A spoon full of OH GOD makes the worldbuilding go down in the most delightful way.

Summer's over. You heard me. September 1st is when summer ends, in my books. You might still eat ice cream in the heat of the day or dream about beaches when it hits an odd 90 degrees, but the fact of the matter is SUMMER IS OVER AND WORK/LIFE WILL SOON GO BACK TO NORMAL.

This summer I went on vacation. Not to Tahiti, or Europe. No, I went somewhere better for a full two months. I saw a million things and ate a million new foods, and made new friends who will stay with me the rest of my life.

Where exactly was this place? In my head. Yup. Sounds nerdy. Sounds terribly psychotic. But hey, HEY, if you're a writer, you better be a little psychotic, or your writing might turn out boring!

Seriously, though. Let's talk about worlds.

A lot of people (okay, two people, and they were drunk) ask me how I write such vivid worlds. I answered them like this at the time;

"HUGGGGGGHBLURGGGGH well, y-you know, I just write, just sit down and goddamn write, where'd the spiked iced tea gooooo I need a refilllllllll!"


In retrospect, that question haunted me a bit, and I've got a better answer, now. Worldbuilding can be hard. We all know that. Some people are just better at it than others, some people specialize in ONLY worldbuilding, some people learn it, others refine the skill. The point is, worldbuilding either comes to you, or it doesn't. Worldbuilding is abstract thinking in its finest form. You need to know every detail, down the last bit.

That's what they say, of course.

In reality, if you're like me, you run away at the approximate speed of THAT IS A TERRIFYING PROSPECT if someone brings up the word 'worldbuilding'. I know how it feels, loves. I know. It's hard. And scary. I used to be like this to the nth degree. I used to get very good advice from agents I was querying that told me to beef up my worldbuiling considerably, but they wouldn't tell me how. I got so frustrated knowing I had to work on an aspect of the book, but not knowing how to!

So this summer, I figured it out.

When people say worldbuilding, what does your mind jump to? Tiny details of food and places of an imaginary make, right? You need a whole seven notebooks to keep it all straight, right?

Right?

WRONG.

Worldbuilding can most certainly be complicated, but it doesn't have to be intimidating. Don't keep a book unless it really helps you. These are the three vital questions that you need to know the answers to to write your world convincingly;

1. People

2. Environments

3. Beliefs

PEB. That's a great acronym. It doesn't sound suggestive at all.

People means what kinds of living beings inhabit your world, be they people or aliens. Think about your races - tall and dark to the south maybe, and pale and short to the north? Maybe the west part of your world is infested with sea-going people with red hair. Keep the traits simple and each race assigned to certain areas of your world.

Environments refers to what your world looks like, acts like, and moves like. Think seasons, what types of plants, animals, and weather. If you feel overwhelmed by that, keep it simple - divide your world into North/South/East/West sectors. When thinking about environments, also keep in mind what types of civilizations there are. Maybe in the north it's only tiny villages that brave the harsh and rugged winters. Maybe in the south, there's huge metropolises that thrive off hydroelectric power because they are so close to lakes. Remember, the natural environment of the world determines what shape civilization takes. Don't overthink it, just go to the most logical conclusion. Big bodies of water? Civilization in that area will focus on sailing, fish will be their largest sustenance, and trading will bring in lots of variety in terms of people.

Beliefs are a little more complex, but don't make it agonizingly hard on yourself. When thinking about beliefs, first think about what major religions/organizations there are in your world. The scope of Beliefs can range from churches to militias to a single village to an entire society built around a belief. Huxley had one in Brave New World - the belief that some people were born better than others formed the basis for the society in the book. If you have a large religion, ask yourself where that religion dominates in the world, and what it's core principal is. A core principal should only be one sentence. If you need more than one, you're overthinking. Ask yourself what the main purpose of the religion/organization/belief is. Is it providing spiritual relief to downtrodden people? Is it, like the Hunger Games namesake pastime, used to keep people in line? Is it, like in Harry Potter, an entire school devoted to education for young magical people?



Honestly, these three things are just a way to get you started. When you think about these things, everything else will sort of fall into place in your head or come to you while you're thinking - it's a guarantee. Dive into your world headfirst, and dive hard, dive like you live in that world everyday - food, children, relationships. Focus big, and then go small. Worldbuilding is meant to be detailed, but it's not good if you lose your sight of the big picture, first.


And good luck!!

Contemps? CONTEMPS!!

I just have to squeal about this.

I'm writing a contemp and I don't think I"ve ever enjoyed something more in my life ever. Not even a Firefly marathon. Not even four milkshakes all to myself.

Oh my goodness every word is like christmas. I haven't been this excited about writing since FEAR ITSELF.

Guys.

GUYS.

I LOVE THIS CONTEMP.

<3

I think I might be using this blog to procrastinate!

Sometimes I don't feel like writing, but know I HAVE to, so I end up writing a silly little blog post as a warm up of sorts.

Today I'll warm up on the subject of writing something that has a life of its own and pulls away from what you intended for it. This happens so much with me, I have to constantly slash and burn stubs as they try to sprout. If you can imagine the super slobbery, intimidating, downright ugly thousand heads of the Hydra, that's pretty close to what my WIPS look like.
















Out of those thousand heads, only about four are what I originally had planned for the story. About 986 are heads the story thought up all on its own. The remaining ten are sort of the compromise between what the story wants and what I think is okay. It's a matter of chopping and chopping and rewriting and starting from scratch until that scene WORKS, until that scene becomes one of the scarce ten heads that are alright with both parties.

I could plot and write outlines all I like, but at the end of the day these limitless possibilities will spring up, and it'll be my job to stop them before they go too far or encourage them to grow more. I would say it's like a garden, but that's if you like your gardens with dismembered hydra heads sticking out of the grass.

WHICH I DON'T.

So far, I'm working on two simultaneous WIPs, the descriptions are in the sidebar over yonder.

DEMON CLEANERS just recently hit 20k, which I'm so psyched about. It's taken an awesome turn and I'm just going with it. TWDNB is at a measly 6k, but it's coming along! Both of them haven't turned Hydra yet, but it's only a matter of time.

*sharpens sword*

Sometimes a writer just needs to cry.

Yes!! Yes! yes. It's been one of those days.

I'll say this again; everytime I get a rejection on a partial or full I FRICKING LOVE the feedback I get. It inspires me to do better, write better, write and plot and think harder, longer, faster, stronger, that one Daft Punk Song Kanye Sampled, etc.














Just the fact that agents are actually reading my stuff - MY STUFF - is surreal. Sometimes I have to go; OKAY is that really a request for more material in my inbox? Really? Am I just tripping on Dayquil again? NO?! WHOA SO IS THIS LIKE FULL BLOWN REALITY OR SOMETHING?!















So, man. I totally understand when I get rejected. I do. It's a tough world out there. I do my best. We all do our best. At the end of the day, as long as you honestly did your best, that's all you can do. My writing isn't exactly really awesome. It's got a long way to go, sometimes I just kinda wish I had an agent to help me along in that process, you know? I feel like I can't do it all on my own, when everyone says you SHOULD be able to.

So, I love rejections because they seriously give me the best writing advice.

But they also make me cry.

And that's swell! I think crying is just as important as like...breathing. Espeically with writing. As soon as I get done crying (THIS ROUND LASTED ALL OF FOUR MINUTES THAT'S A LONGEVITY RECORD) I get up, determined to write more, faster, better, harder, see above with that one crazy picture.

I think writers should cry a lot. I think if you don't, that's kinda like you're missing out on the best parts. Like a cake without the ice cream, or the chili without the rice, or the pasta without the sauce...can you tell I'm hungry?

If you have to cry, CRY. I'm giving you permission! (:D) It's a tough freaking industry! You wrote an awesome book! You did your best! You've done what not many people even have the time to do! You sacrificed lunch hours and free time and friend time just to do this! You worked really hard! You are good! You are the best! Go ahead and cry, damnit. You deserve a quiet moment to yourself to appreciate your works and accomplishments, no matter how small, with tears. Someone, SOMEWHERE out there will love your book! They won't just say 'it's not my cup of tea', it won't just be another mediocre disappointment for them, they'll actually LOVE it! Can you imagine that?! Neither can I, but it will happen one day for you lovely writer people!

Oops - was supposed to be catching up on backlog at work. :P



OH TIME WHERE DOTH YOU FLY.

The Waiting Disease

There is a disease that afflicts querying authors.

No! Pray tell, it is not what you think it is. We have patience in abundance. Mayhap we have more patience than a professional turtle racer! We are writers. We write tremendous things and then we revise said tremendous things, and when all is said and done we do things tremendously. Some of us are slow, some of us are quick, but to the cosmic singularity it's all very relative.

PRITHEE, we finish said tremendous thing (tremendous thing being our manuscript), and we have polished and spit polished and car-gloss polished and we've just generally polished the shit out of it enough to see our reflections. We query! Oh boy, do we query. We query and send out partials and fulls and wait with bated breath.

PERCHANCE, the disease strikes!

After four months, you begin to exhibit symptoms that include irritability and fitful doubts of skill. At seven, the disease has a full grasp on you, and it roars only this into your buzzing head;

WHAT AM I DOING WRONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

With occasional variants of this nature;

SHOULD I WRITE ANOTHER BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK BECAUSE MY FIRSTTTTTTTTT IS SHITTTTTTTTTTTTTT?


There is no known cure, or cause, save for a 'WELL DONE LET'S PUBLISH YOUR BOOK' phrase from an agent that you love, not just because they are an agent that will accept your crap and turn it shiny, but because they are a real person and they are tea enthusiasts like you are and they watch Hitchcock movies like you, and they really like your book! They think it is simply rad.


Ahhh, the waiting will kill you. Don't give up.



I have a purikura application on my iphone.
This is dangerous territory.

FOR INSTANCE:



this will be my author picture on the back of the book.