Map of the Land of Oz the fictional universe that is the setting for L Frank Baum's Oz series

A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting which contains its own background elements including history and geography, and possibly also fantasy or science fiction elements such as magic or a means of faster than light travel, or other derived background elements. Oz is a fairy Lyman Frank Baum ( May 15 1856 &ndash May 5 1919) was an American Author, Actor, and Independent filmmaker Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->The Oz books form a In Fiction, the setting of a story includes the time location and circumstances in which it takes place Magic, sometimes known as sorcery, is a Conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events objects people and A fictional universe may also be called a fictional realm, imaginary realm, fictional world, imaginary world or imaginary universe. An imaginary world is a setting, place or event or scenario at variance with Objective reality, ranging from the voluntary Suspension of Most fictional universes are based directly or indirectly on our own universe, like the familiar "with a twist" world depicted in the popular Harry Potter series. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Harry Potter is a series of seven Fantasy novels written by British author J

It is difficult to determine what actually constitutes a "fictional universe", but whether the universe is contained in a single work or consists of a succession of works, such as frequently appears in fantasy or science fiction series, the universe will be self-consistent and follow an established set of rules. Its history and geography are well-defined, and even languages may be constructed. Fictional languages are by far the largest group of Artistic languages Fictional languages are intended to be the languages of a fictional world and are often designed with When subsequent works are written within the same universe, care must be taken to ensure that established rules (canon) are not violated. This article is not about Literary canons of influential works of fiction but about the concept of a canon which defines the world of a particular fictional series

Scope

Sir Thomas More's Utopia is one of the earliest examples of a cohesive imaginary world with its own rules and functional concepts, but it comprises only one small island. Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535 from 1935 Saint Thomas More, was an English Lawyer, author and statesman who in his lifetime gained De Optimo Republicae Statu deque Nova Insula Utopia (translated On the Best State of a Republic and on the New Island of Utopia) or more simply Later fictional universes, like Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian stories, are global in scope, and some, like Star Wars, Honorverse, or the Lensman series, are galactic or even intergalactic. Robert Ervin Howard ( January 22 1906 &ndash June 11 1936) was an American pulp writer of Fantasy, Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian, from the name of his homeland Cimmeria) is a Fictional character often associated with Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Note This is the 'Main' article for the Honor Harrington related Book series and Sub-series by David Weber. The Lensman series is a serial Science fiction Space opera by E A fictional universe may even concern itself with more than one interconnected universe through theoretically viable devices such as "parallel worlds" or universes, and a series of interconnected universes is called a multiverse. Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own Such multiverses have been featured prominently in science fiction since at least the mid-20th century, notably in the classic Star Trek episode, "Mirror, Mirror", which introduced the mirror universe in which the crew of the Starship Enterprise were brutal, rather than civilized, and in the mid-1980s comic book series, Crisis on Infinite Earths, in which countless parallel universes were destroyed. Star Trek is a Science fiction Television series created by Gene Roddenberry that aired from September 8, 1966 through " Mirror Mirror " is an episode of Star Trek The Original Series. The Mirror Universe (MU is a Fictional parallel universe in which the plots of several Star Trek television episodes take place The Enterprise or USS Enterprise (often referred to as the " Starship Enterprise " are the names of several fictional Crisis on Infinite Earths is a twelve-issue American comic book Limited series (identified as a "12-part maxi-series" and crossover The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when considered as all 5 books together, flits back and forth between different universes, or perhaps it is more accurate to say, flits through different timelines and different dimensions involving different states of existence for the characters and for the earth itself. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series Definition A chronology may be either relative &mdashthat is locating related events relative to each other&mdashor ''absolute'' &mdashlocating In mathematics the dimension of a Space is roughly defined as the minimum number of Coordinates needed to specify every point within it

Format

A fictional universe can be contained in a single work, as in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, but nowadays is more common in serialized, series-based, open-ended or round robin-style fiction. Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950 who used the Pseudonym George Orwell, was an English writer Nineteen Eighty-Four (also titled 1984) by George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair) is a 1949 English Novel Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 &ndash 22 November 1963 was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Brave New World is a 1932 Novel by Aldous Huxley. Set in the London of AD 2540 (632 A The term " serial " refers to the intrinsic property of a series &mdash namely its order. A book series is a sequence of Books with certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group For other uses see Round-robin. A round-robin story, or simply "round robin" is a type of Collaborative fiction or

In most small-scale fictional universes, general properties and timeline events fit into a consistently organized continuity. Definition A chronology may be either relative &mdashthat is locating related events relative to each other&mdashor ''absolute'' &mdashlocating In Fiction, continuity (also called time-scheme) is consistency of the characteristics of persons plot, objects places and events seen by the reader or However, in the case of universes or universes that are rewritten or revised by different writers, editors or producers, this continuity may be violated, by accident or by design—film productions are notorious for altering fictional canon of written series. A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Editing Language, Images or Sound through correction condensation organization and other modifications in various media A film producer is a person who creates the conditions for making movies.

