Mindfire
Istar
I like to think of myself as a somewhat extensive world builder. Its one of the most fun parts of writing for me, personally. I have pages upon pages of notes, maps, flags, charts, and tables for different characters, cultures, magic, etc. And most days I feel quite proud of this accomplishment.
AND THEN.
I look at the work of other authors and they have more characters, locations, histories, religions, noble houses, cultures- essentially more everything than I can even count. Literally. I tried to count them and gave up. My work seems hopelessly shoddy by comparison. My world feels too... abstract. To clarify, I'm not aiming at anything nearly as "grounded" as, say, A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm trying for something a bit more likeAvatar: The Last Airbender the Codex Alera* Inkworld Trilogy** Imaginarium Geographica*** Chronicles of Narnia**** Avatar: the Last Airbender*****, which I think has a great balance between the concrete and the whimsical. But I'm at a loss about what to do. Do I just need to make MOAR STUFF? I was starting to think my world was close to completion but now it seems rather small. But I'm not sure what else I can add while staying true to my vision and without "disrupting the balance" of the world, so to speak. Should I just go into more detail? I admit I'm more of a big picture person so some details may be lacking in my work. But what details do I need and how much is enough?
*My work does have similarities to Avatar, but I realized that a book might be a more helpful example than a television show, which has somewhat different creative principles.
**I realized that the Codex Alera might be a somewhat obscure reference and decided to choose a different book as an example.
***I then realized that the Inkworld Trilogy might be even more obscure than the Codex Alera.
****It occurs to me that my references are getting more and more obscure with each try. So I decided to pick something everyone has heard of.
*****It occurs to me that while the books are good, Narnia is not the best example to use as far as careful and extensive world building is concerned, so I'm going back to Avatar. Screw different creative principles.
AND THEN.
I look at the work of other authors and they have more characters, locations, histories, religions, noble houses, cultures- essentially more everything than I can even count. Literally. I tried to count them and gave up. My work seems hopelessly shoddy by comparison. My world feels too... abstract. To clarify, I'm not aiming at anything nearly as "grounded" as, say, A Song of Ice and Fire. I'm trying for something a bit more like
*My work does have similarities to Avatar, but I realized that a book might be a more helpful example than a television show, which has somewhat different creative principles.
**I realized that the Codex Alera might be a somewhat obscure reference and decided to choose a different book as an example.
***I then realized that the Inkworld Trilogy might be even more obscure than the Codex Alera.
****It occurs to me that my references are getting more and more obscure with each try. So I decided to pick something everyone has heard of.
*****It occurs to me that while the books are good, Narnia is not the best example to use as far as careful and extensive world building is concerned, so I'm going back to Avatar. Screw different creative principles.