In writing, we often ask the question
“How big is the world?”
The size of the setting we create
and the restrictions we place upon it
will determine what stories we can tell.
If no paranormal creatures exist in the world,
we can’t write about vampires or werewolves.
I currently am writing a series with five men
trapped on a tropical island.
I know, at the maximum,
there will be five romances
(as each man finds his significant other).
If these stories do really well,
I’d have to break my self-imposed rules
to extend the series
(and readers REALLY get ticked
when writers do that).
Michael Godard paints olives.
If he painted olives simply being olives,
his world would have been very, very small.
He would have only produced
a couple of paintings,
and then been forced to move onto
his next big idea.
Instead, he paints olives in rock and roll settings.
Boom.
His world expanded.
He gives the olives human characteristics.
Boom.
His world is massive.
So why limit worlds at all?
Why not allow everything?
It comes down to branding.
A world that tries to appeal to everyone,
appeals to no one.
So when developing products,
make your world big
but not too big.