Creating a New World

Ah...worldbuilding. Creating a fictional world is where most young authors fail. So, I though I'd post about how I build my worlds and how the process works.

First, what do you need to create a new world? You need the geography and a map. The geography will help to lay out the climate. It will also dictate the type of people who live in particular part of the climate--and the critters. You can't put a reptilian critter into a climate that is arctic, for example. After you've figured out the physical aspects of the world, it's time to populate it. As you're populating, you're laying the foundation for the cultural aspects of the people. A large city on the coast (which I personally would map if it was the central location for my story), for example, would be a conglomerate of many peoples. The emphasis in the city would be on trade. You'd have a financially prosperous merchant class, countless sailors, a fairly strong military presence in the city (guards) and probably a very seedy underground group of people who are a syndicate of thieves. Next, you'd build your political scenario--a scenario whose foundation consists of the make-up of citizens in this seaport city. Is it a monarchy? A republic? An oligarchy? A medieval style fantasy would probably be a monarchy, and any time you deal with a monarchy you'd have to known exactly how the ruler came to the throne. That means that the next thing you'd do is the history of the city. How long has the ruling house been in power? How did they get there? Did one of the monarch's ancestors found the city? If not, gig this ruling family come to power because of a civil war? You need dates--a timeline of events. Is there a constitution? What does it say? What is the official religion of the city? Which leads us to religion. Religion is, in my opinion, one of the more important aspects of fantasy. Is this a monotheism or a polytheism? is there a protector god of the city, like Athena was to Athens? If so, why? What kind of organization is there within the religion? Are there temples? Monasteries? How do people become priests or priestesses? Are they acolytes (novices) first? Are they 'called' by the god? Are they recruited by the senior clergy? What do they study? For how long? Are they celibate? What are the rituals of the temple? Are these rituals mystic?

That was just the preliminary work for ONE city in your world. Just one. If you have five or six locations that you use in your story, you need to do the same amount of work for each one. The goal when building a new world is simple: know the answer to any question someone else (agent, editor, reader) might ask. If someone asked you where the slum are of the city is, know the answer.

Second, it's time to build your characters. Character development is just as important as creating the world ... and it's an integral part of world building. This is what I do:

Let's say I've decided my main character is female. Since I always write about strong female protagonists, that part really isn't much of a decision. (hahaha--giggle break) So the first thing I do is decide upon her characteristics at the time of the story. Create a physical description and be specific. Tamsen, the main character in the Asphodel Cycle, is 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 128 pounds or so. She is slender, but extremely muscular. Her eyes are silver and so is her hair. She is fleetingly beautiful, a woman who inspires polarized opinions about her looks. Her personal charisma is such that, in the end, men are convinced that she is the loveliest creature they've ever seen. She is brilliant, with a logical mind and the ability to make decision quickly. She has a temper, the kind that rarely gets to the point of fury but once she's there you'd better run. She is 18 at the beginning of the story and ages a year in each successive book.

Now take that description and explain how each characteristic came to be, just as follows:

Tamsen is tall because both of her parents arre half-elf. Her father (and now I had to name him) Prosper de Asphodel is descended from the Elven royal family (name it) of Ka'antira, and the Ka'aantira are, to a man, tall, slender, and muscular. Prosper himself was almost 7 feet tall. Tamsen is muscular-not in the femlae bodybuilder sort of way but in the tai chi, yoga kind of way--because as she was growing up with her Elven kin, she had to learn archery, how to climb the trees and move through the forest canopy in order to escape the notice of enemies, and how to run for long distances without stopping--a daily workout from hell. Her eyes and hair are silver now, but they didn't used to be. Originally, she had long black hair and light blue eyes that were ringed with silver. When she fought a duel with an enemy sorcerer in the forest, she was knocked unconscious. While she was unconscious, the goddess (name her0 the Virgin Huntress came to her and offered her the opportunity to be the champion of the goddess. Tamsen agreed, and over the next few days while she was still unconscious, all of the color leeched from her hair and eyes until finally they turned a bright, almost iridescent silver. Tamsen unwittingly attracts the interest of several men. In particular, there were two (name them): Brial Ka'breona, a scout from the Elven Realm (name it) Leselle with a hatred of humans and sorcerers; and Anner de Ceolliune, a young Duke of the human realm(name it) of Ansienne. They both vie for her attentions, but her heart is lost fairly quickly to the taciturn, bad-tempered Brial. Anner spends the rest of his life as her best friend and brother in arms to Brial, but continues to nuture his love for Tamsen without comment or complaint. Tamsen, on the other hand, finds herself in the position of defnding her family lands and Leselle from the predatory army of her enemy (name him): her hated and despised uncle Gabril de Spesialle. Brother to Tamsen's mother, Spesialle loathes Elves. Upon discovering the true parentage of his sister, he travels to Asphodel and murders Tamsen's parents while she watches, hidden in the orchards. When Spesialle discovers that his niece is alive, he launches attacks on both the forest of Leselle and the county of Asphodel. Tamsen has to raise an army, one comprised of both humans and Elves. She must overcome their heriditary distrust of each other. Her success in doing so leads the men around her to respect her abilities and leadership, thus binding them to her in loyalty. They tend to overlook her temper, mostly because she loses it so rarely and when she does lose it it's for a very good reason. They watch as she uses too much of her magical power, weakening herself to the point that her body is completely debilitated. This, too, inspires them to look upon her in awe and to look to her for answers. In such a manner, she becomes the leader of a small but influential group of men--and she uses that group to insinuate herself in the highest levels of political power, despite her young age.

