The world comes first!

[Tanihatu]

A quick question: has anybody designed their world first, populated it, decided on society and history etc and THEN thought 'right, what stories could happen here?'

Has the personal sandbox become inspiration for writing?

Thoughts/opinions?

 

[Chilari]

I tend to worldbuild alongside storybuilding and characterbuilding. I pull in elements and see how they match up and discard those I don't like or which don't fit with what else I've decided upon. With my WIP, the theme came first, then some character relationships, then I worked on the world to give the story the setting it needs to work, then I developed some of the core characters and in doing that the plot fell into place. This world has potential for other stories, but I'll consider those once this one is written.

I have tried the world-first approach before, and it didn't really work for me. My process in developing a story is very integrated - like those complex wooden puzzles that inevitably pop up around Christmas time, each piece gets added in order, and trying to assemble the puzzle without using certain pieces until last just isn't an option. So the world-first approach isn't really for me. I need a framework to build the world around.

 

[CupofJoe]

Many times for me I start with an idea of what a world will look like. Only as I build and make decisions about how it will be do the stories start to come to the top...
What I try not to do [any more] is tie down every possible element of my worlds before I start writing*.
Now I like to work out the rivers and mountains [as it were] but not restrict myself to exactly what will grow beside those rivers or on those mountains [again not always literally]...
If I can't find the story that needs to be told struggling to get my attention by then, I stop work and see if something else is shouting at me.
So for me it is an iterative process; idea, [writing or] world building then [world building or] writing, then etc. ...

but I think everyone has their own methodology of how to get from idea to story.

*I have a fully formed setting [loosely called "Overlander"] that is at least 150+K words of background and 20+ maps. There are even a dozen or so characters I quite like but I have no compelling story to tell with them and in that world...

 

[NellaFantasia]

Sort of. I have this idea that most of my novels will be set in the same world. Since I've already created the basic foundation for a few countries/kingdoms/what-have-you within this world, if I ever wanted to go back and revisit the same place with a different story most of it will be done.

My thoughts on it are the same as pretty much any other writing technique. If it works for you, then do it. There's no right or wrong way to write a book. We all the strive for the same ending--a good book. I will, however, suggest to not become so engaged in the world creation that you never write the actual story. It's easy to use worldbuilding or outlining or other preparations as an excuse to not write.

 

[GeekDavid]

My current WIP started with an idea about the world, but the idea for the MC came along literally a few seconds later. They've been developed in tandem ever since.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'd been working on my world for well over a year before the idea of writing stories for it appeared. My original intent was to create a setting for a pen and paper RPG, not to write a novel.
Someone suggested short stories may be a cool way of fleshing out aspects of the world and that's what got me started and what eventually lead to my first novel I'm working on now.

 

[Devor]

To me, it feels crazy to try and create the world without some kind of a story concept. I like worldbuilding, really I do, but I don't like not having a purpose.

Give me a concept, and then I can worldbuild in ways to make that concept stronger and more awesome. But I want to build a setting, not just fill out a map.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Give me a concept, and then I can worldbuild in ways to make that concept stronger and more awesome. But I want to build a setting, not just fill out a map.

This is where I want to point out that building a world is (to me) a lot more than just the map.
The first thing I did was come up with a concept (a mix between a traditional fantasy world and a modern day setting) and then work from there. What exists in the world, what does not exist? What works like in the real world, what doesn't?
In a way of course, this is drawing a map, only it's a map of the laws of nature, magic and society rather than geography.
The actual geography is largely irrelevant, but I did have the big picture figured out before I ever started writing anything.

To me, the first short stories I wrote were just part of the world building, ways to illustrate the world.
Writing stories taking place within the limitations of the world started to get interesting in its own right though. What's it like to be an alien, outsider elf in a racist human society? What's life like for a short fylkin in a city designed by and for much taller humans. What's life like for the kid who got thrown out for being a werewolf and who made a career as a prize fighter?

In short, the restrictions of the world create stories of their own.

 

[Tanihatu]

Thanks for all the responses people. A good debate going here.

I like the idea of having many stories coming from the same world and not necessarily connected by the same characters.

