Introduction
The goal of the Worldbuilding unit in English was to develop a fictional world with its own storyline that could be adapted to another form of media, such as a film, animation, or novel, with a small group of people. Unlike the Flash Fiction project last year, the Worldbuilding project was orders of magnitude larger and more in-depth, as our group had the opportunity to fully envision the world we created. Along the way, our class read “Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler, an example of a Worldbuilding novel set in a dystopian future. The project culminated in a “pitch presentation” where each group presented their story idea to the audience (Freestyle PM) who acted as an appropriate group of critics for the project.
The Worldbuilding project challenged my critical thinking and storytelling skills in a way that no other form of writing has done before. The most notable hurdle when working on this project was syncing everybody’s story parts together. Because each of us had our own vision for each story segment, achieving full compatibility between our sections required lots of communication. However, I feel that these experiences have exposed me to the process behind real-world pitch development, where my challenges would have been amplified further. Combining writing, art, and pitching in one project did feel ambitious at first, but I’m glad that our group was able to work through it and develop a finished idea.