This week we come to the meat of the sandwich, the part which makes all the others come together but we're not done yet. WE have six more parts of this series to come yet! We're almost half way, bear with me. Your success is what I want at this point.
Creating a self-contained and believable world is vital to your story/novel and series because it will define everything else; your story,how you characters can and do react, what is illegal, what is dangerous, forbodden or rebellious. If your character is a rebel, against what? Why would they rebel? Do not tell me 'because they government is bad'. Do you know why dictators get to become that? People follow them, lots of people. Good and regular people who have jobs, families and so on. To them the dictator is their salvation, the good guy. What do they do which is bad and why is it essential to uncover it? Who else is against them and why have they not succeeded in ousting said villain yet? See how we're doing?
What? Why? Which? When? Who?
Think about those words. Filter your characters through them, then your story and finally your world. You're starting to develop a system, a series of ideals, laws and rules. Let's try this;
What is your character opposing? They must have an ideal or some honour thing which motivates them right? Some past event or experience.
Why is this important to them? How does this define their behaviour, the people they associate with and their ultimate destiny?
Who are they opposing? There must always be an antagonist for a hero to oppose, to be the mirror image or oppisite of said hero.
Why? Revenge, a reckoning and Justice are well and good but we need some depth here, which leads to;
Which of those reasons matter most? Freedom, Justice, The Truth, revenge, all these matter but one of them will be everything to your character, make them tick as it were. Me? I'd be for all of the above but protecting my daughters would trump them all.
When did they decide this? What happened to change them from nice little sheepy, maybe restless little goat, to vengeful bull? Someone does not just throw how their quiet and easy life for concepts,. something personal is involved. It always is.
What did they decide to do about it? What's their plan, how will they achieve it, who will help them, when will they do it, how will they do it, why do they want to? See how this is going?
So, it is all linked and there is no such thing as an isolated event in writing. If there is, then you are going toward bad territory. This is one of the reasons I rebel against The Rules of writing (ask me my 'w' and 'h' question, go on!) because the details are what draws them into your world and, by this means, into your story, your narrative and your characters. Too brief and they're gone before anyone cares. Plus storytelling is all about building on the details.
You start off with a person, he's upset. Why is he upset? He lost his job. How? He fought with the boss? Why? He caught his boss flirting with his wife.....and so you begin. Too brief and, who cares? Now add that he's in an ultra-religious society. Now he's justified in beating his boss's ass if he can prove it bu, if he proves it his wife will be in the firing line too....we have the big and secret key of consequences! Does he love his wife? Does he hate her? Is he secretly gay and looking for a way out? Does he think it went further? He's youyr project, you tell me!
See how this all works now? Changing the world right there changed the rules and changed the character's decisions, made us dive in deeper. We went from angry jobless potential cuckold and maybe future diorcee to man on the run from a an unjust system and a blackmailer in order to save his wife from a death sentence! We have a system which makes a deeper story. Magic right? Not really, just intelligence and planning. We all have it, we just need to know how to use it! That's the big secret, you know them all already! You're learning nothing, you're inventing it all!
I've done it and new writers are constantly amazed by the process, when they see the world take shape, the motivations emerge and the character develop into a real person, not a 2D cutout. People want real people they can identify with afterall; you provide the fantasy of the the clean and happy ending, that's all. Simple isn't it?
#writers #writingtips #writingmentor #howtowrite #artofthestoryteller #stortellers #worldbuilding #creativewriting #fantasy #sciencefiction #writingskills #workshop #author #realism #makeitbelievable #thetruth #AlanJ.Fisher #wordsmith #worksmiths #inkslinger #inkslingers #inkslinging =art #perfection #holistic #planning #godcomplex #comingsoon #poetry #crazybrits #Irish #irishculture #writing #novelist #novelists #facebook #success #learnfromexperience #myjourney #enlightenment.
Comments