See how it layers itself? I use this process two or three times, the descriptions of the whys and wherefores not only devloping the idiosyncracies of the character, but giving me parts of the storyline to pursue. In this manner, your character development can also begin your outlining of the plot.

Finally, you have to create the central conflict of the story. Tamsen's conflict is with her uncle Spesialle. Because he's attacked the Elves, she becomes involved in Elven politics--and conscious of her royal status. Because he's destroyed the monarchy of Ansienne, she dives into their political turmoil as well. Because he throws his army at his enemies, she learns the ways of war and becomes a strategist out of necessity. Because he's a sorcerer with great power, she develops her own magic to unforeseen heights. She reacts to his moves, and in the process matures her only abilities in order to counter them. a confrontation between them is inevitable. Tamsen builds herself up to the point where she can confront him as his equal. It is her sole motivation initially, but she gradually grows to care about the problems of both the Elven Realm and the human world and seeks a way to reconcile them while healing them both.

Now we're done with the main character. That's great, right? Well now it's time to do the same for the rest of the major characters. Here again, you want to know the answer to any question someone else might ask BEFORE they ask it.

Actual question from a reader...and my answer:

"Hey Celina. Why does Tamsen have all of these older men who are experienced in war and politics looking to her for answers or instructions?"

"Well, because as she comes to terms with the fact that she is the sole heir to the Elven throne, she becomes more incisive. She's the unifying factor between the Elven and human realms; the only half-elf left in existence as far as anyone can tell. They look to her because she has great magical power. They look to her because if it weren't for her, there would be no chance of defeating Spesialle in his bid to take the throne of Ansienne and to annihilate the Elves."

Now just off of this exercise, we've developed a world and character with true complexities. After you're done, you have a world map, a history of the world, a central conflict in the present timeline of the story, characters that have intricate histories, motivations, and situations in life, and outlined political systems and religions. Now you're ready to take what you've created and write out the story that this work compels you to write.

The more development you put into your world building, the more credible and intersting your story will be. Pay attention to the details, down to what kind of shoes a secondary character is wearing or what the weather patterns will be over the course of six months. Those details are the piece de la reistance; they snatch up the words on paper and transform them into a new reality. That reality is what your readers will sink into as they read your story, and THAT is the goal of every writer.

When I'm building a world, it takes me several weeks. I built Asphodel in three weeks, working eight hours a day. My world building resides now in a file in my cabinet, a file with about 250 pages of information. Will I use all of it? Hell, no. BUT, I have it. I can pull things out of it at will. And, in the long run, if I answer every question put to me about my world, then I have won.

Work on your world building. Build it up to the point that you think you're actually writing a non-fiction history book. And don't be afraid to swipe from our own history--a notable historical event from Roman history can be transformed into a profound plot twist in your story. Research thoroughly. If you're writing about a war, you'd best know how the weapons work, how heavy a sword is, how a bow is made, what kinds of strategies have been effective in the past, how armor weighs upon a man swinging a 20 pound weapon, how far horses can travel in a day (and you'd better be sure to walk them, rest them, feed them, check their feet and pick out stones, and rub them down before covering them for the night).

The more you know about the elements in your world, the more realistic it will seem to your readers. Don't slack on this; don't leave it to chance and the undisciplined proddings of the muse. Because once your stage is set, the play depends upons the characters who strut and fret their moment.

Your audience will applaud. Trust me.

