DON'T delete your really cool but irrelevant worldbuilding. That's not something you want to ever lose. Yes, delete it from your book, but hang on to it in some behind-the-scenes document or something, and then YOU still have it and YOU can still appreciate it, and hey, maybe you'll even come up with another story, a novel or even a short story or something, that uses some of that worldbuilding. So yeah, delete irrelevant worldbuilding and infodumping from your NOVEL, but not from your computer.
Absolutely!! I have a file (or a folder cuz I use scrivener) for just things like that and I just dump everything in there and can just read it back when I need it or want to use it
Also, if you're world becomes popular enough, then you could use all that information to make an encyclopedia of your world for your fan base. Mine would include all of the detailed maps I've made for my planet showing the climate, ocean currents, tectonic plates maps, and so forth.
Hi Abbbie! May be late to comment here, but thanks! I was going all in in my world building, creating characters only to explain parts of the world! So… With 2 characters less and a world well advanced (finally) I thank you from the bottom of my heart. My world isn’t sci-if or fantastic. It is kind on a parallel medieval world where men and women are equals. My protagonist comes from our world and our time and gets there all alone (the alone part MATTERS) ;) thanks again :)
Omg I’m currently writing a book and was kind of worried that I wasn’t explaining the world that much as it was only following my protagonist! Thanks for the reassurance!
I am using your character outline and 3 part story outline to prepare for NaNoWriMo! I am so glad I found your channel. I have stopped watching others and am using your methods. This is my 1st novel & I know that the info you have provided has given me a much better foundation to begin. Please do make a video on plot driven vs character driven stories. Thanks again!
I'm writing down basic notes for a story I'm planning to write where the protagonist is transported to the fantasy world. Would I have to world build any differently if the protagonist doesn't actually know the world at all in the first place?
What about those who are writing a series? Wouldn't it be more beneficial to create the world that is apart of the whole series and then pick that which applies to each novel?
You know more about the world than the reader will at any time, sure. The thing it took me longer to realise is: The same is true for your characters. 😉 And since they are the focal point, that will feel like much more of a sacrifice to you as the author. Because you know these people are even much more complex and realistic than you'll ever get to show on the page.
Hi Abbie. What is your take on classics like Moby Dick which take pages and pages of seemingly irrelevant things about sailing and the sea which don't really further the story of our characters? I would love to hear whether you too think it's pointless exposition or does it make a point.
@@AbbieEmmons Avoided watching this video as I thought Jenna Moreci Or J J Barnes { from the table read videos/social media } would be better teachers of this. When I think about it , everything { pretty much } you said is 💯% spot on ❣ You might come on " a bit too strong " in your delivery of creative writing philosophy *BUT* you seem to know what you're talking about. You scholar creative writing *LIKE A BOSS* 👨⚖️📚♑✍
If you’re writing a novel, this is some great advice. But pleeeeaase don’t stop worldbuilding just because it’s not important to your book. Not only is worldbuilding fun, doing it will only make your story better. Know the ins and outs of your universe, even if you don’t include it in your story. If you have a passion for your world, craft it!!!!
@@april_haruko true. I would also add: look for ways to show aspects of your world through your characters. Look at how people from different real cultures behave on an everyday basis. Interjections, insults, table manners, greetings, gestures of respect and affection, titles and kinship terms: these are major ways to *show* your worldbuilding. Fashion is another very important and very overlooked one. Fashion always reflects what people think about themselves and the world: whether they are conscious of this or not. In real world cultures, certain traits of garments are emphasized and therefore are more likely to be commented on. “your sleeves are so full, I took you for a lord”: this character is not nobility, but they are trying to look like nobility. Perhaps because they want to be taken more seriously. How does the main character identify a person whose name they don’t know? By their clothes?what aspect of their outfit stands out? by their hair? what stands out about their style? How do they identify people of different social classes/groups? how do they identify different genders? If a woman comes to talk to the protagonist, tell us what identifies her as a woman to him. Not “a woman came over to me” but “a person, a woman judging by her braids, came over to me”.
@@bilalkhares9337 for me personally, a lot of writers on RU-vid will talk a big game and give advice with a guise of authority, only for their actual books to be hot garbage
@@TheHunterOfYharnam Every time I see Tolkien mentioned he usually gets the highest praise for his worldbuilding. What's your opinion and what do you consider top tier?
