Showing posts with label worldbuilding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label worldbuilding. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Over at Disenchanted & Co.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Elsewhere with Barbara Samuel
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Something Old, Something New
Even back in 1870 they were giving out freebies:
Stop by Disenchanted & Co. today and find out how to use historic printed materials as world-building resources.
Stop by Disenchanted & Co. today and find out how to use historic printed materials as world-building resources.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Elsewhere with Q&A
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
City in the Sky
The lotus flower has brought a lot of beauty to my life. In addition to practicing a form of lotus meditation, I also photograph and paint the flowers. I think they're elegant, serene and beautiful -- and I'm not the only one to be inspired by them.
To quote from the web site, City in the Sky is "a concept about an imaginary tranquil oasis above the mega developed and polluted city where one can escape from the everyday noise, stress and dirt. The concept is inspired by the Lotus flower which is known for its ability to emerge above the murky waters pure and clean." This video shows what that oasis might look like (and for those of you at work, this one has some background music):
Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa wrote a haiku about the symoblism of the lotus:
世の中よ針だらけでも蓮の花
Which translates to:
this world
full of needles and thorns ...
yet lotus blooms
To quote from the web site, City in the Sky is "a concept about an imaginary tranquil oasis above the mega developed and polluted city where one can escape from the everyday noise, stress and dirt. The concept is inspired by the Lotus flower which is known for its ability to emerge above the murky waters pure and clean." This video shows what that oasis might look like (and for those of you at work, this one has some background music):
Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa wrote a haiku about the symoblism of the lotus:
世の中よ針だらけでも蓮の花
Which translates to:
this world
full of needles and thorns ...
yet lotus blooms
Monday, May 14, 2012
Build Your World Ten
Ten Things About World-Building
Stephanie Cottrell Bryant's 30 Days of World building tutorial can be read online or downloaded in several different formats, and covers a range of topics interesting to world builders.
Denyse "Domynoe" Loeb's Alden.nu has five world-building outlines along with tons of other templates and lessons here.
Evidently pantsers can world-build, too, just in reverse: Kat Zhang's Backwards Worldbuilding.
Encyclopedia Mythica offers info and articles from A to Z on mythology, folklore and religion to help inspire and populate your fictional worlds.
How to Draw Nice Maps
Kathy Steffen's article Jump-Start Your Imagination: Creative Writing Exercises for Worldbuilding offers a list of questions you answer about your world as building exercise.
Loren J. Miller's Mythopoets Manual covers in exquisite detail the many things writers might consider when writing the multi-cultural fictional setting.
Orion's Arm states their manifesto as "...to inspire writers, artists and thinkers. To create a vision of the future that is plausible at every level, internally consistent and abides by the accepted facts and theories in the physical, biological, and social sciences." Some decent examples for hard SF world-builders.
For obscure words and vocabulary resources, you can't do much better online than The Phrontistery (warning, wordsmiths, highly addicting site.)
Charmaine Clancy's W is for World Building Workshop can be read online or downloaded in .pdf format.
Stephanie Cottrell Bryant's 30 Days of World building tutorial can be read online or downloaded in several different formats, and covers a range of topics interesting to world builders.
Denyse "Domynoe" Loeb's Alden.nu has five world-building outlines along with tons of other templates and lessons here.
Evidently pantsers can world-build, too, just in reverse: Kat Zhang's Backwards Worldbuilding.
Encyclopedia Mythica offers info and articles from A to Z on mythology, folklore and religion to help inspire and populate your fictional worlds.
How to Draw Nice Maps
Kathy Steffen's article Jump-Start Your Imagination: Creative Writing Exercises for Worldbuilding offers a list of questions you answer about your world as building exercise.
Loren J. Miller's Mythopoets Manual covers in exquisite detail the many things writers might consider when writing the multi-cultural fictional setting.
Orion's Arm states their manifesto as "...to inspire writers, artists and thinkers. To create a vision of the future that is plausible at every level, internally consistent and abides by the accepted facts and theories in the physical, biological, and social sciences." Some decent examples for hard SF world-builders.
For obscure words and vocabulary resources, you can't do much better online than The Phrontistery (warning, wordsmiths, highly addicting site.)
Charmaine Clancy's W is for World Building Workshop can be read online or downloaded in .pdf format.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
World Sources
Most of my story ideas begin with a character, but occasionally something else sparks my imagination: music (Blade Dancer), dreams (If Angels Burn) and art (Nightborn.) Regarding the latter, every year I go to a particular art show to see John Galbo, one of my favorite artists. His work is a constant source of inspiration for mine, and it was one of his gorgeous photos of the French countryside, Le Mistral, that initially gave me the idea for Nightborn.
The three elements in Le Mistral are very simple but striking: a field of lavender ready to be harvested, a lovely old manor house, and a storm brewing over the mountains in the distance. Whenever I've looked at this print on the wall in my office, I've always wondered who lived in that house, and how many storms they've weathered. One day I decided to answer those questions, and wrote the first outline for Nightborn.
Finding inspiration with which you can build an entire world isn't difficult as long as you pay close attention to your reactions to it. Does the source invoke a strong emotional response in you? This is important, and it should be passionate enough to keep you from being distracted by other bright, shiny ideas. Also, your passion will translate onto the page and communicate itself to the reader; not something you ever want to be tepid. Are you curious about the source? For you to base a world on something, there should a significant storytelling opportunity already there, looking you in the eye, and you should really want to jump on it. And finally, are you willing to take the time to explore it? You can't build a world in one day or with one glance, so you have to make a commitment. Outlining, researching, drafting -- you're looking at months, even years of work here.
Revisiting the point about emotional response: you can build your world based on anything -- I once wrote a 100K+ novel inspired solely by the words carnival geek -- but if you're not passionate about the source of your inspiration, you're probably going to lose interest in it. If you think of world-building as a love affair between your imagination and the object of its affections, then you can better judge whether or not to dive in. You don't fall in love based on a nice, lukewarm, ho-hum response to something, nor should you world-build that way.
The three elements in Le Mistral are very simple but striking: a field of lavender ready to be harvested, a lovely old manor house, and a storm brewing over the mountains in the distance. Whenever I've looked at this print on the wall in my office, I've always wondered who lived in that house, and how many storms they've weathered. One day I decided to answer those questions, and wrote the first outline for Nightborn.
Finding inspiration with which you can build an entire world isn't difficult as long as you pay close attention to your reactions to it. Does the source invoke a strong emotional response in you? This is important, and it should be passionate enough to keep you from being distracted by other bright, shiny ideas. Also, your passion will translate onto the page and communicate itself to the reader; not something you ever want to be tepid. Are you curious about the source? For you to base a world on something, there should a significant storytelling opportunity already there, looking you in the eye, and you should really want to jump on it. And finally, are you willing to take the time to explore it? You can't build a world in one day or with one glance, so you have to make a commitment. Outlining, researching, drafting -- you're looking at months, even years of work here.
Revisiting the point about emotional response: you can build your world based on anything -- I once wrote a 100K+ novel inspired solely by the words carnival geek -- but if you're not passionate about the source of your inspiration, you're probably going to lose interest in it. If you think of world-building as a love affair between your imagination and the object of its affections, then you can better judge whether or not to dive in. You don't fall in love based on a nice, lukewarm, ho-hum response to something, nor should you world-build that way.
Friday, July 01, 2011
WorldBuilding No-Nos
Ten Things I Hate about Your WorldBuilding
Beasts from your hell are always slimy, odorous, loud, over-size horrors with broken but razor-sharp teeth and bulging but blazing red eyes; they could easily be smelled if not instantly identified from two miles away. Yet somehow they still always get the jump on their victims.
Epidemics happen in your story only because some evil one cast a spell over a geographical region, and are never the natural byproduct of poor hygiene, crowded living conditions, contaminated water or food supplies, and/or lack of medical advancement.
Everyone in the village is an idiot. Everyone.
No one seems to be actively employed in the story. Farmers aren't planting crops, merchants aren't holding sales, and stable boys aren't shoveling manure, etc. Your courtesans, on the other hand, are always working triple shifts.
Queens and princesses are inevitably lovely, sylph-like creatures who radiate goodness and kindness, care deeply about their subjects, and are obsessed with feeding and caring for the poor; none display any of the typical physical or mental signs of being what they really are: the results of centuries of inbreeding.
The natural source of unparalleled magical power that has been sitting around in the open for millenia has never been discovered or exploited by native peoples, explorers, settlers, industrial developers, evil overlords or anyone except the hero, and then only when he is in desperate straits with nowhere else to turn.
While your world seems forever poised on the brink of destruction, an event that often can only be narrowly avoided by the hero and heroine having wild monkey sex, this doesn't seem to ever worry anyone else.
You give me in excruciating detail the pyramids, palaces and every other prominent place within a thirty-mile radius, but there are no bathrooms or toilets anywhere.
Your highly intelligent, extremely lethal mythical creatures, all of which are the size of a dump truck or larger, turn into quivering submissive bunny rabbits whenever a dinky human hero with a mission encounters them. P.S., even if they've been captured, beaten and starved by other humans for months, they never blame the hero or snap him up as a quick snack.
Your invented language bears a striking resemblance to Klingon as spoken by a stutterer.
Beasts from your hell are always slimy, odorous, loud, over-size horrors with broken but razor-sharp teeth and bulging but blazing red eyes; they could easily be smelled if not instantly identified from two miles away. Yet somehow they still always get the jump on their victims.
Epidemics happen in your story only because some evil one cast a spell over a geographical region, and are never the natural byproduct of poor hygiene, crowded living conditions, contaminated water or food supplies, and/or lack of medical advancement.
Everyone in the village is an idiot. Everyone.
No one seems to be actively employed in the story. Farmers aren't planting crops, merchants aren't holding sales, and stable boys aren't shoveling manure, etc. Your courtesans, on the other hand, are always working triple shifts.
Queens and princesses are inevitably lovely, sylph-like creatures who radiate goodness and kindness, care deeply about their subjects, and are obsessed with feeding and caring for the poor; none display any of the typical physical or mental signs of being what they really are: the results of centuries of inbreeding.
The natural source of unparalleled magical power that has been sitting around in the open for millenia has never been discovered or exploited by native peoples, explorers, settlers, industrial developers, evil overlords or anyone except the hero, and then only when he is in desperate straits with nowhere else to turn.
While your world seems forever poised on the brink of destruction, an event that often can only be narrowly avoided by the hero and heroine having wild monkey sex, this doesn't seem to ever worry anyone else.
You give me in excruciating detail the pyramids, palaces and every other prominent place within a thirty-mile radius, but there are no bathrooms or toilets anywhere.
Your highly intelligent, extremely lethal mythical creatures, all of which are the size of a dump truck or larger, turn into quivering submissive bunny rabbits whenever a dinky human hero with a mission encounters them. P.S., even if they've been captured, beaten and starved by other humans for months, they never blame the hero or snap him up as a quick snack.
Your invented language bears a striking resemblance to Klingon as spoken by a stutterer.
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Multiversing
I'm a bit reluctant to buy into this theory. No offense to the quantum-minded, but parallel universes are the sort of thing you think about the first time you get stoned, or all the time when you're suffering from incurable narcissism. I think one human race is beyond plenty. Although if this theory is true, my multiverse selves had better remember to pick up the puppy's heart worm medication today. While we're at it, we should defrost that chicken for dinner, baste the sides of block #4 for the quilt in progress and fix that blind in the dining room.
Multiversing in writing, on the other hand, is fun to play with and use as a worldbuilding tool. The most common example of fiction multiversing is alternate history stories, where a writer takes a significant time period or historic figure(s) and changes what happened just enough to generate a new version. What would have happened if the dinosaurs hadn't become extinct? Harry Harrison told us one interesting version in his West of Eden novel trilogy.
I've frequently employed multiversing on many figures from history and legend to create or conglomerate new characters (just about every protagonist in the Darkyn novels was based on one or more real people; William Harvey even played himself in my AH short story A Matter of Consultation.) This is when the writer's paranoid conspiracy theorist side comes in handy; you can take a historic event that happened and suggest an alternative reason behind it. In my multiverse the Knights Templar were rounded up and subjected to torture and execution not because they were too rich and powerful, but because they weren't human anymore.
If you're not interested in multiversing an era, civilization, historic event or any other expansive story element, you can still try it out on a smaller scale. In Dreamveil I used recombinant DNA to create a new character from two that already existed, which allowed me to build an alternative persona and a different timeline. I asked myself What would happen to him if I changed this, and took away this, and added this? until I had a new construct (who still retained many of the traits of the original.)
Characters who grow up or live in the same setting can have multiversal attitudes. The same town is very different through the eyes of a privileged boy and a poor girl, or two characters of different ethnicity or background. Two babies accidentally switched at birth who grow up in contrasting circumstances is a popular theme; so is identical twins who are separated at birth and raised in dissimilar situations. Even reincarnation can be used as a multiversing character device; Robert Silverberg probably did the best job I've ever read with pre-programmed reincarnation in To Live Again.
When employing multiversing as a worldbuilding or character tool remember to think about what stays the same as well as what might change. No matter what universe we inhabit, some of our traits will likely remain the same. Picasso might not be a painter in all of his multiverses, but creativity probably plays a significant role in the lives of his other selves. Opinions on the validity of congenital personality traits differ, but I think certain things like horrible shyness and eternal optimism can be genetic as well as learned behaviors.
Use multiversing as an opportunity to explore the role gender plays in our lives, our attitudes, and what we're able to accomplish. In another universe, how would a King Victor have influenced the Victorian era? If James Austen had written Pride & Prejudice, would Mr. Darcy and Lizzie still end up together? Would Charlotte Lindbergh have been the first woman to fly across the Atlantic?
Now I and my infinite number of multiverse selves have to log off and get to work on the day's schedule. Somehow I have the feeling none of the other PBWs finished the laundry over the weekend, either . . . .
Related links:
Some interesting FAQs about alternate history from AlternateHistory.com
i09's A Brief History of Alternate History Fiction
Alexandra Lupu's softpedia article Our Personality - Is It Genetically Inherited or Determined by The Environmental Factors?
Image credit: David Hughes
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Water Worlds
As a SF writer I've had to build a lot of planets, and I'm always on the lookout for new inspiration. Lately I've been playing with an idea that includes terraforming a water world to create artificial land masses and colonies for offworld visitors and maybe even some colonists.
The obvious solution is to boat them around and/or create floating constructs, but it's been done. I don't want underwater colonies because it doesn't serve the story idea. Then I toyed with the thought of deep drilling to tap the planet's asthenosphere to generate controlled underwater volcanic activity (which is what created a bunch of landforms on our planet) but that comes with a lot of logistical headaches and reminds me too much of what's happening now in the Gulf.
I'll keep working on it, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of the cool stuff I've come across while researching the concept:
German architect Wolf Hilbertz's Autopia Ampere, which builds itself using minerals from the sea via electrodeposition. I love this idea so much I am permanently green with envy.
Art becomes island: Chinese sculptor Zhan Wang's Floating Mountain of Immortals. This appeals to me on a couple of levels, and connects with something I've done a couple times in other books, but can you actually live in art?
Shimizu Corporation's environmental island cities: Green Float*. A beautiful idea that I don't see surviving our climate shifts, but still, hugely appealing and very well thought out.
Palm Jumeirah, one of Dubai's Palm Trilogy of manmade islands. Like a floating DisneyWorld for the yachting crowd, I guess.
Richard Sowa built Spiral Island on a base of thousands of plastic bottles (recycling at its finest) and while it was later destroyed by a hurricane, he's going to do it again with Spiral Island II.
Finally, I can never talk about cities or water worlds without mentioning Project Indigo, the mind-blowing vertical seaside metropolis imagined by artist Jesse van Dijk (for which I will be eternally grateful to Eva Gale for passing along to me.)
*Link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer.
The obvious solution is to boat them around and/or create floating constructs, but it's been done. I don't want underwater colonies because it doesn't serve the story idea. Then I toyed with the thought of deep drilling to tap the planet's asthenosphere to generate controlled underwater volcanic activity (which is what created a bunch of landforms on our planet) but that comes with a lot of logistical headaches and reminds me too much of what's happening now in the Gulf.
I'll keep working on it, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share some of the cool stuff I've come across while researching the concept:
German architect Wolf Hilbertz's Autopia Ampere, which builds itself using minerals from the sea via electrodeposition. I love this idea so much I am permanently green with envy.
Art becomes island: Chinese sculptor Zhan Wang's Floating Mountain of Immortals. This appeals to me on a couple of levels, and connects with something I've done a couple times in other books, but can you actually live in art?
Shimizu Corporation's environmental island cities: Green Float*. A beautiful idea that I don't see surviving our climate shifts, but still, hugely appealing and very well thought out.
Palm Jumeirah, one of Dubai's Palm Trilogy of manmade islands. Like a floating DisneyWorld for the yachting crowd, I guess.
Richard Sowa built Spiral Island on a base of thousands of plastic bottles (recycling at its finest) and while it was later destroyed by a hurricane, he's going to do it again with Spiral Island II.
Finally, I can never talk about cities or water worlds without mentioning Project Indigo, the mind-blowing vertical seaside metropolis imagined by artist Jesse van Dijk (for which I will be eternally grateful to Eva Gale for passing along to me.)
*Link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Worldly Ten
Ten Things About Worldbuilding
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Want to see a worldbuilder at work? Stop by Are you a God?, Nils Jeppe's art, writing and worldbuilding blog.
