Make The Setting Of Your Story A Character

One of the most common reasons I pass on projects is the lack of depth in a story. In many of the cases, it is an issue of the character development, but there is also a group where the issue stems from the world building. In other words, I have a bunch of characters running around talking to each other in a world that is blank. Had they taken some time to make that setting an actual living and breathing character, the story would have a bit more depth and feel to it.

Giving your setting depth is actually an easy process and it simply relies on your use of senses. Let's say that you are setting your story in a small town. When we think of a small town, there are a lot of images that come into play. Consider:

• The size of the streets
• The types of shops you might see along the side of the road
• The types of cars that drive down the road
• The type of people that you would likely see in the town. 

You can take it a step further when you think of the story geographically. In other words, a small town in the mid-west is going to look different than a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Consider these:

Here is Onaga, Kansas...

And here is Morton, Washington






Both are small towns but you can see the feel is really different.

You can also practice this activity by thinking of how you would describe a holiday setting in your home. It is not just about the crowds of people, but the smell of the food mingling with the smell of cologne and perfume. Maybe the temperature of the room, the textures of the furniture and walls and so forth. Now add in the "feel of the room." This would be the energy and the excitement of the people. Is there tension between Uncle George and Cousin Kenny over the behaviors of one of the kids? Bring this all out.

The key here is to use that mantra we have all heard over and over again. SHOW don't TELL. Don't just have your characters talk in a blank space. Give them a world. They deserve it!

How Much History In Your Historical Novel

Historical novels are a strange breed of creature. We have stories set in a real time, with real people and events, and yet we weave our fictional characters among these people. As an author, the struggle comes when we have to translate to our readers a time period or a location they might not know anything about, and yet, at the same time, do so without it taking over the central story arc we have planned out.

When we think of weaving in that historical information, the best way to think about it is in terms of world building. You have the entire world in your head and now you have to immerse the reader in your world. Of course, when we spend the time talking about world building, we never just start out the story telling us about the entire world our story is located. Frankly, that would drive away any reader. Along the same lines, we don't, right in the middle of a great scene, stop and unload pages of world building. We eek that information in for the reader on a "need to know basis."

The approach to doing this is pretty simple. When the characters need the information, then reveal it to the reader at the same time. For example, if your hero has just come back from war and the reader needs to know all about who the war was with and what it was like, we don't want to just start cranking out the historical facts. We let the reader learn it when the heroine asks something such as "What was it like?" We have the hero give us through introspection who the war was with, where it happened and what it was like, as he thinks about his brother who died during the war with him - the one he couldn't save.

Now, the amount of history you add to the story depends on the complexity of your plot. If, for example, you are writing a simple Regency, the historical context can be the scenery and the backdrop for the story. We just need to see what it looks like through the eyes of your character. If, you are setting the story in Scotland, again, you can focus on the scenery, but add in a bit of the information about the clan structure.

But, if your story involves a plot element that is a bit more complex, you will need to take the time to have the characters talk about the events with each other to reveal the information to the readers. For example, in Bronwyn Scott's latest novel* PLAYING THE RAKE'S GAME, she has immersed the hero in the middle of the Caribbean Apprenticeship conflicts of 1835. This is not exactly a time period or an event we would have learned about in our European history classes. So, Scott, has one of the characters reveal the information. As, Ren is finding out about the problems on this new plantation he owns, he asks his best friend Kitt what's going on.

Kitt gave another one of his shrugs. "Its the apprenticeship programme. It's a great source of controversy in the parish."

Ren nodded. "I am familiar with it." Slavery in the British Caribbean had been abolished a couple of years ago. It had been replaced with the notion of apprenticeship. the idea was decent in theory: pay the former slaves who were willing to work the land they'd once worked for free. In practice, the situation was not far different than slavery.

Kitt went on. "Finding enough labour has been difficult. The plantation owners feel they're losing too much money so they are working o the labourers to the bone, to death actually."

In three very short paragraphs, Scott has been able to set up, not only the world building of the historical event, but also the conflict the hero is going to have to face. The amount of information is "just enough" at the present moment, to keep the reader going and return the reader, as quickly as possible the central story arc. Throughout the story, as Ren talks with Emma about the plantation, we learn more and more about the history. Subversively, Scott is teaching you about British Colonialism in the Caribbean. Kind of sneaky, isn't it.