You talking about Narnia for several hours? I'd watch it! Just like I would definitely watch a video on plot-driven stories vs character-driven stories!
Oh wow this video is GOLD. Thank you for the amazing advice. And yes please, a video about character driven vs plot driven stories would be epic. I'd love that, especially considering that that's something I'm wrestling through with my current novel.
One suggestion I got in school was when you have an idea about a story, make up a super minor character of the world. This is just for yourself to use and read. Now, decide that that character is going to go on a trip throughout the land or world. Keep a travel diary for that character and write down about their day and the world around them. Once you finish, go through, and highlight only the most important things. This will allow for that information dump to happen but keeps it from the reader. You get to let’s regurgitate everything and all the ideas you have into something then clean it up later and us all that info as a org of outline of the world and society, etc.
I think world-building is one of my favorite pre-writing activities. I love to go "top down" and imagine elaborate worlds with cultures, languages, and emerging government bodies. Then I dig down into the nitty-gritty details (something my brain is less equipped at doing, but clearly needs to be done.) I'm realizing I might be the odd one out here, haha!
You're not alone in that! Personally, I've tried worldbuilding from small to big, but I just couldn't do it. It just made no sense to my brain and I stopped.
My WIP is a soft sci fi set in the future on another planet. My MC works on a farm so the only thing the reader gets to know about the world for the first few chapters, are things that happens to the MC due to the environmental circumstances. Meanwhile I, the author, just wants to tell the reader every cool little detail about my world from the get-go. Stuff I love and think is so cool, that will probably never make it to the book lol. At least I get to tell my CPs about it.
Even stories set in the real world still requires worldbuilding. Worldbuilding is essentially setting. No story exists in a vacuum. The setting always matters.
Every time I get stuck on one point of my writing I wonder if Abbie has covered this specific topic I'm struggling with, and the answer is usually 'yes'. THANK. YOU.
I had an info-dump in my first chapter, and then my classmates in advanced creative writing class told me I was telling, rather than showing. So I definitely agree that it has to show throughout the story's actions, scenes and characters.
I can't thank you enough for making videos that are actually HELPFUL and to the point! Thank you so much for showing us how to actually world-build with relevance! I always skip over parts in books with long descriptions/mostly irrelevant content, so it's awesome to know how to execute this in my own books! Thanks for another great video, Abbie!
When I was little, as much as I liked the duology book series, Lionboy, I recall that one thing I wasn't thrilled about them was the heavy descriptions. I was bored with it.
My cheat for infodumping is having the characters discuss world building stuff as it relates to their current situation. Another method is as small-talk when what they say is less important than other things in the scene, such as how they interact with each other. You’re probably not going to be able to fit a lot in there without making it seem unnatural, but that’s the point. It keeps it more spread out and less dumpy.
- We should land on the planet Googi and have some rests - said Paul. -On Googi? They don't even have oxygen on that planet- said Andy slightly choking himself - How can we rest? Do you mean 'eternal rest'?- The point is still: why does it matter that the Googians don't breath oxygen in this story? 😂😂😂 And I totally get this point.
This is a great video, It's great advice. However, it doesn't give advice on how to develop a world. Just what to do with the world you built. You actually need to build a world before you can decide on what part needs to included or excluded. If you don't know your setting, you can't build the environment your character lives and breathes in. So, yeah. The world-building lists might be many and might be intimidating, but they help you develop the world you need to build in order to make that character-driven story come alive in the reader's head. As I said before, these tips are great, but they won't service you if you don't have your world already built. Only then can you decide which parts to use or not. Good video, but not the video to watch if you actually need to build a world from scratch. Note: I do not mean to hurt anyone's feelings. This is just my opinion and experience with world-building. I've been doing it for a while now and I didn't really get much from this video it terms of how to build a world, only how to use it.
100% agree with this. I've been watching it constantly to see what I could do but, I haven't come up with what the world or the magic/power system will be like in said world. Once I have the world laid out then this video will be helpful but, for someone who hasn't come up with a world yet, this video isn't too helpful for me
I've been putting off writing my fantasy story because I didn't want to world build. Your video made it so much less overwhelming and I'm gonna try and start small. Thank you!
