I wanted to take a moment to talk about an important topic- especially for fantasy/sci-fi stories. World Building!
Simply put, without it, there would be NO world. NO world for that wonderful story to take place. I’ve come to realize that in its own way, establishing the setting- aka developing the ‘world’ is just as important as the actions within the story. You need to have a well developed world and setting for the story to take place, otherwise the action gets lost.
Imagine if there were no Hogwarts or Platform 9 and three… for Harry and his friends to explore. If there was no middle earth for Frodo to explore. Yikes!
Without those aspects to the story, no one would care.
Why is that?
Because the reader needs to be able to submerse themselves into a story. It needs to feel real… even when it’s drastically NOT. I don’t care if we’re anywhere close to living in space on a giant floating city. The right details and back stories can make any reader think.. ‘yeah, I see how that could work’ (in that story)
I was reading a book the other day which got me thinking about the many ways we can add world building details. The realization of it’s importance is great timing as I’m in the middle of working on book 2 of ‘The Kingdom’ series.
In book one I had a handful of newspapers and magazine clips that revealed an issue the society had fought through in the past. Other things I did were to create the names of restaurants, bars, and shops that would pop up throughout the story. It was just one way to help establish a ‘reality’ to this made up town.
One of my favorites was adding a game in the story called ‘Pegs’. I’ve always enjoyed making new games in real life and took great pleasure creating one that was enjoyed for the patrons at the bar.
In my upcoming book I’ll be introducing at least one new game that is played by those who wield magic. There are many other things that I’ve already added into the book and as I work on my edits- I plan to add a few more things to bulk up the ‘world’, now that I have the story line down.
What type of things do you do (or enjoy reading) that you think really help build a world?
I always love to hear new ideas!
And hey- Check out my book- The Kingdom; Hidden City
You can get it cheap on kindle. And if you like it- drop a comment!
Happy reading!
~Cam
Author Cameron Kielb 