AutoREALM is "a Free GNU mapping software (a "cartographer") that can design maps of castles, cities, dungeons and more. AutoREALM is generally used by Role-playing Game practicants who enjoy doing their own maps. But it could fits the needs of other people. If you are a Role-Playing gamer or else, you are cordially invited to join the AutoREALM community: fellows gathered around a free hobbyist map tool. Originally made by Andrew Gryc (say "grits"), AutoREALM is now Open Source, creating a unique opportunity for the RPG world to mix graphics and computer programming" (OS: unspecified; also I couldn't access the download link pages on the official freeware site but I found a download link over on sourceforge.net here.)
If you need an interactive app to generate and view random fractal planets and terrain with oceans, mountains, icecaps and rivers, check out the Fractal Planet and Terrain Generator (OS: unspecified)
If you're interested in building a language, you might try the tools and advice available in Zompist.com's The Language Construction Kit.
One of my more recent finds among online sources about worldbuilding, The Mythopoet's Manual ~ Writing Multi-Cultural Fictional Settings by Loren J. Miller, is simply fabulous.
Terragen Classic is "a scenery generator, created with the goal of generating photorealistic landscape images and animations. Terragen is free for personal, noncommercial use, with only a few limitations. Terragen Classic is capable of near-photorealistic results for professional landscape visualisation, special effects, art and recreation. Terragen Classic has been used in a variety of commercial applications including film, television and music videos, games and multimedia, books, magazines and print advertisements (OS: Windows, Mac)
Planet Engine is "a 3D real-time planet renderer. It allows you to fly over the surface of planets and also to see them from space. You can explore real planets - like Mars and Earth - or use imaginary data" (OS: Windows)
One of the best matter-of-fact articles on worldbuilding that I've read in a while: The Power of Worldbuilding by Steven Savage.
To get some planetary ideas without having to plow through tons of generated stats, take the Random Planet Generator for a spin.
Patricia C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions are hosted on a fan site and contain all of her old FIDONET postings. The questions are like writing prompts for creating and fleshing out your fantasy worlds; they cover just about everything a worldbuilder could possibly want to think about and then some.
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
Want to see a worldbuilder at work? Stop by Are you a God?, Nils Jeppe's art, writing and worldbuilding blog.
AutoREALM is "a Free GNU mapping software (a "cartographer") that can design maps of castles, cities, dungeons and more. AutoREALM is generally used by Role-playing Game practicants who enjoy doing their own maps. But it could fits the needs of other people. If you are a Role-Playing gamer or else, you are cordially invited to join the AutoREALM community: fellows gathered around a free hobbyist map tool. Originally made by Andrew Gryc (say "grits"), AutoREALM is now Open Source, creating a unique opportunity for the RPG world to mix graphics and computer programming" (OS: unspecified; also I couldn't access the download link pages on the official freeware site but I found a download link over on sourceforge.net here.)
If you need an interactive app to generate and view random fractal planets and terrain with oceans, mountains, icecaps and rivers, check out the Fractal Planet and Terrain Generator (OS: unspecified)
If you're interested in building a language, you might try the tools and advice available in Zompist.com's The Language Construction Kit.
One of my more recent finds among online sources about worldbuilding, The Mythopoet's Manual ~ Writing Multi-Cultural Fictional Settings by Loren J. Miller, is simply fabulous.
Terragen Classic is "a scenery generator, created with the goal of generating photorealistic landscape images and animations. Terragen is free for personal, noncommercial use, with only a few limitations. Terragen Classic is capable of near-photorealistic results for professional landscape visualisation, special effects, art and recreation. Terragen Classic has been used in a variety of commercial applications including film, television and music videos, games and multimedia, books, magazines and print advertisements (OS: Windows, Mac)
Planet Engine is "a 3D real-time planet renderer. It allows you to fly over the surface of planets and also to see them from space. You can explore real planets - like Mars and Earth - or use imaginary data" (OS: Windows)
One of the best matter-of-fact articles on worldbuilding that I've read in a while: The Power of Worldbuilding by Steven Savage.
To get some planetary ideas without having to plow through tons of generated stats, take the Random Planet Generator for a spin.
Patricia C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions are hosted on a fan site and contain all of her old FIDONET postings. The questions are like writing prompts for creating and fleshing out your fantasy worlds; they cover just about everything a worldbuilder could possibly want to think about and then some.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Painting Worlds
While I'm off writing and sulking (oh, yes, still doing that), a link blast from the past: Design of a vertical seaside metropolis by Jesse van Dijk (via Eva Gale.) I've also posted some pics of one method of world-building I do over at my photoblog.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Fun with Setting
Because I do so much planning and prep work before I write a single word of a novel, I write up hundreds of pages of notes, outlines, character profiles, thread diagrams, setting specifics and plot schematics. I used to keep these in binders and file them away once I finished production on the corresponding novel, but then I started returning to worlds I'd already created in previous books and needed to pull them out and refresh my memory.
I don't like writing the same setting over and over, so when I needed to revisit a world I'd pull out my notebooks, read what I'd already done and build with that in mind as a foundation. When it became obvious that I'd be writing multiple stories set on K-2 and a couple of worlds in its surrounding solar system, I decided to split out all my setting notes in one separate notebook to keep straight what I'd done and what I planned to do.
I wasn't happy with just a big collection of notes, so when I decided to do another setting notebook for another multiple-story world (Joren) I wrote a little travelogue-type book for myself about the planet and made up a nice cover for it:
(You can tell this is one I wrote for myself because I misspelled planetary on the cover and never bothered to correct it.)
That was nice, and very organized, but it lacked something. To me a world isn't just about the physical characteristics, it's also about the people who have lived there. So when it became obvious I needed a setting notebook for my dome colony world Trellus, I decided to have a bit more fun with it. Along with my notes, maps and sketches I wrote a brief history of the colony, from the day the first settlers touched down to seizure and shutdown of the colony's infamous mining operations.
While the process evolved mostly from my need to be hyperorganized, by having some fun with the settings and treating them like subjects all on their own, I found the worlds became more real to me. I don't use everything I write in my setting notebooks in my stories, but I think making them has allowed me to write about the settings with a bit more enthusiasm than my usual attitude of "Why can't everything happen in a featureless void?"
I don't recommend every writer write a separate book on their settings for themselves, as that would likely take up too much time you can use for writing the actual novel. But it doesn't hurt to experiment with the ways you put together and maintain your settings. They're a bit like gardens -- the more you plant and tend to them, the more wonderful stuff will grow.
What are some of the things you do to flesh out your settings and keep track of what you've built for worlds you revisit? Let us know in comments.
I don't like writing the same setting over and over, so when I needed to revisit a world I'd pull out my notebooks, read what I'd already done and build with that in mind as a foundation. When it became obvious that I'd be writing multiple stories set on K-2 and a couple of worlds in its surrounding solar system, I decided to split out all my setting notes in one separate notebook to keep straight what I'd done and what I planned to do.
I wasn't happy with just a big collection of notes, so when I decided to do another setting notebook for another multiple-story world (Joren) I wrote a little travelogue-type book for myself about the planet and made up a nice cover for it:
(You can tell this is one I wrote for myself because I misspelled planetary on the cover and never bothered to correct it.)
That was nice, and very organized, but it lacked something. To me a world isn't just about the physical characteristics, it's also about the people who have lived there. So when it became obvious I needed a setting notebook for my dome colony world Trellus, I decided to have a bit more fun with it. Along with my notes, maps and sketches I wrote a brief history of the colony, from the day the first settlers touched down to seizure and shutdown of the colony's infamous mining operations.
While the process evolved mostly from my need to be hyperorganized, by having some fun with the settings and treating them like subjects all on their own, I found the worlds became more real to me. I don't use everything I write in my setting notebooks in my stories, but I think making them has allowed me to write about the settings with a bit more enthusiasm than my usual attitude of "Why can't everything happen in a featureless void?"
I don't recommend every writer write a separate book on their settings for themselves, as that would likely take up too much time you can use for writing the actual novel. But it doesn't hurt to experiment with the ways you put together and maintain your settings. They're a bit like gardens -- the more you plant and tend to them, the more wonderful stuff will grow.
What are some of the things you do to flesh out your settings and keep track of what you've built for worlds you revisit? Let us know in comments.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
VW#4: World-Building II
We're experiencing a couple of technical blips behind the scenes, so bear with us. Today's giveaway entry period will be extended until noon tomorrow, and the link for the e-book should go live as soon as we can get the blasted thing to upload. Your patience is much appreciated. Added: Links to worldbuilding notebook are (finally) live, see below.
The winners of the VW#3 giveaway are:
ArtWish: Sarai
Goodie Bag: Rob
Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get these prizes out to you.
I. If You Build It, They Will Read
The single most awe-inspiring activity involved with writing is world-building. The writer who world builds becomes Master of the Universe. In true Omnipotent Being fashion, the writer begins with nothing but a vision of What Could Be. They wave their magic hands over the keyboard and suddenly, there are words that shine like an unwavering light upon a whole new world, complete with fascinating people in exciting places doing incredible things.
Well, maybe we do a little more than wave our hands over the keyboard. Okay, a lot more. And there's no magic involved (that comes later, we hope, for the person reading the story.) No mystical light or omnipotent power goes into play, either. To be frank, a writer takes two elements -- imagination and words -- and employing only those two raw materials, writes a story about a fictional world.