The Impact a Great Teacher Has

So in my last post, I was talking about dedications for the upcoming Asphodel books and I mentioned that I would dedicate the second book to some of my high school teachers. These educators taught me the rudiments of what would eventually turn into a writing career. Without them, and the attention they paid to me, I would never have gotten as far as I have. Let me explain.

When I started high school in Clarksville, Tennessee, I was really excited about a particular elective I could take: Latin. I still remember my first day in class, when my best buddies Eddie and Jimmy (twin brothers who now have gravitated to the more mature 'Ed' and 'Jim') sat at our desks, opened our textbooks and looked expectantly at the teacher--Grady Warren. He started us in immediately on conjugations and declensions; our first translation work as I recollect was about a pulchra puella and her frog. Before too long, we were competeing in Junios Classical League events. At state, we garnered quite a few first places between us.

Then came summer. During the summer Grady and his wife Kaye (Dr. Warren, who taught at Clarksville High School) held open house for their students. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, hordes of adolescents descended upon the Warren's house, which was tiny and crammed with books and pets, to study willingly during the hot, humid Tennessee days. On Wednesdays, those of us who were chosen for the certamen (Latin for battle--it's Latin quiz bowl essentially) team that would represent Tennessee at Nationals, would gather to practice in some vicious games to hone our knowledge and our skill. My nickname was fauces, which is Latin for jaws. That should tell you all you need to know about my fledgling personality. We played against the certamen greats of the past: college students who, through love for the Warrens and the language and the game, gave up their summers to serve as our teachers. The Warrens provided the chips, cookies, and cola, the study guides, their home (which had a volleyball court where we played as well) and we, unthinking and completely ignorant of the financial cost of hosting a group of ravenous kids, happily spent our summer vacations learning. We went to Nationals, won numerous chapionships for TJCL, and came back to do it all over the next year.

The other teacher, Kitty Savage, is a bit different. She taught English in the hardcore, old-fashioned way. We thought she was older than dirt and meaner than a snake, with her chain-smoking of unfiltered Camels during breaks and her abrupt, brusque way of instruction. Most all of the kids hated her--except for me. She was our 10th grade teacher, and for some reason she saw something different in me. Mrs. Savage turned out to be a wonderful (if gruff) woman. While she hammered the basics of grammar into our heads, she softened the blow with good books and writing projects. It was when she saw my writing that she took me under her wing. For the rest of my high school education, I'd go over to her house quite often with my mother. As they sat there drinking tea, Mrs. Savage would tell me the most wonderful stories with the sole purpose of expanding a young mind to the great stories in real life that could be told. For example, as a young war bride, she had worked in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on the Manhattan Project. She'd saved all the newspaper clipping in a big album, and I got a bird's eye look at how a young woman lived, worked, and dreamed in the biggest top secret city in the country. She told me a local tale of how a man named William Kelly had invented a cheap, easy process to turn pig iron into steel, and how his British employee stole the secret that eventually came to be called 'the Bessemer process.' She took a girl who spent a lot of time dreaming, and turned her into a hard core researcher who could write a term paper as an epic poem. She, too, sponsored a competition group. She tookd groups of students to state and national History Day competition every year I was in school. She came away with three state champions in Research Papers; twice it was me and both were done as epic poems. She couldn't quite rid herself of my artistic pretensions.

Mrs. Savage is dead now; she died at the age of 92. The Warrens are very much alive, still bringing the joys of the Classics to classes of eager students. One of the twins, actually, is teaching Latin in Clarksville too. Ed married Laura, who was my idol when I was a freshman and she was a senior, and they both teach Latin. When I went home for Christmas, the Warrens' students had a reunion to honor them. I saw people I hadn't seen in twenty years, including the teachers who had impacted me strongly, the older students whose footsteps I'd tried to follow, and the friends my own age who are now doctors and lawyers and teachers in their own right. It was bittersweet in a way, because it felt like we'd never left.

So when someone asks me which profession is the greatest for mankind, I instantly say teachers. I know how mine impacted me, I know how one miserable year of teaching Latin brought me to my knees as a colossal failure, and I know how twenty some odd years later, what they taught me has brought me to my professional destination. Without them, Asphodel (and Darkshifters and Terella and so forth) would not exist. And that's why book two is dedicated to them. Who else, in a book called "The Gift of Redemption" could it be?

Thanks, Grady. Thanks, Kaye. Thanks, Kitty.

It's all YOUR fault!

