Anybody have advice for organizing how an entire new fictional universe gets introduced into a story without it reading like the Silmarillion? Is there a golden ratio of important background information and plot? Not that it isn't fun to play in my little made up universe creating detailed histories, mythologies and culture, at one point however, I need to focus on the plot and finish this damn thing. Also, can anyone recommend writers that did an excellent job of this?
I would reccomend Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind for an example. It is a masterfully written book. I haven't read the second book yet. Re-reading the first with my girlfriend. The Name of the Wind is my most favourite book ever and I think Pat really nailed world building down.
Robert Jordan, of course, did a great job of ripping off Tolkien building The Compleat Fantasie World, but I much prefer the world of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy (and his other books, especially Best Served Cold) or Richard K Morgan's A Land Fit For Heroes series.
If I were to ressurect my D&D inspired novel, I would use Scrivener and Evernote to sync my notes, which would include a mini Monster Manual, maps, and some hand-drawn maps on graphing paper. Because hell, there's nothing cooler than maps on graphing paper.
Why hasn't anyone suggested JK Rowling's Harry Potter series yet? I think that is a great example of creating a robust fictional universe without smothering the reader in paragraphs of information, useless or not.
I have yet to master the art of world building and integration, but I think the trick to revealing said world is the same trick to revealing your character. You as the writer should get as much dirt on the world you can find, but you'd only share a small percent of it with the reader.
For example, I'm writing a scifi YA that sometimes takes place on a sort of space station setup. The station is in a ring shape which is split into 8 segments, and each segment serves a purpose: farms, tech, hospital, housing, schooling, shopping, etc. You are only able to access certain segments by train. Each segment varies between four to eight floors. I know this information, but I don't need to share it all with my reader -- I only need to share enough to give the reader an idea of the setup, and whatever specifics the reader needs to know. That's it. I can add little details along the way to remind the reader of the world, such as bringing up some lady's strange dog-pig pet and how they're all the rage in segment 3, or why there is a small band of protestors over in segment 8 who are against the inhumane slaughter and consumption of potatoes, but that can come in small doses. It's like knowing your character's birthday and astrological sign -- it's good for you to know, but your reader doesn't necessarily need to know it.
If I can think of other books that do this well, I'll make sure to post them in this thread.
But yes, I still have the same problem. I think it's because I'm not good at building fictional worlds from scratch, so I get so caught up in building them and making them as believable as possible that I don't actually get any writing done. Bah!
You know, I've been living in a dream world for most of my life. I don't see a lot of people in there, so my imagination must be limited.
Small children can work for a question or two, if they fit the plot.
@Foxy. The biggest mistake I see people making is information dumps. Sprinkle it around. No one says you have to give all the detail at once, or use paragraph after paragraph giving background info. The reader will get it.
LINK I started a thread about that awhile back.
I think it might be more the size of the dump, so to speak. I like one now and then so you can get back to the plot, but mole hill, not mountain sized.
Well the best way (it is just personal opinion) is similar to Fight Club or The Road or something like that. In The Road (yes I know, it's a great book) McCarthy never once really goes into deep detail on anything, but still sizing up a totally new world with little phrases here and there.
""The clocks stopped at 1:17. A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions"
Or Joyce takes it a little further with his:
"Her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance. On Saturday evenings when my aunt went marketing I had to go to carry some of the parcels. We walked through the flaring streets, jostled by drunken men and bargaining women, amid the curses of labourers, the shrill litanies of shop-boys who stood on guard by the barrels of pigs' cheeks, the nasal chanting of street-singers, who sang a come-all-you about O'Donovan Rossa, or a ballad about the troubles in our native land. These noises converged in a single sensation of life for me: I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes."
Thanks All, especially Matt and Jeffrey
I've been trying to introduce the culture in bits as well. Many of the minor and extra characters are first described by caste and nationality as a way of driving home of how status is determined in that society. The geography part is the hardest, I need to sit down one day and map stuff out.
Anybody have experience developing worlds, cultures, races of sentient beings? I'd like your input on how you managed that process (research, organization, inspiration, etc) I'm just curious to see how others take on such a task.
If you have the money (ie. Credit Card), then Kat Howard is teaching a class about Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction here. It sounds like the second week of the class is about world building. There's also the SFWA.
Info dumps happen a lot in fantasy and science fiction. I almost always end up skimming them and never feeling like I missed much. Some people love a rich backstory that hints at Gods and alien visits and stuff like that.
I developed an alternate earth with little bits of remixed history (russian mythology, western US, dickensian/victorian england (not steampunk!)), and all i've done so far is have a folder in Evernote full of links, pictures, and my own notes on myths etc. I'm working up the nerve to move the whole thing into Scrivener, as I'm stalled at about 40k, and I need to switch it up to get it going again.
My research process is the worst ever - one day I said, 'Oh, I should look up victorian era sailing ships'--20 minutes of googling and I had everything I need. I think the trick here is that the more a subject is known to your target market, the better your research should be. I think I can scrape by with a minimum of that sort of research. If I were to write a book about comic, I would want that to be very well researched to mollify the nerds.
I agree with much of whats been said, but another trick I like is to have a character that doesn't know the world you created. Harry Potter is a great example. Everything needs to be explained to Harry, which also clues in the reader. Also, if you make your world a slight abstraction of the real world, it's easier for the reader to swallow.
Everything needs to be explained to Harry, which also clues in the reader"
This is true, but avoid the cliche paragraph in dialogue. Chances are, the people living there ALREADY know about their world, so rehashing it, would make no sense.
@ Howie: Signed up! A friend told me about the class and thats how I ended up here...
Make the info dump extremely entertaining and I will most likely forgive it as a reader, although showing rather than telling is usually still preferable in this instance.