Sounds really simple, doesn't it? Imagine it, write it, you're done. But between the imagining and the writing, the writer has to do a couple of other things.
II. What We Build, and Why
The very first time I built a new world, I bombarded roughly half of the land surfaces of this planet with nuclear weapons. The initial detonations wiped out about 40% of the population, and fallout from the bombs quickly poisoned another 30%. Over the next decade, about half of my survivors were blamed for the nuclear war and sent to a remote, radiation-tainted prison where most of them died. Grim does not begin to describe how truly awful my post-Apocalyptic vision of the world was. Only when I had brought the human race to the brink of extinction did I begin to rebuild Earth into a kind of quasi-Jurassic Park wonderland, complete with a full resurgence of dinosaurs.
My reason for building such a terrible world was the state of the world in which I lived. I was born during the Cold War. Every world power had ICBMs ready to be launched while they snarled and bitched at each other. Castro very kindly parked a number of nuclear warheads about a hundred miles from my house. My older siblings had actually practiced nuclear attack drills by hiding under their desks in school; people who had built bomb shelters in their backyards would not be considered crazy for another decade. When I imagined my first future world, I built it on what I expected the future world to be: a decimated, radioactive wasteland.
As for the dinosaurs, well, I was twelve. I thought they were cool.
I wanted to share my vision of the future, too, so I turned in this horrific little gem to my seventh grade English teacher. He kept it for two weeks, gave me some extra credit and, when I asked him to give back my story, told me that he threw it in the garbage.
The moral of the story? Before you build a world, remember it's going to be shared by others. And before you let anyone read a story, especially an squicky English teacher who wears a replica Billy Jack hat to cover his lousy comb-over, make a copy of it.
III. The Foundation
Whether it's real or imagined, building a world first requires something to inspire that world. Like me, you may start with a character and build around them, basing your choices on the demands of the characterization and the story they have to tell. If you prefer to build first and populate later, you still have to center your construction on something. Your foundation may be a setting, a concept, an event – it doesn’t matter, as long as it inspires you.
Once you've decided what your inspiration is, that character or setting or conflict should always serve as the foundation for all your construction. When in doubt, always return to the foundation to determine what best serves your original inspiration. A world without a strong, solid foundation that connects in some way to everything in the story generally collapses under the weight of too many pointless elements.
Example: Akela, our friend from Part I of the workshop, is the foundation of Red Branch story construction. Everything in the story relates to her in some fashion, because everything in the story was custom-built based on her characterization. The way she fights, the weapons she carries, even the animal she rides were all designed with her in mind.
This is not to say that everything I wrote in Red Branch suits Akela. On the contrary -- I threw a lot of conflict at her that she wasn't prepared to deal with at all. At times Akela felt like her world was falling apart. She had to make decisions and adapt as things she had always taken for granted abruptly changed. She didn't like the changes, and in fact wanted nothing to do with them, but she had to deal with them. For me this is the heart and soul of any protagonist’s tale: not what caters to them, but what compels them to change.
IV. The Blue Prints
Once you’ve broken ground and created the foundation for your world, the next step naturally is to build the rest of it. But before you begin creating societies and lexicons and global conflicts, you might consider putting together a rough outline of your story’s plot, i.e.:
Akela is sent to find Jalon, and bring him back to her Queen.
Danu sends mercenaries after Akela, who kills them.
Akela meets Jalon, who is a male version of her Queen.
Akela teaches Jalon how to fight the Queen.
Danu brings his pregnant daughter to Akela, who delivers her Spinner infant.
Akela, Jalon and the infant return to the Queen.
Jalon telepathically overpowers the Queen and prevails.
From my outline of Red Branch, I knew in advance what portions of this world I would need to build. I needed the characterizations for Jalon, the Queen, Danu, the mercenaries, his daughter and the infant Spinner. I had to describe Akela’s physical journey, including the inn where she slept and the darkmare she used for transportation. I had to do the same for Jalon’s current living situation, his home and his life among the humans who had raised him. I invented the manner in which Spinners fight, deliver infants and use telepathy. Finaly I put together the showdown between Jalon and the Queen.
Using an outline of your plot as a building plan, you can create with purpose as well as efficiency. It may not be as much fun as free-building whatever you like, but building only what you need may help prevent unnecessary characters, details and other elements from choking the life out of your story.
V. Building Code Violations
There are some fairly common mistakes I see other writers make when world-building, but one that seems to be almost universal these days is when a writer sets up and then immediately violates some unbreakable rule of their world construct. In paranormal romance, for example, this is usually when an unfathomable attraction for a human heroine causes an immortal hero to defy the rules of his deity (who forbids him to trifle with human chicks), expose his own existence (which is supposed to be kept strictly concealed from humans) or break a vow of celibacy (because if he has sex with a human, the world as we know it will come to an end.)
I’m not a fan of the breaking the unbreakable rule plot device. I like the flexible rule, the old rule hardly anyone pays attention to anymore, and my personal favorite, the rule that everyone agrees is stupid and stops using long before the story begins.
Other things that can wreck your construct:
The gigantic hole in your world: let's say, for example, you have aliens in your story who use their superior intelligence and technology to invade Earth unnoticed, infiltrate our society, and begin snatching our bodies without anyone catching on until it’s far, far too late. So tell me, why would they not have the means to conceal the single tell-tale physical sign that they are possessing a human body? They’re capable of interstellar travel and world domination, but they can’t pop in some contact lenses?
A skimpy little excuse does not cover a gigantic hole in the world; it only draws attention to it. Fill in your holes properly, or rebuild that element of the story until it works correctly.
Thinly-veiled grindstones: If the insane, brutal, bloodthirsty war-mongering sadistic dictator in your novel is named G’e Orgeb Ush, and he’s defeated by a group of wise, thoughtful but weary philosophers who subsequently outlaw religion but spread benevolent Socialism among the grubby masses, you're probably not voting for McCain this fall, am I right?
Trotting your cleverly disguised personal griefs with the government back and forth in front of your reader is about as tasteful as dropping change on the lunch room floor so you can look up some girl's skirt. It's also offensive and annoying. Spare your reader from the armchair politics, please.
The Just Because Anomaly: A writer builds a world that is completely logical and realistic, except for this one thing -- in SF, usually some sort of life form or technology -- that is completely out of whack with the rest of the construct (remember my dinosaurs from Nuked World?) This one thing is never explained or justified. It's just there, like a big honking magical wart on the story.
If you want me to believe that there's an elephant in the living room, you're going to have to show me the circus caravan it escaped from, the pasture fence it knocked over, and the wall it smashed through to get into the house.
Auld Lang Syners -- the story features an inactive element (i.e. a dead character or a long-gone civilization) that is way more interesting than the present elements. For the reader, this is akin to the author plopping an Egyptian pharaoh’s undiscovered tomb down in the center of a trailer park and then saying to them “Ignore that tomb. You’re only allowed to watch what happens in the trailers.”
I cannot say this often enough: if your backstory is more interesting than your current era, you're writing the wrong story.
Babeling -- the story features an invented language that is used so often that the reader cannot follow the dialogue.
I love languages, and I'm a bit of a snob myself about explaining/translating them for the reader, but even I know cer a'denai etfi calhadre gemot tursavey. Sure, I may understand every word of that, e ylulo ceres gibbor frenza. So when you put invented language in your story, remember that e ylulo (the reader) needs a point of translation, like a definition in context (all these ey ylulon do is sit around and read books) or a glossary of some sort (e ylulo: one who reads extensively.)
VI. Finishing Touches
There is always a point toward the end of my world-building when I feel like I'm ready to write the story. It's like having an itch inside the brain and writing is the only way to scratch it. I'll start jotting down lines of dialogue or paint a second version of a setting. But before I write a single word of story, I perform a thorough inspection of the construct.
What I look for:
Necessities-- have I fleshed out everything I'm going to need to know while I'm writing? If my protag is going to be swinging a sword around, have I decided the type of sword he uses, and how he learned to swing it? If he's a poor peasant boy who came from the Village of the Dull, how did he get that sword and who taught him how to use it?
Logic -- Do I have anything in the story that the reader is not going to understand? Do I need it, or is it one of those Just Because dinosaurs that I thought was cool?
Balance -- are all the world elements developed in a harmonious way? Did I skimp or go overboard with anything? Does anything in the backstory overshadow the present? Is there anything that is the equivalent of a Pharaoh's tomb in the trailer park?
Clarity -- is this a world anyone can visit, or does my reader need to go to back to college and major in psychology, astrophysics or sociology before they touch a page? (Or, is Mom going to call me after she reads it and say, "Honey, I really liked it, except for that part in the laboratory, and that computer thing, and the weird alien with the two heads that did that funny little dance at the end. What was that all about?")