Break time

Wow, have I written a lot in the last twenty-eight hours or so. My word count for TGTD is standing a little over 12k at the moment. Granted, I'm hyper-writing because I know that my word count of Saturday will be....drumroll please!

...zero. Football, you know. *sigh*

So anyway, at the moment I'm switching gears from work to work. Booze to tea, as it were. I'm flexing my mental muscles before I try to squeeze in another few hundred words.

Or maybe I'll just go to sleep and wake up early.

At any rate, the whole concept behind Terella is pretty intense. I've brainstormed it with a few friends of mine at the bar. In a nutshell, the concept is this: What would happen if God were an atheist?

Yeah. Gave me pause too.

Basically, Terella was created by a goddess in her infancy. She played with it like a girl with dolls and a dollhouse. She created her own little dreamworld, populated it, gave each little doll a history...and then, she was 'born.' She ends up on her own dreamworld without any recollection of who she is. She travels through Terella and as she interacts with the people, she develops a dislike for the organized religion of the world--a religion that worships her. She becomes an atheist, gathering followers to her as she goes, and before long--

Yeah. That's where I get stuck too. I'll figure it out eventually. *grin* If nothing else, it should be an interesting trip.

A day made for plotting

The house is quiet. All of the cats are napping, save for the kitten. She's trying her darnedest to find a way up. Her favorite pastime is sitting in an open window and yelling at birds.

Usually, when I settle in like this it's with a pot of coffee (I keep the coffee maker on my desk) and whatever survival supplies I think I might need. But today is special. Today I have the house all to myself. No one will be here to bother me. I can luxuriate in the calming environment of my study, smelling the season's first gurgles of heat as they rise from the just-lit-today furnace, and I can plot.

Plotting is what I do best. It is my passion. Sometimes I think the only reason I write is to find out how the plot is going to work out. Some of my plots are so convoluted I have to track the plots twists on butcher paper on my walls. (One of my editors last year sent me a frustrated email: "Celina, for Christ's sake this is supposed to be a NOVELLA. You don't NEED five plot twists in a NOVELLA. The only reason you need two characters is because it's erotica. Stop trying to be literary and just write the goddamned thing.") I have at this moment 12 completely distinct world already built--historied, peopled, with religions and maps and characters who live there. Every once in a while, a day comes like today. Then I take out my world building files and I ponder.

And plot.

Today, I kept hot water in my coffee maker so that I could make tea. My semi-annual allergy hell has struck again and those of us in The Great Tea Debacle have been talking so much about tea that I now have a taste for it. So, teacup in hand, I opened the folder and this fell into my lap.

A whole new world. No Darkshifters (who are about to wend their merry way through the Big Apple) and no Elves (I think I killed them all)--it's different from the other long fiction that I've written. I got the idea when I read TH White's Bestiary--a sourcebook that still remains on my desk--about two years ago and haven't thought about it for a while. It's White's translation of a 12th century bestiary written in Latin. As a sort of preface, he quoted Paradise Lost by Milton:

The Earth obey'd and straight
op'ning her fertile womb teem'd at a birth
Innumerous living creatures, perfect forms,
Limb'd and full-grown...
The grassy clods now calv'd; now half appear'd
The tawny lion, pawing to get free
His hinder parts, then springs as broke from bonds
And rampant shades his brindled mane; the ounce
The libbard and the tiger... Paradise Lost,vii, 453

That particular section started me. I actually took PL back and reread it. I must admit to a passing fondness for old Milton. I always enjoyed being the only kid in the class who 'got it'. So when I began building this particular world, it was with the thoughts of creation foremost in my mind. After all, what could be more fun than building a world for a world that hasn't been created yet?

Then again, I could go with something easier. Something along the lines of this. But for some reason this particular world has gotten the wheels a'turning again. My muse and I are having a long heart-to-heart chat. I've already ripped down all of the Darkshifters plot charts that are resolved and have started to pin up the ones for Terella.

*sigh* Usually when I get this excited about a project it turns out badly for my word count. *evil grin* You believe that right? Right?

Terella--dark fantasy--projected word count 150k before I weep and wail and cut it. Oh, and the first sentence? That much I've already written and I'm just going to stew on it until midnight on Halloween.

"The Void was a pleasant place to be as long as your expectations weren't high..."

Offending an Atheist

Oh yippee.

How in the hell do I manage to get myself into these situations? Seriously.

