Discworld creator Terry Pratchett passes away at 66. A man who introduced countless readers to the art of building a living, breathing world.

Same here- He had some good ideas, but his writing was off-putting to me.

I compiled a handy, short guide to the art of writing like Pratchett:

Write a sentence about one of your characters doing something- say, tying his shoe.

Follow that up with a twee aside to the reader. Let's just say... That the shoes are very tight, and they cause him a lot of pain when he walks, which led to him becoming lazy and overweight.

The character's immediate next action in your narrative should have a call-back to the aside you made, just one sentence earlier. Remember that your readers are every bit as much in love with your witty asides as you are, and don't mind you repeating them over and over and over and over and over and over. To write like Pratchett, you MUST be convinced that they just get funnier, each time. Mention the guy is overweight, using a different, yet characteristicly british word, like "jammy," and mention that the shoes are tight again- because it's funnier, remember?

Over the next paragraph describing the character's short walk, be sure to insert at least two to three references to the tight shoes, and allow yourself to free-form for a while. While it is important to underscore the hilarious nature of the tight shoes a few more times, feel free to mention them a tad more obliquely. Remember that your audience will not appreciate the full hilarity of your initial reference to tight footwear, unless it is repeated at least a half-dozen times, within a given narrative segment.

Have your character encounter a person, place, or thing upon which a similarly twee observation can be made, but take care not to advance the story, until you are absolutely certain that you have made the absolute, earth-shaking nature of the comedic gold of these tight shoes perfectly clear to your reader. Going so far as to plainly include the words "His tight shoes were quite hilarious" is perfectly acceptable, should you wish to write like Pratchett.

Repeat the above, until you have filled 200 pages. Mail to publisher, and await fat checks.

/r/worldbuilding Thread Parent Link - bbc.co.uk