“You’re an orogene who’s been living in the little nothing town of Tirimo
for ten years. Only three people here know what you are, and two of them you
gave birth to.”
– N. K. Jemisin
The N. K. Jemisin novel The Fifth Season has a rather unique world – one filled with stone, tectonics, and geology related names for everything (“go the rust away”). In this journal, I want to focus on how Jemisin uses specific writing techniques that build this world naturally and in an interesting manor. More specifically, it will be about how the work’s smart structuring enriches the story’s worldbuilding aspects of language and setting.
Diving into the quote, what I find the most interesting about Jemisin’s style of writing is that she doesn’t just tell you what something is. The word pops up, like the term “orogene” for instance in one of the book’s first lines. At first, you don’t understand what the word means, but slowly, through obvious context clues, its meaning is revealed naturally. Soon, you’’ come across the text: “ so you put something in its way—a breakwater of sorts, composed of your focused will and a bit of kinetic energy borrowed from the thing itself.” Nothing is explicitly stated when the concept of the orogenes are introduced about what they do – until after the reader is allowed to piece things together for themselves. Later parts of the book more directly confirm what the orogenes are, which might be considered a sort of safety net in case a few people haven’t figured out how the fictional subject works. Another example would be the guardians – they are introduced early in the story, when Damaya is being taken away. We are given a vague line about them being warriors, assassins, etc. but we do not have any specifics on the guardians until later in the book.
This doesn’t only apply to fictional story terms, though. It can also be applied to general knowledge about characters and plot, such as in this quote: “Only three people here know what you are, and two of them you gave birth to. Well. One left who knows, now.” We don’t know who this one other person is yet, and we are left to wonder. Could it be Essun’s husband, or someone else? It is to be noted that this has much less of the “piecing things together on your own” aspect than how the story handles in-universe terms. This is more of a “not giving information at first, but then revealing it,” as it is later specifically mentioned that Lerna is the other one who knows her secret. Nevertheless, it has a similar effect. It gives off an air of mystery, which the book then resolves in a satisfying way, leading to more reader engagement.
These methods simultaneously create an air of mystery and clarity. They both help to engage the reader critically, treating them competently, while also dishing out worldbuilding elements in a way that is digestible and exciting. I believe that this is because Jemisin’s writing methods are the epitome of the age old saying “show don’t tell.” By letting things play out naturally, as they would happen in the created world, the fictional concepts are laid in clear view and are easily understood by the audience.