May 01 2011
Worldbuilding Rules
If you’re writing a story with heavy worldbuilding, I’d recommend checking out K. Stoddard Hayes’ Worldbuilding Rules. It’s a how-to blog with a lot of interesting articles about how to build innovative worlds and broaden your writing horizons.
- What Does Your World Smell Like?: This will help you incorporate smells into your story. I don’t think smells come naturally to most first-world authors because we don’t encounter many on a daily basis. That’s okay if you’re writing a story set exclusively in a sterile lab or a vacuum tube, but if you’re not, here’s some ideas about what you’re missing.
- Worldbuilding Legal Systems: If you’re building alien legal systems, this will help you keep them distinct from the ones closest to home. Especially if you’re Norwegian–nobody wants to read about publicly drowning criminals in mayonnaise, you sickos.
- Clothes and Setting: This provides useful ideas about picking clothing that is culturally and physically well-suited to your story. (In case you’re saddled with characters that can’t rock out in trenchcoats and sunglasses).
- Language in Worldbuilding: This has some helpful ideas about how to use language to reflect cultural attitudes and other ways of thinking. You know how Eskimos supposedly have ~30 bajillion words for snow? Starcraft’s Protoss need just as many ways to say “we’re screwed.”
PS: I’m looking forward to Hayes’ upcoming superhero anthology, Gods of Justice, and not just because it won’t have many executions-by-mayonnaise. She and Kevin Hosey really know their stuff.
Ooohh, this is gonna be really helpful for a story later on!
Thanks for the lovely post about my worldbuilding blog! I return the compliment by saying that I have added Superhero Nation to my “Worldbuilding Resources” links, and have already referred at least one novice writer to your excellent overview of correct punctuation in dialog.
As for Gods of Justice, it’s not really “mine,” as I was brought on board as a co-editor by the publisher, Kevin Hosey of Cliffhanger Books. I’m hugely grateful to him, because we’re having a “super” time editing some really excellent and unusual stories by the likes of DC writer Rick Sanchez and Star Trek novelist Dayton Ward, among others.
And I can definitely say that the book will have no executions by mayonnaise!
Karen
This one’s helpful to me right now. I’m making up many of the details of my world on-the-fly, but I do have a general sense of how my world works.
The part about smells is especially important, since my aliens have a sense of smell as powerful as a typical bloodhound. However, this is only a generalization — sheltered urban dwellers (e.g., an average Tanjio citizen) are not as skilled as people who have to hunt for food (e.g., the natives that the Lonestars have to deal with) or trained soldiers.
My aliens’ different biology would lead to a different legal system for them — depending on culture, of course. They’re just as politically divided as humanity is.
My aliens have articles of clothing that humans would recognize (jackets, pants, skirts, etc.), albeit cut differently. This is because I don’t want them looking too weird.
I wouldn’t actually make up whole languages for the different alien cultures, but I would have them phrase things differently based on where they’re from. In later revisions of my chapters, I’ll try to make the different aliens’ speaking styles more distinct — hey, I’m already doing it for the American Southerners and their children.
Ooh I’m glad you posted this, because I’ve got a massive project to work on later. I’m going to write a giant world guide for myself, then write several stories set throughout the history of their world. One or two set in their ancient times, one in their medieval time, etc. Of course it’s not just a parallel Earth, so they don’t HAVE medieval times, but you get what I mean.