5 Core Rules for World Building

I love making up new worlds. From steam powered alternate histories to dangerous realms in both time and space. It allows me to be creative and Type A at the same time because each 'universe' that you conjure up has to have a set system of rules in which the characters and phenomenon operate.

This is very important. Because it will save you a LOT of rewriting between drafts. I recently had this discussion with another author who has an awesome idea for a plot involving well known literary characters. The problem was, it was unclear whether or not in the 'book universe' she was creating if they were real...had come into existence spontaneously...only existed in their own book worlds...etc.

And because these questions are hard to define after the fact...she put the novel aside. Hopefully it is just for now, but sometimes overwhelming problems with wrapping our minds around our own creations can be intimidating. Which can kill creativity and passion for a project.

So here are 5 Core Rules for setting up a framework for how your book's universe will operate.

• If you have a Magic System...make it well defined so that the reader understands what is possible and what is not. Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite authors, has a post specifically about Creating Magic Systems in Fantasy.

• Clearly illustrate the political and/or religious powers. What are their goals. What have they done to achieve them? How might that cause conflict with the citizens of that world?

• What is it like for the average Joe to live in the world? This helps to provide a frame of reference for your reader. Is your main character in the elite or are they the downtrodden? Are there classes at all? Is everyone expected to be the same or divided for their differences? Do other forms of intelligent life coexist? Elves and humans...aliens and mermaids?

• What are some major defining moments in your world? What is historically relevant? Natural disaster, plague or sickness, a war that changed the way people thought or lived? What about an advancement in science that changed the world -- for better or worse. Or nothing...just time. Gradual advancement in technology or culture?

• Which brings me to my last point. Define the problem in contrast to the status quo right away. This is crucial in both scifi and fantasy because it prevents you from simply getting lost in world building for the sake of making stuff up. It helps you focus on what part of the world is important for your reader to know about.

There are of course so many other aspects to World Building but these core 5 should help to create a solid framework for you to hang your story.  Let me know what you do to define your novel's universe. I'm always up for some writing tips. 

+Raquel Byrnes 

Photo by shaka

Writing 2's and 3's

Current Desk Top

I am currently neck deep in the plotting throes for books two and three of my YA Steampunk series, The Blackburn Chronicles.  Having received a green light on the series and a synopsis request for the second and third book, I began to really wrestle with not what to include...but what to take off the table.

Book one, The Tremblers, was such an amazing ride to write. The genre is certainly one in which you can just reach high into the aether for inspiration. From floating cities to underground caverns...it was so much fun!  And the characters were certainly a pleasure to meet and mold.

However...

Book two is both an exhilarating opportunity and a daunting task. Over-arching themes and exploration of deeper personality and psychological issues are easier here because the character is more fleshed-out after an entire arc in the first book.  She is not the debutante she was in chapter one...yet not exactly who she needs to be and therein lies the challenge.

It needs to be larger in scope, more sweeping in consequences, and yet more personal in stakes.

As I go back in my memory over the trilogies I've enjoyed as a reader, I hope to learn as an author how to maintain the fervor and fascination of a first book and yet deliver the meat so essential in a second and third volume.

So...

My question to you readers and authors out there...what do you look for or hope to see in a second and third book?  Continuation of story?  Deeper change in the character? Something else entirely...?

Until next time -- Go Write!

+Raquel Byrnes 

Building and Feeling; What is Lacking Post NaNo?

So it is two weeks post NaNoWriMo and I am still reeling from the whole thing. I had my students participate and am floored at how many met and exceeded their writing goals. A couple hit 50K without breaking a sweat. My hat is off to them!

We're now entering the editing phase and one of the things I'm finding is that in the daze and craze of writing as much as you can...some things fall through the cracks.  Its evident in my students' work and also in my own.

The two biggest deficits are world building and character development...

So the kids and I all wrote either fantasy or science fiction so world building is paramount with this type of genre just to get the reader up to speed with the environment. What I'm finding is that a lot of the descriptions are either piled on too thick in huge chunks to get it out of the way or not added at all. I feel like I'm sort of in a "stock post-apocalyptic" urban scene and that takes away from what I feel are great stories.

I asked them to take out the huge paragraphs and thread them through the scene in dialogue and action beats. That seems to be working for them. I'll keep you posted.

