal "Secondary Worlds, Done Dirt Cheap"

     To become an author that can draw a reader into a realistic secondary world of their own creation is unfortunately not a skill that everyone possesses. Fortunately, there are cheaper and easier remedies for this great problem than years of writing courses that might still not work. Two very good ones are fanfiction and roleplaying.

    In both fanfiction and roleplaying, you get to use a secondary world that someone else has already created. This isn't to say creativity ceases to be a necessary element, a turd in a sandcastle is still a turd. But in circumstances where the secondary world has already been created for you, the only task remaining is to transfer your audience into that pre-made world. This requires several things of course, firstly being that you must understand the rules of the secondary world. You cannot take other people into a place you do not understand yourself without providing a jarring experience, as anyone who has read poor fanfiction or played with someone who spends half a role playing session checking their lore notes. The most important rules to remember, if you cannot be bothered to remember them all, are the Forbidden Things. Chesterton highlights this as a hallmark of fantasy (as in the fantastic, not necessarily just sword and sorcery) for good reason, if there is nothing forbidden then it is not a secondary world. Even in secondary worlds that seem without order there are rules that are followed, with the seeming chaos more often a result of our primary world bias than a lack of laws. 

    After remembering the rules and Forbidden Things, you must learn to remove your bias of the primary world. This is not a recommendation to dissociate from the world when you play or write, but rather a reminder that while you may be in this world, your character(s) is not. They know nothing of the rules of your world which is secondary to them, only of their own primary world. Treat them that way and the quality of work is much improved.

    The third rule is to remember not to suspend disbelief, or to force your audience to do the same. As Tolkien says, a work that forces one to suspend disbelief is not a good work. Instead, give your audience something to believe in.