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Creating A World

9/21/2023

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All forms of writing require some level of world building. This is especially true in speculative fiction. The reader needs to have a sense of the environment within which the story takes place. That environment is wider than just the physical setting, it includes all the trappings of a society: art & culture; food & drink; politics & religion; fashion; science & magic; infrastructure & transport; technology & structures; languages & class structure; flora & fauna; disease; races of humans, monsters & aliens; and rules & laws – amongst other things.

BUT (that’s in capitals because what follows is very important) …all the details of the world you create don’t need to be included in your story. I know it’s tempting to include it all that gritty minutia you spent hours, days and even weeks researching and thinking about, but just don’t. Only include enough to provide a scaffold for your reader’s imagination, context for your characters, and to move the plot forward.

Because I’m a discovery writer (I discover the story as I write it), I don’t do a great deal of world building before I start writing. I’ll just do enough to get me going. My typical approach for developing a world is very organic. I start with the main character. Once I understand who they are and what drives them, I can start to write the plot around them. The final step is to construct the world in which the character and the plot exist. This means my writing is often interrupted by periods of research.

For The Grotesque Wars (novelette in Letters From Elsewhere), I spent a lot of time researching castles. The final story only carries a glimpse of all that research. I’ve included just enough so the reader can picture a castle, but not be bogged down and distracted by in-depth descriptions. I know the exact layout of the castle and even details of the materials used in its construction, but these have no bearing on the story. Specifics, where needed, are woven into the story, rather than dumped in as a chunk of exposition.

In my novella, Rose Moon, the story moves between three realms: a fantasy realm; a human realm; and the realm of the seasons. Each needed sufficient depth and vibrancy to make them real. Most of the action occurs in the human realm, so that’s where I needed the most detail. I had to consider politics, religion, laws, technology, magic and the setting. Then, determine how the realms interacted.

In the above examples, the worlds were built on an earth or earth-like reality, but that’s not always the case. I’m working on a series of space opera novella’s, Ghost Assassins of Bijou, where almost nothing about the series universe is familiar. I’ve had to build almost everything from scratch, but I start with the known.
  • The assassins and their targets are human, but different races.  
  • Societies are versions of democracy or autocracy.
  • Religions have distorted to fundamentalism and misogyny.

After that, and because I’m not bound by hard science, I can let my imagination riot.
  • Spacecraft are mechanically enhanced, sentient cuttlefish-like creatures.
  • Intergalactic travel is possible via ‘Punch Flight’.
  • There are multitudes of sentient species other than humans.
  • Universal translators are glitchy, but exist.

Worlds don’t need to be based in reality, but they do need elements of fundamental truths. Readers need to have something or someone they can identify with or understand.

There’s a whole bunch of stuff I have high confidence writing about: women; sexuality; animals; habitats; politics; and the logistics involved in managing large-scale international projects. There’s a much larger list of things I have less confidence about, including: technology; physics; strategies of war; legal systems; and medical procedures. Those differing levels of confidence will dictate how much research I may need to do, which facets of a world will be more important to my story, and whose perspective the story is being told from. For example, if I have a scene set in a hospital, it will be told from the perspective of a visitor or patient, not from that of a surgeon or staff nurse.

Setting is a critical component of world-building. All too often it’s one dimensional – visual. Add richness with the other senses. The stench of rancid milk evokes an almost involuntary gag reflex in most of us. That first mouthful of rich, bitter coffee in the morning is nirvana to some of us, and repulsive to others. Aromas and flavours are powerful drivers of emotion, as is sound. The mewl of a kitten, the screech of brakes, the scream as you plunge a knife into someone’s stomach. Don’t forget the feel of the warm blood as it splatters on your face, the silk smoothness of the dress you wear, and the irritation of the sand in your eyes. Use all the senses to draw your reader deep into your world.

​Finally, it's important to remember that no world is perfect. There will always be dissent, crime, and inhabitants of societies fringes. Recorded history doesn’t always align with reality, it usually suits those who are in power. The same applies to the interpretation of the tenets of religion, think about the difference between a zealot and someone with faith. We’ve bred thornless varieties of lemon trees but left to themselves, they revert. Animal species aren’t meant to be able to interbreed, yet there are numerous examples of hybrids in nature. Don’t limit your world to one dimension – allow it to be full and rich.
 
Here are some of my favourite worlds.
  • Pern – Ann McCaffrey
  • The Dandelion Dynasty – Ken Liu
  • The Murderbot Diaries – Martha Wells
  • Binti – Nnedi Okorafor
  • Discworld – Terry Pratchett
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What do you write?

11/5/2016

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Picture
‘What do you write?’
It’s an innocent enough question to ask when someone is introduced to you as a writer. But to be honest, when someone asks me that simple, naïve question I break into a cold sweat!
It happened at a party I was at the other day. And the ensuing conversation was a complete train-wreck! I’ve been thinking about it since, trying to figure out why it so often goes wrong.
Just to be clear, I write using a pseudonym. I’m not embarrassed about what I write and, unlike other writers I know, being revealed would pose no threat to my livelihood or family. I use a pen-name to keep the slightest degree of separations between my worlds, specifically when it comes to social media. However, there are differences between the public personas of writer-me and day-to-day-life-me. So, when face-to-face with a stranger, telling them what I write reveals that duality.
The question ‘what do you write?’ always makes me pause. During the pause, I do two things. First, I panic! Second, I consider the person I’m facing. Do they look open-minded? Am in the mood to shock them? Will they think I’m a freak? Do I care? Will I ever see them again anyway? Based on scant first impressions, and after an uncomfortable silence, I fashion a response for them.
Sometimes, I simply say I write fiction, hoping that will satisfy them. It seldom does.
Sometimes, I state I write erotica. Without fail, they immediately think I write bodice-ripping romance novels, and feely offer their opinion on that genre. I have no problem with the genre, I read it in my younger days while hiding under the blankets, it’s great fun! It’s just that I don’t write it!
Usually, I tell them I write fantasy and science fiction. And, this is where it gets weird in my mind, because the general response is something like – ‘oh, children’s stories.’ Which tends to make me stutter and blink in disbelief.  
So, in all cases what follows is a weird conversation where I try to explain that I weave explicit sex into the fantasy and science fiction genres as a way of exploring humanity’s fundamental interest in sex and sexuality in unique environments and circumstances. I try to talk about how I like to delve into the darker aspects of ourselves by using non-human creatures, often interacting with human’s. But, by this time, I’m losing them and they usually politely excuse themselves, leaving me standing alone pouring another glass of wine down my throat.
I find it painfully difficult to explain in person what I write and why. I want people to know I’m a writer, I’m proud of what I do and achieve. There is a part of me that seeks the acknowledgement and praise of others. I just don’t know how to clearly and calmly explain it, in a conversation with a complete stranger, in a way that doesn’t leave us both disturbed and scuttling away to safety on opposite sides of the room.
Any suggestions?

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