To help you with the next world you build, I've uploaded a world-building notebook here on Scribd* (please note: cover art has mysterious lines running through it for reasons we're not yet able to fathom or fix) and here (in .pdf format, with line-free cover art.) Please feel free to adapt it to your building needs and to share it with other writers who might find it useful. *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
VII. Before You Build
The most important world-building decision you'll probably ever make is one you're probably not aware that you've even made. It may be decided before you jot down one note or type a single line. It's the answer to this: for whom are you building this world, yourself, the reader, or both of you?
A world designed with only you in mind is probably going to be one only you and a few people like you can appreciate. A world built according to what you think the reader wants is going to look like a lot of other worlds they already like. I think the best worlds are those that are as unique as the builder but that remain accessible to anyone who wants to come and take the tour.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) --The original watercolor I painted for the cover of my workshop companion e-book, It Only Took God Six Days ~ World Building within Reason, signed and framed, along with signed copies of my StarDoc novels Rebel Ice and Omega Games and my Darkyn novels Dark Need and Twilight Fall.
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned copies of:
Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos (hardcover)
Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs
Wild Hunt by Lori Devoti
The Serpent Bride by Sara Douglass
Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
In Danger by Alison Kent
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu
Unleashed by Kristopher Reisz
Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker
plus signed copies of my novels Omega Games and Twilight Fall, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, comment on this workshop before noon EST tomorrow, August 1, 2008. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and the other the painting and books. Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on August 5, 2008 for a brand new AlphaSmart Neo. All LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day)
Worldbuilding with a Wiki by Sandra Barret -- Architecting your world using a free wiki.
Brainstorming by Jove Belle -- A discussion on brainstorming.
E-Courtesy by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Simple ways to protect yourself with courtesy on the internet.
The Anatomy Of Sex Scenes by Jaci Burton -- Writing sex can sometimes be the most uncomfortable part of writing the book. But it doesn't have to be. A few key pointers that may help charge up your sex scenes and drag the writer out of their 'discomfort' zone.
Creating Great Beginnings - the Why and How by Sherryl Clark -- If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We're going to look at why it's crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don'ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards. I'll also invite readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
Sound Effects--consonance, assonance, alliteration by LJ Cohen -- a week of workshops using poetry and poetic techniques useful for novelists (tune in each day this week as LJ presents different poetic tools with examples of how to use them in your own writing.)
Gender Differences for Writers by Cheryl Corbin -- Male and female body language, speech and thinking differences.
Research for Writers by Bianca D'Arc -- a librarian/writer's view of where to find the best information and strategies for how to use it.
Marketing on a Budget by Moondancer Drake -- How to make the most of marketing your book on a limited budget.
Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall -- a week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.
WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins -- An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.
The Voices in Your Head by Alison Kent -- When discussing "voice," where and how do character voices fit in?Also: All Authors Should Be Wordsmiths
Everyone has to Edit by Belinda Kroll -- Five steps to edit: putting the first draft away, being brutally honest, showing not telling, telling not showing, and focusing on those nitty gritty details.
Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker -- How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?
Self-Editing by Emma Wayne Porter -- The things your editor secretly wishes you'd do before submitting, and how to survive Track Changes afterward. Checklists and Stupid Word Tricks included.
Not Going to Frisco Workshop by Joan Reeves aka Sling Words -- Writing Biz Reality
Cover Art: From Form to Finish by Mandy M. Roth -- Tips and tricks for filling out your cover art forms, the steps and stages a cover goes through, the finished product and a walkthrough on using your cover to make your own static banner ad.
When Only the Right Word Will Do by Shannon Stacey -- Using word choices to add humor, help you show instead of tell, strengthen your voice and heighten characterization in deep POV in your second draft.
Hey Fatty (Or Does Your Character Need That Flaw) by Amie Stuart -- I’ll be blogging about Characterization, flaws and motivation all week, using TV, movies, books and my own writing for examples.
Astronomy for Writers: Look to the Sky
by Suelder -- Planetary Primer, The Inner Planets, The Gas Giants, Planetoids: Pluto and the Asteroids (the third in a five-part workshop series on basic astronomy and how to think about it from a writer's perspective.)
Time Management by Charlene Teglia -- the third in Charlene's workshops this week on the business of the business.
Short Stories & Novellas- Workshop Day II - Characterization by Shiloh Walker -- the second in a series on writing short stories and novellas.
VOICE: The Magic Behind The Words by Sasha White -- Advice to help you discover and strengthen your personal voice and style, and show you the way to the magic behind the words.
Workshop is in 5 sections. A new section each day this week.
The winners of the VW#3 giveaway are:
ArtWish: Sarai
Goodie Bag: Rob
Winners, please send your full name and ship-to address to LynnViehl@aol.com, and I'll get these prizes out to you.
I. If You Build It, They Will Read
The single most awe-inspiring activity involved with writing is world-building. The writer who world builds becomes Master of the Universe. In true Omnipotent Being fashion, the writer begins with nothing but a vision of What Could Be. They wave their magic hands over the keyboard and suddenly, there are words that shine like an unwavering light upon a whole new world, complete with fascinating people in exciting places doing incredible things.
Well, maybe we do a little more than wave our hands over the keyboard. Okay, a lot more. And there's no magic involved (that comes later, we hope, for the person reading the story.) No mystical light or omnipotent power goes into play, either. To be frank, a writer takes two elements -- imagination and words -- and employing only those two raw materials, writes a story about a fictional world.
Sounds really simple, doesn't it? Imagine it, write it, you're done. But between the imagining and the writing, the writer has to do a couple of other things.
II. What We Build, and Why
The very first time I built a new world, I bombarded roughly half of the land surfaces of this planet with nuclear weapons. The initial detonations wiped out about 40% of the population, and fallout from the bombs quickly poisoned another 30%. Over the next decade, about half of my survivors were blamed for the nuclear war and sent to a remote, radiation-tainted prison where most of them died. Grim does not begin to describe how truly awful my post-Apocalyptic vision of the world was. Only when I had brought the human race to the brink of extinction did I begin to rebuild Earth into a kind of quasi-Jurassic Park wonderland, complete with a full resurgence of dinosaurs.
My reason for building such a terrible world was the state of the world in which I lived. I was born during the Cold War. Every world power had ICBMs ready to be launched while they snarled and bitched at each other. Castro very kindly parked a number of nuclear warheads about a hundred miles from my house. My older siblings had actually practiced nuclear attack drills by hiding under their desks in school; people who had built bomb shelters in their backyards would not be considered crazy for another decade. When I imagined my first future world, I built it on what I expected the future world to be: a decimated, radioactive wasteland.
As for the dinosaurs, well, I was twelve. I thought they were cool.
I wanted to share my vision of the future, too, so I turned in this horrific little gem to my seventh grade English teacher. He kept it for two weeks, gave me some extra credit and, when I asked him to give back my story, told me that he threw it in the garbage.
The moral of the story? Before you build a world, remember it's going to be shared by others. And before you let anyone read a story, especially an squicky English teacher who wears a replica Billy Jack hat to cover his lousy comb-over, make a copy of it.
III. The Foundation
Whether it's real or imagined, building a world first requires something to inspire that world. Like me, you may start with a character and build around them, basing your choices on the demands of the characterization and the story they have to tell. If you prefer to build first and populate later, you still have to center your construction on something. Your foundation may be a setting, a concept, an event – it doesn’t matter, as long as it inspires you.
Once you've decided what your inspiration is, that character or setting or conflict should always serve as the foundation for all your construction. When in doubt, always return to the foundation to determine what best serves your original inspiration. A world without a strong, solid foundation that connects in some way to everything in the story generally collapses under the weight of too many pointless elements.
Example: Akela, our friend from Part I of the workshop, is the foundation of Red Branch story construction. Everything in the story relates to her in some fashion, because everything in the story was custom-built based on her characterization. The way she fights, the weapons she carries, even the animal she rides were all designed with her in mind.
This is not to say that everything I wrote in Red Branch suits Akela. On the contrary -- I threw a lot of conflict at her that she wasn't prepared to deal with at all. At times Akela felt like her world was falling apart. She had to make decisions and adapt as things she had always taken for granted abruptly changed. She didn't like the changes, and in fact wanted nothing to do with them, but she had to deal with them. For me this is the heart and soul of any protagonist’s tale: not what caters to them, but what compels them to change.
IV. The Blue Prints
Once you’ve broken ground and created the foundation for your world, the next step naturally is to build the rest of it. But before you begin creating societies and lexicons and global conflicts, you might consider putting together a rough outline of your story’s plot, i.e.:
Akela is sent to find Jalon, and bring him back to her Queen.
Danu sends mercenaries after Akela, who kills them.
Akela meets Jalon, who is a male version of her Queen.
Akela teaches Jalon how to fight the Queen.
Danu brings his pregnant daughter to Akela, who delivers her Spinner infant.
Akela, Jalon and the infant return to the Queen.
Jalon telepathically overpowers the Queen and prevails.
