This was an instructional post that will help me with my trilogy. It's hard to keep up with details through a series of stories, so these seven categories should help.
That’s the thing: trying to find a balance between enough detail to help wih the storytelling, but without getting lost in your own creation. Glad to help!
Simon, this was such a detailed post. I enjoyed reading all of it. Before I start any story, I do brainstorm and have a template I use for this. I try to get an idea of my character, for example, what haunts them, what truth are they running from, one secret that no one knows about them, something they would never do. I developed this in Notion as a template. From there, I will develop the demon or dark force in my story. What kind of supernatural force are they? A demon, a cursed object, or where did they originate from? I follow this method, which is a little newer for me as I find brainstorming then outlining is best, so I have a solid idea where I want my story to go. I write in the supernatural horror genre, and feel that having structure is best for me. Also, since my story will also involve the supernatural world where those who are part of that world are crossing over via a hidden portal, unknown here in Phoenix, I will be developing that world a bit too. A lot of this is new to me, as I normally have written short stories and have tried off and on with longer works of fiction, but I always lose steam and interest and never finish. I am hoping this method will work well for me. I also use Novel Crafter, which is a fabulous tool where I will put everything in a beat sheet using the Save the Cat Plot Method. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic piece.
As I am writing a serial fantasy story right now, I think I generally found to have dropped in your idea as well.
I wrote out the magic system, set it in stone to make sure that works. I set the time to medieval magic fantasy, so I can let most of the default fantasy stuff do some heavy lifting.
I created a worldmap and went on my way to start planning out, roughly who the geography was and what was where, like deserts, rainforests, and the races that live there.
I created the races, placed them in logical places and did some pros & cons to being any one of them, especially how they use magic.
Basically , as I had the world down, I started roughly outlining what my story would be, beginning to end. Just the things that I really want to happen. Placed those things on the map, and the details will follow.
Now I am writing the chapters, and the details that I need are filled in when I need them.
Need a character? Sure, let's write his/her backstory. Sometimes this causes a just a regional thing to come into existence, like him/her having been part of a local conflict. Or, as happened as well, a worldwide criminal organization that disrupts global trade and had a large conflict where the new character was part of and lost his father...
It works for me to live in a sort of fog-of-war, but I do plan out complete regions as they are needed.
A friend of mine loves the worldbuilding aspect so I let him do a country and now spread out to other parts of the world. So now the world is getting more filled out with my idea as base, while I focus a bit more on the writing of chapters haha.
I'm really torn on world-building - I can see the inherent fun in it but I also resent spending too much time crafting stuff that's not going directly on the page. This is probably the books I write that rely on that kind of thing are more linear and less interwoven, plot-wise. I want to get on and tell the story. I'm very much a dropper-in, I'll drop the odd thing in for flavour or colour but ultimately, I tend to write too much on the fly to get drawn into that side of it. I don't know if it's laziness or the knowledge that if I started down that route, I'd never stop and the book would be forgotten.
The temptation to disappear down a lore hole is a real risk!
I did more for Triverse than I normally do, out of necessity, so putting in boundaries was vital - I had a start date for the series, so had to contain my worst impulses. :D
Simon, thanks for post on world building. I write near future military political technothrillers so my focus is on changes in government, weapons, and any technology centered on the story, for example neurotech implants. I sit down with a notebook and ask lots of questions and write down answers. When I'm done with that exercise I capture in a One Note file. I find it helpful to write out more world building than shows up in the book but it helps me figure out the world my characters inhabit. Sometimes I even put down timelines for political events. For my first book, in the US there's one dominant political party, The Patriot Party, and they have taken over society. Total Right Wing / Conservative Fantasy agenda. Doing this thinking drives the story and the world my characters inhabit. I don't worry about every detail but enough to write the story and add later as needed.
Can't argue about that list, since it's basically the same one I use, although I kick in some sub categories.
Some of this is colored by my TTRPG background, of course. As an example of sub-categories, all the nations on my current campaign map have a chart of some things (some government officials, Church orientations, some landmarks, ports, capital city, blah-blah), but for this post the important listing is a chief import and export under economics. Just having one for each nation sets me up with SOMETHING to use as a mission hook (take item A to nation X, bring item B back to nation Y), and chart changes to the world caused by players.
In-use example from my current Cutlass campaign. PC home continent has a wood shortage - old growth forests denuded. Players were contracted by a lumber guy who has shifted into luxury carving as he no longer has resources to trade in construction. PC's were delivering wedding gifts - carved wooden chalices and the picture frame for the wedding portrait - to a couple who turned out to be friends of the party.
This was really to set up the campaign situation of wood shortage.
Next mission players (who currently have the most complete world map - a high value item with a only two known copies) to sail west and explore. Sure enough, they found the largely uninhabited landmass with tons of virgin forest. The players, I'm pleased to say, chose NOT to enslave the indigenous population. But, now my campaign economics change because there's a new source of wood controlled by a cartel. (Note the cartel isn't as nice as the players and the follow up expeditions are doing horrible things to the local tribes.) Player's King demanded a copy of the PC's rutters to this new land, which the players refused to give over. Love it. Not only do I get to shift the campaign economics, the PC's spat in the eye of the King, which means they're about to be declared outlaws (especially as the cartel the PCs are working with is from an enemy nation, and the King has learned this). Which costs the cartel their backdoor trading route to the PC homeland, meaning the cartel is gonna maneuver the players out. Yes, I get to take away all they built.
For the game, this is better. It's good to play the underdog trying to build up. More fun than being rich and powerful executives, because WHY go out and risk your life when you can sit in your manor house and be rich?
Point being, that's just one example of the feedback loop between some semi detailed world building and narrative. Of course, in Triverse, you've done exactly the same sort of resource disruption as my Cutlass game. You used "Probably Better," I used wood, but both cases are fundamental disruption of a driving economic/social factor. In the Cutlass game the PCs are driving the disruption, while in Triverse I designate the antagonists as "NPCs" driving the disruption.
Of course if the journal allows the SDC crew's allies to complete Kaenmor's spell, you end the story with massive socio-economic upheaval.
TTRPG requirements are slightly different also because the immediate demands of players require a faster response than, say, the demands of my characters. If one of my characters ends up doing something I didn’t anticipate, I can take as long as I want (sort of) to figure that out and find a way forward. A DM in a game needs to know the world intimately enough to be able to roll with crazy decisions and twists in a matter of seconds.
I’ve done a bit of DMing with young kids, where it’s inherently chaotic and fun, but the skill I’ve seen from experienced DMs blows my mind.
It's true the TTRPG requires more quick thinking on one's feet. But it's still true in both fiction and games that your pre-prep and world building is what makes it possible to change and adapt - if your book character surprises you, if a plot point arises which takes you onto a tangent or digression.
Having your background built up, if not totally detailed or "locked" frees you up to improvise. I mean my current campaign background is only about 15 pages to sketch out 15 nations.
But my shorthand has been developed over decades, so I have a good tool set to use.
Of course I stole a LOT from the Crimson Cutlass rules because the way those were developed worked well for the way I organize data. Like the personality matrix we've both used, which is a fusion of a Cutlass mechanic and my own musings on the Meyers-Briggs test.
Yes, I’m doing similar -a serialised story - too much exposition is a prob.
I can do making up projects worlds scenarios & doing storyboards/designing all day long it’s filling in all the details where I’d like an Assistant ! ( but not AI ).
( from Grant - of Milktown Writers - its a writing group not just me ! )
This was an instructional post that will help me with my trilogy. It's hard to keep up with details through a series of stories, so these seven categories should help.
That’s the thing: trying to find a balance between enough detail to help wih the storytelling, but without getting lost in your own creation. Glad to help!
Simon, this was such a detailed post. I enjoyed reading all of it. Before I start any story, I do brainstorm and have a template I use for this. I try to get an idea of my character, for example, what haunts them, what truth are they running from, one secret that no one knows about them, something they would never do. I developed this in Notion as a template. From there, I will develop the demon or dark force in my story. What kind of supernatural force are they? A demon, a cursed object, or where did they originate from? I follow this method, which is a little newer for me as I find brainstorming then outlining is best, so I have a solid idea where I want my story to go. I write in the supernatural horror genre, and feel that having structure is best for me. Also, since my story will also involve the supernatural world where those who are part of that world are crossing over via a hidden portal, unknown here in Phoenix, I will be developing that world a bit too. A lot of this is new to me, as I normally have written short stories and have tried off and on with longer works of fiction, but I always lose steam and interest and never finish. I am hoping this method will work well for me. I also use Novel Crafter, which is a fabulous tool where I will put everything in a beat sheet using the Save the Cat Plot Method. Thanks for sharing such a fantastic piece.
As I am writing a serial fantasy story right now, I think I generally found to have dropped in your idea as well.
I wrote out the magic system, set it in stone to make sure that works. I set the time to medieval magic fantasy, so I can let most of the default fantasy stuff do some heavy lifting.
I created a worldmap and went on my way to start planning out, roughly who the geography was and what was where, like deserts, rainforests, and the races that live there.
I created the races, placed them in logical places and did some pros & cons to being any one of them, especially how they use magic.
Basically , as I had the world down, I started roughly outlining what my story would be, beginning to end. Just the things that I really want to happen. Placed those things on the map, and the details will follow.
Now I am writing the chapters, and the details that I need are filled in when I need them.
Need a character? Sure, let's write his/her backstory. Sometimes this causes a just a regional thing to come into existence, like him/her having been part of a local conflict. Or, as happened as well, a worldwide criminal organization that disrupts global trade and had a large conflict where the new character was part of and lost his father...
It works for me to live in a sort of fog-of-war, but I do plan out complete regions as they are needed.
A friend of mine loves the worldbuilding aspect so I let him do a country and now spread out to other parts of the world. So now the world is getting more filled out with my idea as base, while I focus a bit more on the writing of chapters haha.
I'm really torn on world-building - I can see the inherent fun in it but I also resent spending too much time crafting stuff that's not going directly on the page. This is probably the books I write that rely on that kind of thing are more linear and less interwoven, plot-wise. I want to get on and tell the story. I'm very much a dropper-in, I'll drop the odd thing in for flavour or colour but ultimately, I tend to write too much on the fly to get drawn into that side of it. I don't know if it's laziness or the knowledge that if I started down that route, I'd never stop and the book would be forgotten.
The temptation to disappear down a lore hole is a real risk!
I did more for Triverse than I normally do, out of necessity, so putting in boundaries was vital - I had a start date for the series, so had to contain my worst impulses. :D
If I ever find myself drawing a map, I'll chop my hands off...
Wow. You really went for expert mode in world building. Kudos for pulling it off!
Simon, thanks for post on world building. I write near future military political technothrillers so my focus is on changes in government, weapons, and any technology centered on the story, for example neurotech implants. I sit down with a notebook and ask lots of questions and write down answers. When I'm done with that exercise I capture in a One Note file. I find it helpful to write out more world building than shows up in the book but it helps me figure out the world my characters inhabit. Sometimes I even put down timelines for political events. For my first book, in the US there's one dominant political party, The Patriot Party, and they have taken over society. Total Right Wing / Conservative Fantasy agenda. Doing this thinking drives the story and the world my characters inhabit. I don't worry about every detail but enough to write the story and add later as needed.
Always appreciate the viewpoints and process you work in. Inspires me and sometimes tips me off to something new.
Can't argue about that list, since it's basically the same one I use, although I kick in some sub categories.
Some of this is colored by my TTRPG background, of course. As an example of sub-categories, all the nations on my current campaign map have a chart of some things (some government officials, Church orientations, some landmarks, ports, capital city, blah-blah), but for this post the important listing is a chief import and export under economics. Just having one for each nation sets me up with SOMETHING to use as a mission hook (take item A to nation X, bring item B back to nation Y), and chart changes to the world caused by players.
In-use example from my current Cutlass campaign. PC home continent has a wood shortage - old growth forests denuded. Players were contracted by a lumber guy who has shifted into luxury carving as he no longer has resources to trade in construction. PC's were delivering wedding gifts - carved wooden chalices and the picture frame for the wedding portrait - to a couple who turned out to be friends of the party.
This was really to set up the campaign situation of wood shortage.
Next mission players (who currently have the most complete world map - a high value item with a only two known copies) to sail west and explore. Sure enough, they found the largely uninhabited landmass with tons of virgin forest. The players, I'm pleased to say, chose NOT to enslave the indigenous population. But, now my campaign economics change because there's a new source of wood controlled by a cartel. (Note the cartel isn't as nice as the players and the follow up expeditions are doing horrible things to the local tribes.) Player's King demanded a copy of the PC's rutters to this new land, which the players refused to give over. Love it. Not only do I get to shift the campaign economics, the PC's spat in the eye of the King, which means they're about to be declared outlaws (especially as the cartel the PCs are working with is from an enemy nation, and the King has learned this). Which costs the cartel their backdoor trading route to the PC homeland, meaning the cartel is gonna maneuver the players out. Yes, I get to take away all they built.
For the game, this is better. It's good to play the underdog trying to build up. More fun than being rich and powerful executives, because WHY go out and risk your life when you can sit in your manor house and be rich?
Point being, that's just one example of the feedback loop between some semi detailed world building and narrative. Of course, in Triverse, you've done exactly the same sort of resource disruption as my Cutlass game. You used "Probably Better," I used wood, but both cases are fundamental disruption of a driving economic/social factor. In the Cutlass game the PCs are driving the disruption, while in Triverse I designate the antagonists as "NPCs" driving the disruption.
Of course if the journal allows the SDC crew's allies to complete Kaenmor's spell, you end the story with massive socio-economic upheaval.
TTRPG requirements are slightly different also because the immediate demands of players require a faster response than, say, the demands of my characters. If one of my characters ends up doing something I didn’t anticipate, I can take as long as I want (sort of) to figure that out and find a way forward. A DM in a game needs to know the world intimately enough to be able to roll with crazy decisions and twists in a matter of seconds.
I’ve done a bit of DMing with young kids, where it’s inherently chaotic and fun, but the skill I’ve seen from experienced DMs blows my mind.
It's true the TTRPG requires more quick thinking on one's feet. But it's still true in both fiction and games that your pre-prep and world building is what makes it possible to change and adapt - if your book character surprises you, if a plot point arises which takes you onto a tangent or digression.
Having your background built up, if not totally detailed or "locked" frees you up to improvise. I mean my current campaign background is only about 15 pages to sketch out 15 nations.
But my shorthand has been developed over decades, so I have a good tool set to use.
Of course I stole a LOT from the Crimson Cutlass rules because the way those were developed worked well for the way I organize data. Like the personality matrix we've both used, which is a fusion of a Cutlass mechanic and my own musings on the Meyers-Briggs test.
Thank you for sharing. I admire your discipline.
Yes, I’m doing similar -a serialised story - too much exposition is a prob.
I can do making up projects worlds scenarios & doing storyboards/designing all day long it’s filling in all the details where I’d like an Assistant ! ( but not AI ).
( from Grant - of Milktown Writers - its a writing group not just me ! )