Alternately (for the non-plotters out there): if discovery writing/pantsing, keep track of everything about your world in a separate document. Everything you put in the book and everything you think of. A bit tedious? Sure. But also an easily searched side-document with all your world info in it. If you can't remember X about your world in Act 3 (or whatever), you can switch to the world document and search for it, for example. You get the essence of the know-all but don't tell-all method of worldbuilding, without having to do so in advance. Editing will still be a heel, I'm sure, but it's a way to keep world-stuff a bit more streamlined. Anyway! This is a great video, informative even if one isn't planning on worldbuilding in advance. And your positivity is pretty great. As an aside, as soon as you said "bad example" I just knew it was going to be Divergent. AuthorTube and BookTube both complain about Divergent's worldbuilding with relative frequency, haha. Bad worldbuilding go-to seems to be Divergent, around here. Almost to the point where I would like to see other "bad examples" -- I'm sort of "blind" to Divergent as a worldbuiding example, because it seems like everyone mentions the same thing/s. Maybe that's just me!
I wrote a scene of a shopping mall to place my reader there before introducing my character. Following your advice I can better see where I can describe the mall from the protagonist's eyes because she will see what she likes about a mall instead of the sterile environment I described. You are brilliant Abbie!
Amazing video, Abbie! ❤️❤️❤️Incoming wall of text because I just really like worldbuilding? In general, I think avoiding the info dump is key to almost everything in writing. My current manuscript is Sci-Fi and I feel it's really easy to go overboard with worldbuilding compared to other genres, to the point I've had to dial down a lot on a bunch of smaller ideas(and deleted a good amount too). But sometimes, I just want to have cool futuristic stuff like sentient vending machines and apartment decor holograms. It's not a problem if they interact organically. For example, the protagonist gets angry with a vending machine because it decided her daily calorie intake was too high or she's annoyed that maintenance still hasn't been by to fix that one glitchy wall panel by the bathroom. It's fine because you get to learn about how the character reacts to a variety of unique scenarios. But what about world details that don't directly interact with the character? I still think there's a home for these. I've made the compromise by keeping a good chunk of those smaller, irrelevant ideas and cutting their descriptions down to about a single line. I like to think this approach has worked wonders because it shows the world in motion and breathes a bit of life into the setting so everything seems just a bit more tactile and fun for the reader. Great for transitions between dialogue, as long as you're careful about not losing focus and how much description you're affording to what essentially amounts to background dressing. It all comes back to avoiding the info dump. Nowadays, I just can't imagine my world without all these little bits and pieces so I don't want to delete them(until editing down the word count becomes reality😂). Brainstorming those fantastical elements is one of my favorite things about writing Sci-Fi, actually. tl;dr version: info-dumping bad, immersion good.
I see where you're coming from, though. Some of the thjngs in my world, a fantasy one, is where Kings and Queens aren't married, people's ranks are measured by minerals by Moh's scale: talc to having a diamond or pearl inserted on an individual's corundum staff or other primary fighting weapon. Again, cool concept!
This is the first and only (so far^^) video I don't agree with. I personally could read tons of books only about worlds like a tourist guide and also books about the history of the magic world, but I absolutely love history, so maybe I'm just a freak. Also I need some kind of orientation and guidance when I'm "inserted" into a new world. It's like visiting a new country: I want to know more about their culture and history (even if it doesn't affect me directly as a tourist) and not just lying on the beach getting a sun burn.
any other writer that hasn't YET put internal conflict into their story: *exists* Abbie: WHY IS YOUR STORY MEANINGFUL? WHY DOES IT MATTER? IF YOU HAVE BEEN HERE FOR A WHILE, YOU KNOW I'M GONNA SAY THIS; EXTERNAL CONFLICT (THE PLOT) IS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS,INTERNAL CONFLICT (THE STORY) IS ABOUT WHY IT MATTERS!
