Love The Novel World You Create—But Not Too Much

Edie Melson

I write weird stuff.

In addition to writing nonfiction, I am a speculative fiction novelist. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term, speculative fiction is the umbrella that fits over the genres of science fiction, fantasy, paranormal, supernatural, etc. I love it all, but my specialty is science fiction.

I was destined for this world of weirdness. I grew up in the sixties. One of my fondest memories is of sitting on my father’s lap, watching the original Star Trek series. For me, writing science fiction is like coming back home.

So what does this all have to do with the focus of this post?

Being a scifi writer means I create worlds . . . from scratch. I invent the science, determine the natural laws, populate them with strange creatures, and even stranger flora. Effective world building is foundational for the kind of books I write. It’s important in every novel, but it takes on added importance when the reader is dealing with a setting made up entirely from the author’s imagination.

For example, it’s not possible for me to mention my heroine is climbing through an abandoned spaceship hatch embedding in the talarium-coated rock face to get outdoors where the Laisa trees are in bloom and expect my readers to visualize what I’m describing.

I spend a lot of time creating my world and pulling it together in ways that don’t contradict.

For me, this is a labor of love.

As a matter of fact, I love it so much, that I now find myself doing it without thinking. Imagining worlds that don’t yet exist are an integral part of the daydreams that come upon me unaware.

I do have a system I use when I’m past the daydream stage and into the roll-up-my-sleeves-and-get-writing stage.

My World Building Checklist:

1. Believability: It doesn’t matter if my story takes place in small town USA or on board a spaceship. I must infuse the place with believability. For example, I can’t place my heroine in an aircar that flies hundreds of miles per hour and not provide her with a safety harness for her seat. As a speculative author, it’s imperative we make certain the science—and magic—of the place we’re creating makes sense.

2. Terminology: The world I build must have the flavor of the environment I’m trying to convey. It doesn’t matter if I’m in a different country or a unique time in history or created world, I still need “otherness” in the setting. That means made-up words, different plant and animal life, and even a different way of measuring time and distance.

I want to flavor my out-of-this-world setting, but I don’t want the reader to become overwhelmed. Have you ever spent more time looking up words in the glossary at the back of the book than you have reading the actual book? So if I add too much story world detail, it’s like making a pot of chili and throwing in a cup of hot sauce—it’s just not fun to swallow.

3. Flora, Fauna and Physical Locale: I remember reading a book—from a well-known author—that took place in Houston, TX. The opening scene had her perched high on a hill overlooking the city. Hills are not part of the Houston environment. I lived there, and the nearest hill is hours away and the city is not visible from it. As a speculative author, I don’t have to worry about real-life inhabitants fussing because I got the setting wrong. (At least I hope I don’t!) But I still have to make sure the topography makes sense. A big part of the imagery comes in description. I have to provide just enough of a snap-shot to anchor my reader without overwhelming them with pointless details. I also want to leave room for them to have fun filling out the scene themselves. Speculative audiences are an imaginative lot. Once they have a good grasp of where they are, they can fill in some of the details—and they enjoy doing that. It’s part of the whole reading-spec-fiction experience.

4. Dialect and Language: Obviously a novel that takes place on another planet or in another dimension doesn’t have English as the foundational language. But if we wrote the book in a created language it won’t be read. So how do we convey a touch of foreignness without leaving the reader grasping for a possible meanings?

·      Sprinkle in some made-up words with plenty of context to make the meaning clear. For example: Even as the voice in the earpiece sounded, Josiah smiled at her. “Don’t worry, Bezek bellows like a bovine, but is gentle as a hesit.”

·      Utilize a different sentence structure. For example, in a normal conversation we’d say: She turned her head slowly, afraid of the pain, but only felt a slight echo of the injury. In a spec fiction book I’d change it to: She slowly turned her head, afraid of the pain, but only felt a slight echo of the injury. It’s a small change, but that kind of misplaced modifier will give the story a hint of foreignness.

·      Give them a different way to measure time and distance. As I mentioned before, using different terms for these things can add a great deal of depth—as long as we don’t overdo it. In Anne McCaffrey’s dragon novels she refers to a week as a sevenday. It’s different, but still recognizable to readers. But it’s important to strike a balance between new terms and readability.

5. Keep Your Setting Uncomfortable: Settings can be a great way to bring in or escalate conflict. We want to build a world we love, but we don’t want it to be a world where everything is just right. A true utopian setting—without undercurrents of nastiness—is boring. A perfect setting can suck the life out of your story faster than almost anything. Look for ways to make the world you’re building an obstacle. Give it a difficult climate, or a harsh landscape, or deadly flora and fauna.

Bottom Line:

World building may be something we love, but it still takes work. We have to be willing to go deep and wide to make our settings believable and vibrant. It’s up to us to plant the reader in a place that allows their imagination to roam free while keeping their attention firmly focused on story that’s unfolding.

How do you build your story worlds? What is your favorite unique world that you've read? Let us know in the comments if you'd like to be entered to win a copy of Alone (print or e-book)!

Find your voice, live your story…is the foundation of Edie Melson’s message, no matter if she’s writing for fiction readers, parents, military families, or writers. Her passion to help those who are struggling find the strength they need to triumph is reflected in the characters she creates and the insight she shares. As an author, blogger, and speaker she’s encouraged and challenged audiences across the country and around the world.

She married the love of her life 35+ years ago and together they’ve raised three sons. Besides writing, Edie can often be found hiking in the out-of-doors with her camera slung across her back and her husband at her side. Connect with Edie further on her website, through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Alone

After her family is killed in the cleansing, Bethany’s purpose in life has changed. No longer will she be allowed to work to save her dying planet. As a slave, endurance is her goal as she marks each day as one moment closer to an eternity spent reunited with those she loved. But when her planet is invaded, everything changes. Now she must decide either to align herself with those from her planet who condemned her faith and killed her family, or with the warriors who have conquered her world. Ultimately her choice will mean life or death for more than just her planet’s ecosystem. She alone holds the key to a powerful secret, and the fate of the entire galaxy depends on her decision.

Available at:

Kindle

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Books-a-Million

Building a Better World - One Story at a Time

with guest Mary Curry.

     You've probably heard the story about Abraham Lincoln meeting Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and saying, "So this is the little lady who started this great war."

    But did you also know that Adolf Hitler claimed to have drawn inspiration for his Aryan nation from Wagner's early opera Rienzi, which in turn was based on a book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (of It was a dark and stormy night fame)?

    Or how about the Cannibal Rat ship that's floating around the internet these days? Has that made you think of global responsibility?  (Or maybe it's fed a plot idea.) True or false, the story has certainly infested Facebook and the Twitterverse.

  
Behold the power of story … for good or for ill.

Who remembers this scene from Romancing the Stone?
 

Kathleen Turner evoked the exhilaration writers feel when the writing is working. But I think readers also identify with the scene because they completely understand the sheer power of story to carry you out of your daily life. That's what we're talking about today. Story and the power it wields.

 A month or so ago, I received an email from an organization called The Greater Good.

The email contained an article, by Paul J. Zak, called How Stories Change the Brain.

Since I had recently posted here at Seekerville about Wired for Story , I was interested to read the article and watch the accompanying video.  Although Wired by Lisa Kron and the Greater Good article by Paul Zak, approach the topic differently, their conclusions are ultimately the same. Story is vital to our survival. The brain loves story, and stories change our brains.

What does this mean to us as writers?

Here's a video from Zak's article that shows you how story impacts your brain - literally shows you. It's only 5 minutes long so I encourage you to watch it. Then come back and we'll talk. Go ahead. I'll wait. It's fascinating stuff.




The part of the video I found most intriguing was at the 3:35 mark (through 4:31). If you weren't able to watch, through brain imaging, Zak's team was able to show brain activity in response to different types of stories. In response to the story of a father whose son is dying, brains lit up with empathy and understanding of what others are doing. In response to a story of a father having a fun day at the zoo with his son, nothing lit up. Nothing.

That's powerful imagery!

Imagine readers reading your stories. Do their brains light up in response to what you have written, thus keeping them invested in the story, or is there no response? If nothing is happening in your story, the reader's brain won't tune in. That's hard, cold science. Shudder.

Zak connects this brain imaging to the Dramatic Arc of story.

