Over the next few weeks we’re participating in a work experience program with students from high schools across Melbourne. Today, Daniil McIntyre from Williamstown High School tells us why world-building is so important for fantasy and sci-fi, and why it’s so hard to pick a favourite book. (We can relate!)

How would you describe your taste in books? Do you like romance or adventure, science fiction or history, etc?

I would have to say that my taste in books is quite varied. Some days, I wake up with a thirst for adventure, for tales of exploration, danger and daring. Other days I’d like to settle down for a bit of thought-provoking science fiction, or wonder about tales woven in fantasy. I do enjoy crime/mystery novels as well. Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot is one of my favourite classics, though I love certain contemporary books just as much.

In the case of stories that are set outside of modern-day Earth (eg. fantasy, science fiction, dystopian etc.), I’ve found my favourite books to be those with a vast, detailed world. The more information, history and locations I am fed throughout the course of the plot, the more I can immerse myself into the book. Some books do it more successfully than others however; Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth does go rather overboard!

Tell us about one of your favourite books. Have you read it more than once?

It’s often quite difficult for me to choose a favourite book – some books and genres are so exceedingly different from each other it’s like comparing apples and oranges. What’s more, I’ve discovered in the past that I am never quite as excited reading a book as much as the first time, so I have learnt to let a book be after my first reading of it.

That being said, my (most recent!) favourite book would have to be Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Set in the solar system sometime in the far future, society is divided into hierarchical factions, designated by their colour and work. Blues, for example, operate spaceships in the navy. Silvers are the financiers, Violets are the creative artists, and so on. The lowest class is the Reds, who are menial labourers. Darrow, the main protagonist, comes from the lowest of the low, the Red miners, who are unaware that they are merely slaves, and believe that they are working for the greater good. When certain events unfold, and Darrow escapes the mines, he joins the rebellion attempting to overthrow the oppressive system, and is transformed into a Gold, the leaders of society.

The characters really impressed me. Far too often irrelevant are characters created for the sake of existing, but in this trilogy most, if not every, character becomes important to the plot. The world is also brilliantly created – enough history and information about how society works is given to satisfy curiosity, but Brown doesn’t overload the reader with unnecessary details that detract from the main story.

What’s your biggest pet peeves when it comes to how books are written?

In trilogies especially, I have often found that the third and final book is often the weakest in terms of characters, storyline and world-building. The three most notable and famous examples would have to be the Hunger Games, Divergent and Maze Runner trilogies – I found the final book in each of these series enjoyable, but they just lacked the excitement of the previous books. One of the main reasons i didn’t enjoy these books, I feel, is due to the feeling that the authors were going too big. They introduced new characters and completely new settings, which made them feel somewhat detached from the previous books.

I’ve often felt that my favourite trilogies shape themselves like I would a jigsaw puzzle. The first book provides the framework, or the outer edges. I can sort of understand what’s going on, I can see the basic outline, but there is still so much to discover. The second book helps to fill in the gaps, we learn more about the world and the characters, we find new objects as the pieces are slowly put into place. The last book continues on, placing the last pieces of the puzzle together. A large object, possibly several large new objects are revealed, interconnected with the rest of the story, and help to shape the final jigsaw. In many trilogies, this final object, generally some shocking revelation relating to the main character’s life, often feels out of place, or appears as a piece of steel poorly welded to the main framework.

I guess what I am trying to say is that authors of trilogies need to critique their final books, revise whether it fits into the main story and doesn’t go off on a tangent, and above all, make it seem realistic in the context of the story.

Do you like fan-fic? If so, what is your favourite fan-fic scenario with book characters?

It really does depend on the book/series. Sometimes, in the case of a concluded story, I like to see what other readers like myself envision the future holds for the characters. I enjoyed reading a fan-fic on CHERUB, which gave three futures for the main characters James and Kerry after the conclusion of the first series (none of them exceptionally positive I might add!). In other cases, I’m happy with the way the book has ended, and would like to leave it to my own imagination as to what comes next.

I’ve never really enjoyed fan-fics that take the characters and/or setting from a book, and create their own plot. The writing can be (and often is) exceptionally good, but for some strange personal reason I like to retain the original story written by the author, and not tarnish my memory of it by reading fan-fic!