K writes:
I’m working on a book … I just really love your world building, and now that I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on who my characters are, I need to flesh out the world they are in.
How did you create the Kate and Edge worlds? The world building drew me into both series, and then the characters grounded me, making me care about what was happening. Any hints would be appreciated. If you can’t get to this until June, or ever, I understand. :)
I’ve been mulling this over for a couple of days and I am not sure how to answer. The problem lies in this phrase:
now that I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on who my characters are, I need to flesh out the world they are in.
It sounds as if the worldbuilding and characterization have been treated as separate entities. They are not. The world shapes the characters, influences them, dictates their strength and weaknesses. The setting and the characters evolve simultaneously for me; I am unable to separate the two and honestly, I don’t see how such separation could work. Sherlock Holmes can’t be French; Sookie can’t be a New Yorker; Spenser can’t be raised in Pacific Northwest, Conan couldn’t have been born in the 21st century. The characters are extensions of their world. They sprout from it like seeds.
So I am at a loss. I can only give very vague, general advice. Here are some things I learned along the way. They may or may not work for everyone.
Overall philosophy.
In speculative fiction, the worldbuilding/character relationships usually fall into one of two categories: an extraordinary person in mundane circumstances or an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances.
For example, Sherlock Holmes is an extraordinary person in mundane London. He is a person of unique abilities and although he is rooted in that world and is through and through a product of his time, her peers view him as an eccentric genius or, occasionally, a madman. He creates a disturbance in his environment, and it’s fascinating to watch him work.
John Carter, an ordinary southern soldier, is in extraordinary environment of fantastic Mars. He is thrust into intrigues between fantastic races, he’s surrounded by strange creatures and odd races, all of whom view him as an oddity. He also creates a disturbance in his environment, but for a different reason.
I found that when writing a novel it’s best to pick one or the other. A fantastic person in fantastic circumstances gives the reader no chance to relate to the characters of the novel. If the reader doesn’t feel relate to the characters, they will get bored and stop reading.
That’s why, in a fantastic world of larger that life legends, Tolkien chose hobbits as his main protagonists. Hobbits who live happy mundane lives, who like to have tea, eat a little too much, and generally don’t go looking for trouble.
Most novels connect with the reader not because of the shock value of their fantasy but because of their portrayal of the ordinary.
Mythology
I strongly suggest picking one mythology per book and sticking to it. There are several reasons.
First, if the author is using a completely new mythology, the readers don’t know it. If the author is using real folklore, the readers may not be familiar with it either. The audience has a nearly limitless capacity to learn, but at the beginning of the narrative it knows nothing. When an author assumes a certain level of knowledge from his audience, he immediately limits it.
“Two missile-armed starships charged straight towards one another, their launchers in continuous rapid fire. Kersaint was handicapped by the TFN practice of carrying no antimatter warheads in peacetime lest a fluctuating containment field blow a ship apart. The enemy cruiser was under no such constraint, but at least it seemed to mount only first-generation AMs, not the vastly more destructive second-generation weapons. The range flashed downward, and both ships staggered as hits got through, but Kersaint‘s initial salvo had given her a crushing advantage, and she exploited it savagely. A dozen more of her missiles scored direct hits, lacerating her enemy, in return for only three hits of her own, but the enemy cruiser didn’t even try to break off. It came straight for her, and both ships went to sprint-mode fire as the range fell to five light-seconds. …”
IN DEATH GROUND, by David Weber and Steven White
Unless you are a military science fiction junkie, the passage above makes no sense. This isn’t from the middle of the novel, this is from the first chapter. The writers, who are veterans of the genre and are extremely successful, are clearly aiming for a very specific segment of the SF audience. The rest of the readers would bounce off this narrative.
So if the reader knows nothing in the beginning of the narrative, then the author has to reveal and explain the mythology without making the narrative into a textbook. That’s difficult to do and the less the author has to explain, the better is the narrative.
Second, if mythologies are mixed too much, the narrative begins to resemble a patchwork quilt. He is a Judeo-Christian fallen angel. She is a vampire-valkyrie. Together they must defeat Tiamat, the chaos dragon of ancient Babylon. While in theory this sounds exciting, if silly, in practice it ends up being a kitchen sink mess. Each mythology has its own rules. When the mythologies collide, the rules get tangled, the readers get confused, and the world of the book loses its unique flavor.
Every day life.
The most important aspect of the wroldbuilding is the every day existence of the characters. Without grounding the characters in the mundane, they will seem disconnected from the narrative. Historical romances generally do well, but writing one requires a metric ton of research. And let me tell you, some historical romance readers are vicious. I’ve seen authors ripped to shreds for fudging small details such as champagne flutes.
There is an industry term for historical romances where the setting is researched very lightly and drawn in broad strokes: wallpaper historicals. Wallpaper historicals fail to deliver the authenticity; their characters often exhibit anachronistic tendencies, such as showing a young woman of a regency period strolling in the park without a chaperon, because she is a progressive rebel or showing an aristocrat who finds a loudly giggling, forward heroine charming. Here is how an aristocrat would react to such lack of decorum:
Mr. Darcy: [pause] It was clear that an advantageous marriage would be the worst option possible…
Elizabeth Bennet: Did my sister give that impression?
Mr. Darcy: No! No, there was, however, the matter of your family…
Elizabeth Bennet: Our want of connection? Mr.Bingley did not seem to object…
Mr. Darcy: No, it was more than that.
Elizabeth Bennet: How, sir?
Mr. Darcy: It was the lack of propriety shown by your mother, your three younger sisters, and even, on the occasion, your father.PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Film adaptation, 2005
So how do you ground the character in the narrative? How would do you get the small details right? You daydream.
That’s it, that’s pretty much my answer. If an author sits down to have fried chicken for dinner, perhaps the character does to. If the author has to take out the garbage, deal with cat puke, or witness a woman screaming at her child in the check out line, than perhaps the character does too. Of course, in the narrative, the cat might have wings, which would result in hair balls deposited into the glass chandelier. Or the garbage might be eaten by a lizard. A very large lizard. Like Komodo dragon sized.
Or maybe dragon sized.
Okay so how would this work? The dragon would have to be at the garbage dump. Perhaps it eats garbage and produces very fertile manure. When I go to a recycling center, I have to sign in and I have to have my trash sorted out. And I would probably have to pay a fee to the city. These are details that an audience can easily relate to.
Also some trash dragons would probably melt the metal. And glass. That can be recycled. If your job is to handle a fire breathing dragon, you’d have the fire retardant gear. Also you might be a bit surly.
So:
The trash dragon keeper pushed back his soot stained helmet and gave me an evil eye. Behind him the enormous shape of the garbage dragon loomed behind the electrified fence. The dragon raised his horned head, the sun reflecting of the ruby scales, and spat a jet of flame, melting a heap of metal into glowing lava.
The trash dragon keeper shook his head. “It says here your permit has expired.”
“That’s bull. I paid the bill.” Damn Trash Management. “Look, I have it right here!” I pulled the bill from the glove compartment and showed him the Paid In Full stamp on it.
The Dragon Keeper shrugged. “Look, lady, the computer says your account’s suspended. When it says something different, I’ll let you in.”
I waved at giant pile of metal scrap in the back of my Dodge. “Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with all that?”
“It’s not my problem. You can do whatever you want with it.”
Fine, you ass. I put the truck in gear, pulled a U-turn, and headed out.
Everyone at some point had to deal with some sort of utility that had been paid but had not be updated. Everyone had driven to either garbage dump or a recycling center. Everyone had met a surly government employee. By inserting these details, the fantastic narrative gains real-life details, which give it a certain authenticity.
To reiterate: daydream, let your environment shape the characters, and don’t make it too complicated. That’s all of my advice for today.
When you mentioned Cat puke, I had a horrible vision of Curan puking in Kates kitchen… and was she pissed.
*hides the vampire-valkyrie book she has in her projects folder*
(totally not joking either)
Jill Myles recently posted..New covers for FOREPLAY and ZANE’S TALE
I iz trying to make Important Writur Pointz and u iz making fun of me. ::sigh:: nobody takes me seriously.
There are always exceptions.
I’d like to read ur important writur pointz but all i can thinks iz…
oh…wows…where’d she get that purty picture?
O.O
Shiloh Walker recently posted..Mammoth Book of Hot Romance
The blu one? I maded it.
I haz so very many jealousies now.
Shiloh Walker recently posted..Mammoth Book of Hot Romance
Here is the sample wordpress theme I made with it. I loaded it on the test site I used to develop Devon’s theme:
http://devon.adrianglia.com/
I am just as jealous….I so want that as my desktop image now. *grin*
Jackie (Literary Escapism) recently posted..Remy Chandler by T Sniegoski
I have a whole wordpress theme built around it. Did it for a friend, but she doesn’t want it. It sitting on my drive doing nothing.
It’s gorgeous. You did a fantastic job!
