World Building and Keeping It All Together

I think early on in the history of this blog I talked about authors who mention having boxes and boxes of notes for one book they wrote. Just for one! (Or 7 in the case of J.K. Rowling.) And being amazed at how they could have so much. I never used to have so much as I do now on Woven and its universe's other stories.

I've blogged about project binders and how I keep everything organized for my stories before. But I'm starting to realize that I may need to expand Woven's universe more. Which means I'll have to expand the project binder. Again.

Currently, for all 21 (possibly 22) (possibly 23) (more like 25) stories set in the same universe, I have a 3" 3-ring binder and a 1 1/2" 3-ring binder holding all the plot notes, character sheets, story synopses and outlines, magic spells, histories, et al.

Expanding the universe even further will require more binders, more notebooks. (Which I have in abundance in boxes in the storage room.)

I used to be amazed to think of authors sorting through boxes and boxes of notes to write one book. Now I'm starting to see how it can grow to fill so much space.

If you have a question you're dying to ask me, something you want me to address either here on my site or over at the Dojo, send it to info(at)stephanie-mcgee(dot)com

Comments and other fun stuff can be sent to stephanie(at)stephanie-mcgee(dot)com

The Downside of Traditional or Epic Fantasy

In re-evaluating the self-imposed deadlines I set for myself, I started thinking about the wisdom of writing the books sitting in my brain.

On the one hand, I feel like there are so many characters and stories in there right now there isn't room for more, for different. That's the biggest factor that makes writing these stories right now so appealing.

On the other hand, all these books hinge on Woven and its trilogy getting published. Events that are the crux of the story in Heirs of the Seven Realms inform the events of pretty much everything else. Characters sometimes cross over from book to book, and sometimes one story's book will have a side or tertiary character whose offspring appears later.

Someone remind me not to ever come up with and entertain so many stories that cross each other again, okay?


If you have a question you're dying to ask me, something you want me to address either here on my site or over at the Dojo, send it to info(at)stephanie-mcgee(dot)com 

Comments and other fun stuff can be sent to stephanie(at)stephanie-mcgee(dot)com

Structure

I used to watch Project Runway.  I stopped watching because I pretty much never agreed with the judges on what was the best or worst look of the night.

Occasionally someone would make a strapless dress and it usually ended in disaster.  Why?  Because the designer hadn't taken care in creating the underlying structure.  I distinctly recall one of the judges complimenting one of the successfully made strapless dresses for its underlying dress.

Basically, what had to happen in order for the dress to be made successfully, to where it looked well-done and fit the model well, was that the designer had to make their dress twice.  First in muslin and other fabrics and second with the actual fabric they chose out of the fabric store.

What does this all have to do with writing?  With each book I write I have to discover just how much underlying structure I need prior to beginning the first draft.  Depending on the genre and sub-genre it can vary widely, for me.  With Mirror, Mirror I spent a week and a half building the world it's set in.  Histories, maps, ruler lists, character sketches, magic systems, et al.  Eventually, I needed to upgrade the project binder to a 1 1/2" size.

But then with a couple of the romance books I've written, I just started with an idea then picked names and researched places as I needed them.  These are the worst books in the spectrum of the five under my belt at this point.  I'm not saying Mirror, Mirror is my best work yet.  I would hope so since it's the most recently written and I like to think I improve book to book.  But it was the one I had the most structure for prior to writing the first word.

All this to say, I suppose, that I'm a pantser-plotter and proud of it.

Narrative Dares

Last night as I sat at my computer contemplating what I would blog about today, I pulled out my notes from an author signing three months ago.  The author was Jasper Fforde, one of my favorites.  (I will warn you that his books do have some language.  So if you want to avoid that sort of thing his books aren't for you.)

I love going and hearing him speak at a signing.  This was the third signing of his I'd been to, but only the second where he actually spoke prior to signing the books.  He's just that entertaining.  (What other author do you know who tells you to go to a restaurant and when the waitress asks if you have any questions, ask "In the end of Star Wars, why didn't Chewbacca also get a medal?")

One thing that really struck me, and I think that he mentioned it in the last signing of his I went to as well, was the idea of a narrative dare.  In talking about his writing process, he says he always tries to start with an idea, a what if.  That's the dare.

Then he challenges himself to create the world in which that dare is feasible and even inevitable.  If you read The Eyre Affair you can see it.  His heroine, Thursday Next (isn't that a great name?), is a police officer over literature.  Then Jane Eyre goes missing from the pages of the book.

That's the narrative dare, what would happen if a famous literary figure went missing.  (At least, one of the dares as I perceive them.)  So then he had to create a world in which it would be devastating if this happened, where it could happen, and where the resources might exist to fix it.  That's what he means by creating a world where the dare is inevitable.

I'm not sure if I've quite nailed the concept in my own writing but I think I'm getting there with the book I'm currently working on.  Only time and beta reads will tell that much.  How about you?  Do you have a narrative dare that is the influencing factor of everything else that comes into the story?

Organization of the Fledgling Idea

In yesterday's post I briefly mentioned giving my short story its own project binder.  I promised I'd blog about that today, so here it is.

With each project, I start a new binder.  The binder undergoes many changes during the life cycle of a project.

In its infancy it is nothing more than a 3-ring binder (usually 1" though sometimes I go 1 1/2") full of loose paper.  (I prefer college-ruled but I'll take whatever's on hand.)  I use these loose pages to record any fleeting thought related to the project.

In the early days of Lodestar these pages were filled with snippets of conversations, questions my MC might ask as his world is turned on its ear, etc.  Title ideas were scribbled in the margins, character names scrawled across four or five lines as I scrambled to get them written in the dark.

After a while, the pages get shuffled around and put into loose categories.  History, mythology, characters, plotting, are just a few examples.  Sometimes there arise more specific sections.

As Lodestar development progressed, I bought dividers and imposed more order on the binder.  There's a section for research notes as there was much to be done.  I had to research the Air Force, NASA, astronomy, fencing, and archery.  Wikipedia articles, other things I'd found online, all of it went in this section.  There was a section for character bios and then all the mythology and history.

At a certain point the binder sometimes ceases to be useful.  With Oracles Promise I ended up with a portable file box full of background stuff on the book and the trilogy.  One hanging section was full of files on the 9 different kingdoms and empires that existed.  Another for research files.  (Names, internet research, possible crests and family symbols, etc.)  Characters comprised a third hanging section.  (I was up to about 14 characters that I had detailed bios on.)

Currently, there are 7 binders on my shelf.  6 are for novels and the seventh is for my four poetry collections I tinker with from time to time.

So, there you have it.  That's how I keep my projects organized and try to maintain some semblance of sanity in all the madness of world-building.

Fact versus Fiction

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that most of you reading this blog write fiction (or at least primarily so).

Today I want to open it up to a discussion of sorts.  I'm going to give an example, give my thoughts on it, then I want you to speak up in the comments section.

When is it okay to bend the rules of reality?  And I'm not talking about the obvious here.  Meaning I'm not talking about paranormal elements and things like that.  I'm talking nitty-gritty reality.  The sort of stuff that if your readers were to do a simple search they wouldn't find something in the first result that contradicts something you wrote.

Example.

On a recent episode of the CBS series NCIS the team had to track down someone who'd killed a couple of people by a slow-release injection of ricin.  Now, ricin is a very real, very toxic, very poisonous substance.

Well, one of the people who'd been poisoned hadn't died yet.  It was a slow process and all that.  This character was told that there was no antidote for ricin and that it was only a matter of time before death came.

After the episode, I did a quick search.  I was pretty sure that the guy in the news a couple years ago after making ricin in a hotel room and getting sick himself from it didn't actually die.

First result that pops up?  Ricin isn't necessarily going to kill you.  But it will leave deep-tissue and possibly even organ damage if it doesn't.  And there is an antidote.

It's bugged me ever since now.  And the question I posed earlier is even more vexing.  I mean, I am currently writing an urban fantasy so there are clearly rules of nature that I'm violating.

But I've been concerned that some of the nitty-gritties aren't true to life.  I'm having to remind myself that sometimes it's okay to bend the rules and facts of reality.  I'm still concerned and maybe I'll have to tweak some of these details later on.  But for now they're staying because I'm probably the only one in the world who would actually go look something up to verify and fact-check it.

In the end, I think that if it'll make the story stronger to stick to reality, even if it means you're going to have to rework the entire status quo changing scene, then stick to reality.  If bending the rules makes it better then do it.

What about you?  When do you feel it's okay to bend the nitty-gritties?  Do you fact-check random things like I do?  Or are you more laid back and just go with the flow?