My 30 Days of Writing-Day 12: Bring out the Legos!

Ha!

Okay, my brain is a bit fried from the heat, so yeah.

Okay this here is Day 12 of the meme and the question is?

12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you’d like to share?

Best?

I think the best category falls on SuD, if that it kept its consistency throughout with only one significant change (vampires out, nephelim in) which really was a name change. I like to “interrogate” the text as I write, asking myself question such as, who, how, and more importantly why?

Who is doing X?

How did X happen?

Why would a character do X or allow Y to happen?

But while SuD was so far the best (it helps that it is based on the present day, just projected 5 years into the future with supernatural creatures of course) it is not the most extensive world building I’ve done. That prize goes to RoE. Both of them required a surprising amount of research, but putting together a consistent universe with a rich history required for me to create a extensive time line and a encyclopedia of sorts (which I called the Encyclopedia Galactica, clever, no?).

So, my tips are threefold:

1. Internal consistency: A is A unless you can explain the reason why it changed. Nothing destroys a readers suspension of disbelief like changing the rules mid way through the story “just because”.
2. Interrogate the Story: As you write as yourself questions about what your doing and keep notes on the answers. You don’t have to come up with an answer right away, but it is a great way to avoid writer’s block and deal with problem areas.
3. Nothing is set in Stone: Until the final draft that is.  World building is the stories backbone but not the entire story. Always look for ways to improve story telling, not hamper it.

Well, that’s all I got for you.

More on world building tomorrow.

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And now for some funky spaced out music I leave you with PPK–Resurrection: