Writing on Wednesday: Let's talk about World-Building

There's an on-going discussion in the world of writing about whether the most poignant and memorable stories are character driven or plot driven.  In either case, setting, or the world in which the story is set, is always a very important supporting actor.  When well done, we are so immersed in the story that our move from this world to the fictional world - whether it be past, present, future or wholly fictional -  is seamless. We are there.

As in the case of Harry Potter (shown above as the First Years approach Hogwarts for the first time) - so brilliantly written by JK Rowling - the intermingled world of London and Hogwarts are created with so much rich detail that we can easily imagine ourselves in the place of our characters.

So, the question is - how, as writers, do we create the same three dimensional tapestry to pull our characters into our world?  I'm as curious as you are about this topic.  My novel, THE FAERIE RING, is set in London 1871 (map drawn by Virginia Allyn) so while research was required to adequately represent that time frame in history - information did exist from which I could pull inspiration.

In my novel, THE GETHEAS STONE, the world is wholly made up so I had to take a different approach to creating this world. (Map drawn by Virginia Allyn.)  Some of the things I thought about were:

~The physical world - the flora and fauna, the terrain, oceans vs. land, cities vs. forests

~ The language -I find language fascinating and in both of my books more than one language is spoken - so how do you intersperse that in a way that is understandable yet adds another dimension?

~ The clothing - can really help place the timeframe or manner in which your characters live

~mode of transportation - cars, planes, spaceships, carriages, horses, by foot, other?
 
~food - The Enchanted Inkpot just had an intriguing post on Food in Fantasy

~The history of your world - this is an important element because so much can be drawn from or inferred by what has already occurred.

~Magical systems - this is a big one.  If your world includes magic the rules must be well-defined to make the premise believable.

~Other areas to consider: religion, technology, education

Those are a few of the elements that I consider when I'm writing. Of course this is a HUGE topic. I find that I continually refine my world through draft after draft of the story, learning new things the more I write.

Out of curiosity I googled World Building and landed at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site. They had a great post by Patricia C. Wrede with a list she uses when creating fictional worlds that I would recommend you also check out.

So tell me - how do you go about creating the worlds in your books?  What tips would you suggest?

Also, I'd love to hear about books where you've been so completely immersed in the world that every bit of it seemed real.  Share!



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