Hello my second world people! I hope you found last week's exercise helpful. This week's is going to be a bit less lengthy, mostly because it's more simple, and also because you've got a lot to decide for this week. We're going to dive in on how you can bring one thing from a holiday or custom you love into your second world setting.
Now, some of these are going to be simple. Say you like going to a bar. Well, in the second world, a bar could be called an inn or tavern and you can go for a beer or drink there. Same can be said for those who love going to a coffee shop or tea shop but you might want to make up something that is similar. Unless your second world is going to actually have coffee beans in it and then you've got to decide where in the world those are. If you are, I recommend a brief Google into the history of tea and coffee.
Others are going to be a bit harder. Going back to the idea of Christmas, you need to break down what you like about the season. For me, I love the giving part of it. As I grow older, I realize that I like giving (and yes, sometimes receiving, even if it's only a small thing) because it makes the other person feel better. For my mom, I know that it's family - everyone being in one spot and catching up with people we only see once a year - and for my aunt, it's the cooking. For my dog, it's the tearing of tissue paper. We could get her tissue paper for Christmas and she'd be happier than having to just end up with the toy inside. She's strange (and a dog) but I'm straying from the point.
The point is that you don't have to make up your new customs completely from scratch. You can take what we have in the real world, twist it just enough or remove things enough to make it seem completely your own, and go from there. It doesn't have to be Christmas or another big holiday, you can take the small little customs of your life and go from there. My suggestion is not to do this on the computer but sit away with a pen and notebook. Write down all the holidays and little customs of your life that you love to do and then break it down into why. Take those whys and create your own holidays and customs.
I hope this helps, second world-ers, and, until next time, keep on plotting (and writing)!
Showing posts with label setting: second world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label setting: second world. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
Setting: Exercise for Second World Settings
On Monday, I put up an exercise that people could do, no matter which setting you're using, but I included a second one that was centered more towards those using a second world. The second world exercise looked into the geography of the world and region you're going to use as well as other things. Let's do a bit more of an in-depth look into the exercise and how it can help those using the real world as well.
Here's the link to the exercise in case you want to take another look at it. We'll break it down into the sections that it's in on the website.
The general questions deal with the base geological region where your story will be taking place. Are there mountains or is it by the sea? Is it in a valley surrounded by mountains and isolated from the rest of the world? Are you going to use more of the world or will it be centered in that one region? As you answer those questions, you'll get more of the world and, possibly, more of the story you want to tell. Say, for example, you wanted to keep it to an isolated city or town. You might find out, as you realize that this isolated place is connected to the rest of your world, that you decide that your hero needs to journey out. Or maybe your first book will deal with the isolated city and the rest of the series will focus more towards the rest of the world. It's best to get that down now instead of being in the second book and having to backtrack to world build before you sit down to write the second book. The second part deals with the non-human inhabitants of your world, if there are any, and where they live. Are you going to go traditional or non-traditional? Are your elves going to be forest ones or mountain ones? What about your dwarves? And so on. This goes into real world by trying to figure out, if you're working in a big city, where people live and how their culture centers in that small area. Think Chinatown in Chicago for that. It is centered in a small bit of Chicago but it reaches out all over in the city.
The second part deals with your climate and geography. These questions are also centered around how your humanity has effected the world as well. There are probably still issues of climate change or maybe not in your world. Perhaps there is no erosion of soil but there are cities that might or might not effect on where your humanity lives. There are no right or wrong answers for this, but you might want to figure out that humanity is going to have some effect on the climate and geography of your world. Maybe there are a lot of grasslands where there are nomads and a clear border where you're going into society. It's not wrong to have that, but it's also a good idea to have, in the back of your mind, of what might happen.
Third part is the natural resources of the world. Just like we have gold and oil, there are probably things in your world that people use to barter. Maybe it is just food, cloth, and more basic things than what we have. Or maybe only certain cultures have one thing and barter what they have with ones that have another certain culture has. You're going to need to figure out if you want a free exchange of goods and services or if there are going to be imbalances. Is there a part of your culture that has everything and it's one sided? Or is it going to be something different but yet you have clear borders of who has what? Again, this is where there are no right or wrong answers, but it brings up plot ideas. For example, say that you have it that dwarves are the only ones that have access to ore and stones but the elves are the only ones that have access to wood. There might be a tense alliance so the two can share what they have that could fracture at anytime. That fracture could be woven into your plot as the rest of the world breaks down into it gets fixed.