I guess story and world can grow together and I think I will play with both as I go!

 

[Svrtnsse]

There's no rule for how to do it - but there's nothing stopping you from taking whatever inspiration you like from any source that suits you.

 

[GeekDavid]

There's no rule for how to do it - but there's nothing stopping you from taking whatever inspiration you like from any source that suits you.

There are very few absolute rules in writing. You do it how it works for you.

 

[robertbevan]

I'm absolutely the opposite. As soon as my characters entered the world they did, I was making up everything as I went along. It's like a computer strategy game where the world is blacked out except for the parts you've already explored. I felt like writing a story set in a swamp. Guess what? Boom! There's suddenly a swamp about a day's ride northwest of the capitol city.

Now that my world is expanding a bit, I really ought to map out what I've got so far, as to maintain continuity.

This way of doing things works for me and the stories I write because so far the characters aren't involved in any continent-spanning situations. For future books, I may have to world-build a bit first. We'll see.

 

[Dragev]

I have a few ideas for short stories all set within the same world, at different time periods and locations. It all started when I was offered this;

which, along with the epic music gave me the idea of a siege in a gigantic fortress which defends a mountain pass into a country. So I needed a mountain range, a "defender" country and an "attacker". From there, elements of mythology (very important to me), politics, countries etc started popping into my mind.

So I guess I make the map as the story goes along in my head. I have placed landmasses and country limits, but they will change, appear or disappear as I flesh out the story.

 

[DassaultMirage]

I did the first 5 percent of the world first, then with enough world for 5 percent of the story to take place, I wrote the first 5 percent of the story. Of course I have a piece of paper where the actual raw plot of the story was written beside my laptop so I have a guide for the alternating 5 percent, but yeah, I sorta did parts of the world first then parts of the story alternately. It works for me, but you go follow your creative bones.

 

[Chessie]

I absolutely detest world building, but somehow I ended up with a marvelous world. My WIP started out with the setting idea but I created everything alongside itself. One day I would work on characters, the next on setting, the next on plot, etc. This has worked well for me with this project but it might be different with another.

 

[Mythopoet]

I definitely tend toward the world building first side of the spectrum. It's important to me for my characters and plot to feel natural to the world they take place in.

 

[Steerpike]

A quick question: has anybody designed their world first, populated it, decided on society and history etc and THEN thought 'right, what stories could happen here?'

Has the personal sandbox become inspiration for writing?

Thoughts/opinions?

I do pretty much the exact opposite. I come up with stories and characters I find intriguing and want to write about, and then I build the world around them.

 

[Jabrosky]

I lean closer to the setting-first side of the spectrum too. Even if I ostensibly start with a character in mind, that character always hails from a particular cultural background, so technically the setting decision precedes the character. Creating worlds is always fun, even if too much of it can distract from other elements of storytelling.

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

I do pretty much the exact opposite. I come up with stories and characters I find intriguing and want to write about, and then I build the world around them.

Same here. I'm a character first writer, with few exceptions. Conflicts in my stories mostly arise from characters pitted against other characters...and conflict is the story.

The exceptions would be where the setting is a source of conflict, the man vs. nature type. These, for me, are rare. I prefer to write character driven pieces. My favorites are those where a character cast could be lifted from one setting & dropped into another without drastic alterations in who they are & what they're about.

 

[Malik]

It depends on the scale of the story, too. One component of heroic and epic fantasy is that the MC's are involved in a world-shaping event. The world is a character in these kinds of stories; it reacts to the actions of the other characters, and thus it has its own arc. It develops and grows and responds. I believe you have to have the world well-determined for these types of stories. You have to know what the world is going to do.

So the goodguy defeats the badguy, usually in an epic battle that goes down in history. Awesome. Now, what did that do the world? Your supervillain isn't a Jenga block; he's a leg of the table the blocks are stacked on. You don't have to start with the world developed, but I believe you need to know what drives the world as much as what drives your MC's. And you should know the world's motivations and intricacies far better than your characters do, to ensure that the world reacts in ways they didn't foresee. Because, sequels.