Advice - In The Form Of Rants

Building... A World?

[Note: This has been written taking the recent feedback into consideration. Please, tell me what you think.]

I use my own book as an example here. Sure, it's nowhere near perfect. I'm most certainly not expecting you to read it, nor am I trying to persuade you to. It's just an example.

Okay, okay.

This is something that all authors struggle at, definitely. But, this is usually what separates newcomers from the veterans.

World building.

World building is essential to a story, especially when it's very different from the one we live in. But, the way to do this is very irritating, tiring and downright stressful if you have no idea how to do so.

As soon as your story is branded with fiction (it's not a bad thing particularly, I'm just saying), people have a right to assume it's not taking place in the real world. If I see an Action, Mystery or Teen Fiction genre slapped onto your book, I'll probably not think the world is different. But you need to make this clear.

One thing that should be avoided is dedicating an entire chapter to world building. This is perhaps one of the worst things you can do: it's no longer a feature, but a dump of information.

This is dreadful. Like, honestly dreadful!

No one wants loads of information stuffed down their throats. They need time to chew and digest the information, without being hurried.

This is one of the reasons I despise character pages. Because they do this exact thing.

Don't spend a chapter/prologue/part telling me about how dragons or fairies exist. Show me this. You can tell someone something, but being shown is far more impressive by any means.

But they do it in anime! Like in Hunter × Hunter and Fairy Tail... why can't I?

One thing you must consider first is the medium they're in. This is in the form of animation, generally through a voiceover. This is very different from a book. Also, the way they do it is very different. But, if you wanted to do it the same way, it'd be harder. Not only are they using their visuals as an aid, but also their voices. You don't have the same advantage. Your reader determines the voice of your characters- their interpretation of your words is what they see, nothing else. It's the same with world building.

But, there are some scenarios where you are forced to build a world, without being able to do anything else. In a high fantasy story, you can't have a character or setting unless you describe or mention something.

Mention a prince, built.
Mention warriors, built.
Mention mechs, built.

People can get and figure out some things based on wording, so beware.

Now, there isn't a set way that will work in every story of every genre, but I'm sure you were aware. But there's a method you can use.

Giving away tiny bits of information works. A paragraph or even one page still applies. For example, in my own story, the start has a very normal setting: an airport.

I had a character mention the act of 'harnessing magic energy', which implies this is both a fantasy and different to our world, even if only slight.

Later on, I go to mention the split of a nation and so, which further shows the difference between the world of my story, Insignia, as opposed to the real one we're in. Aside from my characters, of course.

Just this one line tells my reader that the setting is different and that the world has changed, seperate from the words in my description.

Leaving subtle hints or others are good ways of showing world building. Describing also helps or even a visual aid, if you can provide one.

Let your characters or narrator show us the world is different or the same. Tell us information about the world without giving away too much. Mentions of dates and wars can be helpful, even diary entries.

But, you can't take any if the aforementioned steps to build a world if it doesn't fit. I mean, why would it make sense to do that?

My story is in a war torn world, so I use my characters to explain. It wouldn't be useful to randomly use letters to move the plot on! But, there are a few dates and large numbers to take in. They are fed bit by bit.

The point is, to develop a world, you need time. It can't all be done in a second... unless you're using a pessimistic main character/narrator.

To do this, you need to ask yourself the following:

How will I present information in a way that is acceptable?

What features does my world have?
- Differences in overall climate?
- Difference in religion or lack of religion?
- Difference in how politics are handled?
- customs/traditions?

Then, putting that into practice. Honestly, it's super annoying being given a 20 page prologue which served as the most boring, random and drawn out history lesson about a fictional world that I've ever read. No one wants to waste their time reading that!

If all prologues were like that, I'd just automatically skip them.

But, if you want a great example of world building, I'd look at hrhamilton's work. Right now, I'm mid review of her book (sorry the review is taking so long! It's taken a while to read (I've also been very busy), so I had to change the structure of the review. I ended up having to critique only certain chapters, because it would have been too long), Glass Dragons, and it has great world building. I'd say it's a great example of how a world should be set out.