Learning from Coraline by Neil Gaiman: Building a world (video essay)

Great writers build spaces for compelling stories and settings that capture our imagination. Here's how author Neil Gaiman hooks readers using exploration and discovery of a setting in Chapter 1 of his novel CORALINE. TRANSCRIPT on Medium: http://bit.ly/CoralineEssay UPDATES on Twitter:   / hownovelstarts   (Tumblr? Nope, I deleted my account!) — SUPPORT THE CHANNEL on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/howthenovelstarts --- MORE ABOUT “CORALINE” AND NEIL GAIMAN Coraline book synopsis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraline Neil Gaiman’s website: http://neilgaiman.com/ Coraline (film): http://bit.ly/2NBIFyo RECOMMENDED READING & VIEWING A Wrinkle In Time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Wrink... Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%2... The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lio... Peter Pan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan Calvin and Hobbes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_... CBC retrospective on Calvin and Hobbes: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/episode... My Neighbor Totoro: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Neig... The Shining: http://bit.ly/2QlVg7g Annihilation: http://bit.ly/2x8A3pi Read Chapter 1 of Annihilation: https://io9.gizmodo.com/read-the-mesm... Geoff Manaugh interview with Patrick McGrath about architecture and fiction: http://www.bldgblog.com/2007/07/the-p... Geoff Manaugh blog post about "an architecture of death": http://www.bldgblog.com/2007/05/at-th... ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS Wolf Children: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Ch... This One Summer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_On... The Devil’s Backbone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dev... Mountains of the Mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountai... The Appeal of Lonely Places:    • This Could Be the Happiest Place to Live   — ABOUT THE CHANNEL What’s the best way to start a story? What makes readers, agents, and publishers take a chance on our book? What holds their attention? There’s plenty of advice out there on how to write a first chapter, but so much of it is generic. So I went looking for concrete examples in great books. On HOW THE NOVEL STARTS, I explore the opening chapters of popular novels, and figure out what writers can learn from them for their own work. SUPPORT THE CHANNEL on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/howthenovelstarts — MUSIC ATTRIBUTIONS "Holiday Gift" by Kai Engel http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai... "A List of Ways To Die" by Lee Rosevere http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee... "I Was Waiting For Him" by Lee Rosevere http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee... "Brooks" by Kai Engel http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai... "Love Wins" by Lee Rosevere http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee... IMAGE ATTRIBUTIONS At the psychiatric ward photo by Ján Jakub Naništa https://unsplash.com/photos/z9hvkSDWMIM Subscribe button by AlfredoCreates: https://www.alfredocreates.com/youtub... Blueprint background: http://www.ianbarnard.co.uk/free-blue... #writing #NaNoWriMo #worldbuilding