Jackie (Literary Escapism) recently posted..NA Mini-Challenge- Steampunk
This is great. World building is not for wimps. I could argue that you’ve placed an extraordinary individual in an equally extraordinary environment, but I suspect you’ll disagree. Your dystopian Atlanta is as much a character as Kate and the others. No matter what, the combination works beautifully.
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@ Jill: I’ll read your vampire-valkyrie book!
I would too. Vamps and Valkyries. What’s not to love?
The way you explain the world-building/character connection makes perfect sense to me, even as a non-writer. I really enjoy your responses to questions from writers. I find it fascinating to learn how your thought processes work and how you blend creativity with logic. The example of the garbage dragon was educational (and amusing). Thanks!
Ilona, I bow to the master. You make complicated world building seem so easy. *bows again and again*
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The garbage dragon cracked me up. One of the many reasons I stalk your blog, it’s the best way to start a day.
You really do have a way with words. You take a subject matter that I know little-to-nothing about, and you make it accessable to the point that I feel like I totally get what you’re talking about. Not only that, but I can see a general pattern of why some of the books I’ve read in the past didn’t work.
This was really interesting to me. Quick question,is “K” an archetype for all who write to you with writing questions? Or does “K” just write to you a lot? Just wondering.
” A fantastic person in fantastic circumstances gives the reader no chance to relate to the characters of the novel.”
Strangely, this CAN work in screenplay (although rare). Take, for instance, Doctor Who (And even that show uses companions to ground it), or the little film Equilibrium. Or Inception.
But as stand-alone novels, those characters wouldn’t work as well.
The exception may be the rare cyberpunk novel, such as Snowcrash or Altered Carbon, although in the latter the protagonist is nothing extraordinary in HIS world.
I have to agree with you. One could make the argument that Robert Howard’s Conan is a fantastic person in a fantasy (albeit low fantasy) setting. In a world of swords and sorcery, he is the super humanly strong and swift barbarian. He is deeply superstitious and distrustful of magic yet often immune to it’s effects. I guess we sometimes just want to read about kick-ass characters in an awesome world.
In those cases I think you hit the nail on the head – there is usually a mundane companion, Rose, Watson, a young architect, and so on.
Doesn’t one’s environment (world) in real life shape to a degree or have an some effect on how they not only react to situations, but live their day to day lives and to what aspirations they may have and how to react them?
Opps! Mean to say “How they might reach their goals in the environment(s) they live in”. The brain is faster than the fingers a bit of the time.
It certainly is an interesting and informative piece. Thanks from me as well.
I guess I was a little “taken a back” that someone would not or seemingly would not, create their characters, their character(s)’ personalities, their abilities, how they are involved and evolve in the plot or plots, etc. without incorporating some worldbuilding at the same time. I wonder if she was alluding to the detailing?
I happen to have that vampire-valkyrie book…bought it two weeks ago to complete my collection! ^_^
Loved the garbage dragon bit! It made me smile, and I have to agree. You can’t world build without coming up with characters and you can’t create characters without some level of worldbuilding.
Just wish some authors would acknowledge that. Read a book…won’t go into details…but they really should’ve had Ilona’s lesson before they put pen to paper…
Thanks for the advice! I love your worldbuilding, so it’s interesting to see your take on it.
One thing I have always loved in the Kate books is the mundane. How she can cook when there is magic and electricity. The fact that she puts a vampire head on a turkey platter. How she gets from place to place. The fact that relationships are relationships. I shall never forget here kitty, kitty. I could see Kate and Curran stepping into my so very mundane world although I suspect my neighbors would have a seizure. I guess what I am saying is that I can relate to them which says to me that your worldbuilding works amazing well. I am so glad that you are continuing to write in Kate’s world.
I agree with Barbie Doll, the “every day” aspects of Kate’s life as she deals with the tides of magic and tech really help make the series for me. Reading about when Tech goes down and the phones don’t work, the car doesn’t start or Kate is dealing with bureaucracy just brings the book together and makes her a relatable character to me. That’s why I loved the phrase get the guns we’re going to Wal-Mart from On the Edge. Again, so relatable, the kid who has ruined his shoes and she is now determined to get new ones. Thanks for sharing, this is something I would never have thought of, but now that you point it out, I can see this as a major reason why I like some books and am iffy on others even though I couldn’t verbalize why…
I loved the garbage dragon and the flying cat with hairballs. Would you please put them in one of your books? (Shamelessly begs with sad puppy dog eyes.)
what wonderful insight into how you go about that voodoo that you do so well
My eyes have been opened so every UF I read I will be thinking… is this an ordinary character/extraordinary circumstance or the other way around
Yeah, thinking back on it, it was a crappily worded question (and I can say that with no malice or snark as I asked it).