As for character development...well it really is a lack of emotional response to the situation, I'm finding is the problem.  I think so much sweat and blood was spent this past month just getting the scenes out or the plot moving that we all forgot to anchor the character, and by extension the reader, to the moment with emotion.

We are all working on writing the character more present emotionally and to incorporate emotion and internal thoughts like doubt or worry or arrogance into the storytelling mid action sequence.  I hope this helps to cement otherwise frenetic sequences.  I will try this with my own fantasy and let you know how it goes.

What about you? What challenges are you facing now that "just getting it on paper" is crossed off your list? Are you doing massive rewrites...patches...or are you satisfied with your after-NaNo product?

By +Raquel Byrnes 

9 Rules For Slashing Your Baby

This week I begin the second round edits of my steampunk WIP, The Tremblers. Everytime I go to take a knife to my just finished masterpiece I try to do it with some definite structure in mind. I'll share with you my rules for self editing your manuscript.

Rule #1 in editing anything is to take a break.  Two weeks or more. Work on something else and let it percolate. You'd be surprised how things float up from the subconscious if you just give yourself some breathing room.

Rule #2 is to scrutinize your verbs. Are they active or passive? Did you say she "began to shout" or she "bellowed"?

Rule #3 is to track the sun. If your character goes into a building at noon you better make sure they don't exit the building in the dark unless they've actually spent that much time in there.

Rule #4 is to keep your head straight. In other words KEEP YOUR POINT OF VIEW consistent. And make sure you do not HEAD HOP mid scene or chapter.  This kind of mistake is jarring for the reader. You should be consistent throughout.

Rule #5 is to read your manuscript, particularly your dialogue, out loud. I can't tell you how many mistakes I've found by ear that I missed by reading. You may feel silly, but do it. It works.

Rule #6 is to double check punctuation. Pay close attention to your quotation marks in dialogue. Make sure your periods, commas, and other marks are present and needed.

Rule #7 is to show not tell. Can you replace stated emotion with action that conveys that emotion. She was angry about writing the letter...or...She scraped her pen across the paper with staccato strokes, muttering through pursed lips.

Rule #8 is to slash that back story. Pepper the exposition throughout the chapters via dialogue or other narrative. If you have huge block of back story explanation then you started your story in the wrong place.

Which leads me to Rule #9.  Make sure you start your story in the middle of the action. Just as the character's life is about to change. Most writers end up hacking away at the first or even the second chapter during edits.

The key is to "Save It As" your second draft so if you hate what you've done, you can put it back.  Then just dive right in there and start slashing.

Any editing tricks you find work well for you?  I'd love to hear about them.  Until next time...Go Write!

Hideous Light of the Day Star...

Day Star in my back yard

So I've just finished off a string of writing sessions that would make World of Warcraft gamers think I was way too intense. I feel like one of those skinny people that run on purpose for like...hours. What do you call that kind of insanity? Marathons? Yeah, like that.

Well I call it drive. More specifically, a deadline. But now as I climb out of the cave of despair and caffeine, I see that it was all worth it.

Writer on coffee high.

Starting with NaNo...which I totally flaked out on in like, four minutes and ending with a dedicated march toward completed pages by 12/31/2012...or the Mayan Armageddon, whichever came first.  I did finish ahead of schedule so, Yay!

That decision was of course, entirely selfish on my part, because with Christmas coming and all the fun parties and family stuff coming up...well, I didn't want to have to work. 

This is the first draft and I will go over it again a few times for revisions before I submit, but I am done. The story is out of my head and I can breath a sigh of relief for the two minutes I allow myself before I start worrying about changes.

So here's to Siyah and Raven, my two great muses during these past months!  Je suis fini!  Hallelujah!

I'm going out for a frothy coffee and some chocolate!

Red X's Everywhere! - Funny Video

How I See Edits - Am I wrong?

Another author recently shared this funny video with a group of us writers. I can't tell you how humorous and accurate it depicts the emotional stages of a writer. With hyperbole and melodrama, author James Andrew Wilson takes you into the depths and heights of "Writing A Novel."


My favorite scene is the dreaded...EDITING!  Hope you enjoy it. You should check him out.

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We're almost at the end of the A to Z Challenge and I gotta say...it feels like I've been climbing uphill the whole way. So glad I met so many great bloggers along the way.  Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by Popculturegeek.

Refining My R.E.A.R.

