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Deep breath... finally. The last part of our world building series! I am very excited to write this post because I love the, I suppose, psychological reasons behind one's actions and emotions. This is such a complex aspect of writing because there is so much that could influence a person's thought process. And, while we still are talking about world building, the "Philosophies, Religion, and Principles" of your society will most likely be reflected in developing your character. (Fantastic author/blogger, J.H Gates, has an amazing series on this!)
A lot of the mistakes I think authors make when really developing their world and their characters is that they separate the two practices or they become so focused on one that they lack in the other - and sometimes both. Remember to ask yourself these two questions when really focusing on creating your believable world and people:
What would this world be without my character?
Who would this character be without their world?
Story telling is not a flat, linear thing. It's much like a spider web. If you've ever seen a documentary on the subject or took the time to watch a spider build it's web, the way it begins is by laying out the "framework." It gets the first few strands connected to the necessary walls or sticks, etc., then begins connecting these strands from the middle and expanding the whole thing until it is at a sufficient size.
Think of the world building as your "framework," then you can build on to this piece by piece, sentence by sentence. I'm not saying to word dump (you never EVER want to word dump.) All I'm saying is that everything in your story should be connected in some way. What happens to a dangling strand in a spider web? It could get caught on something unexpected and end up pulling the entire structure down. Be mindful of this in your writing. Trust me, I KNOW from experience. I've had my "web" pulled down many times because I hooked onto a wayward strand, and I had to restart because of it. Please don't do this!
Okay. Enough rambling. Let's dive in:
Philosophy:
Philosophies could be as complex or as simple as you want them to be. Generally, if your society's philosophy is "Persevere, and don't die," then that will most likely be the mindset of your society's major population. Simple, rugged, to the point. This phrase kind of explains a lot about a society, and even the people, without having to "describe" too much. It says this community is undeterred, perhaps a little stubborn as a whole (this can be good or bad, depending on what you need). It says these people probably face some regular hardship (I imagine an early American settlement having this philosophy. They have harsh winters, perhaps many battles with Native Americans or even other colonies, illness, and lack of resources.) It screams "peril" is a frequent dance partner of this society. Tough love? Oh yeah. I can imagine the education is based of experience and some tough love, buddy. Think of it like this:
Philosophy is the broad summary of your society's philosophies.
And, for a complex society, you might have a complex philosophy. Perhaps, you'll have multiple philosophies. In my current novel, I've written a "document" that my characters memorize in school listing the 10 major philosophies of my society. These basically sum up the driving points behind my society. These 10 points have molded my characters from kindergarten on, are are much of the reason for the intensity of my characters.
Here are a few questions for the encouragement of your thought:
1) What is/are your society's main philosophy/philosophies? (E.g. Their beliefs about religion, social progression, development, etc.)
2) How do these philosophies affect the way your people go about thinking, acting, and viewing their world? (E.g., based on the example philosophy above, would this society encourage one to give up after failure, ask for help rather than figure it out alone, or have a needy, dependent-on-others outlook? Yeah, probably not. Such a philosophy encourages independent thinking, then independent actions will follow.)
3) Does your main character and/or entire society support these philosophies, and does their belief in these philosophies change as the story goes on? Ooooh, this is a good one! Dynamic (changing) characters and societies are always fun, but having a static (not changing) character or society can make things really interesting!!! Who doesn't love a stubborn adversary? Okay... maybe the main character, but that's not the point!
These are a few things you can think about to help develop your society's philosophy. And, your society's philosophy may never be something that's verbally spoken - it can be a widespread belief that is implied through education, media (T.V Advertisements, brochures, social media, etc.) or some other form of teaching.
Religion:
Religion, no matter what it is, defines a major aspect of any society. Religion can go hand in hand with philosophy - they will often pass influences from one to another.
Now, whether or not your society is a Christian society, all societies have some form of religion. After doing a bit of research for my own book, I've come up with a simple definition for religion:
"It is a system of customs, traditions or beliefs that often involve the worshipping of a deity or deities..." - Trainer Darren Hughes.
Even if your society doesn't necessarily worship God or a form(s) of named, fictional deity/deities, they might still have some kind of religion. It could be science (with knowledge acting as the "deity") or it could be nature (thought that can kind of fall under the "deities" category depending on the way it's set up). It could be superstition, either stemmed from a religion or not. Whatever your society's religion is, it's important to develop.
So, to help with that, here are a few questions to ask yourself about religion:
1) Does your religion involve God or is it based on fictional deities? And, if you have fictional deities, what powers and/or restrictions might they have? The reason this is important to know is if your society has fictional deities, knowing what your characters understand about these deities might help you develop how the deities are revered.
If your book is a Christian themed book and you want to kind of weave biblical lessons into the story, I suggest spending some time in the Word if you aren't already. Pray and ask Him what He wants to teach through your story. Spend time with Him because you want to know Him. Research and talk to those knowledgeable in the Bible. For that, you can go to your pastor or visit Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM) here. The last thing you want to do is teach something that is not backed up by Biblical truths. Take care to not do this.
2) What traditions and customs does your society follow due to your religion? (E.g., participation in the Lord's Supper, reverence of the Bible, certain commandments to strive to live by that are reflected in every day life.)
3) How apparent is your religion in your society? Is it something that is a major part of your society and your people's lives? Or is it something that is kind of hidden, a subtlety woven into the progression of daily tasks?
4) What are the major beliefs and virtues of this religion?
And that brings me to my final point:
Principles:
The religion of your society might play a major role, especially depending on the dates and settings of your story. If you are writing a novel in Grecian times, of course, the Greek religion is going to play a big part in your story. Perhaps it isn't that integral - perhaps your society's religion will influence only certain phrases or words of gratitude. Perhaps, you opt to not really mention your society's religion because it isn't that necessary to the story.
It's very possible to just build a society based on philosophy and principles, which I like to think of as the moral virtues of a society. Like I've said about everything in this series it seems, the principles of your character can be as simple or complex as you need them to be. So, let's jump in:
1) What are the main principles of your society? For example, what are considered crimes and what punishments are considered "ethical" for such crimes? What social requirements and/or restrictions do you characters need to abide by and what are the reasons for these requirements and/or restrictions? (E.g., do they dress a certain way? Is there a particular reason they do this?)
2) How do these principles affect the way your characters act and react? It's going to be different for protagonists and antagonists. Especially in good vs. evil stories, most "bad guys" are willing to do anything, hurt anyone, to get what they want or to keep their awful deeds in the dark, while the "good guys" will want to do things the right and moral way. Their moral principles aren't the same.
3) How do your characters feel towards their society's principles, and does this change throughout the story? Do your bad guys begin to have a sense of morality? Do your good guys, because of trauma and bitterness, begin to lose what they stood for? Is their every sense of principles ultimately challenged?
What your society and your character stand for are very necessary to any story whether it's knights defending honor, superheroes defending the weak, an alien army defending the life of their colony, etc. Principles are what drive your society and your characters to act and react in certain ways. Principles are kind of the heart of your world/people. It's important to develop and know. You'll be surprised at how much it can affect - temper, dialogue, thoughts and soooo much more!
Anyways, I hope these questions have helped you get a sense of your world and the way it works!!! Remember, the more real your world is to you, the more real it will be to your readers. Overdevelop your world and society for you and you'll have plenty to describe in your book!!! Our goal as authors is to immerse our readers in a place that they've never been before, but a place that, after knowing, they'll never want to leave, and isn't that just a blast to do???
Until Next Time-
Elizabeth Mae Wolfram
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