"This evidence supports the view of some narrative theorists that there is a universal story structure. These scholars claim every engaging story has this structure, called the dramatic arc. It starts with something new and surprising, and increases tension with difficulties that the characters must overcome, often because of some failure or crisis in their past, and then leads to a climax where the characters must look deep inside themselves to overcome the looming crisis, and once this transformation occurs, the story resolves itself. "


There's more, but I don't want to give away the whole story. If you'd like to read the full article, you can find it here.

So this is all well and good. Really interesting and very important to remember.
But what do we do with it?

Well, I could have just ended this post with the advice to write a really interesting story with lots going on.

But as I was reading the article and thinking about this post, a song kept playing in my head.

Five For Fighting's World.



What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let's start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now...

So that brings me to a bigger question.

What kind of world do you want?  And can you help build it with your stories?

Deeper into the Greater Good article, Zak goes on to say, "We also tested why stories can motivate us, like the characters in them, to look inside ourselves and make changes to become better people."

Without giving away the story on the video, Zak says chemicals are emitted in the brain in response to story. The people who were motivated by the story to donate "had more empathic concern of other people and were happier."

He goes on to say:

"This shows there is a virtuous cycle in which we first engage with others emotionally that leads to helping behaviors, that make us happier. Many philosophical and religious traditions advocate caring for strangers, and our research reveals why these traditions continue to influence us today—they resonate with our evolved brain systems that make social interactions rewarding. "

The story Zak worked with was true, but apparently that doesn't impact the brain's reaction. The down side for us is that in Zak's study, apparently the reaction was better with video than with written story.  Let's take that as a challenge!


In the sidebar of the article, there was a link to another article - a review of Jonathan Gottschall's book The Storytelling Animal - How Stories Make Us Human. So of course I had to read that too. It's an interesting book (though some may find his views on religion to be insulting). Gottschall examines how stories (in all their varied forms from videos to printed stories to dreams and daydreams) saturate our lives. He uses what scientists have learned from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to explain why humans are addicted to stories. 

The examples I used in the opening (not the Cannibal rats!) are discussed in his book. 

In chapters respectively called The Moral of the Story and Ink People Changed the World, Gottschall discusses how people are "putty in a storyteller's hands". He cites evidence to show that the more deeply involved people are in a story, the more the story changes them. He writes about the fundamental power of story to enforce societal norms and values, to define people, to "tell us what is laudable and what is contemptible." Gottschall says "Stories are working on us all the time, reshaping us in the way that flowing water gradually reshapes a rock."

Zak's Center is using the understanding they have developed to "test stories that seek to motivate positive behavioral changes." He suggests we "go see a movie and laugh and cry. It’s good for your brain, and just might motivate you to make positive changes in your life and in others’ lives as well."

Gottschall ends his book with this advice. "Go get lost in a novel."

The message for authors seems clear - craft a compelling story and you can change people for the better.

So I'd love to hear from you. How do you think we can use our stories to build a better world? Can we deliberately craft a message in the hope of inspiring an empathetic reaction?

What kind of world do you want? Are you willing to help build it with your stories?


"World"

 
Got a package full of Wishes
A Time machine, a Magic Wand
A Globe made out of Gold

No Instructions or Commandments
Laws of Gravity or
Indecisions to uphold

Printed on the box I see
A.C.M.E.'s Build-a-World-to-be
Take a chance - Grab a piece
Help me to believe it

What kind of world do you want?
Think Anything
Let's start at the start
Build a masterpiece
Be careful what you wish for
History starts now...


In return for sharing your thoughts today, I'd like to offer a book of choice - any of the books on brains and writing or a Seeker book of choice. Take your pick, but be sure to let us know if you're interested.

Mary Curry

Mary is a teacher, mother, wife and writer.  And a lifelong reader. That passion for reading transformed over time into a compulsion to create stories of her own. She’s been writing  and contesting for many years and along the way has garnered a few writing credits including being a three time Golden Heart finalist and the 2011 Genesis winner for Contemporary Romance. She has recently won Duel on the Delta, Touched by Love, and the Laurie.

Mary can be found on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/M.M.Curry
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/maryc2010

http://myplacebythesea.blogspot.com/  I'm reinventing my blog as a resource for readers to meet authors (published and pre-published) and get free books. If you're interested in being interviewed let me know.