Monday, May 24, 2010

Where to go Next?

Happy Manic Monday. Grab a cup of virtual coffee, I have hazelnut brewing today, and a blueberry muffin. With the warmer weather, I’ve moved out to patio to enjoy the cool weather. Just want to make a few announcements before getting to the topic. On May 27th Whipped Cream Reviews will be posting one of my free reads titled One Life to Live. I’ll post the link on our side bar when I get it. Also, I have a guest blogger on my personal blog, www.annienicholas.blogspot.com , discussing punctuation as part of my Writing 101 series.


I have finished another novel and am playing the waiting game with my publisher. A new WIP is hanging around for me to start it but I am hesitant because it’s so much more involved than anything I’ve ever embarked on.

Most of my books take place on our world and our time. Sure, I have a vampire or two with a dash of werewolf involved but I never created a whole world before or a whole new race.

How do you go about world building? How do you keep track of all the rules?

7 comments:

Rebecca Royce said...

Annie, I think the way you would world build and the way I would are two different things. You are a plotter so plot it out girl!

Ambrielle said...

Annie,
Sometimes, I go about world building the same way I go about character growth/building. The rules and limitations come to me as the story progresses and I get to know the character and their world.

Sandra Sookoo said...

LOL How I do it? Get it down on paper and just like anything else I do, make lists, jot down a little history, etc. :-)

Caroline Clemmons said...

Once you leave earth, I'm sure worldbuilding is much more complicated. However, you've built a world for each of your books because you've taken liberties with reality. My new release OUT OF THE BLUE does the same thing. The book is set in present day Texas, but the heroine travels from 1845 Ireland. Plus, the town is fictional. You see how eacha uthor builds a world for each book, so I think you'll do a wonderful job of your new WIP. Good luck with it!

Stacey Kennedy said...

My Magical Sword Series takes place in the Otherworld, so I've been there. But that is what is great about being creative, the world is yours to build!!!

Just dig in - let the ideas flow, write em' down if you need to, but just dream away. It can be daunting and hurt the brain all little to tie it all together, but you'll go great Annie!

Good luck with it :)

D L Jackson said...

Okay, go ahead, laugh, but I have my own encylopedia, The Tribunus Guide to the Universe. Anytime I add a new world, species, creature, tech--you name it, it goes in with the definition. If I need the info later in the book I car refer back to find the Odroxian rank for differnt types of officers or the names of Cyronian Zonas or the types of ships they fly, it's easier than scrolling through my chapters to see what I wrote. Split screen will help if you've also written character profiles.
Here's a couple entries:
Pod: Outer shell of an unhatched or specialized sub-soil Bio-Mech . See, Bio-Mech.

Milyria: The largest Empire in the Galaxy. It consists of over 50 planets and is not a member of the LOP. The Milyrian Empire is a Matriarchal society, ruled by powerful women for millenniums, who have often been referred to as War-Matrons.

It really helps you to keep your world-building straight and I use it for all my novels, so you might find entries for different books in it. As I research, for instance, the elements that make up a blue star, I might add this info into the descript for Rados, a blue star that works like Earth's Sun for Cyros. The material that make up the radiant source can effect the color spectrums on that world, so I like to know if my trees will look green or pink.
LOL
Egads! I sound organized. I'm really not, but things like this help me to keep true to my world-building.
Dawn

LOL
Dawn

Annie Nicholas said...

WOW Dawn, I want one, I want one. I'm misses OCD here so that really appeals to me. LOL
Thanks for the great idea.