#somethingcarefreealwayschanging

[laventadorn]

Out of both curiosity and my own edification--How fleshed out do you have an idea before you start writing the story? Like, do you start when you have a whole cast, setting, and significant plot figured out, or do you plunge in when you have a feeling and figure it out on the way?

i just go full steam ahead and figure it out along the way. the benefit to this approach is that you don’t put off the project indefinitely waiting for The Right Moment To Start. but the drawback is that you might reach a dead end with no idea how to get out…… speaking from experience ^^;

that being said:

i once had a creative writing professor whose wife spent actual years letting a story percolate before she started writing. i think the number he gave was “up to four.” by contrast, he would just start banging out words and about twenty minutes later say, “hm, we’re on a boat, i guess i should look up what that’s like.”

the thing is that each of these approaches worked for them. he didn’t jump in and then find himself in a barren idea wasteland because he didn’t know where he was going, and she didn’t let those years of brewing her story stop her from writing it entirely. either approach can fail, however, if it loses momentum. 

(hello, experience, my old friend.)

i’ve read a lot of writing advice over the years - like all advice, some way more helpful than others - but one thing that stuck with me was “keep track of the core idea of your story.” so let’s say that i want to write a story about snape learning he has a heart. if i know nothing else about what i’ll be writing, that’s the idea i always need to make sure i come back to. if i know what is driving the story, then i can (hopefully) wait out the never-ending days when ideas don’t come easy and don’t come at all*.

so, however you start, or however long you want to take, find that core idea. then work it out into a story in whatever way makes you most comfortable. you might try both ways to see which one you’re most comfortable with. i’ve tried both approaches and the times i’ve done extensive pre-writing, i’ve pretty much never started the actual story. i have to write in order to think – and honestly, i have more fun that way – so i just get started; but some people need a plan or they can’t move. the most important (and most difficult?) thing is that you find a way that works for you ♥

*yeah, that’s from a meatloaf song :3 

[not-poignant]

Thoughts on worldbuilding? What's your process? What's your standard for 'complete enough' to start writing the actual story? Any general advice?

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Out of both curiosity and my own edification–How fleshed out do you have an idea before you start writing the story? Like, do you start when you have a whole cast, setting, and significant plot figured out, or do you plunge in when you have a feeling and figure it out on the way? @somethingcarefreealwayschanging​

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I got two asks about this from two different people, so I’m combining them!

Firstly, worldbuilding is different for everyone. My process for worldbuilding is actually different for each story. Some stories I do hardly any work on before I get started (The Golden Age that Never Was), and some I do a lot of research on before I get started (Blackwood).

How fleshed out do you have an idea before you start writing the story? 

Not that fleshed out, honestly. I really don’t like super thorough worldbuilding? It actually puts me off writing and sometimes means I am closed off to better ideas as I go. It’s different for everyone, but for me, leaving a window open for improvisation etc. makes me a better writer, and often gives me loopholes if I accidentally write myself into a corner.

For example, when I started The Golden Age that Never Was, these are the characters I wasn’t aware of / didn’t exist in my mind: Flitmouse, Sharpwood, Eva, Anton. I didn’t know how I was going to end the story. I didn’t know about Grisaille, or exactly what had happened with the Light/Dark. I didn’t have a chapter plan. I didn’t have my major plot points, lol.

The Ice Plague, which is much more planned and book 1 has a chapter plan etc. I still didn’t know that Gille Dubh was going to be in the story until I wrote him in. I’ve already had to move some things around (introduce some things earlier etc.) because Mosk and Eran are moving faster than I thought they would. I have three books of worldbuilding there, mostly on fae and fae lore etc. for Fae Tales, but I still change things, or deviate away.

I mean sometimes my chapter plan is just: ‘Chapter 4 - they fight, bad outcome.’

Anyway, now some technical crap:

Pros/Cons for thorough worldbuilding:

(The examples I’d put here are sadly not yet published. Though I’d tentatively put The Court of Five Thrones under this category.)The Ice Plague: Book 1

Pro - You have a good sense of the world and often need to research less while writing the story. This can help with story flow and writer’s block. Pro - It may give you a security net / safety blanket while writing. Pro - It’s easier to hit your pacing and plot beats in a timely manner, because you can pre-plan for them to happen when they’re ‘supposed’ to. Pro - You can get a clear sense of your character development early, and always be heading towards major character and plot beats. Pro - You have a solid world set up for future stories set in that world.Pro - You can pick the very best parts of your worldbuilding for your story.

Con - If you adhere too strictly to your plan, you may get ‘stuck’ at a point that is just boring or was badly thought out, and this can prevent story flow and create writer’s block if you’re inflexible. Con - I know a lot of writers who get so stuck in worldbuilding, they never write. If you are someone who loves worldbuilding, but has been stuck in a world you want to write for years and have no words to show for it, it’s time to stop worldbuilding and start writing. Con - It’s easy to intimidate yourself out of writing the story. Con - It’s possible to bore yourself out of the story because you’ve planned so much, you’ve ‘experienced’ it and no longer want to write it. Con - You will take the longest to get to actual writing out of every category.Con - The majority of your research and notes - some 95% usually - will never make it into your story, and your readers will never get to appreciate how awesome the foundations are.

Skills you’ll need to learn:

1. How to get off your ass and actually write. If you’re spending years in world-development, and you want to be a writer and not a worldbuilder you have a huge fucking block.

2. How you want to store your information. Word? Scrivener? Google Docs? On Paper?

3. How to be flexible or maintain flexibility so that, when necessary, you can break from your thorough worldbuilding to make a better story.

