Creating Ecosystems

[One Son of Many]

Anyone find it extremely hard to create a balanced and believable ecosystem? I seem to be running into many stumbling blocks (some successes too) and was wondering if anyone had any pointers to creating ecosystems?

For example: Any large carnivores need lots to eat (think dragons). So you have to place them very few to an area, with lots of small "critters" to dine upon, like a predator/prey ratio. Or is this type of balancing just way too picky in building an ecosystem? I feel I need to make it a believable system to really draw the readers into the story.

I also do that with about any 'system' I try to create. As in magic systems or societies, trade routes versus available resources, etc. Is 'believability' important to creating a good story or is it unnecessary?

 

[oneofGodskids]

it depends on what the story is all about. If its about an unbelievable thing happening or whatnot then no its not really necessary. If its about a believable thing...such as a normal character and things similar to that maybe or maybe not. It just really depends on what u want for the story. hope this wasn't too confusing for ya..sorry if so.


Natali

 

[One Son of Many]

oops, I should have given a little more info.

It's a fantasy novel, not so much with elves, dwarves and such but mainly humanoidal, demonic, and angelic 'type' beings. Creatures will tend to run into the fantastical area, some are standard fare like dragons (with a certain twist though...hehe) and some creatures quite unique. There will also be a stock of standard animal life. There will also be malicious plant life and some 'helpful' plant life with a good dose of standard fauna.

There will be items imbued with power such as religious artifacts and items crafted by evil entities for dark deeds. These items range from ancient tomes with magical abilities to the standard magical weapons. There will also be a "magic system" based on certain aspects of physics.

Different cities will be (or already be) designed to function around a trade/barter system with each city dependent on available local resources and what they can trade for with those resources.

Several concepts come from biblical facts but would take a while to list. The story itself will be following the Jarvis Method of writing.

This is a quick list off the top of my head and hopefully is the info you were asking.......thanks for any help!!

 

[Blessed-one]

with dragons... it's a bit hard to make it balanced. What most authors do is to avoid writing about their habits and diet... um, but i see you don't want that right?

 

[One Son of Many]

I wouldn't write a lot about the dragons' habits, just know their habits and what the surrounding area has to offer them. I want to have it right in my knowledge so I can be more accurate in writing some detail. Knowing their habits and habitat, I then just drop in a few things to help steer the readers imagination in the direction I am trying obtain. The same goes for most other creature or plant life.

This brings up another question. How much do you leave up to the reader's imagination to 'fill-in-the-blank'? I feel the imagination can be a powerful tool (the reader's) if you supply the proper prompts for them to feed upon. Sort of makes me feel like I need to enroll in some Psychological courses so I can better understand what make's a person's mind tick.......

 

[Blessed-one]

lol. isn't that why most people say movies based on books are not as good as the books?

fill in the blank?.. giving enough details only for them to think on, writing enough details only so they can expand on them..
if imagination has no space in the story, then it's quite a boring read.

 

[One Son of Many]

very true! exactly the reason why books are always better than movies/tv

 

[mbdeyes]

I try to take Tolkien as one of my examples. Popularly, he's got two levels of writing (several more if you get into the Silmarilion, et al). I'm refering to the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit has very little developed background. It is still a good story, but it is a bit more childish, and certainly is aimed at a different audience than Lord of the Rings.

LotR, on the otherhand, was written while he was establishing his Middle Earth. There have been many books written after his death based solely on his piles and piles of extra notes. He makes references to some of these throughout his Trilogy, and so it can be seen that, in his own mind, he had many background elements firmly established. He specialized in history, especially of languages, and that comes out in his writing.

So IMHO I don't think you'll need to get into a zoological examination of dragons, but a healthy understanding will certainly help draw the reader in.

 

[Blessed-one]

um, good point, mbdeyes..