There are almost as many different strategies for building a fictional world as there are fantasy authors. This session takes an intuitive approach that can also be used for generating non-fantasy stories. It will address questions such as:

• How much do you really need to know about your world before you start writing the story?
•  How do you give your world depth and history without boring the reader?
•  How can you use the real world to enrich your fantasy world?
• How do you get readers to suspend disbelief?
• How can you find your best process for world/story building?

Lian Tanner is a children's author and playwright. She has worked as a teacher in Australia and Papua New Guinea, a tourist bus driver, a freelance journalist, a juggler, a community arts worker, an editor and a professional actor. It took her a while to realise that all of these jobs were really just preparation for being a writer. Nowadays she lives by the beach in southern Tasmania, with a small tabby cat and lots of friendly neighbourhood dogs. She has not yet mastered the art of Concealment by the Imitation of Nothingness, but she is quite good at Camouflage.