Of
course I use "builder worlds." (I call 'em dream worlds since they often come from dreams.) And I have to say I intentionally violate the rules of real sf world building when I do it. I wrote a blog post about it this summer:
http://daringnovelist.blogspot.com/2...fantasize.html
I myself often prefer my strange builder worlds to the elaborate and sensible (and logical) worlds of regular sf and fantasy. And, of course, I'm perverse enough to want to use them in mainstream fiction. (sigh.)
In that blog post, I report a typical conversation I have with myself all the time:
Creative Me: It's a heist story that's set in a place that's something like Texas only it's in the the middle of Europe.
Sensible Me: Why not just have it set in Texas?
Creative Me: Then where would the yodelling bi-atheletes in lederhosen come from?
Sensible Me: Well, then why not place it in Europe?
Creative Me: Then where would the cowboys come from?
Sensible Me: They have cows in Switzerland.
Creative Me: Do they wear chaps? Do they have cattle drives from Zurich to Geneva? Do they have shootouts at high noon with six-guns?
Sensible Me: Um, not as far as I know. Look why not make it an urban fantasy? Have a dragon drive from Zurich to Geneva?
Creative Me: That would be ridiculous.
Sensible Me: And the yodelling bi-athletes are...?
Creative Me: ...subject the laws of physics. This is a heist story! Dragons and spaceships would have unfair powers that would change the balance of how everything works. I don't want to change the world, I just want to rearrange it!
Someday I'll write a book about Texerland.
Camille