I was posting on a writer's board yesterday, following a thread where a new writer is trying to figure out if his magic system works. I was genuinely trying to be helpful. See what you think:

The trick to writing magic is to make it believable...and I'm talking about YOU have to believe it. It's a pain in the wazoo to come up with every conceivable point and counterpoint about a magical system. Trust me; I feel your pain. Although you've proposed your system here and ther people say that it works for
them, if it completely worked for you, you wouldn't have posted the original
post. So........that being said.....For me, any time I've developed a magical
system I started off with a religious/mythological system. I (as the writer)
needed to know who the gods were, what they did, what they required, what their worship was blah blah blah. Your magical system may not have anything to do with the religious setup of your world. however, mages are considered *mystics* and that has religious conotations, as do the concepts of good and evil.

As you can see, I related what worked FOR ME. Thinking, in my ignorance, that this tidbit of personal experience might set off the eureka bells. Well, surprise, surprise. Someone else interjected the following as a response to my post:

As for the other point, as an atheist, I find the implication that good and evil only exist within a religious context quite insulting.


Uh, what? Did I just read that correctly? Did someone whom I have never interacted before actually just say that my worldbuilding techniques offend him? I don't mind the disagreement part; that's healthy and his point is valid. But the insult? Trust me, if I want to insult somebody I don't have a problem with that at all. I'm just usually MUCH more overt about it.



Hmmm. Interesting. If techniques I use for myself offend him, just imagine how offended he'll be by my response. This one might go on the Wall of Shame, actually.

It's a sad day when atheists are as touchy as fundamentalists. Since when did I have to be politically correct around an ATHEIST? Jesus Christ! Oh, excuse me...I mentioned a deity. Sorry about that. Don't want to offend.

*sigh*

Okay. I know you want to see it. I know you guys live for my explosions of temper.

Fair enough. However, if we're talking in a traditional epic fantasy context, then we're talking about worlds with gods and religions and other various hocus pocus. I'm an atheist as well, but that doesn't dilute my sense of what works. In your world, perhaps, the scientific method is the basis for your magical system. That's all fine and good and appropriate for you. However, in the worlds of Tolkien, Eddings, Carey, Lewis, Springer, McKillip, et cetera and so forth, that isn't the case. By the way, *name removed*, perhaps this will help from dictionary.com:
Quote:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source mys·tic /ˈmɪstɪk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mis-tik] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective 1.involving or characterized by esoteric, otherworldly, or symbolic practices or content, as certain religious ceremonies and art; spiritually significant; ethereal. 2.of the nature of or pertaining to mysteries known only to the initiated: mystic rites. 3.of occult character, power, or significance: a mystic formula. 4.of obscure or mysterious character or significance. 5.of or pertaining to mystics or mysticism. –noun 6.a person who claims to attain, or believes in the possibility of attaining, insight into mysteries transcending ordinary human knowledge, as by direct communication with the divine or immediate intuition in a state of spiritual ecstasy. 7.a person initiated into religious mysteries. [Origin: 1275–1325; ME mystik <>

Seeing as my original quote was "mages are considered *mystics*" perhaps you wouldn't have been quite so insulted if you'd taken my post in context. I was, after all, discussing what works for ME when developing a magical system. I don't think that my personal experiences with world-building should be a basis for your sense of affront.

I love dictionary.com!

Yes, I know. Remarkably restrained for me. Still, I'm kind of peeved. I've managed to offend lots of different kinds of people throughout my life. Some of them I offended on purpose and really enjoyed doing it. Others I've offended by being to liberal. The march on the capitol protesting sodomy laws comes to mind. Hell, I've even offended through honesty before...okay MANY times before. But this? Am I missing a cog here? Is there any reason to find offense in my original post????

Well, the sun will soon stop shining. The tides will stop churning in. Up is now down, in is now out, and reality has fled to new universes. I am too politically incorrect to prevent myself from offending atheists. What's next, I ask you? Am I going to offend the SPCA for saving animals? No, wait! I know! I'll offend a fromagier because I have a thing of Velveeta in my fridge. No wait! I have a better one! I'll offend the entire state of Ohio because I said from the beginning that the Cavs would lose the finals badly. (okay so that one's true.)

Fact of the matter is, in this day and age pretty much anything you say is going to offend someone. All of you who know me are well aware of my thoughts on organized religion of the Judeo-Christian variety. To be set up as a defender of the faith is so ludicrous that I can't help but scratch my head.

Grow some skin, people, and make sure it's tough. For a long time, I always held those ideologies on the fringe in a great deal of esteem because they DIDN'T TELL ME HOW TO THINK OR ACT OR PORTRAY MYSELF. Apparently, those days are over.