Even if your story is a straight up, hard core historical, you have to still walk the fine line of being a story and being a historical textbook. While you needed to have all of the information to create the story, you have to ask yourself if the reader really needs all of that information. The odds are, probably not.


*Note: Thank you Bronwyn Scott for sharing this information. (Scott, 2014). For more information on Bronwyn Scott visit her at:
www.bronwynnscott.com
www.bronwynswriting.blogspot.com
Facebook @Bronwyn-Scott
Twitter @Bronwynscott

Writing Contemporary Requires Just As Much World Building

I have heard contemporary authors comment before about historical, paranormal, fantasy and science fiction authors that they could never write in those genres due to the amount of world building. Now contemporary, that's different. Now, while there might be a little bit of truth about that considering I don't have to describe the breeding habits of a Wartle to Weeble, or to immerse the reader into the strange distant planet of Bwe'Ko, world building is still a very huge part of contemporary writing, as is with any other genre out there.

When we think of world building, we are simply talking about painting a clear and three-dimensional picture of the world the characters in your story are interacting in. Although there might be cars, cell phones and computers, all of the other things going on in that town and world are very unique and become a strong secondary character in the story.

If you think of a story set in a small town along the coast of California, it is crucial not to just say it is a small town with a few stores. Those stores add character. The people who own the stores add character. Think of it this way. If I mention towns such as Mayberry, or Walnut Grove, you know what that town looks like. You know which side of the street Wally's is at or where Floyd had his barber shop. You know if you came out of Olsen's Mercantile, which way you had to go to the lumber store, or to Nellie's restaurant. Those images are embedded into our heads because of the world building.

Far too often, when I am reading a submission, I find myself feeling the story is "just lacking something", and, in almost all of those cases, it is the world building the author didn't do to bring me into the story. Sure, the author told me the size of the town, but there was never a sense of really showing me a picture of that town.

With the trend right now of a lot of authors writing in "Small Town, USA" that small town feel is beyond crucial. Remember that many of your readers have never seen a town this small. I remember when I first came up to Washington State after living for 11+ years in LA (Reseda in fact), and I tried to describe the town I was now living in. Gig Harbor back in 1977 was a far different town than it is now. This truly was a small town. There really was only one light right at the corner of Pioneer and Harborview, in front of the Cellar Restaurant. Every morning, the old guys in town would head down for coffee at the Harbor Landing and roll dice to see who would be buying that morning. And certainly in the evening, the Tides Tavern was a hoping place to be. This was a fishing community where everyone did indeed know everyone. We knew when the boats would take off for Alaska....

To get that sort of image across to friends who had never seen the place took a lot of work. Now try to add in an image of Mt. Rainier at the end of the harbor, the personality of the people, and it really took some work. But, it is that work that would enhance a story and really make the reader feel like they were with the characters.

Here is a great homework assignment for you.... Go out and visit one of these small towns. Walk the streets, take notes and immerse yourself. Don't focus on the big stuff, but the small intricate details. Now, on another weekend, go to a different town of the same size. The odds are there will be many of the same things, but here is the kicker - the differences will be HUGE.

Once you have done that, you contemporary writers, go and look at your writing. Is that detail interwoven into your stories?

Examining World Building

As the author, you know what your world looks like where you have placed your characters. You know what the buildings look like and you know what the food tastes like. As an author, it is your obligation to the reader to make sure they are with you on this journey. With that said, you have to remember that you do indeed know everything about your world, but the reader really doesn't need to know EVERYTHING all at one point.

I know this might sound a bit confusing, but too often, writers simply slow the entire pace of the novel by inserting blocks of world building and material that is probably not necessary at that moment. It can be a tricky thing.

Let me explain.

I am currently working with an author on a new paranormal. The story is fantastic, but it does involved a ton of world building. This is a unique setting with unique characters. A couple of days ago, as I was working on the edits, it hit me that the story seemed like it had gone on forever. No, it wasn't a bad read and no, I wasn't board. It simply felt like I had been reading a long time. When I checked how far I had read, the iPad told me I was roughly 30% into it. Wow! Why did I feel like I had been reading for much longer? We had a ton of world building.

