Getting Started
So you're sitting in your comfy chair with a Shiny New Idea. It's an epic story, with the glimmer of some great characters and one thing is certain--this is not happening in a Vanilla Setting. It's going to be full of cool places and interesting culture. You're going to need to do some world building. Definitely. You've decided that you're prepared for this.
Now what?
Now you have to answer two questions: How big is your world? and What level of World building are you going to do?
How big is your world?
Hey. That's not funny. Stop laughing! The scope of a world is a very important part of world building! You can't start until you know if you're making a small town or a region or an intergalactic empire!
To most seasoned World Architects, this question is so intuitive that we don't think about how we size our worlds. But it's actually quite complicated.
What if your story is set on a single street corner? You don't want to waste time designing a whole continent if you're never going to leave that corner, let alone the city. On the other hand, if the entire world is the street corner, then where do your characters come from when they enter the street corner? Where do they go when they leave? Who lived in the house on that corner? You don't know, because that street corner is all that exists.
What if your story is set on a single street corner? You don't want to waste time designing a whole continent if you're never going to leave that corner, let alone the city. On the other hand, if the entire world is the street corner, then where do your characters come from when they enter the street corner? Where do they go when they leave? Who lived in the house on that corner? You don't know, because that street corner is all that exists.
Different stories have different scopes. Therefore, different stories have differently sized settings. The first thing to decide when you're getting started designing your world is how big does it need to be to suit the scope of your story? A single house on a hill works for a ghost story, but what an epic fantasy probably requires at least a whole country.
Once you've figured out how big your world needs to be to fit your plot and characters, you have a foundation to use when looking at the next question:
Okay, admittedly, this is a weird way to phrase this question. A better one is: how much work do you want to do?
I've been working in a laser lab this summer. When doing analysis, we often use filters to regulate how much light gets in. If we let in too much light, the signal gets washed out. Too little and we don't see any signal to begin with.
Think of the light as the amount of world building you want to do. If you let too much world building into your story, you can wash out your epic plot and your interesting characters. If you don't let in enough, the plot doesn't shine through. Just like different types of samples require different strengths of light in order to work, different stories are complemented best by different levels of world building. What level does your story need?
Now, because I'm a science person, society tells me that I like to quantify things. So, not to diss cultural constructs on a blog about World Building, let's make this whole focus thing a little less vague, shall we? Introducing!
Level 0: Your story is set in a fictional part of a real place/time.
Level 1: Your story is set in a real place/time, but with some major modification.
Level 2: Your story is set in a fictional place/time heavily, heavily borrowing from a real place in time.
Level 3: Your story is set in a fictional place/time with similar ecology/physics to Earth, but otherwise quite different.
Level 4: Your story is set in a world with an entirely new ecology/physics, but there exists many many parallels.
Level 5: Your story is set in a society where the inhabitants are entirely inhuman.
Now to clarify, really good stories have been written in each and every one of these levels, and there's a lot of variation in how detailed the world is. Compare Harry Potter and Twilight for two stories squarely in level 1. A lot of epic fantasy is in counterpart culture Europe, making it level 2, Tamora Pierce is a good example. On the other hand, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein completely invents the Lunie society--a solid type 3. Dune is type 4 and so on. The authors use different focuses to tell very different stories.
Once you've figured out how big your world needs to be to fit your plot and characters, you have a foundation to use when looking at the next question:
What level of focus do you want to use?
I've been working in a laser lab this summer. When doing analysis, we often use filters to regulate how much light gets in. If we let in too much light, the signal gets washed out. Too little and we don't see any signal to begin with.
Think of the light as the amount of world building you want to do. If you let too much world building into your story, you can wash out your epic plot and your interesting characters. If you don't let in enough, the plot doesn't shine through. Just like different types of samples require different strengths of light in order to work, different stories are complemented best by different levels of world building. What level does your story need?
Now, because I'm a science person, society tells me that I like to quantify things. So, not to diss cultural constructs on a blog about World Building, let's make this whole focus thing a little less vague, shall we? Introducing!
The Highly Arbitrary Levels of World Building Focus
(Note: As a Sci-fi/fantasy writer, I am heavily biased. I apologize.)
Level -1: Your story is set in a real place/time with no additives. (What are you doing here? This requires research, not world building.)(Note: As a Sci-fi/fantasy writer, I am heavily biased. I apologize.)
Level 0: Your story is set in a fictional part of a real place/time.
Level 1: Your story is set in a real place/time, but with some major modification.
Level 2: Your story is set in a fictional place/time heavily, heavily borrowing from a real place in time.
Level 3: Your story is set in a fictional place/time with similar ecology/physics to Earth, but otherwise quite different.
Level 4: Your story is set in a world with an entirely new ecology/physics, but there exists many many parallels.
Level 5: Your story is set in a society where the inhabitants are entirely inhuman.
So what is your world?
Narvu is a continent-sized, level 4 world. I have lots of fun creating creatures and plants.
Mine is a dystopian Earth so I think I'm looking at a level 2 world. Basically the continents are there but nothing else is really the same. Kind of like 1984 where all the countries joined to form three nations at some point in history.
ReplyDeleteI love the comparison of worldbuilding to letting in enough light. I've never thought of it that way before and it's so true.