The occasional publishing use of retroactive continuity (retcon) often occurs due to this kind of revision or oversight. Retroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction Members of fandom often create a kind of fanmade canon (fanon) to patch up such errors; "fanon" that becomes generally accepted sometimes becomes actual canon. Fandom (from the noun fan and the affix -dom, as in kingdom, dukedom, etc This article is not about Literary canons of influential works of fiction but about the concept of a canon which defines the world of a particular fictional series Other fanmade additions to a universe (fan fiction, pastiche, parody) are usually not considered canonical unless they get authorized. Fan fiction (alternately referred to as fanfiction, fanfic, FF or fic) is a broadly defined term for Fiction about characters or settings The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic Genre. A parody (ˈpɛɹədiː US, [ˈpaɹədiː] UK) in contemporary usage is a work created to mock comment on or poke fun at an original work its subject

Collaboration

Main article: Shared universe

Fictional universes are sometimes shared by multiple authors, with each author's works in that universe being granted approximately equal canonical status. A shared universe is a Literary technique in which several different authors create works of Fiction that share aspects such as settings or characters and that are This article is not about Literary canons of influential works of fiction but about the concept of a canon which defines the world of a particular fictional series Some, like the Ring of Fire series actively court canonical stimulus from fans, but gate and control the changes through a formalized process and the final say of the editor and universe creator. See also Baen's Bar, 1632 Editorial Board, 1632 series The Grantville Gazettes are a set of Collaborative writing works Eric Flint (born 1947 is an American Alternate history and Fantasy author, editor, and e-publisher. ^[1]

Other universes are created by one or several authors but are intended to be used non-canonically by others, such as the fictional settings for games, particularly role-playing games and video games. A game is a structured activity, usually undertaken for Enjoyment and sometimes also used as an Educational tool A role-playing game ( RPG; often roleplaying game) is a Game in which the participants assume the roles of Fictional characters. A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Settings for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons are called campaign settings; other games have also incorporated this term on occasion. Dungeons & Dragons (abbreviated as D&D or DnD) is a Fantasy Role-playing game (RPG originally designed by A campaign setting is usually a Fictional world which serves as a setting for a Role-playing game or Wargame campaign Virtual worlds are fictional worlds in which online computer games, notably MMORPGs and MUDs, take place. A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars These avatars are usually depicted A massively multiplayer online role-playing game ( MMORPG) is a genre of Computer role-playing games (CRPGs in which a large number of players interact with In computer gaming, a MUD ( Multi-User Dungeon, Domain or Dimension) is a multi-player computer game that combines elements of A fictional crossover occurs when two or more fictional characters, series or universes cross over with one another, usually in the context of a character created by one author or owned by one company meeting a character created or owned by another. A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete Fictional characters, settings or universes into the context of a single Generally a company is a form of Business organization. The precise definition varies In the case where two fictional universes covering entire actual universes cross over, physical travel from one universe to another may actually occur in the course of the story. Such crossovers are usually, but not always, considered non-canonical by their creators or by those in charge of the properties involved. Intellectual property ( IP) is a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical literary and artistic works inventions and symbols names

Real world settings as fictional universes

At some level, every work of fiction exists in a fictional universe of its own, regardless of whether or not the events described are said to take place in the "real" world. A book set in the United States, for example, may refer to events in American history that never took place or to contemporary American presidents who never existed, thus splitting the fictional work off slightly from established reality. However, this seldom becomes an issue unless sequels or fictional crossovers take place, where care must be taken to remain true to the timeline and history established within the primary work. A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete Fictional characters, settings or universes into the context of a single The subsequent works can thus be said to exist within the same "fictional universe" as the original. Early examples of this include Thomas Hardy's Wessex, the semi-fictional county in which he set all of his novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. The English author Thomas Hardy set all of his major novels in the south and southwest of England. Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle, DL (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930 was an Anglo-Scottish Author most noted for his stories about the Sherlock Holmes is a famous fictional detective of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who first appeared in Publication in 1887

