When Lisa was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to write a few notes in her blog, my mind immediately went to wondering what I could possibly write about. I’d just settled on my list of Encanto fan theories when she reminded me it had to be related to writing.
Bummer. So here we are…
If I can’t write about Disney’s newest hit movie, perhaps I can speak about something that’s at least tangentially related. In Encanto, the filmmakers created a new fantastical world where magic is woven into the fabric of a small Columbian-esque town. The audience (aka my four children) could easily suspend disbelief and immerse themselves in the story because of how rich and well thought out this world is. Similarly, when I was younger, I was engrossed in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I’d spend hours reading the encyclopedia-like books, fully immersed in a world with Aes Sedai, Ta’veren, and Warders.
It was only later, as an adult and aspiring author that I realized exactly how much work goes into making worlds like those in Encanto and the Wheel of Time series. Eight people have writing credits for Encanto, and Robert Jordan had over 4,000 pages of notes he kept while writing his books (if you’re interested, you can search them at https://wot-notes.tumblr.com/). Much of this information never made it into any of his novels, but he still thought through how his world worked to ensure that the reader could suspend disbelief and immerse themselves in the story.
When I began writing my Samsara Fleet series, I had a picture in my head of what my universe would look like. As I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that picture became clearer. But with clarity, all the flaws and inconsistencies in my universe emerged. Ideas I had in my head were incomplete or contradicted each other. I had to work out so many things that never made their way onto a page: history, types of government, commerce. Even small aspects of the universe (what do computers look like for instance) had to be figured out and align with the story and characters. Finally, I had to remember each one of these decisions as I wrote. It was exhausting.
After many months of mistakes and banging my head against the wall, I came up with a few principles related to creating fictional worlds. I’ve never written them down before and they’re by no means perfect, but they may help you craft your own world or at least generate some thoughts on how you would approach it.
- You’re the ruler. Every fictional universe has rules. In science fiction, the rules may be around how certain types of technology work. In fantasy, it may be around how a system of magic works. The author must not only make up the rules but extrapolate how they were formed and how they would affect various aspects of their world.
- You’re also one of the subjects. Like an elected leader, you must follow the rules you’ve created (at least that’s how it theoretically is supposed to work). If you say that certain things can’t happen in your world, then they’d better or not. Otherwise, there are no constraints on what your characters can do. Without constraints, there is no challenge for the hero or heroine to overcome.
- Don’t overexplain and KISS. This one is hard for me. It’s painful to have so much of your world building only in your notes. But in the end, it’s the plot and characters that drive your story. You’ll need to trust your readers. Trust that they can infer how things work and that you don’t need to explain every little thing. Keep it simple and let the dialog and action clue in your readers to how things work rather than explicitly stating every…little…thing. Some won’t get it, but most will.
- Check your alignment. The motivations and actions of your characters should align to their environment. They can seem foreign to us, but if they are in line with the rules and values of their surroundings it will make sense to the reader.
- Take notes. Perhaps some don’t need to follow this rule, but I know I do. You will have so many ideas and thoughts about the world you create and only a fraction of it will make its way onto the page. Much of it will remain in the background, only seen by second-order effects. You still need to remember all of it to make sure that there is a cohesion throughout the story.
- Always err on the side of awesome (apologies to Brandon Sanderson). Sometimes you may reach a point where you can vastly improve the story by making slight alterations or cheats to the universe you’ve created. If you can’t escape it, then go with it and make your story as fun and engaging as it can be.
As a writer there are three components to every book: character, plot, and world. Each writer will have an area that they gravitate toward or are better at. Some writers will be good at all three (lucky jerks 😉). I’m nowhere near that level, nor do I ever expect to be, but I hope that this small post is somewhat helpful as you set out to create your own worlds and universes.
I look forward to reading about them.
P.S. I’d love to hear any thoughts that others may have on the issue or any pieces of advice on how they create worlds in their writing or what they appreciate when they read a novel in the comments.
Recommended Article:
The Capitalization of Races and Species in Fantasy & Science Fiction
Amazon Links:
For the Ones Who Remain (Samsara Fleet Book 1)
For the Ones Who Are Forgotten (Samsara Fleet Book 2)
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