My Plan to Build Worlds

It's back... the topic of world building. Yay!

Couple of years ago, back when the blog was called It's in the Book, I had tried to do a regular based world building topic called Worldbuilding Wednesdays because there are some things I need to work on and world building is a major one. Since I write fantasy, it can certainly help to develop the worlds at some point or another and there are so many topics that fall under world building. But I must admit, I didn't do much of it.

Well, now I'm putting myself up to the task. NaNoWriMo starts in just over 2 months and instead of doing the prep work during October, I'm going to spend September and October world building. I have never really tried a full building adventure, but since I already did the prep for this novel (back in 2010, and I wrote 50k of the novel in 15 days) figured now would be a good time to give it an attempt.

Not only that, but I'm going old school. Pen and paper! Very little of my world building attempts will be on the computer. But I do plan to have World Building Wednesday posts a couple times a month where I talk about working on different parts of the worlds. And I still have writing to do, so I'll be online often as usual.

My Tools:
A number of thin notebooks that were on clearance price for under 25 cents each.
Gesso - painting the clearance notebook covers to hide the original images.
Sharpies - to label and draw notebook covers.
Pens - I like colored pens because sometimes it's nice to mix things up for different topics.
Binder - to keep a few together at a time so can take it to work and such.

That is all for now unless I think of something else. While I'm hectic in writing with so many things to get done before August ends, plus have the edit that won't be done by the end of the month for sure, there is a lot to do. But I am looking forward to world building for the epic fantasy novel and may also get some other novel worlds worked on in the near future.

I just keep writing and moving forward. Never know what the tomorrows will bring.


Do you build worlds?
What tools do you use?

M is for Magic

Yep, magic. I did a worldbuilding post on magic before (blog link) but here is another one with a slightly different focus. There are many ways to use magic within a story, in particular in speculative fiction. However, there have to be limits because if magic can do anything, if the main character can do anything then it becomes boring.

Me and a friend had a disagreeance on this topic. He does a lot of RPG stuff online and would tell me about some of his characters. Bascially they were all powerful and could always get what they wanted but for me that was boring. I'd rather see a character who has high powers in magic be someone who struggles, not someone who barely has to make an effort to get anything done. There needs to a be a challenge, the character needs to struggle for the reader to really feel and empathize with them.

Also, it helps to have some sort of complication to the magic. In many fantasy stories, the use of magic draws off the character's energy so they become tired after use. But stories try to vary the consequences of magic. In Stardust by Neil Gaiman (I believe, haven't read but saw the movie) when the women use magic it ages them. In Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan for the women the use of magic wears of them but for men it eventually drives them insane. In some worlds the use of magic is forbidden with harsh consequences if discovered.

I have a few characters in my many novels who are very powerful in their worlds. Noah is the most powerful mutant with his controlling energy in ways that could come out in like atomic bomb level proportions. Daemahrath is an elf in the epic fantasy story who not only has magic abilities that most don't do anymore in the world but also is a skilled fighter.

Noah might be powerful but he hates it. He doesn't want to be a mutant and struggles through the series with his abilities and the fear of being used as a weapon. His hard time with the nature of his strength helps because it causes him to struggle. His emotions affect his abilities though.

Daemahrath on the other hand, has to hide his abilities and struggles in a different way. In part, he is balanced by the other elf main character, Feynethom who not only does not know how to use any type of magic but also is a terrible fighter. But also, he's well aware of his strength and has to work hard to keep himself under control. Using it does wear on the character's energy requiring rest after so much but I'm also thinking of having the magic connected to carnal urges that he has to struggle to contain as well.


What magic does your character use?
Are there consequences?
Do you find the all powerful character boring?

E is for Economics

Another worldbuilding post. This time it's the oh so exciting topic of economics. The only time I've ever tried to study economics was back when I competed in Academic Decathlon (cause I was a cool teen like that). We didn't really learn economics at my small town school, so I got a book that explained micro and macro economics. My eyes almost glazed over trying to read it. The topic went way over my head. But I hope it will be different when worldbuilding.

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Definition of Economics:
1. The branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth.
2. The condition of a region or group as regards material prosperity.


A few questions to consider when worldbuilding:

1. How do characters make a living?
2. How is the economy reflected in different locations?
3. What resources are available?
4. Are there any exports/imports?
5. What are the class rankings?
6. What objects have value and why?


