About a month ago, I finished the first draft of a new novel. Wanting to improve, I've been trying to find some people who can give me honest, constructive criticism. If you are interested, check out the story on figment. I'm only on chapter 16, and I'm adding new chapters as I finish them in the second draft. Constructive criticism is more than welcomed.
http://figment.com/books/130295-War-of-Magic
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
World Building Fun
I'm a history geek, though I occasionally dabble in other subjects like anthropology or geology, depending on my mood. When I create fantasy-esque stories or those not set in the real world, I really enjoy using those real-life topics to help build new worlds. Right now, I'm in the process of creating a new world that I used in a recently-finished novel of mine.
My story, unlike most others than I write, has a modern-esque, urban setting. I admit that I have little experience with cities, as I rarely visit Atlanta and I try to avoid it when I can. When I visited the northern part of the city last weekend, I took the opportunity to study what I could, looking at the streets, the apartments, and how entire areas were structured. Afterwards, I used google maps to look over the city and then wikipedia to discover the names of the city's different neighborhoods and regions. These things helped me get a better picture of how to structure my urban fantasy city. At some point, I will probably draw a rough map of the city's neighborhoods so that I will be able to track my characters' movements and figure out where certain events take place. Another thing that helped me with my city-building was a book called "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder, which I read for a history class earlier this year. This book was very informative about that New York City neighborhood during the nineteenth century, and it gave me a detailed look of the poverty and developing culture within that small region; it helped me create the slummy areas of my city where my protagonist and her family live.
But my world-building can't just stop at the city, though it will become less detailed. Because my city is set on an island, I do a bit of wikipedia research on islands to see which one(s) may be the most like the island in my story. I may add a bit more details on the island because the story ends outside of the city (where 99% of the story takes place), and so I'll need to know more about what lies outside that area. I'm also doing a bit of history about the island at the moment so that I know a little more about it and perhaps find some more relevant facts needed in the story.
Because my island is run by an empire, next I will do some sparse world-building on the empire. It will not be in much detail, as I will focus more on the political, historical, economical, and social factors that could contribute to the specific city and to the story's plot. If I choose to go into more detail, then that information is more for my own geekiness and is unlikely to be divulged in the course of the story or anywhere else.
Not everyone has the same interests as myself, but I do believe that writers who do world-building for new worlds should try to get as in-depth in it as they can. This detail will help you keep your world's background details consistent, and it will make it seem more realistic. I'm reminded of George R.R. Martin's world in "Song of Fire and Ice," where he goes into great details about the cultures, origins of certain peoples, etc... and he does it well, even if some of the details aren't directly related to the plot.
My story, unlike most others than I write, has a modern-esque, urban setting. I admit that I have little experience with cities, as I rarely visit Atlanta and I try to avoid it when I can. When I visited the northern part of the city last weekend, I took the opportunity to study what I could, looking at the streets, the apartments, and how entire areas were structured. Afterwards, I used google maps to look over the city and then wikipedia to discover the names of the city's different neighborhoods and regions. These things helped me get a better picture of how to structure my urban fantasy city. At some point, I will probably draw a rough map of the city's neighborhoods so that I will be able to track my characters' movements and figure out where certain events take place. Another thing that helped me with my city-building was a book called "Five Points" by Tyler Anbinder, which I read for a history class earlier this year. This book was very informative about that New York City neighborhood during the nineteenth century, and it gave me a detailed look of the poverty and developing culture within that small region; it helped me create the slummy areas of my city where my protagonist and her family live.
But my world-building can't just stop at the city, though it will become less detailed. Because my city is set on an island, I do a bit of wikipedia research on islands to see which one(s) may be the most like the island in my story. I may add a bit more details on the island because the story ends outside of the city (where 99% of the story takes place), and so I'll need to know more about what lies outside that area. I'm also doing a bit of history about the island at the moment so that I know a little more about it and perhaps find some more relevant facts needed in the story.
Because my island is run by an empire, next I will do some sparse world-building on the empire. It will not be in much detail, as I will focus more on the political, historical, economical, and social factors that could contribute to the specific city and to the story's plot. If I choose to go into more detail, then that information is more for my own geekiness and is unlikely to be divulged in the course of the story or anywhere else.
Not everyone has the same interests as myself, but I do believe that writers who do world-building for new worlds should try to get as in-depth in it as they can. This detail will help you keep your world's background details consistent, and it will make it seem more realistic. I'm reminded of George R.R. Martin's world in "Song of Fire and Ice," where he goes into great details about the cultures, origins of certain peoples, etc... and he does it well, even if some of the details aren't directly related to the plot.
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