Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
Posted At : 1:48 PM
| Posted By : Russell
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Writing Advice
Mood: Content
Now reading: Dark Tower, last volume
How big is your world?
Most of us operate in a small 'action space' - the space of our everyday lives. Yours probably stretches no more than a few tens of kilometers, from home to work to school to the sports club to your mates' places. Your 'action-space' is the area of the world you leave less than, say, once a month.
Only a few people have action spaces larger than 50 square kilometers. Business people who travel frequently can have enormous action spaces, stretching across the world, as can those who own multiple or holiday homes.
So think about it a moment. Even take a moment to draw a rough sketch map. What is your action space?
Now, if you are creating a world, you need to think about scale first of all. What amount of space does your action require? What is your plot and characters' action space?
Remember that if your fantasy is pre-technology, action spaces are very small, and journeys beyond them very slow. Jesus of Nazareth, for example, never went more than about 200 miles from his home in his life. So - does your fantasy require a whole planet's worth of world building, or can it take place in a city? A town? Or in a handbag? (I've heard of such a fantasy world.)
If you want to test your characters in unfamiliar surroundings, if your plot revolves around political conflict between regions or nations, indeed if it is epic fantasy, you may require your own world. More and more, however, I'm seeing the trend of action spaces move away from such things and become limited to regions or even cities.
Few people have the luxury of making the world first, then writing a story to suit (a la Tolkien). But if you want to do that, go right ahead - but it will cause you problems when you come to write, as you will always struggle against your plot being written by the geography.
Next time I'll talk about the kind of world you will build, and what rules your world needs to follow.
Surely part of the fun of creating the world first "a la Tolkein" is having your story develop a life of its own based on the geography. I have read that Tolkein often didn't know what was going to happen next with his characters and needed to stop writing and wait to find out their next move. Of course, if you have a specific story to tell, being stuck with geographical, cultural, political and social restrictions would just be a pain in the proverbial.
I've always liked the idea of being a writer but, lacking any inspiration, have never followed through. The more I read about the problems that writers have with their stories, the happier I am that inspiration never struck. Although the sense of achievement when you see your books on the shelves must be phenomenal, knowing how excited I got when I had an article printed in the newspaper.
Posted By Jo / Posted At 2/21/07 2:43 PM
Shapes of society have a big effect on action space. If you need a character to have a big action space without undergoing humiliating experiences as they adjust, then their socio-economic situation needs to fit. I'm sick up to *here* with peasant lads whose families ahve never been further than the local market suddenly demonstrating sophisticated world experiences. It's almost a relief when we find out that their humble ancestry was actually that of a princely family in hiding, because at least their parents could teach them some of the vocabulary and techncial skills they would need. Or when they look stupid in their experience of the wider world (something you did rather well in that first book, Russell - those who didn't have broader knowledge showed it - and when people complain about Leith they're leaving his background out of the equation). I'd better go before this develops into a rant :).
Posted By
Gillian / Posted At 2/21/07 4:41 PM
Jo, a number of people consider creating a world before beginning the writing to be restrictive. I'm not sure I agree, and I certainly think the best way about it is some sort of holistic approach, with one being prepared to change either the world or the plot to strengthen the story.
But making a world for its own sake is fun!
Gillian, you are spot on! I fought with everyone - beta readers, editors - to try to take the 'hero' out of Leith - 'hero' being defined as someone who always came up with the right answer. What I found interesting about Leith is that teenagers unerringly identified with his inability to assimilate the complexity of the wide world, but adults found him too whiny and annoying. MacGuyver he is not.
Posted By Russell / Posted At 2/21/07 5:19 PM
When I complain about Leith it is because he was all too real, and far too like my own annoying teenagers in trait! I thought you had him in context very well, given his background of course you would have lots of resentment and doubts, which you protrayed. But as a reader who also happened to be a mother of teenage males? I wanted to smack him so many times!
Posted By Sharyn / Posted At 2/22/07 8:15 AM
I think this is your inner something showing: you want to smack my characters too.
Posted By
Gillian / Posted At 2/22/07 10:02 AM
only when they are rude to their mothers, Gillian, honest *g*
Posted By Sharyn / Posted At 2/22/07 11:13 AM
Smacking's about to be criminalised in New Zealand, Sharyn; you'd better stay over there :)
Posted By Russell / Posted At 2/22/07 11:43 AM
you aren't allowed to over here, either, Russ. But it doesn't mean there aren't times when I don't want to *g*
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