World Building
It’s time to drop some knowledge son so sit down and listen up… well actually read… and I guess you can stand. You can do what you want really, I’m not the boss of you. Imagine if I was eh? Imagine if you were a character in the Sims and I was controlling it… I was never very good at the Sims… for some reason my characters kept drowning, crying out for ladders, like I’m made of ladders! Bloody ungrateful Sims, I gave you a pool! Show some gratitude you bastards!
FFS (that’s text speak ‘cause I’m cool) Not even a hundred words in and I’m wildly off topic. Wildly? Maybe not, the Sims is all about character building, and that’s building of some sort. But this isn’t about character building. This is about world building. Ok Maloney, let’s begin. Serious caps on.
Welcome to Maloney’s list of things to remember not to forget when it comes to world building and then once you’ve not forgotten them to do them. Bit of a long winded title but I’ve written it now and I hate editing so it’s there to stay.
I’m an urban fantasy writer. So my worlds are based heavily on our own but with a few extra bits thrown in for good measure, but I’m half way through writing a novel set a whole bunch of years into the future and society has changed a hell of a lot., and I had to create a whole new society. So before I began writing, I set out planning the new world. Easy you might say, well kind of. But there were a few things that I forgot about until they cropped up in my writing, which meant I had to start again in order to avoid disturbing and annoying plot holes. Ok. Let’s begin.
Things to remember not to forget and then do number one.
Society/political system.
Sounds simple right? How can someone overlook the most basic of things? Well I did. Alright? Rookie mistake I know. But here’s why. I was so excited about starting a new project I just jumped straight into the writing. I began writing from my characters point of view and every time something came up I felt the need to explain it in my prose because I hadn’t thought of it before hand. I know I could have come back and edited it out later, but as I’ve already said; I hate editing. Plus, what was I going to do, explain it every time something cropped up only to delete it all later? No thanks. I got out my notebook, and began jotting down ideas. I already knew the kind of thing I wanted. Building a society was easy because every conceivable template is already out there in the history books. Spoiler alert. I based my society on the Russian communist system from the Second World War. With a very small ruling class who oppress the hell out of the masses. A few tweaks here and there, throw in some modern technology and a few alternate history references and hey presto. Well, kind of. As this was set in the future and splintered from our own timeline, I had to come up with reasons why. The start was easy. War. It’s the biggest driver for change in the world. The war ravaged the world, and the victors took power to establish order over the masses. They just never gave it back. Again, simple, but because I had never written it down before I started writing, it kept changing ever so slightly, and I kept contradicting myself. I hate contradicting myself.
Things to remember not to forget and then do number two.
Magic.
In my world, magic plays a large part. There are those who are born with magic, and have the ability to tap into the elements for power. There are those who learn the craft, and have to tap into their own soul for power, and there are those who are gifted with power, supplied to them through a mystical power called the void.
That’s all well and good innit, three factions with three different kinds of magic. Easy peasy. But three rival factions, all with different skills and beliefs? When do they work together in harmony? The answer, rarely. So I had to think about how these factions interacted, what they thought about the others. What they thought about non-magic users and what non-magic users thought about each of them.
And in my communists society, where the strong oppress the weak, how does magic play into it. Who’s the most powerful? How do they oppress the weaker ones? Why do those who can conjure flaming horses of death cower in caves? All these points that I overlooked, but play important roles in setting the tone for my book.
Things to remember not to forget and then do number three.
Technology.
In a world with magic, why bother with technology or science? Because in the world, only a select few are allowed to practice magic, and the mere mortals that make up the rest of the world have to suffer through life as normal. What kind of technology’s are available? What tech is controlled and what is available to the general public? As it’s in the future, what technology has progressed, and how far has it? How does it tie in with the history?
And lastly on my list of things to remember not to forget and then do,
Religion.
There will always be some kind of religion. And always be some kind of struggle between religions. Of course there is. Practices and ideals clash, zealots and fanatics are spawned and hatred and distrust are created. Why have these religions come to be? What are their beliefs? What kind of people do they attract? What is the most popular religion? Why? Are there any different interpretations of the same one?
So there they are. Four things that I forgot to remember and didn’t do and decided they needed to be in a list of things to remember not to forget and then do.
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