Again, let me remind you that I didn't mind this with her story. It read great. But the pace of the story was too slow for the plot that required much more action and urgency. Because of who the target audience is for this project, we have to do some serious cuts. As we talked about the situation, we knew exactly where the cuts had to be. It was the world building.

Now, instead of simply hacking all of the material, we cut it back to a "need to know" basis. If, at that particular time, the additional material wasn't necessary to the plot (the abilities of the characters, the language they had been speaking, the stories they had been telling) we cut the material.

This problem is not something that just deals with paranormals or the other supernatural stories. It works with historicals and contemporaries too. I have seen a lot of writers have the characters sit down for a meal. The plot requires a great conversation, and yet the author felt the need to include every element of the meal and talk about every bite the characters ate. As our teens tell us with Texting, "TMI".

As I said at the beginning, this is a tough challenge for writers. In your head, to get the story going and moving, you personally needed all of that information. You had to see the world in a 3-dimensional fashion. But your readers don't.

Think about Tolkien and his world building. THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS has a ton of world building and mythology. But for the reader, it isn't all necessary. The reader has just enough to maintain the plot.

So, if you feel as if your story is plodding along, you might want to consider looking at the world building. Do you really need it all?

Question from a Writer - On Setting

Scott, here is a question my CP's and I have been arguing about for a while. I have a contemporary story that I am starting. Should I set the story in a real town or should I set it in an imaginary town? Would love your insight...

This is a great question. Sorry to say this but there really is not right answer on this one, but I think there are certainly the pro's can cons that we can look at.

I have heard a lot of people taking the approach of picking a town that is imaginary because they simply don't want to run the risk of people in that town coming after them for misrepresenting the town. In reality, unless you are coming right out and slamming businesses in the town or real people in the town, the chances are this is not going to happen.

Taking the imaginary city approach can give you a chance to really build a world that will truly showcase your characters and your stories. You get to create the entire world and make it exactly what you want. This is a positive. Of course, the negative of this is that you have to really know and understand your world inside out. You have to know the layout of the city, the distances between locations and certainly what every one of the buildings look like.

Taking the real city approach gives you the built in world building. There is nothing you have to create and as long as you know the city you want to put the story in, you should be good to go. I know, for example, I personally love reading The Agony and the Ecstasy because I lived in Florence and he does a fantastic job of making sure the city is accurately represented.

One approach you might want to take is to use the real city but create your own businesses. Use the parts of the city you need and ignore the parts you don't need.

In the end, the answer is simple. What is going to work best for your story. Don't be afraid to use those real cities. If your world is stronger, then create your own.

Hope that helps!

World Building Can Be A Dangerous Thing

As the author, you know what your world looks like where you have placed your characters. You know what the buildings look like and you know what the food tastes like. As an author, it is your obligation to the reader to make sure they are with you on this journey. With that said, you have to remember that you do indeed know everything about your world, but the reader really doesn't need to know EVERYTHING all at one point.

I know this might sound a bit confusing, but too often, writers simply slow the entire pace of the novel by inserting blocks of world building and material that is probably not necessary at that moment. It can be a tricky thing.

Let me explain.

I am currently working with an author on a new paranormal. The story is fantastic, but it does involved a ton of world building. This is a unique setting with unique characters. A couple of days ago, as I was working on the edits, it hit me that the story seemed like it had gone on forever. No, it wasn't a bad read and no, I wasn't board. It simply felt like I had been reading a long time. When I checked how far I had read, the iPad told me I was roughly 30% into it. Wow! Why did I feel like I had been reading for much longer? We had a ton of world building.

Again, let me remind you that I didn't mind this with her story. It read great. But the pace of the story was too slow for the plot that required much more action and urgency. Because of who the target audience is for this project, we have to do some serious cuts. As we talked about the situation, we knew exactly where the cuts had to be. It was the world building.

