With a long summer ahead, it seems fitting to talk about the nitty-gritty of storytelling. I say “storytelling” because there’s more than one way to tell a story. There’s writing, sequential art, animation, 3D design, drawing, painting, and more. Whatever your medium, there’s a story. And there’s a few tips and knowledge that helped me go from vague, foggy writing to creating immersive worlds.
Today, it’s all about new worlds. The places that live only in your imagination. The goal is to get said world from your brain onto paper in a manner that people will understand and enjoy just as much as you. I’m going from the words of Orson Scott Card in Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction, probably the best research I’ve ever done for my genre.
I. The Idea
Everything starts with an idea. No way of getting around it. But a world isn’t created with one idea. Might as well be a map that the characters walk across. In order to round out (or whatever other shapes you want) a world, there needs to be multiple ideas piled on top of each other. You’re not creating one place, not even one continent. Even if there’s one continent, there’s plenty of ocean to cover this world. More than one idea is needed.
To make this point a little more practical, I’ll offer up my idea process. By this point, I have a basic idea about my story. With that, I think about the places I need to include. Once I have my list of places, I look at the order they appear in the story and try to draw a map. Map drawing is a good way to get directions correct and not go in circles. At this point, it’s beneficial to do research. Sure, it’s an alien world, but that doesn’t mean the ecosystems of Earth can’t give you more ideas.
II. The Rules
With all these ideas, it’s time to focus. That’s where the rules come in. Things we take for granted like gravity, friction, and weather patterns come into question with alien worlds. Earth’s moon has different rules from Earth, so establishing what’s what will help you and the reader. If you love science, this’ll be easy because there tons of different scientific laws that make up our world. If you’re like me and could care less, look at the major ones and decide on those. Magic and space travel fit under this header too, but those are longer discussions.
Important notice: don’t jam all the rules down your reader’s/viewer’s throat. Only you need to know the extent of the rules. For the story, give hints in dialogue and character movements. People don’t want a dissertation on your world when there’s a whole story to read. Give them the highlights then move on.
III. The Past
The past is more than history. It’s the origin of your world. How’d it come together? How did life begin? How did life evolve? Because of my faith, I maintain higher being as the answer, but I’ve also created interesting starts with relocation at childhood. The very beginning is up to you and will define how life looks on your world and how history begins.
Once the basics are down, there needs to be a history of the population. For my very first book, I wrote a series of wars that began with a single moment in time. Also when looking at history, consider generations. Each generations will have a different opinion than the last. Earth or even America’s history is a good example. Alongside writing a history for the world, there needs to be a biography for the character specifically.
IV. The Scenery
Perhaps my favorite part about world building, and the one point everyone recognizes, is the scenery. After all the leg work with ideas, rules, and history, it’s finally time to create your world. I started doing some of that in point 1 during the idea stage. At this point, the map can be more detailed. The more that’s described, the better.
Something to note from Orson Scott Card’s chapter. He talks about how science fiction gets a bad rap because most of it has good development but then skips the two previous steps. History, evolution, and rules are filled with cliches that showcase underdeveloped world building. Or (and I’ve done this) the writer focuses on the small section they want and ignores everything else, making the world even more incomplete. Better to design the whole thing ground up than offer a world that’s subpar.
V. The Language
Adding this point as a general note. I still rarely think about language, but it’s interesting to consider, especially when looking at the world of J. R. R. Tolkien. Unless you’re willing to put the work in to design an entirely new language, I suggest having a short list of new words that make English sound a little more foreign.
First, only make up words for new concepts. Creating a word for something like “paper” doesn’t make sense. However, you can use older words like “papyrus” to differentiate and give a sense of time. Second, make sure it’s pronounceable. I hit this issue with the names in my first and second book. Look at how English letters are pronounced and then build the word you want with those sounds.
Lastly, something I learned. Our world has a lot of slang and common terms (salty; sneakers). Depending on the setting, these might hurt more than help. Avoid slang or create a new slang language. Think of new ways to describe the world without messing up the time frame. Make sure to define it though before using it constantly.
Final Thoughts
There’s one more thing I want to leave you with. Scientists are still making new discoveries about our world, things we take for granted or never knew about. When creating your world, think about Orson Scott Card’s last statement on the subject:
“You can’t know too much.”
Card, Orson Scott. Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: How to Create Out-Of-This-World Novels and Short Stories. United States of America: Writer’s Digest Books, 2013. Print. 63.
When you think you’re done designing your world, look for more details. Make a globe. Draw maps. Write a short history book. I made the mistake of writing a world without any real direction; put the work in to create a solid, 3D world.