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World building. My dad and I were just talking about this subject the other day. Okay, less about the actual subject of world building, but about the subject of making things seem believable. In a novel, this is one of the most important aspects of a story, especially when creating your world. You can have the most well-developed, personable characters and the best premise possible, but without a well-built world, your great characters are just wandering around on a blank canvas and your wonderful story takes place in a flat realm without depth, color, or realism.
It doesn't matter how fantastical or fictional your story is: putting elements of reality will ground your reader in the world and help them relate to your characters, and story, on a much deeper level than if you just left the world a colorless wasteland of omitted descriptions.
You have to find a delicate balance between describing your world and moving the story forward.
So, first things first. What is world building?
World building is the act of developing the realm in which your story takes place. In my experience (and I am certainly no expert), I've recognized two basic types of "worlds" and these would be Physical: the real, tangible setting that your character lives in; and Social: the structural society that your character is part of (or isn't part of, depending on your story line.) Both of these "worlds" are extremely important to develop your story and develop it well.
Today, we're going to focus on developing the Physical world of your story.
A great place to start??? Figure out the broad facts and zoom in on the details later.
The "Wide Scope" Of World building:
By "wide scope," I mean broad yet kind of specific physical details...
To help figure these out, ask yourself these few questions:
1. What type of setting will fit best with my plot line?
Do I want forests, oceans, mountains, desert, jungle; cold, hot, wet, snowy, dry, etc? Get the landscape and climate down, because you'll want to remain consistent throughout your book.
Sometimes, the landscape you choose can add irony. Take Dawn of the Planet of the Apes movie (it's a fav of mine!) The opening scene is of Caesar (the lead Chimp), his son and a large group hunting... a moose... in the Red Woods of California.
This is some pretty big irony that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the landscape. Chimpanzees and orangutans don't naturally live in a coniferous forest, in the same habitat as a moose or a bear. Instantly, just based on the landscape, you immediately remember the events of the first movie (when Caesar becomes super intelligent and frees other apes from animal facilities, zoos, etc.) or think, "Oh my goodness! What is going on here? THIS ISN'T NORMAL!"
Irony is a great literary tool that can be produced through sooooo many avenues. Landscape is simply one of them!
What part of the year does my story take place in? Is it during a single season or widespread over multiple? Knowing the time will help you determine the cold, hot, wet, dry, snowy part of your setting.
What conflicts might the setting offer to your character? How does your landscape/weather make things difficult for your character, and (This is very important) are these difficulties necessary to your story?
The last thing you want to do is create so many conflicts that the story drags on too much. Now, this is something that depends on your story. If your story is about someone surviving in the wilderness, having constant setbacks due to terrain, weather, etc. is necessary to the story. In my work-in-progress, my character battling constant setbacks from the above would cause my plot to become stagnant and, (I'm going to use the adjective that most writers hate) BORING.
My M.C does have conflict, and while it's somewhat extreme, it's not a wild amount them that causes the above.
In my novel, I've decided to be especially mean to my main character (all out love, of course. It's necessary.) The story begins in the summertime (Around mid-May) will end in the wintertime, when, in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, winters can rather harsh. Lots of snow and cold. I did this for conflict reasons (of which, I won't go much detail quite yet because, well, no spoilers!) And, lastly:
What possible changes of location might occur, and how will these changes affect the type of climate and landscape my character is in? If your character migrates from a desert to the ocean or a jungle to a tundra, the changes of the landscape are going to be quite extreme.
While, yes, I know this seems to be pretty self-explanatory stuff, but whenever I first began writing, I (very ridiculously) would get the information about my character's world mixed up or inconsistent throughout my story. I didn't plan and I was very ill-organized, so I wrote whatever image popped in my mind. If you're new to writing, getting this information down somewhere can help negate this.
You: And you said you weren't a planner...
Me: Yeah, I'm not. But, I also find that organizing some details before (and even during) writing helps me remain consistent with the details that seem trivial, but are truly necessary to a story! Maybe this can help you, too.
2. What kind of civilization(or lack thereof) do I want for my story?
While this can kind of seem like an aspect of social world building, we'll be talking more about the physical aspect of civilization.
Is my character actually (A) part of a community, as in completely accepted by said community, (B) part of the community, but an outcast, or (C) not part of any community.
If you answer (C), you might want to ask: Will my character eventually become part of a community (either by force, need, or genuine desire) or remain estranged from the community? Figuring out the relationship your character will have with a community will help when you start figuring out details for the social part of world building as well as help you determine the pace of this development.
What kind of community is it? Will my main character live in a city, village, military base camp, etc?
If it's a city, is it a modern city or an ancient/medieval city? If it's a village, is it a primitive village, or is it a little more civilized? How many communities will surround the main character's?
What will the homes(or applicable structures) look like? Absolutely research some details if you need to! Do your homework and figure out the facts of the kind of civilization you're looking to create! Don't be afraid to use history as inspiration.
(If this is known) What/who lies in the North, South, East and, West? Something I do is create sketches of a map, so that way I know the directional layout of my roads, buildings, cities, etc. I can't draw, so these maps are very crude and just awful, but they get the job done!
The last question:
3. Where are the main places that my character will visit?
You'll definitely want to list out where these are because you'll want them, not only for the next exercise, but as a piece of reference for the future. When I say where they're going to be, I mean very important places where you imagine multiple scenes occurring and specific places within the broad ones.
Here are a few of mine:
Main Character's City: {Various homes, sectors, buildings, etc.}
Main Character's Home: {bedroom, bathroom, living room, kitchen, front porch}
Main Character's Work: {Training facility, gym, shooting range, classrooms, cafeteria, Mentor's Office, Commander's office}
Main Character's BFF's house {almost the same as #1, with the exceptions of a few rooms}
Get yours listed and let's move on...
😉
The "Narrow Scope" Of World building:
"Narrow Scope" means the more focused details of your world.
Now, I know, I know... everything I had you list out above is pretty specific, but if you notice, it was just about the "broad" details. Here, in the what I'm calling the "Narrow Scope of World Building," I want you to go through the main places of your story, go through the subcategories that you listed, find a quiet place to let your imagination roam, and start writing what you see, hear, taste, smell, feel. What is the temperature of the place your imagining? Is it bright or dark? Give the specific, visual details. List colors, list textures, list white noise and the focal noise and anything else that you pick up with your five sense (six, if you count the emotion the image evokes)
GO ALMOST MICROSCOPIC WITH THE DETAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't worry about how these descriptions sound, or their grammatical structure, or any of the "flowery, authorly, poetic" stuff we as writers love to write. Don't worry about overusing words, don't worry about run on sentences. These descriptions ARE NOT for anyone else to read. These are simply for you, and you only. And, be warned, most of what you write, you won't actually put in your novel.
Why do it then? Isn't this just wasting time?
While, yes, it may seem pointless and, in fact, a waste of time, but something I've come to realize is:
The More Real Your World Is To You As The Author, The More Real It Will Be To Your Readers...
Because you will be able to describe it better. You'll be able to visualize the little details that, in turn, enhance the larger ones. I mean, why is a 4k TV better than a projection TV? Because 4k is more vibrant with the small, minuscule details and, thus, the bigger picture is clearer and brighter - and more real. (At least, it seems that way.)
It's the exact same logic with writing.
Just remember: It's okay to overdevelop your world.
Now do not misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not telling you to overdevelop your world in your novel - the last thing you want to do is bog your readers down with details that don't necessarily pertain to the plot. What I am saying is to overdevelop the story for yourself.
This is something that has worked for me. The more real your world is to you, the better you can weave those bits of realism into your actual story without word dumping (the act of over-describing or over-explaining something so much to the point that your reader gets bored with the description/explanation and actually fell asleep five paragraphs ago. Okay... so, you get the point.)
Word dumping turns readers away rather than draw them in and that's something no author ever wants to happen.
Now, just a word of advice: you don't have to describe every place before you begin writing. (After all, that would be pre-planning and... I must be consistent with the fact that I'm a self-proclaimed panster) Anyways, a good thing to do is to go in the order in which they come. When you begin on a scene that takes place in a setting you've yet to describe, take a moment to throw out some descriptions before you begin that chapter!
One Last Resource:
Anybody else love designing floor plans as much as I do???
Especially with smaller buildings (such as offices or houses), I'll use a floor plan designer that has a 3D-view option. This allows me to "walk inside" of the design that I just made. The particular app that I use for Android is Floor Planner by Marcin Lewandowski. It's super simple but works well.
I've designed my MC's house and her father's work office and having these images in my head visible externally has helped me map out how my characters interact within these settings!!
This post has gotten a little lengthy, hasn't it? I hope this has been as beneficial to you as it's been to me and I am excited to see the worlds you create!!! Stay tuned for the next installment: the Social part of World Building!
Until next time,
-Elizabeth Mae Wolfram
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