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Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Fun of World-Building

I'm just starting out on a new writing project and remembering how delightful it is to dream up an otherworld.  Fantasy authors get the added fun of making everything up.  Food?  Animals?  Setting?  Economy?  All of it must be created and pieced together in a somewhat logical puzzle.  This is tricky, because there's always so much more than will ever make it to the book.  I've spent many writing hours on badly done sketches and maps that will never see the light of day, but I don't think of any of them as wasted.  As any book-loving author knows, the deepest way to enter a story is to write one.

I've been living, writing, and revising in the Land of Story for the past five years, and I love that world, I really do.  But this new world?  Can I just tell you how much I love it, too?  I'm at the stage now where there are an overload of ideas, and I'm struggling with how to sort everything into some semblance of order.  For now, this is my process:

Stage 1: I start with the scribbled spiral notebook pages that testify I grew up in the '80s when even if you had a PC you didn't use it except for your computer "homework".  (Yes, indeed, that was my one and only venture into programming).




Stage 2: These notes translate to scattered post-its categorized by "Plot", "Setting", and "Character".  Mostly, these are vague ideas: dormitories are in a tree, or something like that.

Stage 3: The final stage takes a better shape, where things are color-coded (hooray for an excuse to linger in the office-supply aisles!), each character has specific goals, plot points are solidified, and setting is developed.  This is the closest I ever get to an outline, and typically all these pieces make it into the story, even if they're rearranged quite a bit by the end.

Right now, I'm at Stage 2, where things are taking shape but still are a bit of a mess.  The nice thing is, that this hangs on my bedroom wall, so in those groggy waking-up moments when inspiration hits, I can dash out a sticky note before it's too late.

What about you?  How do you organize your world-building?  Do you have any tips on capturing inspiration?  Or possibly you have a fabulous office supply you just can't live without?  Do share!

9 comments:

  1. I'm ashamed to say I'm not that organized with my world building and it's something I should fix.
    This was a fun post to read.

    ~Akoss

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    1. Hi Akoss!

      Ah, yes, but whatever works! Organization can slow you down, too. I just happen to be one of those kids who never outgrew her love for post-its. :)

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  2. Have you ever heard of a Gazeteer? They used to make them for Dungeons and Dragons. I grew up wanting to write one of those things. Now, I pretty much can.

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    1. No, but I did look it up. Love this idea. I always like it when fantasy authors later come out with a world-bible or something like that.

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    2. Yes! World-bible would be such a cooler term for it. If I ever sell an epic fantasy series, I'm putting out a world-bible afterward.

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  3. This is a terrific visual presentation of your process! I'm trying Martha Alderson's plot whisperer method with a six foot strip of paper in my stairwell. The added "pleasure" of it is that I get reminded every time I got up or down the stairs to get to work!

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    1. haha! Yes! The procrastinator in me would run up the stairs with my eyes closed. ;)

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  4. Doing historic fiction you are limited by some of the bounds of reality, but recreating history gives you new horizons! I have maps and timelines and back story that never makes it to the page. So amazingly fun.

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  5. Doing historic fiction you are limited by some of the bounds of reality, but recreating history gives you new horizons! I have maps and timelines and back story that never makes it to the page. So amazingly fun.

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Thanks for adding to the mayhem!