I’m not always my best when frustrated (and the wine might have helped there too). Oh, and this was my first “writing” ques to Ilona and Gordon, so I’m just a “K” not the “K”.
First of all, thank you Ilona and Gordon for taking the time to think about my question, even though it was frustrating, and for the advice.
To give more info (what I should have before) I like the idea of taking people who think the world is one way, then ripping that away and showing them how things really are. I’ve worked out the characters, their attitudes, their reactions to things in their view of the world. They’ve grown up in modern day USA, fairly normal. Now I’ve shot their world to hell and while I have a good idea of where I want that to go, I’m getting bogged down in mythology and detail.
I’m going to step back and simplify the mythology, look at it with how everyday life would be impacted, and go from there.
I also really loved the trash dragon.
Is this a Dr.Oz question or an Ilona and Gordon question? What and where do garbage dragons defecate? I just love it when you write about worldbuilding and I particularly like some of the mundane things like finding time and place to bathe the dog or even the fact that regardless of the crisis you just have to pay bills,open the mail and shower. Thanks
Dr. Oz?
Dr. Oz from ask dr oz;he answers all the medical questions on Oprah and his own show,the simple stuff like why do we have so much snot when we have a cold or what does “normal poop” look like any question really;it’s just that those “normal”questions are so universal. DR MEHMET OZ
Is Kate an ordinary person in an extrodinary world? Or vice versa?
Excellent advice, Ilona. A writer friend once told me that the simpler the idea, the better. The whole KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) thing is probably one of the best things out there. You can have something extraordinary, but the minute you go over your readers heads, you’re done.
Bridget Locke recently posted..Huh
Great, now I want to know more about Trash Dragons.
I find myself fascinated. Do write more
And that, my dear Watson, is creativity at it’s finest. Trash Dragons. Huh.
Huzzah.
Thanks for the advice and the smiles!
I never post here i just lurk and love it but i had to say thank you today As a reader (without the desire or skills to ever be a writer) I’m astonished how so much of what I learn from your blog increases my enjoyment of reading.
Even better it allows me to give up on books I hate and to know WHY I probably hated them rather than just getting that vague readerly dissatisfaction that a book didn’t deliver what we hoped it would. Several books i’ve loathed recently have suffered from mixed mythology explosions.
I really learnt something new thanks.
And *much pouting* I want to know more about the trash dragon too
Now I totally want a Trash Dragon book.
Cool post — very informative and writery.
Love that first library image you used of tge open book.
PS GET BETTER SOON!
very informative post! Thank you for taking the time to give us your opinion!!!
I think that it really shows if love and work goes into character shaping and world-building. Some stories just remain a bit flat because the writer put lots of work into the characters but didn’t give the world he/she lives in the same attention.
Other stories drown in elaborate world-building, that, although interesting, take a lot of dynamic out of the story.
I think it’s really, really hard to find a balance that works for most readers!
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Love the trash dragon. I will never think of the dump in the same way again…
Thank You, I forward these tips to my two teen daughters, they love them, it helps their ability to communicate their stories. They read your advice and actually put it to use on their own time, not for school.
; )
Awesome post! I liked how you broke down the concept of having an ordinary character in a fantastical world or an extraordinary character in a mundane world. I did the mistake of having an awesome character in an awesome world and what I ended up with was a shallow character that no one could relate to.
Interesting. I have been working on a story forever and kept getting stuck on the same point. Finally I shelved the thing, grabbed a book and sat down to read. It was a horribly written book and I should have saved my money, but it did make one thing clear — I was trying too hard to “write”.
No, I don’t mean I’m gong to settle for crappy prose. As I read that horrid book one half of my brain was doing a “rewrite”. I was still dwelling on it later in the shower, trying to “fix” it and it wasn’t even mine! At which point it dawned on me that somewhere down the line I had stopped daydreaming about my story — and as soon as I started, I was writing again — plotting and developing storyline — and the writing was taking care of itself.
I have been wanting to ask this same question for a bit now. Your answer really helps me quite a bit. I’d gotten to where I had the basic plot, the basic character structure, but no depth to anything. I had snippets, but not the glue between. I love the garbage dragon example! It really highlights the idea of the mundane in the fantastic world idea that you were trying to explain. Now, to just put the idea into action…
Trash dragons!! Awesome