O is for Out of this World

So, one thing we hear a lot as writers is to work on our characters. Write characters people can love. Not quite as much attention is paid to the placement of those characters, but sometimes their location is a character in and of itself. A location drastically changes the elements of a story, it pushes it in different directions. What would the Harry Potter books be without whole wizarding world he ends up inhabiting? What would the movie Avatar have been like if Pandora had been boring? A location can provide impetus, can push the character into new encounters with new people, or can serve as a familiar, safe haven when the character’s world is falling apart. No matter where your protagonist lives, whether it’s New York city or on a different planet entirely, the world they inhabit needs to be just as alive as they are.

And with that being said, here are some of my favorite worlds beyond this one. Which one do you like the most? 

The Wizarding World--I’ve always known I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd, but I never realized quite how much of one until I started working on the A-Z challenge and at least half my post feature Harry Potter in one capacity or another. That being said, when talking about worlds, JK Rowling wrote one of the most richly imagined worlds to ever exist. In my opinion, there is no way to even talk about amazing settings without including the world of Harry Potter.

Pandora--James Cameron brought this planet to life, making it an even more integral part of the storyline than the characters themselves. The details, from the plant life, to the variety of animals, to the blue people were all spectacularly imagined and Pandora will always be a world I'd love to visit. 

Middle Earth. I don't even know what to say about the setting of the Lord of the Rings trilogy that hasn't been said many times before. I want to live in the shire and visit Mirkwood and speak elvish. But then, who doesn't? Middle Earth has been, and will always be, one of my favorite places to dream of living.

A galaxy far far away--Funny that George Lucas never named the galaxy. Despite that, the creatures and battles of this particular galaxy have been fan favorites for years. I looked it up our of curiosity and there are something like seventy different locations that are named in the world of Star Wars,  from the Death Star to the Ewok Village to the droid control factory, the Jedi Temple, the cantina and on and on. It's a huge world, one of amazing structure and variety. 

Narnia. When I was ten years old I once stood in my room for an hour, staring at a picture on my wall that reminded me of Narnia and begging Aslan to come get me. I really thought that if I just believed enough he'd hear me and I could go have my own adventures. Hey! Don't judge. I was an imaginative kid.  Sadly, it was a failed experiment. But I'd still love to visit Cair Paravel. The Dancing Lawn. Beaversdam. Underworld and Aslan's country, the seas and mountains and the entire, beautiful, diverse amazing land that is on the other side of the wardrobe. 

It is currently 4:30 am (don't ask...) so I know I missed a ton. Even sitting here, I have a few more amazing worlds floating around my mind. But I still think I hit some great ones here. So what do you guys think? Which one is your favorite? Or would you pick somewhere else entirely? 

Wizarding World

Pandora

Middle Earth

A Galaxy Far Far Away

Narnia