An example of this from television is the "Tommy Westphall universe", when the final episode of the medical drama St. Elsewhere revealed that the entire series had in fact taken place within the mind of an autistic child named Tommy Westphall. Tommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the television series St St Elsewhere is a US Drama series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. This in turn meant that the series Homicide: Life on the Street, which featured many shared characters with St Elsewhere, must also have taken place within his mind, as had the series Law & Order and its subsequent spinoffs, since they had crossed over with Homicide. Homicide Life on the Street is an American Television Police procedural series chronicling the work of a fictional Baltimore Law & Order is an American Police procedural and Legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf. This "universe" in fact has been extended to hundreds of other interconnected shows, as diverse as Newhart and Star Trek, to the point that, according to series creator Tom Fontana, "something like 90 percent of all television took place in Tommy Westphall's mind. Newhart is a Television Situation comedy starring Comedian Bob Newhart and actress Mary Frann as an author and his Tom Fontana (born on September 12 1951 in Buffalo New York) is an American Writer and producer TV Career "^[2] Other, less extreme examples of this include the drama ER, which takes place in the same fictional universe as the TV series Third Watch, and the sitcoms Friends, Seinfeld and Mad About You, which all take place within the same fictionalised New York City^[3]

See also

References

• Alberto Manguel & Gianni Guadalupi: The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, New York : Harcourt Brace, c2000. ER is an Emmy Award -winning American Medical drama series created by Novelist Michael Crichton and airing on This article is about the television show For information about naval watches see Watch system. Friends was an Seinfeld is an American Situation comedy, or sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5 1989 to May 14 1998 lasting nine seasons Mad About You is an American Sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999 The City of New York This is a list of Fictional universes, organized by Genre and by sub-genre In Fiction, the setting of a story includes the time location and circumstances in which it takes place Diegesis is the (fictional world in which the situations and events narrated occur and telling recounting as opposed to showing enacting Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction A fantasy world is a type of Imaginary world, part of a Fictional universe used in Fantasy novels and games Fictional locations are places that exist only in Fiction and not in reality A fictional country is a Country that is made up for fictional stories Alternate history Campaign setting Counterfactual history Fantasy world Fictional This article focuses on future histories in general For Robert A An imaginary world is a setting, place or event or scenario at variance with Objective reality, ranging from the voluntary Suspension of A mythological place (also called "mythical place" is a place that a particular culture describes in their Mythology and Folklore as existent Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own Planets in science fiction are fictional Planets that appear in various media especially those of the Science fiction genre as story-settings or depicted locations Simulated reality is the proposition that Reality could be simulated—perhaps by Computer simulation —to a degree indistinguishable from "true" Reality Virtual reality ( VR) is a technology which allows a user to interact with a Computer-simulated environment be it a real or imagined one Alberto Manguel (born 1948 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine -born writer translator and editor The Dictionary of Imaginary Places (1980 1987 1999 is a book written by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi. ISBN 0-15-100541-9
• Brian Stableford: The Dictionary of Science Fiction Places, New York : Wonderland Press, c1999. Brian Michael Stableford (born July 25, 1948) is a British Science fiction writer who has published more than 50 novels ISBN 0-684-84958-5
• Diana Wynne Jones: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, New York : Firebird, 2006. Diana Wynne Jones (born London 16 August 1934 is a British writer principally of Fantasy novels for children and adults as well as a small ISBN 0-14-240722-4, Explains and parodies the common features of a standard fantasy world
• George Ochoa and Jeffery Osier: Writer's Guide to Creating A Science Fiction Universe, Cincinnati, Ohio : Writer's Digest Books, c1993. Writer's Digest is an American magazine devoted to both beginning and established Writers offering Interviews market listings calls for Manuscripts ISBN 0-89879-536-2
• Michael Page and Robert Ingpen : Encyclopedia of Things That Never Were: Creatures, Places, and People, 1987. For the recruitment firm see Michael Page International Michael Harry Page (born June 17, 1941) was an English Robert Roger Ingpen ( AM) (b October 13, 1936) is an Australian graphic designer illustrator and author ISBN 0-14-010008-3

External links

• Worlds in the Net