Now, instead of simply hacking all of the material, we cut it back to a "need to know" basis. If, at that particular time, the additional material wasn't necessary to the plot (the abilities of the characters, the language they had been speaking, the stories they had been telling) we cut the material.

This problem is not something that just deals with paranormals or the other supernatural stories. It works with historicals and contemporaries too. I have seen a lot of writers have the characters sit down for a meal. The plot requires a great conversation, and yet the author felt the need to include every element of the meal and talk about every bite the characters ate. As our teens tell us with Texting, "TMI".

As I said at the beginning, this is a tough challenge for writers. In your head, to get the story going and moving, you personally needed all of that information. You had to see the world in a 3-dimensional fashion. But your readers don't.

Think about Tolkien and his world building. THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS has a ton of world building and mythology. But for the reader, it isn't all necessary. The reader has just enough to maintain the plot.

So, if you feel as if your story is plodding along, you might want to consider looking at the world building. Do you really need it all?

When World Building Becomes Too Much

I was thinking about this recently with historical novels, but, in reality, this is an issue that extends to all of the stories out there. Today, I strictly want to focus on historical romance, but if you don't write this, just substitute your genre for historical and I think you would get the idea.

When it comes to novels, it is crucial to keep your eye on the target. In other words, if you decide to write a historical romance, the focus of the story is the building of the relationship and the growing romance. The entire story has the camera focused in on the hero and the heroine and how they over-come obstacles, face challenges, deal with the dark moment and truly fall in love. All of the other stuff, the secondary characters, the secondary storylines and the setting must take a second seat to that main storyline.

For historicals, this becomes a huge challenge because your reader needs to see and understand the context you placed the story. For example, in Regency, the characters might play Ecarte one evening. O.K. That's interesting, but what the heck is that? In this case it is a game related to Whist and Euchre. O.K. still not with us? Then describe it as cards. That is all the reader needs to know.

Unfortunately, for many authors, they get so bogged down in the history and the details that they try to incorporate all of that in the story for the reader. I actually remember one submission that came in that had the hero being a professional poker player. That part was fine, but the full chapter when the author spent paragraphs doing a play by play like you see on ESPN was just too much. Sure, this showed us the author understands the game, but it was detracting from the real story and that was the romance and the relationship.

The same world building goes for settings and locations. You have to give the reader enough information to deal with where the characters are at, but don't go overboard. The key is to demonstrate to the editor and agent that you have done your research. We should get a true sense that you know what is going on with the context, without becoming too much in your face.

Think of it this way. When you write an academic paper, the research SUPPORTS your storyline. It isn't the actual paper, it is there to support YOUR claims and YOUR analysis. There is no difference in fiction writing.

Now, if your attempt was to write historical non-fiction, then it certainly does come to the forefront. All of those characters are just pieces of the scenery. But, when it comes to fiction, the elements that move to the front of the stage are the charcters!

Scott

Make It Simple But Make It Beautiful

As I said yesterday, I was attending the Historical Novel Society Conference in San Diego. I have to tell you, this is an AMAZING group of authors and if you are into your history, this is the place to be. Of course, out of every conference, I am fortunate to end up with a good list of topics to discuss here on the blog. Today, I want to talk about idea development for your stories.

One of the things I discovered both during the pitch sessions as well as listening to writers talk in the hallways, was the level of obscurity I saw in many of the stories. In other words, these authors were writing about some very "off the radar" time periods, cultures and figures. But here is the issue. In an effort to be "unique" the stories became something the audience is likely not to drawn to and therefore, becomes difficult, if not impossible to sell.

Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying I want you all writing in the current (dare I say the word?) trends, but be careful getting too extreme.

While you might be totally interested in your topic. While you might know everything about a 120 BCE Lithuanian uprising, you have to remember that half of the reading population doesn't even know Latvia is a country. With this in mind, when you pick a topic this obscure, it requires a lot more world building just to make the story accessible to the reader. In many ways, think of this as a Fantasty or a Sci-Fi. Readers have never been there or seen it before. Now add in the language and the terminology and you really have your work cut out for you.

What we would rather see is to take a topic we are familiar with and spin it in a new direction. Give us a new twist. This allows you to take more time for character and plot development because you are counting on a readership already familiar enough with your world you have set the story in.