From my outline of Red Branch, I knew in advance what portions of this world I would need to build. I needed the characterizations for Jalon, the Queen, Danu, the mercenaries, his daughter and the infant Spinner. I had to describe Akela’s physical journey, including the inn where she slept and the darkmare she used for transportation. I had to do the same for Jalon’s current living situation, his home and his life among the humans who had raised him. I invented the manner in which Spinners fight, deliver infants and use telepathy. Finaly I put together the showdown between Jalon and the Queen.
Using an outline of your plot as a building plan, you can create with purpose as well as efficiency. It may not be as much fun as free-building whatever you like, but building only what you need may help prevent unnecessary characters, details and other elements from choking the life out of your story.
V. Building Code Violations
There are some fairly common mistakes I see other writers make when world-building, but one that seems to be almost universal these days is when a writer sets up and then immediately violates some unbreakable rule of their world construct. In paranormal romance, for example, this is usually when an unfathomable attraction for a human heroine causes an immortal hero to defy the rules of his deity (who forbids him to trifle with human chicks), expose his own existence (which is supposed to be kept strictly concealed from humans) or break a vow of celibacy (because if he has sex with a human, the world as we know it will come to an end.)
I’m not a fan of the breaking the unbreakable rule plot device. I like the flexible rule, the old rule hardly anyone pays attention to anymore, and my personal favorite, the rule that everyone agrees is stupid and stops using long before the story begins.
Other things that can wreck your construct:
The gigantic hole in your world: let's say, for example, you have aliens in your story who use their superior intelligence and technology to invade Earth unnoticed, infiltrate our society, and begin snatching our bodies without anyone catching on until it’s far, far too late. So tell me, why would they not have the means to conceal the single tell-tale physical sign that they are possessing a human body? They’re capable of interstellar travel and world domination, but they can’t pop in some contact lenses?
A skimpy little excuse does not cover a gigantic hole in the world; it only draws attention to it. Fill in your holes properly, or rebuild that element of the story until it works correctly.
Thinly-veiled grindstones: If the insane, brutal, bloodthirsty war-mongering sadistic dictator in your novel is named G’e Orgeb Ush, and he’s defeated by a group of wise, thoughtful but weary philosophers who subsequently outlaw religion but spread benevolent Socialism among the grubby masses, you're probably not voting for McCain this fall, am I right?
Trotting your cleverly disguised personal griefs with the government back and forth in front of your reader is about as tasteful as dropping change on the lunch room floor so you can look up some girl's skirt. It's also offensive and annoying. Spare your reader from the armchair politics, please.
The Just Because Anomaly: A writer builds a world that is completely logical and realistic, except for this one thing -- in SF, usually some sort of life form or technology -- that is completely out of whack with the rest of the construct (remember my dinosaurs from Nuked World?) This one thing is never explained or justified. It's just there, like a big honking magical wart on the story.
If you want me to believe that there's an elephant in the living room, you're going to have to show me the circus caravan it escaped from, the pasture fence it knocked over, and the wall it smashed through to get into the house.
Auld Lang Syners -- the story features an inactive element (i.e. a dead character or a long-gone civilization) that is way more interesting than the present elements. For the reader, this is akin to the author plopping an Egyptian pharaoh’s undiscovered tomb down in the center of a trailer park and then saying to them “Ignore that tomb. You’re only allowed to watch what happens in the trailers.”
I cannot say this often enough: if your backstory is more interesting than your current era, you're writing the wrong story.
Babeling -- the story features an invented language that is used so often that the reader cannot follow the dialogue.
I love languages, and I'm a bit of a snob myself about explaining/translating them for the reader, but even I know cer a'denai etfi calhadre gemot tursavey. Sure, I may understand every word of that, e ylulo ceres gibbor frenza. So when you put invented language in your story, remember that e ylulo (the reader) needs a point of translation, like a definition in context (all these ey ylulon do is sit around and read books) or a glossary of some sort (e ylulo: one who reads extensively.)
VI. Finishing Touches
There is always a point toward the end of my world-building when I feel like I'm ready to write the story. It's like having an itch inside the brain and writing is the only way to scratch it. I'll start jotting down lines of dialogue or paint a second version of a setting. But before I write a single word of story, I perform a thorough inspection of the construct.
What I look for:
Necessities-- have I fleshed out everything I'm going to need to know while I'm writing? If my protag is going to be swinging a sword around, have I decided the type of sword he uses, and how he learned to swing it? If he's a poor peasant boy who came from the Village of the Dull, how did he get that sword and who taught him how to use it?
Logic -- Do I have anything in the story that the reader is not going to understand? Do I need it, or is it one of those Just Because dinosaurs that I thought was cool?
Balance -- are all the world elements developed in a harmonious way? Did I skimp or go overboard with anything? Does anything in the backstory overshadow the present? Is there anything that is the equivalent of a Pharaoh's tomb in the trailer park?
Clarity -- is this a world anyone can visit, or does my reader need to go to back to college and major in psychology, astrophysics or sociology before they touch a page? (Or, is Mom going to call me after she reads it and say, "Honey, I really liked it, except for that part in the laboratory, and that computer thing, and the weird alien with the two heads that did that funny little dance at the end. What was that all about?")
To help you with the next world you build, I've uploaded a world-building notebook here on Scribd* (please note: cover art has mysterious lines running through it for reasons we're not yet able to fathom or fix) and here (in .pdf format, with line-free cover art.) Please feel free to adapt it to your building needs and to share it with other writers who might find it useful. *Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. My free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.
VII. Before You Build
The most important world-building decision you'll probably ever make is one you're probably not aware that you've even made. It may be decided before you jot down one note or type a single line. It's the answer to this: for whom are you building this world, yourself, the reader, or both of you?
A world designed with only you in mind is probably going to be one only you and a few people like you can appreciate. A world built according to what you think the reader wants is going to look like a lot of other worlds they already like. I think the best worlds are those that are as unique as the builder but that remain accessible to anyone who wants to come and take the tour.
Today's LB&LI giveaways are:
1) --The original watercolor I painted for the cover of my workshop companion e-book, It Only Took God Six Days ~ World Building within Reason, signed and framed, along with signed copies of my StarDoc novels Rebel Ice and Omega Games and my Darkyn novels Dark Need and Twilight Fall.
2) a goodie bag which will include unsigned copies of:
Hard Revolution by George Pelecanos (hardcover)
Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs
Wild Hunt by Lori Devoti
The Serpent Bride by Sara Douglass
Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
In Danger by Alison Kent
The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu
Unleashed by Kristopher Reisz
Through the Veil by Shiloh Walker
plus signed copies of my novels Omega Games and Twilight Fall, as well as some other surprises.
If you'd like to win one of these two giveaways, comment on this workshop before noon EST tomorrow, August 1, 2008. I will draw two names from everyone who participates and send one winner the goodie bag and the other the painting and books. Everyone who participates in the giveaways this week will also be automatically entered in my grand prize drawing on August 5, 2008 for a brand new AlphaSmart Neo. All LB&LI giveaways are open to anyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
Other LB&LI Workshop Links -- new links are being added every day, so keep checking the list for new workshops (due to different time zones, some of these will go live later in the day)
Worldbuilding with a Wiki by Sandra Barret -- Architecting your world using a free wiki.
Brainstorming by Jove Belle -- A discussion on brainstorming.
E-Courtesy by Joely Sue Burkhart -- Simple ways to protect yourself with courtesy on the internet.
The Anatomy Of Sex Scenes by Jaci Burton -- Writing sex can sometimes be the most uncomfortable part of writing the book. But it doesn't have to be. A few key pointers that may help charge up your sex scenes and drag the writer out of their 'discomfort' zone.
Creating Great Beginnings - the Why and How by Sherryl Clark -- If your beginning works, the rest will follow. We're going to look at why it's crucial, what is the contract with the reader, Dos and Don'ts (and why/why not), story questions vs hooks, situating the reader, and writing backwards. I'll also invite readers to send in their first 200 words for feedback.
Sound Effects--consonance, assonance, alliteration by LJ Cohen -- a week of workshops using poetry and poetic techniques useful for novelists (tune in each day this week as LJ presents different poetic tools with examples of how to use them in your own writing.)
Gender Differences for Writers by Cheryl Corbin -- Male and female body language, speech and thinking differences.
Research for Writers by Bianca D'Arc -- a librarian/writer's view of where to find the best information and strategies for how to use it.
Marketing on a Budget by Moondancer Drake -- How to make the most of marketing your book on a limited budget.
Writing Effective Description by Karen Duvall -- a week of workshops on how to write vivid description using all the senses, covering one for each day of the week.
WRITING PROCESS: Conceive, Develop, Write by Jamal W. Hankins -- An overview of my writing progress from story concept to actually writing a story.
The Voices in Your Head by Alison Kent -- When discussing "voice," where and how do character voices fit in?Also: All Authors Should Be Wordsmiths
Everyone has to Edit by Belinda Kroll -- Five steps to edit: putting the first draft away, being brutally honest, showing not telling, telling not showing, and focusing on those nitty gritty details.
