fictionwritingtips:

There are a lot of articles out there about worldbuilding and different ways to focus your ideas and create something fully-formed. All of these steps are important, but there are a few general things you need to keep in mind BEFORE YOU EVEN BEGIN. Here are a few ways to get started and focus your ideas:

Plot and World Should Go Hand-In-Hand

Just because you’re creating an extensive and (hopefully) interesting world doesn’t mean you don’t need to focus on plot. The PLOT should come out of your WORLD. They should be tied together and they should support each other. Your world should serve your story, so it should make your story stronger. Your plot and your world are connected to each other, but story comes first.

Your Book is Not a Manual

You’re not worldbuilding in order to show your readers how it’s done. You don’t have to state everything that’s happening in your world within carefully planned paragraphs or info-dump constantly throughout your novel. You want to reveal your world through the story, not just spend chapters explaining how it’s built, how it runs, and what it consists of. Your novel will quickly get boring if that’s the case. Use story to reveal your world.

You Can Create Your World According to Any Rules

You are not bound to the history of our own world. Although, a lot of worlds people build are based on Earth in order to maintain some familiarity, you can make up your own rules. A lot of people defend racism and sexism in their novels by saying “that’s how things used to be or are in our world”, but this isn’t our world! You don’t have to be confined by anything that’s happened here. Get creative and do something different, if that’s the direction you want to go in. Don’t let people tell you it’s unrealistic.

There Should Be Consistency

Whatever happens in your novel needs to make sense. If you have a world without magic or any basis of magic, you need to remain consistent. You can get creative, but you need to stay true the rules of your world THAT YOU CREATED. Your story will get confusing if your readers don’t understand what can and can’t happen. Be clear. This isn’t to say you can introduce an element later, but you need to lead up to it.

Conflict Still Matters

Your novel can’t just be about your world. There still has to be exciting conflict, NOT characters written solely to show off and interact with your world. People aren’t going to be impressed with your world if it doesn’t go anywhere. Also, think about how your world aids in promoting conflict. Is there something about your world that facilitates the conflict between two characters? Think about how the two go hand-in-hand.

Maps, Maps, Maps

Know your world. If you find it all hard to keep track of, find a way to create maps. Having visuals will help you develop your world effectively and remember where you’re going. Make sure you keep everything straight.

-Kris Noel

thewritingcafe:

Anonymous asked you:

Any tips or inspiration for writing creepy characters? Not like stalker creepy but inhumanly creepy on a Slender man or Zalgo scale?

Ask yourself why we’re afraid of those creatures.

I don’t get scared easily. I only know of one horror movie that has ever frightened me (The Orphanage; you should all watch it because it’s an excellent film) and the only creatures that have ever frightened me (and many others) have been creatures like slender man. But why do these creatures frighten us?

They’re anthropoids, meaning they resemble humans. They remind us of ourselves or something we can become through (often horrifying) supernatural means. These creatures show up in the background of pictures and we pick them out because they look like us, but they’re warped and we’re not entirely sure what they are.

Sure, your creatures can be colossal beings that destroy cities, but the second they resemble humans they become plausible, in a way. Then there are the human-like creatures who start walking on all fours and crawling on the ceilings in the dark. That frightens us because while it’s still reminds us of humans, it’s deviating from a human characteristic. It suddenly becomes faster than we are. It becomes harder to escape. Just imagine how much scarier slender man would be if he crawled on your ceiling and hid in the corner.

Zalgo is about transformation. It takes something normal and changes it to something that makes us uncomfortable. Again, it’s rooted in human transformation. Which ties into the origins of these creatures.

The origins of some creatures are unknown. And the unknown scares us, If the origins are unknown, There’s also origins of creatures like this that involve humans becoming these creatures. They usually have their roots in moral codes, such as teaching children not to go to certain places or not to eat certain foods or else they’ll turn into these creatures. The fact that some of these creatures are said to have been human adds to the creepiness.

To add more to the creatures you create, draw from common human fears such as the dark, heights, insects, water, being buried alive, and pain. There’s also not being able to see creatures in full view that makes them creepier. There are often just quick glimpses or sightings.

For more inspiration on creating creatures, look at my mythology tag and creepy pasta wiki.

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment:

Okay so a few people have asked about these and I can mostly only find fantasy ones on the first check but here are some links:

• http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/
• http://www.larseighner.com/world_builder/
• [this one has a lot of links] http://www.eclecticco.net/Worldbuilding.htm
• http://yamuses.blogspot.com/2011/12/world-building-checklist.html
• http://arcadia.net/Cruinne/DnD/Articles/dnd.worldbuilding.shtml

Hope this helped!

-Covert

whataboutwriting:

I love to build worlds and characters. But then I don’t know what to do with them. I have a plot problem. Do you have any advice? Is my best bet to pair up with another author who has a plot but no world? - anonymous

Congratulations! You’ve made it through the hardest part. Now you just need to let your characters speak for themselves. Answer these questions, and hopefully, they will help you understanding what your plot should be. 

Regarding characters…

• What has your character struggled with in the past?
• Are your characters’ personalities compatible? If not, why not?
• Considering your characters’ personalities, what would be the worst that could happen to them? What would hurt them the most? (If possible, answer this question about each of your characters)
• What is your character’s goal? 
• Who is your character’s worst enemy and why?

Regarding world…

• What are the taboos in your world?
• What are the worst crimes in your world?
• How do people interact in your world?
• In what ways do the laws of your world limit its inhabitants’ freedom?
• How are the typical parents-children relationships in your world?
• How are the typical friendships in your world?
• How are the typical romantic relationships in your world?
• Does your world hide secrets? If so, what secrets?

Try to see in what ways you can connect your characters and how they go around the world you built. Hopefully, once you have specific links character-character and character-world, you will be able to form ideas in your mind regarding what problems your characters could have. All you need is a main conflict, and then let your characters’ personality and back story guide you on how to resolve that conflict. 

I hope this helped!