A way with worlds: 32 - Yin and Yang: Knowledge and Ignorance

So, I've thrown together a list of places where I think understanding knowledge and ignorance go hand in hand. This is based more on recent analysis than experience, but then again this idea is new to me as well.

• In building our worlds, it's important to understand what knowledge is common, what people are likely to know. This will let you determine how characters knowledge and lack will let them interact in your setting.
• It's important to know different cultures in your world and what they know - and what they don't. This will help you understand and write culture clashes and interactions easily.
• Understand your characters educational background - be it school, apprenticeship, ritual training, general experience. Look for any gaps in their knowledge as well as their strength.
• Track any significant lacks of knowledge. You'll be glad you did.

These little exercises should help you keep your ignorances straight, as it were. A group of hunter-gatherers may not understand an airplane, but an airplane pilot may not know how to survive in the wild. A nobleman may know quite a bit about his kingdom, but not actually understand the traumas farmers face, even though they feed him.

And, of course, a man trained for years in a religious order may have learned alchemy and theology, but never took the time to learn to drive a car.

SUMMARY:
In defining characters, a lack of knowledge is just as important as what a character knows, especially in context of your world.

Oh, and writing is an experience you never stop learning from.

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