Photo by Blyzz @ Flickr.
Worldbuilding.
The bane of some authors’ existence. Not for me, though. I thrive on it. Not every story I write needs it. A story I wrote just this past March had very little of it simply because it wasn’t a fantasy/sci-fi based story. It was a book based more on how the characters interacted and their relationship with each other. There were no hard and fast rules that needed to be adhered to unlike in fantasy and science fiction. To be honest, it was a refreshing change of pace. But, since I primarily stick to those two genres, I’m firmly planted in them again.
So, why is worldbuilding important? If you’re dealing with a specific race of creatures, you need to have those rules in place. They are things that don’t exist in our world, so it’s your job as a writer to set up a world were the reader believes they’ve been transported to an alternate reality where these things exist. You have to convince the reader without bogging them down in detail.
Finding that balance is hard and something I still work on to this day. I slip every once in a while (as was evident in my first book), but as I’ve progress through each novel I’ve written, I’ve learned how to drop world-building bits of information into the storyline without it seeming like I’ve just weighed the reader down. I know as a reader, I personally can’t stand that and have been known to skip paragraphs upon paragraphs of information when it starts to bog down the story. As an author, the thought of someone skipping over anything I’ve written horrifies me–but do we really need to know the name of the character’s brother’s sister’s best friend’s dog? If he turns out to be vital to the plot, well sure. But otherwise, no. Leave the poor dog out of it. It’s not worldbuilding, it’s unnecessary and adds nothing of value.
I find myself asking that a lot when I’m working on something. Is this really necessary to the plot, the characters, the overall story? Part of worldbuilding is also staying within the set of rules you’ve carefully crafted. You can’t have Ms Goody-Two-Shoes not be injured in some form or fashion when she’s shot with a gun because she’s suddenly immortal when she’s been mortal all along prior to that point in the story. Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense and the readers are definitely going to pick up on something like that.
Related posts:
