Building a world - by Michael E. Gonzales

Building a world.

I have received several compliments on the “worlds” I have built for my story and characters to live in.

“Mike, how do you do it?”

Well, first it should be known that I read a lot of books, and articles on the internet, about writing in general, and world building specifically.

But, of course it all has to start in the mind. For me, I must see every detail come to life. The dark void in my mind must fill with the visuals in extreme detail.  I sit and imagine the set where my drama will play out. I close my eyes and see the places where my adventure will occur.

Latter, I’ll go on line, find images that look as I see them and then, in photoshop I alter them to better resemble my invented locals. I do this to assist me in visualization and thus description.

But eventually you have to put it all down on paper.

A general map of the entire planet (if your going all over it) or just the area of the world where your story unfolds. Mountains, lakes, streams, rivers, seas, and of course the cities and towns, and give a name to each.

If the story takes place in just one town, you need to draw out the city plan, mark the important structures, and give a name to every street. The same is true for the larger world, even if you don’t plan to use these details go on and name the lakes, streams, rivers, and adjacent habitations. Determine the distances between the locations.

All this will aid you in maintaining consistency and continuity in your story.

Worlds, even those in science fiction and fantasy have more to them than just terrain features. You must consider the flora and fauna. If the world is…other worldly, then you must dream up plants and animals that fit your world.

For example, in The Vampires of Antyllus the planet orbits a red star binary system and the planet is smaller than Earth. These two facts dictate a lot about the flora and fauna. Red stars (the most plentiful type of star in the galaxy) do not put out as much light as our own sun and in a different wavelength.  So, day time on Antyllus will be just a tad brighter than twilight. This means the plants will be darker in color. Shades of dark blue, mostly, but also black, burnt orange, deep red, these colors will absorb more of the stars energy which is necessary for photosynthesis.

The trees, generally, will be taller, due to the low gravity (smaller planet, remember?) and so will the animal life, they will be bigger, stronger, meaner.

 This applies to the anthropoid life as well.

Let’s call the anthropoids “people”. These people will have their own civilization, their own culture, their own religion. It’s really important that you invent and detail all of this.

And of course, the people from Earth are not living in our “universe”. The civilization and culture they live in will not be that which we are familiar with. So, this is where you must employ a bit of speculative fiction, and guess either about the future, or invent a new Earth culture from the ground up.

Create as much detail as you can before your start. However, as we all know, things happen as you write, new places and things spring forth from your fertile imagination that might just change the course of your story. When this happens, go to your records and to your map and make note of the new additions.

As for the stuff you don’t use, it’s okay, leave it be. You might have call to reference those notes in the future.

For me world building is not only critical, but a great deal of fun as well. On your first draft, go crazy, you can always readdress it later.

With your pen, or your computer, you can wield the power of creation!

Please visit my Web Site:  http://www.mikegonzalesauthor.com/home.html

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Thank you!

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