In my novel:

1. Well, I don't have every character figured out yet but I know the two main characters with one needed more defining. The fey works on board of a flying ship keeping the vessel in good condition since he can manipulate wood. The human is in a mix between detective agency and military. I need to iron out the details for his career.

2. That I need to figure out, along with the climate and other details. First need to decide on the other locations.

3. Depends on the location. Some will vary obviously based on the landscape, climate, etc.

4. Yes. There will be for each location.

5. hmmmm That is a tough one and I will have to figure that out in particular.

6. This one too, since what is considered of value will depends on the region. Value will affect the export and import topic for sure.


What are your thoughts on economics?
Have any of the recommended questions figured out in particular?

C is for Climate

I know that it's a little early for a worldbuilding post since I usually do those on Wednesday but I think that this is a good time to talk about Climate.

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What is Climate?
According to Dictionary.com, climate is "the composite or generally prevailing weather conditions of a region, as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness, and winds, throughout the year, averaged over a series of years."


Why is Climate important?
While we don't want our characters incessantly talking about the weather, climate is important to the world they live in. The climate will have affects on many different aspects from fashion to transportation, from architecture to temperaments, and from animals to landscape. Because climate encompasses so many things (temperature, wind, precipitation, etc) and over a long period of time that not only can it be necessary but also a bit time consuming so one has to draw the line how much detail they put into the climates for the world of their story.


Web sites:
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/climate.htm
http://www.worldclimate.com/
http://www.geography4kids.com/files/climate_intro.html
http://dialogue.hubpages.com/hub/Different-types-of-Climate
http://know.climateofconcern.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=article&id=122


In My World
Oh goodness glaciers! Just thinking about the idea of figuring out the climates of the worlds in the story is a bit daunting. This is going to be a substantial undertaking because the story involves a lot of traveling and the way the different places are connected or not connected will have an impact for sure (which means I've got to deal with physic's issues as well, among other things).

The "countries" or "places" (I haven't decided what to call them exactly) are kind of like worlds. Some have expanses of space between them with a way for an air ship to travel to them. Others have land connections, water and/or land travel and such. So the layouts of the lands in the story will correlate with their climates. Once I know the main ones, I'll be able to write out the features of them including climate but I haven't gotten that far. It's something I am definitely going to think about and will have this post to look back on for a few links to use.


Do you figure out the climate of your world when worldbuilding?
Does the climate come up when writing the story?
What do you think?

Worldbuilding Gender Roles

First, a quick special note.

This blog officially turned 2 years old on the 17th. Yay! *throws confetti* The posts have been sparse for parts of the last year, but it still feels good knowing I made it through year 2 of this blog and plan to keep going into the future. Now on to the Worldbuilding topic.

Gender Roles

This is a topic I must admit, I have never thought about when it comes to any of my novels. Yet when it came to gender and sexual orientation topics in debate, my coach would always give them to me. He viewed me as the gender studies person for some reason I never figured out. In the notes I have from a conference, in the worldbuilding notes, one of the topics the speaker recommended to consider was gender roles, so let's consider it.

What are gender roles?
According to an online dictionary, they are the pattern of masculine or feminine behavior of an individual that is defined by a particular culture and that is largely determined by a child's upbringing.

Another source explain that gender roles vary and different cultures have expectations for both men and women. But how does this correlate into the world one builds when writing a novel?

This is something I haven't really thought about before, though the first conference I ever went to had a focus on the topic. At the conference there was a focus on female characters in fantasy that don't follow expected gender roles. They were both roles that readers might expect based on their world and what was built into the fantasy worlds of the stories. There are many stories out there that have strong main characters that either follow or don't follow the gender roles of their world. And part of that decision is in the worldbuilding and the other part is in the creation of the character.


Gender Roles in My World

For the novel I'm worldbuilding, I haven't really thought to much on the gender roles. Both of the main characters are males and gay, so female roles only come in the one of secondary and other minor characters.

The human main character pretty much fits within what is expected of males (except maybe for the whole liking men part). He is more masculine than the fae one, which probably isn't that surprising. He is in the military, very methodical, thinks he knows everything, is strong and for the most part observant basing his decisions on facts and not emotions. He does what is expected of his type of being and enjoys being that way too.

The fae main character isn't really femme either. He is a wood fae and works on a sky ship keeping it in good shape. He is thin but strong. And in the fae he basically does what is expected, though some of the others don't understand his desires to travel instead of staying at one place.


This is one of those topics I will have to really consider as I start to worldbuild stories, and maybe even look at in all of my other series/worlds.


What about you?
Do you consider gender roles when writing?
What roles do your characters fit or don't fit?

WorldBuilding Wednesday Magic Systems

When worldbuilding for fantasy novels, it is a good idea to figure out the magic system at least by the second draft, or so I would think. Like with many aspects of the fantasy world, there are many things to consider when adding a magic system. And the two novels I really need to worldbuild both have magic but the systems are very different, which is important because the stories are very different so I wouldn't want the magic to be the same.


The steampunk-inspired one (needs a title so I can stop calling it that) has a fey main character and the magic is elemental. The elements in the story are water, fire, earth, wood and metal. Wood is the main characters element, so he can't control the others like he can control wood. Limits are good to have because having a character who is all powerful with magic can make the character a little boring and unrealistic. His magic is part of his trade, because he is a wood fey he loves to travel and gets work on a wood airship because he can magically fix the ship which is much easier when flying than having someone fix the ship by hand. But give him metal and he can't do anything with it, can't even really use metal weapons.

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The epic fantasy series is very different. Sure, it has a non-human main character that does magic, only instead of a fey it's an elf. But there is more than one elf and not all elves are capable of doing magic, that they are aware of at least. The other elf will eventually be able to do minor magic because all of the elves have a certain level of magic abilities but most are minimal. Only one type has strong abilities and most of those don't exist anymore in the series as they were killed out of fear. The one main character does have those abilities but it's not easy for him, having to hide his abilities because of those that would act out of fear against him. And while he is technically very strong in his magic he is very careful about using it to the point of being self-conscious about what he can do. I'm still working on figuring out this magic system since it's not an elemental type.



Here is some thoughts on building magic systems that I found on a blog that has advice from Holly Black. These are six questions (posted here) to help with the developing of a magic system.


1. Who has it?

2. What does it do?

3. How do you make it happen?

4. How is user affected?

5. How is world affected?

6. How are magic users grouped & perceived?


These are questions I am considering when it comes to the magic systems that I am creating. So, what about you? Does your story have a magic system? What have you done to develop the magic system?

WorldBuilding Wednesday with Not Human Characters

(image link: shirt.woot.com)

Almost Human

While many genres have only humans in them, there are some that do not. In fact, the main characters in genres such as fantasy aren't always human even though they can have human like qualities. But one problem that surfaces when writing stories with any kind of non-human is finding the right term to call them. A few questions come to mind at once?

What do others call the characters? (humans and other non-humans)
What do the characters call themselves?
Do you, the author, make up a species?
Or, do you use species already known in fiction.

Examples of common used non-humans are: elves, mermaids, faeries, vampires, zombies, demons, angels, aliens, dwarves, trolls, gremlins, werewolves, etc.


In the epic fantasy novel I'm writing, the species names were easy. Two of the main characters are elves, from different locations and a slightly different kind, and then there is a dwarf. I don't have to worry too much about making up something because it's acceptable for different authors to use those species in novels. Sure, they still have to make them as their own and character development is important, but they can still be called elves.

The world I'm trying to build for a fantasy novel, the one that this blog series was originally set up for, is one I haven't figured out names for yet either. The one character is human but the other is a type of elemental fae. Right now I am comfortable with wood fae or wood faerie but we'll see as I develop the world for the story.

Demon/Angel was also easy because there are humans, demons and angels. Pretty straightforward.

However, I have had trouble in different sci-fi/fantasy type series. With both series, I have a question going on right now whether or not I should call the not quite human characters. The problem some have seen is the fact that with how it is now, the stories instantly remind readers of X-Men because the characters are called mutants.

So, I have been considering whether or not I should change the term from "mutant" to something else. I did come up with something I could use but I also decided that I wouldn't make any changes right now. When I'm submitting it seems like an issue or if I'm asked to find a different term than "mutant" I will be ready. For now, Noah, Ephram, Dominic, and all the others are going to be called mutants.


Do you have non-human characters?
Are they main characters?
Do you create species names for non-humans or use ones already created?