Fiction Writing and World Building
World building is an inherent part of fiction writing. And it’s not just for fantasy and science fiction writers.
I can already see the contemporary fiction writers rolling their eyes and thinking, but I write stories set in the modern world, the real world. What does world building have to do with me?
The answer is, quite simply: everything.
Speculative Fiction and World Building
Of course, speculative fiction writing involves in-depth world building. Faraway planets and the distant past (or future) provide the setting, but it’s the writer’s imagination that supplies the rest.
Each world must come complete with geography, culture, and a social system. Some fictional worlds are reflections of the world we all know, but there are others that are so wildly different, it’s amazing that with mere words a writer can pull us into these alternate realities.
In the science fiction and fantasy genres, writers have an enormous challenge in world-building, but that’s part of the reason so many fiction writers are drawn to those genres – world building is fun. It’s creative and lets you really put your imagination to good use.
Fiction Writing in the Real World
Writing fiction in a contemporary setting might be a lot easier. At least you have a pretty good grasp of the foundation on which your world is built, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the world-building hook.
Think about this world and the people in it. Have you ever visited a household that was completely different from you own? Ever been to a city that felt like a different country (or planet)? Ever started a new job, a new school, or got to know a group of people that made you feel like you had entered a totally different world?
We may all share the same planet, and technically, it’s one world. But it’s also a conglomerate of many smaller worlds. Think about your country, city, neighborhood, your home, and finally, the world you live in inside your own head.
Now, imagine your characters. Sure, you can put them in the same world that you’re already familiar with, but where’s the fun in that? And wouldn’t that be more of a memoir than an adventure in fiction writing?
Start Building Your World
There are articles, books, and entire websites dedicated to the craft of world building. There are even video games that allow you to build virtual worlds, though I don’t recommend those for writers since those games can be addictive and if you’re busy gaming, how will you ever get your fiction writing done?
I’d like to close with some questions that we can all think about when we’re plotting and planning and building a world for fiction:
- In your own fiction writing, do you intentionally build a world or let it happen organically?
- Do you write speculative fiction and if so, what is your world building process?
- If you write contemporary fiction, do you keep it close to home, writing about people and places that you know, or do you venture beyond the familiar?
And finally, do you think world building is essential to fiction writing or is it only applicable to select writers or genres?
Keep on writing!
Do you have any fiction writing or world building tips to share? Leave a comment!
Absolutely – absolutely necessary to build the world, whether it’s fantasy or real world, because the reader needs to get a sense of where they are. I guess the difficulty is, however, to not just throw the world straight at the reader, i.e. describe everything in one go, at the start of the book. Also, it’s really easy to just “tell” the setting, whereas I think it’s better to be shown – as in it’s what the characters would be seeing at any moment, rather than the narrator telling us about the whole 360 degrees of the scene and the whole history of the place in one great go.
I think a great place to start is by looking at photographs or a place, or indeed sit somewhere, maybe a park, and write about what you see, in the order that you see it. That makes it authentic, and it feels like I’m getting bits and pieces in the order that they come into prominence, which also can help build a character – i.e. why did they focus on the phone-booth first and not the red car parked next to it e.g. because they’re waiting to talk to someone and not thinking about traveling.
I keep a daily 1000+ word offbeat fiction short blog at jamesbent.com/blog
.-= James Bent´s last blog ..New Fiction Short: White butterflies and Shapeless Clouds =-.
I couldn’t agree more. There are few things in literature that are more droll than reading page after page of description. I’ve seen it done effectively, but usually, it tends to be tedious, uninteresting, and boring. The trick is to establish the world or setting through the action so that you keep the reader engaged while revealing their environment. J.K. Rowling does this particularly well. Using photographs is a good idea — a writer can immerse herself in the locale and then it is more likely to come through the writing organically.
Great points. I was reminded of how different the modern world can be for each of us when visiting my mother for Mother’s Day. I am one of five children raised in the same home and today we are all living in completely different worlds. From the media we choose to allow us to influence our decisions to the genres we read, the clothing we wear, one cannot make assumptions about any of us based on geography or culture.
@James you are so right that our mindset shapes our perceptions and we should shape our presentation of information to the reader with this in mind. If the character wouldn’t notice it, should the reader? I like how Margaret Atwood managed this in The Robber Bride. Three different third person accounts – each only presented metaphors and descriptions pertinent to the focus character’s mindset.
.-= Tammi Kibler´s last blog ..Writing Career Goals – Plot Your Destination =-.
It’s rather amazing that children from the same household can grow up into completely different adults with vastly contrasting interests and lifestyles. We really understand very little about what forms a person’s identity (nature vs. nurture). But fiction is definitely one way to explore the mysteries of human nature!