Balancing Motherhood and Writing by Dawn Montgomery, Kim Knox, and Michelle Hasker -- How to write a 1000 words in the zen of toddler meltdowns. Motherhood is a full time job and holding a family together is only half the battle. How do you find *your* time to write without losing your mind?
Self-Editing by Emma Wayne Porter -- The things your editor secretly wishes you'd do before submitting, and how to survive Track Changes afterward. Checklists and Stupid Word Tricks included.
Not Going to Frisco Workshop by Joan Reeves aka Sling Words -- Writing Biz Reality
Cover Art: From Form to Finish by Mandy M. Roth -- Tips and tricks for filling out your cover art forms, the steps and stages a cover goes through, the finished product and a walkthrough on using your cover to make your own static banner ad.
When Only the Right Word Will Do by Shannon Stacey -- Using word choices to add humor, help you show instead of tell, strengthen your voice and heighten characterization in deep POV in your second draft.
Hey Fatty (Or Does Your Character Need That Flaw) by Amie Stuart -- I’ll be blogging about Characterization, flaws and motivation all week, using TV, movies, books and my own writing for examples.
Astronomy for Writers: Look to the Sky
by Suelder -- Planetary Primer, The Inner Planets, The Gas Giants, Planetoids: Pluto and the Asteroids (the third in a five-part workshop series on basic astronomy and how to think about it from a writer's perspective.)
Time Management by Charlene Teglia -- the third in Charlene's workshops this week on the business of the business.
Short Stories & Novellas- Workshop Day II - Characterization by Shiloh Walker -- the second in a series on writing short stories and novellas.
VOICE: The Magic Behind The Words by Sasha White -- Advice to help you discover and strengthen your personal voice and style, and show you the way to the magic behind the words.
Workshop is in 5 sections. A new section each day this week.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Alternate Worldbuilding
Added today to the Win What PBW Reads This Week box: Transformers by Alan Dean Foster, Call Me Wicked by Jamie Sobrato, Risking It All by Stephanie Tyler, Newsweek June 18, 2007 issue, Quilter's Newsletter magazine July/August 2007 issue, Romantic Homes magazine July 2007 issue, and Southern Living magazine June 2007 issue.
Note: I may drop a book in the box that an editor sent to me. I gave up on this series about five books back, but it's a hardcover and one a lot of people want, so I'd rather pass it along to someone who might appreciate it. We'll just call it a bonus book.
While I've been working on Drednoc, I've been sketching and painting some of the characters and settings that I've never really transferred from vision onto paper (it helps that a friend sent me a set of amazing luminescent watercolors that are sucking my brains out of my skull.)
I doubt the Louvre will want to acquire it, but it was fun painting it, and pretty close to the colors and feel of Joren, anyway. I liked it so much I decided to use it as cover art for one of my personal projects.
When I'm not slinging paint, I also cruise the internet for interesting images and art to stir up new ideas for characters, setting or story. For example, I came across this as I was searching for castle art:
which made me curious enough to visit the website, where I found this:
(both images imported from the Niagara Art Collection website)
At first glance I knew the second painting wasn't Joren. The architecture is too human, there are no deserts on Joren, my floating cities are on Akkabarr, and the sky isn't right. Still, it had a Jorenian feel to it, so I sat and pondered the pic for a while.
In a quantum universe somewhere, this could be Joren -- one that was colonized by the League, enveloped by interstellar war, used as a troop depot, damaged by surface bombardment and ultimately abandoned by everyone but the natives, who have been in hiding since their world was occupied. How would these Jorenians evolve? Would they follow the same timeline and form HouseClans, or would their cultural response be some sort of quasi-socialist society? How would my StarDoc play into all this?
By the time I finished brooding, I had practically rewritten my own series in my head. I don't do this purely for self-amusement, so I also typed up a few notes on a logical historic timeline for my AH* Joren, in the event I want to flesh it out into a short story or novella.
I like revisiting stories from different angles, and seeing what else I might have done with them. Illumination over there on the sidebar is a short version of StarDoc book one from Reever's POV. I wrote that one as a challenge for myself, and to give the readers a different perspective on the character, who is a royal pain in the ass to write anyway. It's a little more difficult to rewrite an entire series, but I'm glad I thought out my AH Joren, because in the process I figured out something about two rather difficult characters I have in Drednoc.
Have you all ever approached a story you've written from another angle? Do you find any benefits from shifting POV or changing circumstances?
*Alternate History
Note: I may drop a book in the box that an editor sent to me. I gave up on this series about five books back, but it's a hardcover and one a lot of people want, so I'd rather pass it along to someone who might appreciate it. We'll just call it a bonus book.
While I've been working on Drednoc, I've been sketching and painting some of the characters and settings that I've never really transferred from vision onto paper (it helps that a friend sent me a set of amazing luminescent watercolors that are sucking my brains out of my skull.)
I doubt the Louvre will want to acquire it, but it was fun painting it, and pretty close to the colors and feel of Joren, anyway. I liked it so much I decided to use it as cover art for one of my personal projects.
When I'm not slinging paint, I also cruise the internet for interesting images and art to stir up new ideas for characters, setting or story. For example, I came across this as I was searching for castle art:
which made me curious enough to visit the website, where I found this:
(both images imported from the Niagara Art Collection website)
At first glance I knew the second painting wasn't Joren. The architecture is too human, there are no deserts on Joren, my floating cities are on Akkabarr, and the sky isn't right. Still, it had a Jorenian feel to it, so I sat and pondered the pic for a while.
In a quantum universe somewhere, this could be Joren -- one that was colonized by the League, enveloped by interstellar war, used as a troop depot, damaged by surface bombardment and ultimately abandoned by everyone but the natives, who have been in hiding since their world was occupied. How would these Jorenians evolve? Would they follow the same timeline and form HouseClans, or would their cultural response be some sort of quasi-socialist society? How would my StarDoc play into all this?
By the time I finished brooding, I had practically rewritten my own series in my head. I don't do this purely for self-amusement, so I also typed up a few notes on a logical historic timeline for my AH* Joren, in the event I want to flesh it out into a short story or novella.
I like revisiting stories from different angles, and seeing what else I might have done with them. Illumination over there on the sidebar is a short version of StarDoc book one from Reever's POV. I wrote that one as a challenge for myself, and to give the readers a different perspective on the character, who is a royal pain in the ass to write anyway. It's a little more difficult to rewrite an entire series, but I'm glad I thought out my AH Joren, because in the process I figured out something about two rather difficult characters I have in Drednoc.
Have you all ever approached a story you've written from another angle? Do you find any benefits from shifting POV or changing circumstances?
*Alternate History
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Taking a Header
"Never marry for money; ye can borrow it cheaper." -- Liz Carlyle, Three Little Secrets, Chapter Four
"To: Patricia C. Walker {pattycake@ogilvie.edu} From Angeline Mangiamele {apples@tiedtothetracks.com} Re: follow up (2)..." -- Rosina Lippi, Tied to the Tracks, Chapter Fifteen
"The path changes, so too must the traveller. -- Tarek Varena, ClanJoren" -- Yours Truly, Blade Dancer, Chapter One
Writing a chapter header, or beginning a chapter in a novel with a quotation, summary or something other than the text of the chapter itself, is the sort of detailing most novelists skip these days. It's a quaint custom, dating back to the days when every popular novel chapter started with a summary line:
Chapter One
In Which I Introduce Myself
Chapter Seven
A trip to town; Mrs. Fullahotair confides in Prudence
Chapter Fourteen
Jane Receives Her Richly Deserved Come-Uppance in the Form of Boils, Bed Bugs and a Bad Marriage
Sometimes when I find chapter headers in old books, I wonder if the practice started as a pre-emptive reader strike or as shorthand for what the writer needed to accomplish: In this chapter, I must ruin Mr. Rochester's nuptials, kill the mad wife and set fire to the place.
I rarely write chapter headers because they can be tricky. When I was putting together the outline for Blade Dancer, I wanted to work in a little about one of Kol's ancestors, Tarek Varena, whose philosophies changed Joren's ancient war faring culture. At the same time, I didn't want to drop in an infodump about a messianic figure who had been dead for five centuries. Then I wanted to tag the chapters with something other than numbers or titles. Using Tarek's philosophies (the prime influence on modern Jorenian culture from my worldbuilding) as chapter headers solved all of those problems.
Anyone can toss in a real or made-up quotation to create a chapter header; really inventive headers that contribute something solid to the novel are more rare (and that's mainly why I find them so tricky.) Two novels that I think have the most original, effective chapter headers I've found are in Rosina Lippi's Tied to the Tracks and Frank Herbert's Dune.
How do you guys feel about chapter headers? Do they add to the reading experience, or distract you from it? What would be an appropriate header for the chapter you're working on right now?