Omg. You just made me realize what I have been doing wrong with my writing... So if you are someone who loves worldbuilding I guess you should reverse engineer and ask "what kind of character would this world matter the most to"
Worldbuilding can be just setting the scene, especially if your story is set in our world. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has a prologue which tells us what's going to happen. Then it has a first scene where two Capulet servants make macho banter and sex jokes. Then there's a big fight. So we learn about this world, it's an honor based society where men fight over perceived disrespect, they'll kill rival groups and probably rape the women to get revenge. Then we're introduced to Romeo and he doesn't really fit. He's sensitive, he's pining over a girl. So we know it's a violent patriarchal society he lives in, and then when we see him we can see he's going to struggle in this society. If you're doing fantasy, you'll need more exposition but starting with a setting the scene helps us understand the character and why there will be conflict.
To the pantsers out there: yes, you can build the world as you go, and not before, but just put it in a separate document, then later see what is relevant to the story and what not. Problem solved. Works for me, so just wanted to share
Wait, really? I mean, yeah, it's not surprising to me that building it as I go doesn't work, I literally never finished a single thing I wrote, I'm just.. not sure of how to preplan it cause building the world as I go is the only way I get a flow on writing If anyone has any tips on the matter, thanks!
the works that I think do the best job of worldbuilding that all follow the ideas you suggest here well middle earth franchise chronicles of Narnia original three star wars films great video btw.
I slightly disagree with the first one. Sure I know more about my world and have maps and everything but I like to build the world as I write. It flows better in my opinion. For example I could say "ok this place reminds me of a rainforest", so if I know that bullet point then when I write I just think of things I might find, hear, see, sense, whatever it might be. Then I write it.
There is a cult of adventurism in the main society where my story will take place. I have two main characters who are siblings. They are from an affluent family with a storied history steeped in legendary stories of heroism. They are struggling with the choices they have to make as they pursue carriers (brother wants to be a warrior and sister wants to be a wizard) that are far less glamorous than they let themselves believe. Thank you so much for your Preptober videos. I'm a very stiff writer that has spent the last decade or so writing a wiki for this world I've built for Dungeons & Dragons. You've really helped me tap into my storytelling capabilities that I've only used orally in gameplay. Daps
Another way is a story told in separate chapters from multi-POVs that gives a reader an insight into the wider world through showing and not telling in scenes, but not for the sake of it. The other POVs have to converge with that of the MC for it to work and matter to the MC with those other POVs having cause and effect to the outcome of the MCs journey. Doing it that way saves exposition where it is vital the reader of say dystopian, or post-apocalyptic and fantasy, even sci-fi, for them to get a broader world view of events outside the MCs bubble, for such as governance, society, the economy, etc etc. Think Game of Thrones, which is fantasy that uses this to good effect, but there are many more. A video along these lines would be good for followers to know how it's done, or should not be done. For it to work, each POV character has to have their own misbelief and motivations and story arc to the point of conversion to the MCs story, each facing their own truths to some degree. Usually, it's best done in at least a trilogy unless you want to write a doorstopper. Great video by the way.
This was helpful for writing my memoir in India. I am trying to immerse the readers into the legal system, life on the Ganges, hill station, and life living in the king's fort. Each of these places do matter to me and brought out my fears, desires, and misbeliefs. Thanks for spuring me on to create a story that can make a difference.
I am such a discovery writer! I feel like I discover the world I'm creating right along with my characters as well as who my characters are. Maybe that's just because I am working on the first story that I feel like I must share with the world and I want it to change people. So maybe I'll build more of the world in advance in the future, but for now I'll just have a lot of cleaning to do on my first edit. I love the advice to only world build what is important to your characters. That is how I have written so far, but a friend was wanting to know more about the world and I just don't think it's time in the manuscript yet.
I didn’t build the whole world of my book series before I started writing the first one. I created the characters first, though. Another thing I did was write the whole series, at least first or second drafts of each one, before trying to get the first one published - which I’m doing now. After doing more and more world-building with each installment, when I went back and edited, I had the luxury of being able to retrofit things in the previous books to set up things for payoffs in the later books. I love doing that. :)
I feel like that’s actually a really good point about Divergent’s world building! As you were explaining it, I was comparing it to the Hunger Games’ world building (since they’re both popular dystopian YA novels from the 2010s), which is done really well, only really explaining things to us as they affect Katniss directly. And I think Harry Potter did when Narnia did, where we are exposed gradually to the wizarding world through Harry and how he experiences it. And it’s done in a way as to not overwhelm us, just get us hungry to learn more!