Fourth part and fifth part has to do with history and how you want to break it down. There's the general world history and then there's the history that breaks down by culture. To use the example of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, the general world history would be the War of the Ring, but the specific history to humans deals with the aftermath and waiting for the return of the rightful king. It also goes into how you want the calendar set up and how time passes and so on. You might want to use the calendar we have now, so you don't confuse yourself, and the 24 hour time that we deal with everyday. Or perhaps different cultures use different time hours. A culture that deals with getting up with the sun and going to bed a hour after the sun sets might have their day set firmly in their boundaries. When you go into the specifics of the country / culture you're using, you also need to think about if they have enemies or allies and how that could effect your plot too. If humans distrust dwarves for some reason, that could work against your human hero if he or she needs to interact with them. So that's another thing that needs to be thought about.
If you're made it to the end, you're probably thinking "wow, this is a lot of work!". I'm not going to lie to you, as it is, but that's why we're starting so early with the prep work. You need to know all of these things before you even sit down to plot out your novel so you have a strong backbone for your story. Take a deep breath, realize that while this might be insane, it's going to be awesome in the end. You're going to have a plan for why things are happening in your novel that make sense in the world you're creating. It is scary but, trust me, once it's done, it's awesome.
Until tomorrow, keep on plotting (and writing)!
Here's the link to the exercise in case you want to take another look at it. We'll break it down into the sections that it's in on the website.
The general questions deal with the base geological region where your story will be taking place. Are there mountains or is it by the sea? Is it in a valley surrounded by mountains and isolated from the rest of the world? Are you going to use more of the world or will it be centered in that one region? As you answer those questions, you'll get more of the world and, possibly, more of the story you want to tell. Say, for example, you wanted to keep it to an isolated city or town. You might find out, as you realize that this isolated place is connected to the rest of your world, that you decide that your hero needs to journey out. Or maybe your first book will deal with the isolated city and the rest of the series will focus more towards the rest of the world. It's best to get that down now instead of being in the second book and having to backtrack to world build before you sit down to write the second book. The second part deals with the non-human inhabitants of your world, if there are any, and where they live. Are you going to go traditional or non-traditional? Are your elves going to be forest ones or mountain ones? What about your dwarves? And so on. This goes into real world by trying to figure out, if you're working in a big city, where people live and how their culture centers in that small area. Think Chinatown in Chicago for that. It is centered in a small bit of Chicago but it reaches out all over in the city.
The second part deals with your climate and geography. These questions are also centered around how your humanity has effected the world as well. There are probably still issues of climate change or maybe not in your world. Perhaps there is no erosion of soil but there are cities that might or might not effect on where your humanity lives. There are no right or wrong answers for this, but you might want to figure out that humanity is going to have some effect on the climate and geography of your world. Maybe there are a lot of grasslands where there are nomads and a clear border where you're going into society. It's not wrong to have that, but it's also a good idea to have, in the back of your mind, of what might happen.
Third part is the natural resources of the world. Just like we have gold and oil, there are probably things in your world that people use to barter. Maybe it is just food, cloth, and more basic things than what we have. Or maybe only certain cultures have one thing and barter what they have with ones that have another certain culture has. You're going to need to figure out if you want a free exchange of goods and services or if there are going to be imbalances. Is there a part of your culture that has everything and it's one sided? Or is it going to be something different but yet you have clear borders of who has what? Again, this is where there are no right or wrong answers, but it brings up plot ideas. For example, say that you have it that dwarves are the only ones that have access to ore and stones but the elves are the only ones that have access to wood. There might be a tense alliance so the two can share what they have that could fracture at anytime. That fracture could be woven into your plot as the rest of the world breaks down into it gets fixed.
Fourth part and fifth part has to do with history and how you want to break it down. There's the general world history and then there's the history that breaks down by culture. To use the example of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings, the general world history would be the War of the Ring, but the specific history to humans deals with the aftermath and waiting for the return of the rightful king. It also goes into how you want the calendar set up and how time passes and so on. You might want to use the calendar we have now, so you don't confuse yourself, and the 24 hour time that we deal with everyday. Or perhaps different cultures use different time hours. A culture that deals with getting up with the sun and going to bed a hour after the sun sets might have their day set firmly in their boundaries. When you go into the specifics of the country / culture you're using, you also need to think about if they have enemies or allies and how that could effect your plot too. If humans distrust dwarves for some reason, that could work against your human hero if he or she needs to interact with them. So that's another thing that needs to be thought about.
If you're made it to the end, you're probably thinking "wow, this is a lot of work!". I'm not going to lie to you, as it is, but that's why we're starting so early with the prep work. You need to know all of these things before you even sit down to plot out your novel so you have a strong backbone for your story. Take a deep breath, realize that while this might be insane, it's going to be awesome in the end. You're going to have a plan for why things are happening in your novel that make sense in the world you're creating. It is scary but, trust me, once it's done, it's awesome.
Until tomorrow, keep on plotting (and writing)!
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