quote 14

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, 
you must first create the universe.

                                                                   -- Carl Sagan


When we write, we first tell the reader what landscape we will be operating within. Does our story take place now or in the past. This land, this country or another. This planet or somewhere else. This reality or will we be creating something completely different and if different, just how far do we intend to go. 

Writers are creators, we don't have to just use the stuff that is laying around, we can create the very basics of the universe we intend to inhabit then invite the reader to come along on the journey. Some of my favorite authors have used wildly sublime material to create their tales, others evolve from the mundane and the ordinary; but they all share one critical element of creation - the invisible adhesive that holds their entire universe together and that methinks is the true craft of writing. Binding together the tale such that the reader never sees the glue.