Just discovered your videos and Love, Love, Love your unique perspective on writing. I do have to stand up for my fellow pantsers - consider it this way; you do several outlines, my 'outlining process' is my first draft. My creativity fails in the 'outline' process; my brain just doesn't work that way. But my first draft is an equivalent process to your outlining.
Says Narnia me: 🥰😍🤩🥳🎉🎊!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love Narnia (even though I've only gotten through the first book of the series). I've seen the movies though and they are awesome. It's especially awesome because it secretly has Jesus in it! Hurray!
I just discovered that my story’s world doesn’t matter at all, it has magic because it’s cool.. Not really that down since I’ve had this story since I was 11, I still want to create this world :(
I loved the world building in "It" Derry, Maine wasn't some fantastical place, but I felt I still felt really immersed in the town and it grew up organically through the interactions of characters in the story.
Amazing! And yes, a video comparing the differences, pros, and cons of character driven vs plot driven stories is something I'd love to see. Thank you Abbie.
This is awesome. Currently I am working on a contemporary but am planning to write Fantasy later and this helps a lot. I would love to see a video on character driven and plot driven stories.
Great video. I don't write Fantasy or Science Fiction, but still found the information useful. I write Modern Historical, and the 1980s and 1990s are basically my story world: realistic settings, always. I do adore Narnia, as a reader, though. Awesome example. I do also have an MC called Lucy (random side note!) Yes, please do a video about plot driven versus character driven stories. I know I will totally side with you, as I also believe that characters are the heart of amazing fiction. 💝
I suck at worldbuilding, so I’ve come up with an idea. The world where the story takes place is not entirely mine, just historical. Like it takes place in the Victorian era with Victorian clothes and similar settings but it’s not the same world, and magic and different rulers exist too. I’m trying my best to really make my readers understand that it’s not all history, some of it is magic.
The problem with info dumping is it’s too much information at once that overwhelms the reader. And a good example of this would be the original Star Wars books and also the original Star Wars movies, those books and movies tend to overwhelm the readers and the people watching the films. However, they also have a vastly large community but they info dump a lot and nobody wants to say it or say anything about it. But I personally do not like Star Wars because of how much they info dump their writing. Overrated if you ask me and a bunch of info dumping each time. And another problem is, they keep adding to it to keep it alive instead of just let it die off already. A lot of the fans are getting angry at the new films that are coming out because they can’t just end it. Too many series’s of Star Wars and books and just too much stuff. But for some reason, the creators of Star Wars has managed to get a large community who love Star Wars even though they info dump and overwhelm us with so much information at once. And similarly with Harry Potter, except it was slow paced. The series was only ruined after the final Harry Potter book came out when JK Rowling kept adding to her series off Twitter. Instead of let it sit and marinate. Don’t get me wrong either. I do like fantastic beasts but only because of its unique qualities to it. However, that also info dumps. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings has to be my all time favorite books because of its slowed heavily detailed pace from start to finish. I am a massive fantasy nerd, but I like things very slow paste and detailed and my real hero is JJR Tolkien. I do love Harry Potter and I am a total Hufflepuff cinnamon roll but if you ask me which author I’d prefer I would have to go with Tolkien. Because he was a real writer and an OG He created the Elvish language he has his own history book off a world he created in his mind and he has an actual book and continuation series to that book and the movies are garbage because they totally skip over a lot of important factors in the books. Tolkien is who writers should follow after in writing because of all the detail down to the point that you could just picture every crack and crevice. His work is really beautiful and yes, he was born in an era where equality wasn’t a huge thing and inequality was a major issue. But when it came to his work, he was very realistic in his writing because he killed off characters left and right and he did so, so flawlessly and realistically in a fantasy world. And in his book, he wrote songs actual songs are in the hobbit. He’s the OG original writer for fantasy and the best of his era and in this era his work is classic gold to follow off of. I believe in being original and I also believe in being inspired by someone like Tolkien. Harry Potter is great for teenager content. But it does not compare to the hobbit. And it absolutely does not compare to Star Wars the level of detailing is different. It’s above Star Wars. Hate me all you want everyone Hobbit is better than Star Wars. Its writing is flawless and Star Wars info dumps too much! Also I think the way to get around info dumping is to just make a history book on your fantasy dystopian futuristic world because that actually is properly used to info dump! That’s encouraged to info dump in your own historical book. That’s what I do and then in the actual book series aside from the history fictional book I’m making, I don’t info dump in my series. I just put a lot of detail in the surroundings that my character takes place in because she’s very aware and it matters to her. Her awareness matters to her and so does her observations which help her along the way in the plot. I am very basic in that sense. And I honestly like making books with a ton of history and info dumping, but I like to keep it separate from the book series that focuses more on characters than the world itself. I write both info dumping history lore books that describe the places but I also write in-depth detailed intimate stories and relationship stories that matter to these characters in separate books with smaller yet still well-detailed stories. Like I use a lot of detail to describe stuff the same way my all-time hero Tolkien did. However I add emotion to it. And then like I said I also wrote a separate novel that’s just my own personal info dumping book for folks to read off Kindle. But I totally agree when writing an initial book with emotion and characters if it’s not relevant to the situation and the character specifically then it should not be put in the book itself. But if it were a history Fantasy fictional book, then it’s relevant to info dump.
