Worldbuilding
After the debacle of my first book (maybe it wasn’t a debacle. I feel like it was), I became really serious about being a better storyteller. In my day job, I spend a lot of time researching before building, and at some point I realized that there was no reason I shouldn’t apply the same methodology to my writing endeavors.
If you, like me, have been criticized for weak worldbuilding*, this is the post for you.
First, stop reading, and go watch these videos:
…
Oh good, you’re back!
Anyway, you see what I mean. In book one, I was doing worldbuilding all wrong. I was imagining it from nothing, trying to focus on visual details (snow! a castle!) and none of that was particularly unique or compelling. I didn’t have any place in mind when I wrote the text. After watching all those, I definitely had a slew of ideas, but more importantly, I did research!
When telling a story about the Grim Reaper, it should be about way more than “the scythe” and “the shadow of Death”.
I’ve just started on special project and it’s a pirate romantasy. Before writing the characters or the scenes, I spent some time researching, answering questions like:
What are pirates known for? Where do these stereotypes come from?
What are pirates most afraid of?
What is the most common cause of death for pirates?
What did they eat aboard their ship at sea? (did you know that pirates avoided eating fish?!!!)
Do pirates actually wear makeup? (answer: yes!)
What weapons do pirates carry?
What do pirates do for fun?
How is a captain chosen?
Did they really “walk the plank”?
“Who is Davy Jones?”
etc.
Then I can add all the small details that make the world feel real, because it IS real to the experience of pirates, and add fantastical details afterward.