This led me to think about how the arts could be portrayed in fiction (I've written more on this on my other website, www.fairytaleswithbite.weebly.com). For this post, I'd like to look more at writing in fictional work.
In my Fairy Kingdom setting, the fairytales are compulsory reading and are frequently acted out. What form of literature, if any, is important in your fictional world and why? If there isn't any, why not? Are books easily accessible to all or are they considered dangerous because they encourage people to think and to dream? If books in your fictional world are controlled, who does this? How did they establish that control and are there any threats to it?
How are writers treated? What would be classed as therapy in your fictional world (and why would someone need this therapy? For example post traumatic stress disorder must surely apply to other worlds where huge life changing events have taken place. Spoiler alert: I personally think Frodo in The Lord of the Rings shows something of this right at the very end of the triology as it is made clear he has not fully recovered from all that he has gone through. Quite rightly too. After such a fantastic adventure, there would be bound to be a toil taken on the mind/body/both).
So what place does writing and stories have in your fictional world? At the least, these questions could make for some interesting background material to your world.