Laughing my butt off at 4:33. Love your content, Abbie. I’ve been following along for 2.5 years now and you have been such a huge inspo for me! So thank. Keep doing it, as you already are!
Abbie, if I wasn't gay, I'd write you a love letter. This video is so cool. Your personality shines so much and you're always on point. I'm writing my first LBGT love story now, first ever novel, and you've helped me A TON. Thank you. I might thank you in my book if that's alright with you.
While I do agree that characters are a huge aspect of your story… I still feel like your character won't really shine through if you choose the wrong world for your character or vice versa, the wrong character for your world… That's where I get stuck. Everybody says, focus on your characters first, which is all well and good if you're writing with universal topics in mind like love or friendship, setting it wthin the boundaries of the real world... but doesn't it change the whole thing if you put one of the vampires from twilight in Nakatomi Plaza instead of Bruce Willis? I guess what I'm saying is... the right character for the right backdrop and likewise the right backdrop for the right character… So how do you know which one to start with?… Doesn't the character you choose depend on what kind of story you want to tell?
I use World Anvil, because World Anvil is FANTASTIC. Because, I can decide WHAT I need to develop, but then when I have trouble figuring out HOW to develop those things, World Anvil has pages to fill out for each thing I come up with, which helps me realize that "Oh, that's something I should figure out for my fantasy creatures" and "Oh, THAT'S what my character has been missing!" It seriously is SO good, and it's completely free. (WorldAnvil.com)
The best world building I've seen so far are Robert A. Heinlein's future history novels about the Howard families' extremely long lived Methuselahs, Robert Anton Wilson "Illuminatus" trilogy, and, strangely enough, Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged", a piece of dystopian non-science fiction that does have a lot of exposition, mainly through the characters' long speeches. Yes, I realize the novel is propaganda, and is too long, with oratory that makes William Shatner's Kirk proud. So, okay, this one's kind of a guilty pleasure but it created a wide ranging and totally believable "what if" dystopian world, even if you don't believe in her philosophy.
What wasn't mentioned here is we have to distinguish BUILDING the world from PRESENTING the world. World-building can go to the moon, while presenting the world should happen in appropriate amount at appropriate time just like rain watering the ground. If a thick wall of water fell at once it would probably destroy fields of crops. The rain is bit by bit exactly what the ground needs and keeping it safe.
Question though: wouldn’t you say that Narnia and Divergent are simply examples of soft worldbuilding? It’s a way to write out what’s needed for that specific story, hanging onto the mysticism of the world. However what about lord of the rings and game of thrones? Those are built very in depth and with so much added into it? Like J.R. Tolkien adding a whole elven language( my man went above and beyond)😂 Just a genuine question! I loved the video but was just curious about what you thought of intensive worldbuilding?
Oh, my, I love your videos, but I just saw another one about world building, and its last tip is "build your world as you go", which is your first "don't"... anyway...
I agree on Divergent. Another aspect of infodumping the system of the world early on is... you risk having the reader go: "Yeah no, that's stupid and also impossible." I don't buy into the system of Divergent at all. I buy into the system in Hunger Games because, well, it's pretty straightforward. Divergent is just plain dumb, but the author could have escaped that with less explainin' and more zappin'.
