Social Organization, an Exercise

This is probably going to be the only exercise for this section this week. It goes back to the idea that social organization is going to be extremely individualized but also that I never spend time on this section. Sure, I'll do a quick outline of who / what is in charge but this is the part of world building that I spend the least amount of time on.

There's also the fact that, if you're doing a real world novel, this section is already done for you. Sure, you'll have to research local laws and so on unless you make up Small Town USA but it's there. I would just use the questions as a guideline. Also, you might have to call people in order to get information. I know it might seem scary - it does to me - but it'll help you a lot in the long run. Make sure you have questions ready and be willing to call back at another time if nobody can talk to you. Be as flexible as you can and do not forget to get the name of the person who talks to you. You'll want that for your acknowledgements when you finish your novel.

Now, for us Earth AU people, we've got it a bit easy but it's still hard. How much of the real world social organization are you going to use? Are you going to keep the government as is or has something changed? Is the power of the world still the same? If you're jumping way into the future, do we still have what we have now? Or has it changed for something for the better? These are just base questions and you might find more when you start to dive into this part of your world building. I know, for me, I did change power structure and government but you don't really see it in the novel right away. It's more subtle until it's called for, which is a way that you might want to go when you're writing your novel.

Now, second world writers, you have the hardest task because you're creating something new. However, that doesn't mean you can't base it off of the government structure you're living in. Or another country that you like. Let's say that you really like how England is structured with the royal family, the Prime Minister, and parliament. You could use that as your model and put your own spin on it. Or you can pick and choose what you like about your own government and laws and put that into this world you're creating.

At the end of this, I'm trying to show that, while this is the hardest section, it doesn't have to be in the end. It just feels hard because you're having to stretch in ways that you haven't before. Once you get through it, you'll probably coast the next time you need to come back to this section. I hope it helps and, until next time, keep on plotting (and writing)!

Week 3: Social Organization

Welcome to week three of this insanity that we're calling world building. This week the focus is on social organization. If you're wondering what this means, you're not alone. This goes into creating more of a government, politics, and so on. Now, like everything, you don't have to do all parts of this world building. Say you will never get into politics or a political system. Then move that to the side. However, you will need to know what type of government you have - either a monarchy or a democracy or something else - but you need to know what you have.

Let's break this down.

Your first stop is going to be the general overreaching questions about your society. This goes into ranks and titles, what type of jobs are good or bad, different ways to rise and fall in society, and so on. The last question in this section deals with a somewhat complicated question because we're dealing with the written world. It goes into what constitutes beauty in your world and, as much as I think we can, as writers, show that in our work, it's also going to be subjective. A reader might find what you think of beautiful as disgusting and vice versa. I don't think we need to break down the idea of society into beautiful / not beautiful, but it's there if you want it. I feel it's the third rail - touch it and you die for those not familiar with this saying - but it might help you. Just be careful as you can turn off an editor with this too and, unless you're self publishing, you won't even get to readers.

The next section deals with the government and figuring out a lot of the little details of your world. Unless you are doing a plot that is going to be highly political, as you might be writing a novel that deals with the king's court or something like that, I feel that a lot of these questions are not needed. I would go to the questions that really work for you instead of getting bogged down in the teeny tiny details. One of the best questions in this section asks what your basic style of government is and if the other countries are different and how that is dealt with. That's a good question to ask because everyone in the world will know that. The teeny tiny details that you could get lost in is the question about taxes. Do you really need to know that? Possibly if you're writing something with a Robin Hood feel, but otherwise? Do we even think about that when reading a novel? I know I don't, so pick and choose in this section. Make sure you have the broader strokes and, then, if you feel you need more, go back and answer the questions you skipped over.

Honestly, I was going to break down more of this part of the world building, but I'm not sure if it's going to help. I think the best advice for this section is to go through and figure out what you need to answer. Do you need to figure out about waging war? Maybe not and that's fine because that means you can skip that section. You might really need to answer all the questions in the foreign affairs part but yet need nothing with weapons. So, this week, let's pick and choose what parts we'll really work on. I'll be here with exercises for the three settings and we'll go from there.

Also, if you want me to continue on with talking about the different sections, I'm okay with that too. Leave me a comment below and I'll be more than happy to dive into the rest. I just don't feel that it is a good use of anybody's time because this is one of the most subjective parts of world building. For me, I don't need to know about waging war, which is why I used it in the example above, but I need to know what type of government system I'm using.

So that's it for today. Until next time, keep on plotting (and writing).

Helpful Exercise: Social Organization from Patricia C Wrede