World Building

OK, so I really suck at world building. For any who aren't aware, world building is what they call the process of developing the setting for a novel. If your novel is set in modern day Chicago, your world building is pretty easy to do. If you aren't familiar with Chicago, you might have some research to do, but then I would wonder why you chose to use that as your setting.

But, if you, like I do, choose to set your novels in some sort of fantastical place, you will need to take some time to determine what that place is like. I have read lots of great fantasy and sci-fi novels where the authors were amazing at world building. They create a deep and intricate, while still internally consistent, history and culture for their world.

In the process of world building you'll need to answer lots of questions ranging from the big picture: what is the climate like? what is the class structure like? what is the politics/ruling structure like? what are the rules of physics that must be obeyed? all the way down to minute, persnickety details like: what is the form of currency called? what naming convention is used for towns, streets, countries?  

As you may have guessed from my use of the word 'persnickety' I find answering these types of questions kind of boring. I'm more of a leap into the writing process and then find out what is important type. But, if you're going to write a fantasy-type novel (and by that I mean pretty much anything that isn't set in a purely realistic setting), you need to at least do some thinking. And the big reason for this is that phrase I used before...no not persnickety, 'internally consistent'. 

For a world to be believable, it must be internally consistent. I think this applies to any type of world building, whether you're writing a novel, working on a role-playing campaign, or just day dreaming. In any type of fantasy world there have to be rules and these rules have to be consistent. If superman is weakened by kryptonite, he has to always be weakened by kryptonite. And, if there is going to be a situation where he is going to have to be around kryptonite, but he can't be weakened, you need to come up with an...say it with me now...internally consistent reason why not.  Maybe he's shielded by lead? Or, maybe it's underwater? Or, maybe he just doesn't look at it and thus discovers that it is the sight of kryptonite and not its presence that bothers him? Whatever you decide, will work as long as it's consistent from one end of the story to the other. He had to have specifically looked at the kryptonite every other time, or you're going to lose your readers in an instant. I know, because I've been that reader many times.

But, beyond just not wanting to sit down and answer all of these questions at once, I also had difficulties with conveying the information that I did have in my story.  That sounds complicated, so I'll give an example. How often do you sit around your house, or in the middle of some exciting adventure, and think, "I live in the  United States of America, which is an electoral democracy. The President of the United States is the main guy in charge, but his power is limited by two other branches of government. This type of governmental control was put into place by the founders of this country because..."? No, really, how often does anyone think like that? Like never, that's how often.  So why would my characters?

So, now that I have spent the time deciding that my world is a temperate world, with a medieval type caste system, ruled by a feudal structure led by a king, the currency is gold, silver, and copper pieces, and the towns are named similar to Anglo Saxon styles, how do I get my character to convey that information to the reader?

I like to write very much from a characters perspective, so I don't do much from the perspective of the author/narrator, but maybe I'm going to have to. That would allow the readers to know this information, but I'm worried that it would be too dry. So, I guess I'll just have to experiment and see what works.

I'm thinking that I'll start editing Demon Knight next week, so my next post may be the first chapter of the second draft. Hopefully I'll have more luck editing it this time than I did before.  In the meantime, Beyzl is going to sit for a bit. I think taking some time to work on another project while that just stews and simmers for a little bit will be good for it, because the flavors always get better if you let them sit and blend together for a bit.