I think it’s commonplace for writers to exclusively associate the term “worldbuilding” with science fiction and fantasy genres. People hear worldbuilding and they think of giant tomes with paragraphs, pages, or entire chapters that are focused on developing an invented world. To be certain, those books worldbuild, but so do speculative works that exist in our world with the addition of a single fantastic element; so do books set in fake towns; so do books of historical fiction; and—here’s the kicker—so do books in our real, contemporary world. What I’m getting at is this: worldbuilding can and should happen in every genre because it’s not the practice of constructing an otherwise unfathomable environment, but rather, it’s the contextualization of setting for the enrichment of a story.
Here’s another way to think about worldbuilding: In your story, what are the rules of reality, the rules of decorum, the consequences for breaking any of the aforementioned rules, and for each individual rule, what authority or tradition led to its creation? Now think about how different settings would lead to different answers.
In a story set in a Victorian tea room, the rules of decorum would dictate the characters' apparel, topics of conversation, and mannerisms. Breaking any of those rules would lead to a character being expelled from the establishment. In a contemporary family drama set at a backyard barbecue, the rules of decorum would differ, and so would the consequences. Maybe Jimmy won’t get kicked out for showing up in an offensive T-shirt and cursing out his uncles, but Grandma might decide to write him out of her will. Maybe the story is about a domestic abuse victim, and their abuser dictates these same things (clothing, actions, and mannerisms). The consequences for these characters are vastly different as are the authorities that enforce them and as are the traditions or psyches that the authorities leaned on to create these rules. In any of these stories, the contextualization that allows you to understand the expectations of characters and the potential consequences within their setting is worldbuilding.
You can make the examples more extreme. If a story takes place on a planet with very little mass, the rules of reality change as do the consequences: gravity has a lesser effect, and leaping as high as one can might send the character careening into space. Or perhaps the story takes place in an imagined society where leaping is forbidden. That’s worldbuilding, but take it further. Why is leaping forbidden? Maybe the society is a theocracy and there is a religious belief that leaping will anger the gods. Maybe the whole civilization used to have a leap day when everyone jumped, hopped, or leaped instead of walking, but one year they had an earthquake that day and, fearing they had caused the natural phenomenon, they forbade leaping. Take it further. What are the consequences if someone is caught leaping?
This exercise can be applied to any piece of writing, regardless of the genre or setting. I challenge you to consider your works through the lens of worldbuilding. Ask yourself what rules exist, why do they exist, what are the consequences to breaking those rules, and whose authority commands the rules? Weave that information into your story as implicitly or explicitly as your genre dictates.
My kernel of advice: Always worldbuild.
Inspiration, Information, & Insight
Neidy is very excited to let everyone know that she will be joining the MFA program at Stony Brook University this fall. This week, she spent a lot of time creating a syllabus for the introduction to creative writing course she will be teaching undergraduates in September. She also read A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins and started Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova.
Shelby is getting close to finishing her novel draft, but she also feels like it’s so far away. She started reading Story Engineering by Larry Brooks in hopes to glean a useful approach on how she can tighten her story structure. Thanks to Sarah’s recommendation to their workshop, Shelby read “The Wind” by Lauren Groff, and was blown away (pun not intended, but Shelby stands by it) by Groff’s ability to create emotional resonance through a framed perspective, tension, and the build-up of hope.
Natalia started reading What’s Going on In There? as a way to learn about child development. She’s also made a list of fiction books to read this week, some of which she picked up at the library this past weekend.
As her semester draws to a close, Sarah is up to her eyeballs in deadlines. Just this week she submitted an extended personal essay and three short stories, including her first foray into flash fiction. Having never written a short story less than 6,000 words, she found the extreme word limit daunting, but she managed to do it, writing two 1,000-word stories and one 3,000-word story. Just one more creative writing project to go. Unfortunately, this will be a long one. And then…revisions.