Scott

Paranormals and world building

This one is for all of you writing those wonderful paranormals out there.

World building is one of the key elements that has to happen and be more than effective in this genre. Sure, world building is important in all other genres, but since we are working with things out of the normal, the stronger the world building, the better the connection you can make with your reader.

I am often reminded of both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings on this one. One of the challenges the movie makers had with movies like this is to make sure that the world and characters they created are just as strong as what the writer envisioned. I am sure you have all gone to a movie and seen a character, only to scream, "that isn't what he looked like!" If the writer does a great job of this, the movie maker has a better chance of succeeding. In both of the movies I mentioned, the author did just that.

With that said, I often see writers submit projects that have a fantastic premise, but for someone who has not lived with the project for the amount of time the writer has, the weak world building is the one element that results in that disconnect between the reader and the book.

I always like to think of the idea that a writer has to assume the reader has never been there or done something before. They haven't met the characters, they don't understand the language and they certainly have not experienced what the character is going through.Your job is to translate that.

I was recently reading a paranormal with some strong fantasy like elements that really struggled to do this. The writer had the characters referring to each other like they would normally do in real life. The problem was that I had never experienced it. I didn't understand the language, I didn't understand the references they made to things that were very common in their world. The end result? I was lost.

Fixing issues like this is relatively easy. Use contextual definitions. Give the reader something that we would understand about the language or the event. I like to describe Tom Clancy on this one. When he describes some of the weaponry, he uses the technical terms however, by adding the characters actually using the weapon, we know instantly it is a really bad gun. from that pont on, we get it when he uses the term.

So, for your work this week you paranormal writers, make sure to read your story as if you are someone who is seeing it for the first time and probably don't even read your genre. Woudl they get it?

Scott

World Building is not about funny names

While this post is going out to the Sci Fi, Fantasy and Paranormal writers primarily, I think the other writers may be able to really draw on the material and use it for their advantage.

One of my biggest problems, when it comes to this genre of writers stems from the world building. Too often, the writing is far from accessible to the reader. Sure the readers of this genre might be able to figure it out, but the rest of us can't. I often think of those guys with THE GEEK SQUAD that eat, drink and sleep computers so well that it becomes difficult for anyone to have a clue what they are talking about. World building is crucial to these genres and as a writer, it is you job to effectively use it to tell the story.

Remember, world building is not the plot of the story but the scenery and backdrop. Your characters work through their stories with the world surrounding them. It isn't the reverse.

When I think of this, I try to break it down into a couple of concepts: ACCESSIBLE, REALISTIC, NOT THE DOMINANT FORCE.

Let's start with accessible. If your world building requires a dictionary (of course specially designed by you) a translator or any other support material, it is far from going to work for the average reader. When we read a story, we don't want to have to stop all of the time to figure out what you are talking about. Sure the names and places may be unique, but if we can't do something with them, the story is lost.

I often joke about this with the McCaffery Dragon rider series. I always found it funny that all the names were so hard to pronounce and were stuck with that silly apostrophe F'nor, F'lar and so forth.

While your friends who read the same material may know what you are talking about, the rest of us don't. In many ways, think writing a technical manual for the common every day person. Same thing here..

The next level is realism. While this world is made up of your thoughts and ideas, remember the readers are still operating in the real world. This means the stories must be believable and actually work. In this case, I think of the werewolf stories where the characters mysteriously shift form and their clothing somehow disappears or re-appears. HOW??? I did read one of these stories and the characters methodically hid their clothing and then shifted. Of course, then I had to deal with a naked guy in the middle of Los Angeles, but the writer was clearly trying to get close with this.

Finally, the world building cannot dominate the story. In this case, you historical writers need to listen up. Remember the story is about the characters, and not the world building. You should not have to spend so much time on "painting a picture" for the reader. In the case of the historical writers, remember the story is about your character, not the history surrounding the character. Work in the details but don't go overboard.

I guess what I want to say here is to take the time, before you dive into the story, to really think through this world you have created. Will your readers see it the same way you do? Does it work?

And yes, you steam punk writers, this goes for you too!

Scott