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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Character Building: Learning To Mold Your Creations In Ways That Spark Intrigue

We all have our favorite heroes, villains, cartoons, leaders, parents, and gurus. Some of them happen to be fictitious and some of them happen to be real. In this message to all the hungry writers out there, I am going to touch on what traits make characters popular and methods to make them both believable and unique. As with any of my work, to fully grasp the scope of my advice; You must let go of anything related to a rule or belief. At least for a little while...

Regardless of what type of character you want to create, you must practice patience when introducing them to your audience. If you just blurt out all their characteristics in one chapter then it becomes too much for your reader to take in and inside the next couple chapters they will become uninterested because they find your characters to be too predictable and boring. Take your time. Tease your readers. Give them the physical traits enough to where it draws a picture in their mind but leave a few things to the imagination. This is especially true if you are writing a series where the character will be reoccurring. Leave some details in waiting until the perfect surprise scene comes that is just right to wow your audience.

Another equally important aspect to remember is that almost everyone wants to feel like they know their characters closely. Their words must pull the reader into their world, making every street they turn down and every enemy they fight seem as if they are in danger as well. This requires keeping boundaries infinite in your thoughts as you write. If you impose any predispositions to your beliefs then it is sure to hinder your story. Capturing your readers attention with every sentence as best you can, making them take the book into the bathroom with them and staying up hours and being late for work is what any successful author instills in their fan base.

In terms of personality, it is important to exacerbate their traits and make them stand out in unique ways. Add in mannerisms that add extra poignancy to their minds. If your character is evil then make them have a hobby that disgusts the reader and create malice within your fans. Make a victim so shockingly vulnerable and lovable that when they fall prey to your villain that a sincere sense of loss is birthed in the minds of your fans.

                                                                           If your character is a hero then make them have a life that oozes peace and justice in all they do. You don't have to form a new superhero to make them loved. You simply have to make all their actions and words compliment the story you are telling and create a sense of compassion and make your readers wish the character was a real life person. It doesn't matter if they are children, teens, adults, or senior citizens; Heroes, or villains for that matter, need to be introduced over time and their deeds done in ways that build tension and make the reader wonder what they are going to do next.

For characters that are not central to your story, it is good to focus on their appearance or make one specific trait stand out above all the rest of them. This makes them memorable without clouding the rest of the story with questions or details that make it feel that something is missing by the time the book is over. There are exceptions of course. Such as in mysteries or crime novels, it is important to have other characters who are candidates as suspects for the crimes or scenes in question. Even then it is good to give them a trait which makes them memorable without the need to keep them in constant interaction with central characters.

From a twitchy wink in an alluring femme fatales' eyes to a nefarious love for collecting children's fingernails; Building characters in your story should always be the number one focus of your writing endeavor. Without them, the story is but a scene without words. A world without personality. Remember that when your fans want to marry your superhero or slowly torture your villain it makes them come back for more and tell their friends about the book they just read and threw against the wall multiple times because they couldn't believe what they just read.

By Christopher Storm
-aka- "The Stormcaller"

Post Script: If you enjoy my work and want to learn more about the growing interest in global corruption and the problems that affect us now as well as the threats that will affect our children in the future then check out my other blog, Stormcalling.

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