Hello :)

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Hello

I'm new here, obviously.

I'm called Gwen.

I've been working on a fantasy novel series on and off for a few years. Still in the outlining stage. I feel like world-building is what I'm lacking most. I'm better at characters than worlds.

That's what I hope to get some help with!

So, uh, yeah, hi ^^;;

 

[spectre]

Hi Gwen. I post here on occassion. I have a semi-serious WIP. Welcome!

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[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Thanks!

 

[CupofJoe]

Hail and well met GwenhwyfarRaven
Good to have you here.
I get lost in the World-building far too easily... I really must know what type of coin you'd use to buy a loaf of bread [on the other side of the world and nowhere near my story].
Share what you know and learn what you need.
Enjoy MS...

 

[Caged Maiden]

Welcome to the scribes!

Fantasy is so much more than world-building. And I'm not just saying that because I suck at world-building...though I do!

Characters are what modern readers of all genres are looking for. That's a strength, so don't feel like you're "missing" something. Use what you have and are good at, and be yourself. I spent a lot of time trying not to write like "myself" because I thought it was lame and uninteresting. But recently, I just had to stop being fake, because it was too exhausting and frustrating...and I'm getting more positive feedback than ever before!

Be you. Do what you do. Learn to overcome your weaknesses, sure, but put your energy into telling the kinds of stories you enjoy reading, because odds are, other people will like them too.

Best wishes!

 

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Hail and well met GwenhwyfarRaven
Good to have you here.
I get lost in the World-building far too easily... I really must know what type of coin you'd use to buy a loaf of bread [on the other side of the world and nowhere near my story].
Share what you know and learn what you need.
Enjoy MS...

I have these moments where I'm just suddenly dumbfounded by a sudden question I realize I've never answered. Last night, I was thinking about what my main character's wedding ring would look like, and then I was like, "Wait, would they even have wedding rings? That's a Western tradition based on ancient pagan symbolism that doesn't exist in a completely fantasy realm. So how does someone know when another person is married? Do they have to? Is marriage even a thing? Why? What is the meaning of life?"

 

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Welcome to the scribes!

Fantasy is so much more than world-building. And I'm not just saying that because I suck at world-building...though I do!

Characters are what modern readers of all genres are looking for. That's a strength, so don't feel like you're "missing" something. Use what you have and are good at, and be yourself. I spent a lot of time trying not to write like "myself" because I thought it was lame and uninteresting. But recently, I just had to stop being fake, because it was too exhausting and frustrating...and I'm getting more positive feedback than ever before!

Be you. Do what you do. Learn to overcome your weaknesses, sure, but put your energy into telling the kinds of stories you enjoy reading, because odds are, other people will like them too.

Best wishes!

Wow, that's really inspirational :') Thank you so much for sharing! I remember in my original brainstorm for my WIP, I had finally decided that I would write something for myself without trying to appeal to anyone else, but I don't feel like I'm doing my characters justice if the world I can't flesh out doesn't allow them to flourish :/ But while it may never be my strength, I can at least try to get my world to keep up with my characters!

 

[Russ]

There is a different way of thinking about it that might help you.

The world only exists to serve the stories and reflect aspects of the characters or the central theme of your tale. Thus when you create your world all you are doing is building an effective echo-chamber for your characters and your theme. Think of the world as simply something you add in enough of to emphasize your characters and theme, but no more.

One of the great fantasy masters put it this way:


I

think the notion of worldbuilding is a failure of literary sophistication... I only invent what's necessary to explain the mood of a character. I haven't thought about an imaginary world's social security system; I don't know the gross national product of Melniboné. If worldbuilding is a sophisticated working-out of how a world interacts in and of itself, I don't really have any of that... That's why I don't see myself as a worldbuilder. The world unfolds in front of the character as the story develops. If the story doesn't need it, it's not there.

I've fought against this kind of anti-romantic rationalization most of my career. That's why I don't like Campbellian science fiction as such, because it has to present itself as a pseudo-realism to create a suspension of disbelief. I'm trying to do the op*posite. I'm trying to tell a good story without you having to believe it as ''reality" .... Most science fiction tries to rationalize something so you believe it as reality and frequently ruins the great visionary quality which inspired it. I'm describing reality, but it isn't a construct. I'm not trying to convince you this is going to be real. I'm trying to convince you that these ideas have to be considered, that what's going on in the world has to be thought about. The conscious life is all I'm advocating.

- Michael Moorcock

World building when carried away can be a trap for the unwary writer.

 

[BrainMatter]

Hail to thee Miss Gwen, I just wanted to say I keep thinking your name is guenhwyvar. I was like what a great choooiiiic... wait its not that....

 

[Cichol's Folly]

I have these moments where I'm just suddenly dumbfounded by a sudden question I realize I've never answered. Last night, I was thinking about what my main character's wedding ring would look like, and then I was like, "Wait, would they even have wedding rings? That's a Western tradition based on ancient pagan symbolism that doesn't exist in a completely fantasy realm. So how does someone know when another person is married? Do they have to? Is marriage even a thing? Why? What is the meaning of life?"

Ha! I do this all the time. Or I pause briefly to look up a translation and fall into a research hole. As long as you don't obsess, it can be fun.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Cichol's Folly]

Wow, that's really inspirational :') Thank you so much for sharing! I remember in my original brainstorm for my WIP, I had finally decided that I would write something for myself without trying to appeal to anyone else, but I don't feel like I'm doing my characters justice if the world I can't flesh out doesn't allow them to flourish :/ But while it may never be my strength, I can at least try to get my world to keep up with my characters!

"world building to keep up with my characters" Iike this a lot. I find that a tandem approach works for me. A question about character motivation may lead to a sudden world inspiration and vice versa. Writing short bios for my characters also helps add depth, even if the details never make it into the story proper.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

That's a really interesting quote, and I think that's closer to the way I write organically. I just get scared when I'm making a whole new world because I've never successfully written a story in a totally fantastical world. I should trust my instincts more and write for my characters instead of the critics in my head, haha.

There is a different way of thinking about it that might help you.

The world only exists to serve the stories and reflect aspects of the characters or the central theme of your tale. Thus when you create your world all you are doing is building an effective echo-chamber for your characters and your theme. Think of the world as simply something you add in enough of to emphasize your characters and theme, but no more.

One of the great fantasy masters put it this way:


I- Michael Moorcock

World building when carried away can be a trap for the unwary writer.

 

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Haha, I've spent so much time making sure I have the characters fleshed out that some of them have dossiers 4-7 pages long. I've spent so much time planning them that I think a lot of that planning will get tossed aside in order for me to feel the freedom to get to know the character more genuinely as I write.

"world building to keep up with my characters" Iike this a lot. I find that a tandem approach works for me. A question about character motivation may lead to a sudden world inspiration and vice versa. Writing short bios for my characters also helps add depth, even if the details never make it into the story proper.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[GwenhwyfarRaven]

Haha, Gwenhwyfar is the Welsh spelling of Guinevere's name from Arthurian legend I also hear that it's the name of a panther in a popular book series based on a D&D character lol.

Hail to thee Miss Gwen, I just wanted to say I keep thinking your name is guenhwyvar. I was like what a great choooiiiic... wait its not that....