4. How to bite the bullet and say ‘right, this is enough worldbuilding, it’s time to write.’ I recommend setting a deadline and sticking to it. You can still worldbuild after that, but only in concert with writing / producing content.

Pros/Cons for some-but-not-lots of worldbuilding:

Examples:

Into Shadows We Fall Deeper Into The Woods Inmates

Pro - Lots of room for improvisation, because let’s face it, your planning brain hasn’t lived the story yet, so doesn’t technically know what’s best for any given scene. Pro - Still have a security net while writing, though it’s thinner, with bigger holes in it, lol. Sometimes it won’t catch you. Pro - Room to ‘build the world as you write.’ This might be more convenient, especially when it comes to characterisation. Living the character through writing them often gives a better sense of what they need. Pro - Whatever you focused in on, will probably shine through as a strength. If you dialogue research, your dialogue will be strong. If you setting research, your setting will be strong. Pro - Best of both planning and non-planning worlds, meaning you get to start writing faster, and have more structure than the ‘by the seat of your pants’ writer.

Con - You will write yourself into cul de sacs. Because you haven’t pre-plotted everything, sometimes you will write yourself into corners. You may be good at improvising, but it still feels like shit to realise you might have generated a plot hole or a dead end. Con - The security net has big holes in it. Chances are while writing, you may end up researching something unexpected for two weeks. This can break writing flow. Con - You may need to invent significant plot and characters as you go. Con - Depending on what you’ve dropped, they will be your weaknesses. If you didn’t research character ‘voice and accent’, your dialogue may be weak. If you didn’t thoroughly pin down plot, your plot may be weak. Con - If you are still learning how to improvise, or don’t find a certain amount of ‘terror while writing’ fun as an experience, just not knowing what’s coming may give you writer’s block.

Skills you’ll need to learn.

1. How to be a good improvisor / actor when in a pinch.

2. How to ‘research as you go’ without breaking writing flow. Maybe you write what you need to, and add the worldbuilding back in. Maybe you pause writing and research until you feel confident again (me), or maybe you break up the days so some are ‘writing only’ days and some are ‘research only’ days. The ELEPHANT trick will help you.

3. You still need to know how to worldbuild, you’re just doing it differently. So all the skills of research and structuring and building - you can’t avoid those.

4. Where to see the holes in your structure, and consciously work on those not being weaknesses when you’re writing them.

Pros/Cons of never planning a damn thing, and just starting to write based on an idea:

Examples:

Stuck on the PuzzleThe Golden Age that Never Was The Wildness Within From the Darkness We Rise Game TheoryThe Wind that Cuts the Night

Pro - It’s a lot of fun, lol. Pro - Making it up as you go often means the story has a fresh feel, and your pacing is sometimes more organic, because you’re following the real-time pacing in your body/mind. Pro - You never need to look at a single research document for the most part, especially in the beginning, meaning that you never have to break your writing flow in this way. Pro - You never have to think ‘how will I work this thing into the story that I wanted to work into the story.’ Pro - You learn to trust yourself and your organic storytelling skills. It’s great for unlocking trust in yourself, and there are enough published stories written with this method that it doesn’t prevent you from publishing either. Pro - You can literally start right this second. There is no delay. Usually faster output of stories. Pro - If you’re used to pre-planning, this is actually a great way to get back in contact with who you are as a writer, and refresh your brain! Doing this every now and then let’s you learn how much you’ve grown!Pro - This method doesn’t mean ‘no worldbuilding’ - it just means doing it as you go! You’re still going to end up with documents about the rules and structure of your world and characters for longer stories.

Con - These stories get abandoned most frequently halfway through due to hitting cul de sacs or deadends. A lot of WIPs on AO3 started out like this. Con - Sometimes you just want to write one moment and you don’t have a story, as soon as you write that moment, you’re going to stop writing. That’s fine, but…yeah. Con - No safety net. I hope you don’t like feeling secure in what you’re writing.Con - If you have minimal trust in yourself or your skills, or minimal understanding of story structure in general, you may just end up with a super rambling mess that doesn’t have a plot / with thin characters. Con - Plot holes. Inconsistencies. ‘Oh wait I didn’t know that was so important I need to go back and add some foreshadowing / introduce that character earlier.’ Con - The editing process for publication might really suck. Con - Advanced process, may be impossible to do this well in long stories until you have more experience. (But you may not care about doing it well, you just may want to be writing. Consider: NaNoWriMo usually falls into this category).Con - This method doesn’t mean ‘no worldbuilding’ - so if you hate worldbuilding, I’m sorry, you’re still going to have to do it.

Skills you’ll need to learn:

1. How to tell a story without relying on pre-planning that story.

2. To do this well for long stories, this is an advanced mode and not recommended for beginners. You need writing practice!

3. How to trust yourself as a storyteller.

4. How to use your story as the worldbuilding process. (This means also, editing out infodumping that you were doing for yourself, but that readers don’t need to know).

5. Really great editing skills.

6. How to get yourself out of a corner, or how to do the writing equivalent of a three-point-turn when you hit a dead-end.

7. How to generate more ‘big moments’ once you’ve written your big moment, so that you actually get a story, instead of just writing a big moment, lol.

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These are not static processes either. Something you start off with no planning you may suddenly take a break on and do a lot of really thorough worldbuilding (see: Game Theory). Something that you start off with ALL the planning you may realise like, idk, 70% of your planning is redundant when you actually start writing, and need to scrap it and improvise.

Tl;dr, I do lots of different kinds of worldbuilding, though I do ‘super thorough worldbuilding’ the least. It’s definitely possible to see which categories you prefer, and troubleshoot each one. :D