"To: Patricia C. Walker {pattycake@ogilvie.edu} From Angeline Mangiamele {apples@tiedtothetracks.com} Re: follow up (2)..." -- Rosina Lippi, Tied to the Tracks, Chapter Fifteen
"The path changes, so too must the traveller. -- Tarek Varena, ClanJoren" -- Yours Truly, Blade Dancer, Chapter One
Writing a chapter header, or beginning a chapter in a novel with a quotation, summary or something other than the text of the chapter itself, is the sort of detailing most novelists skip these days. It's a quaint custom, dating back to the days when every popular novel chapter started with a summary line:
In Which I Introduce Myself
Chapter Seven
A trip to town; Mrs. Fullahotair confides in Prudence
Chapter Fourteen
Jane Receives Her Richly Deserved Come-Uppance in the Form of Boils, Bed Bugs and a Bad Marriage
Sometimes when I find chapter headers in old books, I wonder if the practice started as a pre-emptive reader strike or as shorthand for what the writer needed to accomplish: In this chapter, I must ruin Mr. Rochester's nuptials, kill the mad wife and set fire to the place.
I rarely write chapter headers because they can be tricky. When I was putting together the outline for Blade Dancer, I wanted to work in a little about one of Kol's ancestors, Tarek Varena, whose philosophies changed Joren's ancient war faring culture. At the same time, I didn't want to drop in an infodump about a messianic figure who had been dead for five centuries. Then I wanted to tag the chapters with something other than numbers or titles. Using Tarek's philosophies (the prime influence on modern Jorenian culture from my worldbuilding) as chapter headers solved all of those problems.
Anyone can toss in a real or made-up quotation to create a chapter header; really inventive headers that contribute something solid to the novel are more rare (and that's mainly why I find them so tricky.) Two novels that I think have the most original, effective chapter headers I've found are in Rosina Lippi's Tied to the Tracks and Frank Herbert's Dune.
How do you guys feel about chapter headers? Do they add to the reading experience, or distract you from it? What would be an appropriate header for the chapter you're working on right now?
Sunday, August 27, 2006
World Check
On Friday Tamith asked some interesting questions about world building:
I don't know if this has been asked before, but how much world-building do you recommend someone do before they get into a novel? I'm fleshing out a YA Fantasy, and I'm not sure if I should have all the details in place beforehand, or make things up on an as-need basis. Or should just being aware of character motivation be my main concern? What do you usually do?
What I usually do is fast but thorough. My writing schedule doesn't allow me the luxury of spending years in the construction phase of world building, so I build rapidly. I also like to know more about my world than the reader ever will, so I always build more than I spell out in the novel.
I make the time constraint and my need-to-know work together by taking only what I need from essential research sources and convert it into a cohesive, precise outline versus detail mapping or writing out tons and tons of research notes from nine hundred different sources that I then have to reread and condense in my head before I write. Think fast, bold strokes (and this approach will probably not work for all world builders, especially indecisive or organic writers.)
Here's my checklist for any world building, regardless of genre:
I. Define your world
a. Name the present age or time period
b. Review or invent the history for your world
b. Review or create the major sentient players, their origins, history, cultures and language
c. Work out the major players' habitats and socio-political status
d. Review or invent this time period's major conflict(s), encumbrance(s) and achievement(s) as they relate to your major players
e. Review or invent a biosphere and name your major flora, fauna and climate conditions as they relate to your major players
f. Define what technologies (real or magic) are available and who uses them
g. Chart the timeline of the your story plot in how it affects this world
II. Define your protagonist
a. Create a personal profile: name, description, personal history, relatives, current life situation, strengths, flaws, etc.
b. Outline how your protagonist relates to his world as relevant to the story
c. Outline how your protagonist relates to the other characters in the story
d. Outline how your protagonist reacts and responds to the conflict in the story
III. Define your antagonist
(same as the protag)
IV. Define your support cast
a. Create a simple profile for each of the secondary characters
b. Define your cast as to how they relate to your protagonist and antagonist and their own corner of this world.
c. Outline a simply timeline of what each secondary character does in the story
V. Detailing
a. Select and develop a reasonable number of the major players' most interesting cultural aspects to highlight in the story
b. List the most obvious similarities and contrasts between this world and ours to highlight in the story
c. Define your characters' most unique personal quality/qualities to highlight in your characterizations
How much is enough?
How detailed you want to get with your world building is really up to you, but try to make your building fit naturally. The authors who build the best worlds are the ones you never notice doing it (and I've got a list of books below of writers who are masters at this.) Don't feel compelled to give up world building aspects that you love just because they're not on my checklist, either. If you're able to relate your vision of your world to the reader without drowning them in floods of infodumps, go for it.
As for me, probably the most reliable resource I've used is my own knowledge of history and biology through reading nonfiction. Once you've studied enough real civilizations, cultures and species you get a feel for what you need to make the ones that inhabit your worlds more believable.
Books I recommend as superlative examples of world building:
Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel
The Ice People by René Barjavel, translated by Charles Lam Markmann (in French, La Nuit des Temps)
Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg
Talyn and Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle
Kingdom of the Wall and Man in the Maze by Robert Silverberg
Related Links:
Astrofantasy's step-by-step online tutorial Create a Fantasy World.
Tina Morgan's article The Ethics of Worldbuilding
Holly Lisle's Questions about World Building page and How Much of My World Do I Build workshop (Tamith, if my checklist doesn't work for you, Holly's workshop may be just the thing you need.)
SpecFicWorld's World Building Resource Links page
A transcription of a World Building 101 panel with Robert R. McCammon and Jennifer Roberson
Steven Swiniarski's WorldBuilding: Constructing a SF Universe
I don't know if this has been asked before, but how much world-building do you recommend someone do before they get into a novel? I'm fleshing out a YA Fantasy, and I'm not sure if I should have all the details in place beforehand, or make things up on an as-need basis. Or should just being aware of character motivation be my main concern? What do you usually do?
What I usually do is fast but thorough. My writing schedule doesn't allow me the luxury of spending years in the construction phase of world building, so I build rapidly. I also like to know more about my world than the reader ever will, so I always build more than I spell out in the novel.
I make the time constraint and my need-to-know work together by taking only what I need from essential research sources and convert it into a cohesive, precise outline versus detail mapping or writing out tons and tons of research notes from nine hundred different sources that I then have to reread and condense in my head before I write. Think fast, bold strokes (and this approach will probably not work for all world builders, especially indecisive or organic writers.)
Here's my checklist for any world building, regardless of genre:
I. Define your world
a. Name the present age or time period
b. Review or invent the history for your world
b. Review or create the major sentient players, their origins, history, cultures and language
c. Work out the major players' habitats and socio-political status
d. Review or invent this time period's major conflict(s), encumbrance(s) and achievement(s) as they relate to your major players
e. Review or invent a biosphere and name your major flora, fauna and climate conditions as they relate to your major players
f. Define what technologies (real or magic) are available and who uses them
g. Chart the timeline of the your story plot in how it affects this world
II. Define your protagonist
a. Create a personal profile: name, description, personal history, relatives, current life situation, strengths, flaws, etc.
b. Outline how your protagonist relates to his world as relevant to the story
c. Outline how your protagonist relates to the other characters in the story
d. Outline how your protagonist reacts and responds to the conflict in the story
III. Define your antagonist
(same as the protag)
IV. Define your support cast
a. Create a simple profile for each of the secondary characters
b. Define your cast as to how they relate to your protagonist and antagonist and their own corner of this world.
c. Outline a simply timeline of what each secondary character does in the story
V. Detailing
a. Select and develop a reasonable number of the major players' most interesting cultural aspects to highlight in the story
b. List the most obvious similarities and contrasts between this world and ours to highlight in the story
c. Define your characters' most unique personal quality/qualities to highlight in your characterizations
How much is enough?
How detailed you want to get with your world building is really up to you, but try to make your building fit naturally. The authors who build the best worlds are the ones you never notice doing it (and I've got a list of books below of writers who are masters at this.) Don't feel compelled to give up world building aspects that you love just because they're not on my checklist, either. If you're able to relate your vision of your world to the reader without drowning them in floods of infodumps, go for it.
As for me, probably the most reliable resource I've used is my own knowledge of history and biology through reading nonfiction. Once you've studied enough real civilizations, cultures and species you get a feel for what you need to make the ones that inhabit your worlds more believable.
Books I recommend as superlative examples of world building:
Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel
The Ice People by René Barjavel, translated by Charles Lam Markmann (in French, La Nuit des Temps)
Mordred, Bastard Son by Douglas Clegg
Talyn and Diplomacy of Wolves by Holly Lisle
Kingdom of the Wall and Man in the Maze by Robert Silverberg
Related Links:
Astrofantasy's step-by-step online tutorial Create a Fantasy World.
Tina Morgan's article The Ethics of Worldbuilding
Holly Lisle's Questions about World Building page and How Much of My World Do I Build workshop (Tamith, if my checklist doesn't work for you, Holly's workshop may be just the thing you need.)
SpecFicWorld's World Building Resource Links page
A transcription of a World Building 101 panel with Robert R. McCammon and Jennifer Roberson
Steven Swiniarski's WorldBuilding: Constructing a SF Universe
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)