No, I'm not detailing my gym workouts. Okay, so I made the funky acronym on purpose. The premise is valid, however. Real Emotion And Response from your reader is the key to keeping your book in their hands.  I hate it when I read a book and realize that I don't really care what happens to the characters; that their experience and responses are too out of my personal understanding to relate.  This is a very bad thing...especially for romance writers.

There are a lot of things that go into a novel. Core elements like plot, pacing, tension, organization...you name it. You're building a world for your reader, it takes sweat and planning.  We all strive to do our best and hone our craft. We all agonize over that adverb, or that sub-plot, or word count.  You know what? Its all for nothing if the emotion doesn't ring true and the reader can't relate.

Take a certain paranormal romance series for example. The plot isn't that original. The characters could use some layering. The setting is dreary and not really described much. But the angst...whew!  Talk about resonating with your demographic.

The idea that the most desirable, most dangerous of the characters would move mountains to be with you is alluring. Who wouldn't want to be so enchanting that an Adonis-like creature would defy the rules of his universe, his family, even his personal beliefs to have you?  Is it any wonder that the series broke past the target audience to their mothers? Being desired, above everyone else, is universal. Whether its for your beauty, strength, wit, or writing ability...we want to be wanted. It's a basic human need.

 

But something real lies underneath the twinkling glitter of the story dream. Something that pulls at your reader's core. Real emotion - longing, insecurity, desire for something you know is more than you deserve. Through the fog of the improbable, you reach out to that part of your reader that still smarts from that rejection or unrequited love, or lost spark -- and you elicit a response that transcends plot details and adverb over-usage.

Mechanics can be fixed and fine tuned. Word counts can be bent and plot can be tightened. That's what revisions are for, right? But that real emotion...that visceral connection with the character is powerful. Don't forget, in your quest to shine and polish your "work",  that it is a work of "art" to begin with.

So work on refining your 'rears' my friends. Until next time...Go write.

Photograph by DerrickT.   Photograph by Victor Bezrukov.  Photograph by pedrosimoes7.

W is for What the French Toast!?!

This is the last week of the Blogging from A-Z Challenge over at Arlee Bird's Tossing It Out Blog.  I've been blogging and commenting for the past month while trying to run my finished manuscript through critique circles for feedback.  As a result of all the contradicting comments about my novel, I decided to appeal to the ether for feedback...

Some people have said that my character is too emotional and that someone so sensitive would not be in her line of work, at least not for long.  Others have said that she isn't emotional enough...that the physical manifestations of emotion (shaking, sobbing, etc) are not enough and that I have to  "Say" what she is feeling as in...anguish squeezed my heart.

I think that there is a fine line between sensitive and an emotional train wreck and I'm afraid of crossing over. Then again, critique circles are supposed to help us by challenging our writing and helping us to grow in our craft.  Sheesh!  I'm going crazy trying to figure out if there is really something wrong...or I'm just getting opinion.

My question to you is this: How do you wade through all the comments and suggestions to find what is relevant and what is not?  Do you find critique groups helpful, or discouraging?  I'd love to know what you think.  Until next time...Go Write!

Photograph by Ben Werdmuller von Elgg, Uploaded on March 9, 2009.

Q is for Quagmire

I am in a "Q" is for Quagmire, a corner, a difficulty...if you will. I finished my book Ruby Dawn and celebrated for almost ten minutes before deciding that something was wrong. I'd written a fast-paced suspense -- with some ‘Romance Sauce’ and not, a Romance/Suspense. I'd gotten so into the mystery and the chase of the subplot that I'd neglected to really give my characters the time together that they needed to realistically rekindle their romance.

ARGH! I know that the genre I chose is a hard one. Romance/Suspense is really like writing two separate novels. The romance plot has to stand alone, as does the suspense. Yet, aspects of both have to serve to push along the plot of the other. I sometimes feel like two different writers; the feather-boa-wearing and bon bon eating Romance writer and the fedora-tilting, coin-flipping Mystery writer.

Needless to say I need to rip open the book, eviscerate, and re-stitch my beloved, ‘completed’ manuscript. There are scenes I worked on for hours that just don’t fit anymore, at least not if I keep the hero and heroine together for most of the book. Live and learn. This is only my second romance. The first three books I completed were suspense/thrillers along the lines of ‘24’. Not too much romance to weave in there.

I will get myself some ice cream, some sticky-notes, and a red pen. Let the carnage begin…

Until next time…Go Write!

Photograph by AMagill, Uploaded on May 11, 2006.