I genuinely want to learn. I'm not saying this to be facetious or snarky. I really want to know. You said, "A setting doesn't have emotions or feelings." I agree, of course. A setting _can't_ have emotions. This is what I want to know, though. And I was taught this in college. A setting can _evoke_ emotions and feelings in my character and therefore the reader. Opening with a setting can be powerful. For example, everyone has issues with where they're from. "Home", which is a setting, can be one of the _most relatable_ subjects for a character to draw motivation and emotion from. Describing said home can cause the reader to empathize with the character. So, wouldn't it all depend on how you go about it? If you just describe the setting one object at a time, every leaf on every tree, I agree that would be boring. But what about, let's say, this is your opening line: They say, "Home is where the heart is." I say home is where hell is. That's why I'm dreading going back. Most people will immediately empathize with that. Most people will think, "Oh, I hate going home sometimes, also." Also, with that opening line, I want to know why this character hates home so much and why he's going back if that's how he feels. Tell me more about home. World build "home" for me. Thoughts?
Th quandary or "World Building" can come in two forms: *The protagonist is new to this world*, and *This is the protagonist's home world*. In the first example (discovery) the world can be described through the protagonist's eye's, as he/she discovers it---keeping it character-driven. However, in the second example (home) an "info-dump" may become unavoidable. The readers must be brought up to speed, so that they know what the protagonist knows, and are able to understand the protagonist's motivations. A common way that this is done (in the case of "home") is to write an introduction, that is separate from the actual story. It is made clear to the reader, that this is an info-dump. If done well, the readers can lose themselves, in exploring this new world. But again, keep it brief, relevant, and to the point. Once the readers have a good grasp of where they are, they can be introduced to the main character, and the actual story can begin. Another tip the i have read about world-building, is to treat that world as one of the characters. It has its own personality, motivations, weaknesses, and back-story. Build the world as you would build one of the characters.
I've read a lot of science fiction stories that got published where the protagonist is merely a good intentioned man of action, and we don't really know much more about him that that. Keith Laumer's "The Glory Game", Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", and Whitley Strieber's "Nature's End" are three examples of such plot driven sci-fi. That last one also does a lot of world building through exposition and made the changes in society more important than the characters. The characters in all three could have been anybody. However, I liked "Nature's End" and "Childhood's End." Didn't like "The Glory Game" all that much. I am writing a dystopian novel and my first three chapters that are finished have pretty much am equal mix of character driven and plot driven world building. There are only two major characters and two or three minor ones in chapter one. Fast paced events build the world through most of the chapter but the first couple paragraphs contain a lot of his ruminating about how much worse things are in the current society than in the older one. And I do borrow a technique from Strieber in that I post timelines beginning with things that have already happened in our real world and extrapolated future events going in the same direction and leading to the dystopian world. I don't want to give away the actual plot but was it wrong to start with the main character's internal dialogue about what's gone wrong with the world around him? My protagonist is practical and skeptical but is starting to see some things going on that are starting to affect him and his job puts him right in the middle of the negative societal changes I describe.
I've never actually seen that type of worldbuliding anywhere other than Little Nightmares games, but I really wanted to know more about it. How do you manage worldbuliding, where the world is metaphorical, rather than literal, and where the world is the one carrying the main idea, and characters come second. Is it even possible in writing? I'm not sure if you understand what I'm talking about, so let me give you an example. For instance, there are humanoid monsters (Viewers) who always watch the TV. They only care about the TV, which leads to their slow death. That's likely a metaphor of propaganda, or at least I remember something like that:"the thing that entertains you in order to destroy you and change your worldview" being said in one of the interviews. That's already a little too long, so...yeah, how do you manage that type of worldbuliding?
I feel like you're taking a too narrow view of worldbuilding in this one. Even "irrelevant" details or history of your world can deeply impact your characters' outlook on life. Especially if you're writing a story that doesn't start with the characters in the real world like Narnia. High fantasy or sci-fi, or dystopia rely on these unseen details as much as a real-world setting does, only you don't have to build the real world. Not to say it should distract from your characters, but you should know.
well, if taking Narnia as an example, you can't really say think small, coz heros starting to colide with some different universe and that universe likely was born before main charackers were affected by it or vice versa. there was a lot going on besides main charackters, right?. As I understood the topic of the video should be: How present a brand new shiny built world
