World Building: Mechanics & Tactics To Feed Your Creative Monster

Depending on your own personal taste of reading, the science of surroundings is taken on in a variety of ways by writers of all genres and styles. Whether you're writing non-fiction or fiction, there are a few guidelines that might help you create the kind of ambiance in your readers' mind that keeps them interested enough to continue turning pages way past dinner time. I will also go over other examples as well that cater more to both fiction and non-fiction, specifically.

The first thing to remember when building worlds, whether real or fictional is that if you spend too much effort in painting a picture, you rob your reader of their own imaginative fuel. If you take ten pages to describe the architecture of a front porch then it is easy to create lack of interest in your reader due to imposing upon them a sense that their way of imagining the porch is inferior to yours. Remember that great books are made not by the surroundings of the story but the characters that animate those surroundings. People want to relate to the humanity of a situation and be granted a certain sense of wonder in their own mind space.

Another topic in world building that bridges the gap between fantasy and reality is the use of colors and shapes. While numbers and letters are more uniform and need to be dictated, colors and shapes can be issued analogies and loosely fitting descriptions that, once again, grant your reader a sense that they also have some creative control of the story. I am the first one to admit that my stories are like my children and I want to protect them. But, I am also a firm believer in allowing my babies free room to sprout and branch out in a number of ways. For instance, when describing a leaf that has fallen from a tree,; Instead of taking three paragraphs to describe the tinges of progressive browns and lifeless reds left to die on the frost bitten tomb hidden on an open field, you could say that the veins of the leaf called out to the wind to carry it toward a neighboring pond in effort to lend it one more chance at finding life. Let the reader decide what color and shape the leaf is and what kind of tree it came from.

The mood of the stories surroundings is something else that is dictated far too much in writing. The weather is the best example of this. One good paragraph is sufficient when describing the weather in a story for a particular day. Going on for pages about it is unnecessary unless it is directly being related to the characters themselves. The unifier in all of writing should always be the emotions of the characters. The ambiance can be detailed if it is used as a lead in toward relating to the characters in the story. It provides depth and allows your reader to feel connected to the story in a far more intimate way. Create connection from the characters to the reader and you will often find yourself successful.

More specific examples of world building in a non-fiction story is to keep the pictures painted short, sweet, and poignant. Far more so than in fantasy and fiction overall. People read fiction to be informed, so unless your book is about architecture or agriculture or gardening then a very brief one or two sentence description of the scene is plenty when getting into the world of the story being told. As the scenes themselves change then feel free to give a little more depth in the backdrop. If it creates emotion then it will likely not be words wasted. Just remember that non-fiction is about being informed. Anyone who picks up a non-fiction book expects to be told a story with no fluff or bullshit. The less filler the better. Stick to the facts of the story whenever possible in non-fiction and try to never veer off topic into lengthy descriptions of buildings and surroundings.

In terms of fiction and fantasy world building, there is far more freedom involved. However, it is easy to get lost in trying to construct a detailed realm and all of the things that fill it and forget about the beings that inhabit that world. People want uniqueness and creativity most certainly, but as I stated earlier; They want a certain amount of control over the intricacies of those worlds. Focus on the generalities of your realms and landscapes rather than the specifics of the blueprints you want to download into the minds of your readers. Telling stories is all about creating bonds through the adversities and triumphs of the beings in the tales that we, as authors, crave to weave. So many of us are ripe with ideas about the next coolest sci-fi invention that hasn't been thought of yet or an improvement on someone else's idea. What the best writers understand is that those spats of creative brilliance are but the icing on the cake. It's our characters and their dialogue and the situations we place them in that make for exciting reads.

In closing, the history of literature has taught the greatest writers that it is the emotions, actions, words, and trials of our characters that create the worlds our readers immerse them in. It is best to bait the proverbial creative hook with glints of scenes and backdrops and allow our dialogue and unique stories to reel in the reader and make them eager to drop another line in your pond of imagination.

-Christopher Storm
-aka- "The Stormcaller"

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