Saturday, October 29, 2011

World Building

When I was setting up my NaNoWriMo account yesterday, I had to write a synopsis of my book. I guess I'm kind of cheating at this since I already started, but I'm still trying for 50,000 words. Which is a lot considering I haven't even gotten to 10,000 in the last 2 months.

But anyways, I tweaked the summary I posted before I started writing and plotting and it hit me - whenever I talk about this book, I always have long-ago background info in mind. The book starts right before Delaney's 16th birthday, but I always mention the major things that happen when she's six months old: her Registration and her mother's discovery of her shapeshifting. That got me thinking about my 2nd favorite part of writing (second only to names): world building.

You, as a reader, aren't supposed to notice all the individual little details the author puts in to make the story seem more real. And let me tell you, there are a lot, especially when you're always creating your own worlds because you don't like the actual geography/history of Earth and you're a control freak. Ahem. I've read a lot of advice on this, but I think you have to pick and choose what's most important to you or you'll end up with a report instead of a book.

What's important in More Blessed, you ask? (Didn't ask? Too bad. I like talking.) Supernatural stuff, history/politics/government, language, technology, religion, a bit of food, geography, physical characteristics...each in very small ways. You wouldn't believe how much time I've spent thinking about all these things. Some of it I make up as I go. Some of it I'm ignoring until later. Some of it just fits together with what I've known from the beginning.

For example, a rule that every baby has to be checked by the government for supernatural abilities and is taken away if they are blessed with powers? That doesn't fit with a freedom emphasizing, hands off government, so my world has powerful Councils at the city, state, and country levels. I had to make all sorts of aspects of life very structured, from the school system to the calendar. (I think I became officially insane when I sat down and created a precise new calendar system for a book I'm never going to publish.)

Right now, I'm having some issues with technology. It's my own fault, really. I don't like the overabundance of long horseback journeys in fantasy books, but I also know I can't write anything really modernized. This leaves me stuck in the middle having to decide which elements I want to include. High speed trains? Check. Cars? Absolutely not. Air conditioning? Sometimes. Computers? Hmmm...

Sometimes I wonder if all this work is really helping. Do normal people (the ones who don't have a bajillion characters running around talking to them in their heads) even pay attention to this stuff when they read? I've already decided to cut out all my flashback scenes because I think I'm the only one who cares about them. I'm leaving them in for now because I don't want to destroy my word count. Decisions, decisions.

Also, I went a little link crazy today. I don't know what that's about.

Official More Blessed Word Count: 9,216

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