The Request

Via twitter, Krizzlybear requested a NaNo2010 post focused more directly on worldbuilding than my Worldbuilding 1 and Worldbuilding 2 posts. Specifically, he requested more information on :

• range of chronology
• relevancy of world events
• character genealogy
• local vs world history

Different Levels of Worldbuilding

I thought about what I might say on these topics over the weekend, and realized that I am not a good person to ask. My processes are fairly well encompassed in the two posts on Worldbuilding I’ve already done.

Although I will have some historical world events that lead up to the time my story takes place, I rarely do more than jot down a cursory note and randomly ascribed time period. If my character’s genealogy is important to the story I want to tell, I’ll do just enough to get the information I need, then stop.

However, I know that some folks spend weeks or months doing their worldbuilding. They search the internet, get library books, even visit other countries in their search to build a living, breathing, believable world.

Those people are already better at worldbuilding than I am. I don’t have any advice to offer them with regards to how to worldbuild.

Research Versus Writing

HOWEVER, I do have some advice on how to WRITE.

Don’t tell me everything.

The temptation is there. You’ve done so much research, spent so many hours getting every detail correct.

Just because you have done that work, it does not mean it goes in your book.

I’m going to repeat that, because it’s extra important.

Just because you have done that work, it does not mean it goes in your book.

Entertain Me

You, the writer, do the legwork and the research so that you do not make a mistake.

Your reader is reading for entertainment.

Putting all (or even most) of the research you’ve done into your book is not entertaining.

I can hear some of you now. “But it’s fascinating!” you cry.

It’s not as fascinating to your average reader as it is to you. I promise.

Your average reader wants to be told a story. They don’t want to be experts on fictional (or real) history. They don’t want to be experts on fictional (or real) culture.

If the information you’ve gathered does not help you tell your story, do not put it in your book.

Example

Let’s say you’re writing a book and you’re basing a society on the Vikings.

You hit up the internet and the library for as much information as you can learn about Vikings. You learn how they lived, how they treated their women, how their children were taught, how they made their boats, what they ate, how they celebrated, how they made beer, how they styled their hair, and what clothes they wore.

This is good.

Your opening paragraph reads :

Olaf tossed back his [Viking hair style] blond hair and roared [traditional Viking battle cry] as he hefted his [Viking weapon] over his shoulder. Returning to his [Viking ship style] he noted the way the boards had been joined using [Viking woodworking technique] and knew it would be seaworthy. He grabbed a flagon of [Viking ale], noting that it had an especially deep [word to describe Viking ale taste] and relishing the fact that it must have [something something, Viking way to make beer]. He adjusted his [word for Viking clothing] and yelled for a wench to dance [traditional Viking dance] to help him celebrate.

STOP. Stop stop stop.

Look. I’m just some girl in Wisconsin trying to read a book. I may vaguely know a little about the Vikings from history class and repeated watchings of The Thirteenth Warrior, but this is information overload. So many words I don’t know. So many concepts I have no way to visualize. So many things tossed in for no reason other than “because the author wants you to know they did their homework”.

What is this story even about? Is there a story, or am I going to be bombarded with foreign terms like this the whole time? Why do I even need to know this stuff?

What does your reader need to know? They need just enough information to get the idea that these are Viking-like people, and they need to know what the story is about. They need to care about Olaf and ABOVE ALL they need to feel a burning desire to keep reading.

The more vested your story is in reality, the more research you must do in order to not make mistakes and the more you will have to resist the urge to infodump all over your readers.

Tiny bits of information released as necessary – that’s the key.

So drunk from the liberal application of fine mead and even finer wenches was Olaf that he did not at first realize he was bleeding. A moment to gape stupidly at the stain blossoming on his trousers and another to remember that he hadn’t been wounded in that day’s battle were all his attacker needed to stab him a second time. Olaf staggered back, reaching for his  eating knife only to find it gone. His blurred vision focused on the familiar face of his assailant. For a moment, fury drowned even the burning pain in his gut. His second-in-command had betrayed him, and all for the sake of a woman.

Remember, you’re telling a STORY. Entertainment should be your primary goal. If the knowledge that Viking weddings traditionally serve rotten shark helps you write, then learn it. But unless your character is BOTH at a Viking wedding AND has reason to notice the food, it shouldn’t be in your book. I don’t care how fascinating it is. If you’re explaining to the reader exactly how rotten shark is prepared, you’d better have a darn good reason.

Draft versus Revision

Skill and practice will help you turn your infodumps into juicy tidbits for your first draft.

Early writers tend to infodump a lot in their manuscripts. This is fine in your first draft. Dump away, especially if it helps you get over that jittery feeling of being full to bursting with knowledge.

This does mean you’ll have more work to do in your revision, though, as you identify and eliminate those infodumps.

Once you have a little mental distance between yourself and your draft, go back through your story. Read it as if you were reading a book you’d picked up from the library and weren’t sure if you’d like it.

Note down every place that you skim.

If you, the author, the person who will love this book more than any other human being possibly could, are skimming your text – that’s a sign you’ve got an infodump on your hands.

Find ways to break that solid chunk of information up into smaller, more digestable bits. If they are needed for your story, sprinkle them throughout your story. If they are not needed, cut them.

But-but-

No buts. If you built a fantasy world from the ground up and know everything about everything that happened in it since the first lizardman crawled out of the first cave – congratulations.

Don’t put that in your book unless I need to know it in order to enjoy the STORY you’re telling.

A Quick Note On Prologues

I read a lot of prologue hate online.

Personally, I like prologues as long as they aren’t infodumps.

I believe most people dislike prologues because they are often used as an excuse to infodump. If your prologue reads like a history lesson, then you are abusing your prologue and you are abusing your readers. I view a book with a prologue the same way I would an unlit bomb. In the right hands, it’s a good tool. In the wrong hands, however, it’ll just blow up in my face.

Dealing With The Urge

I have three methods that help me deal with the urge to infodump.

1. My husband knows (and contributes, to my never-ending delight) all of my worldbuilding, so I can share all the juicy details with him. He also notices when I leave breadcrumbs in my writing to be used later (such as Bones picking up a feather in the jail cell during the first volume of Choose). Being able to share with him makes it more bearable.
2. I have a wiki where I infodump to my heart’s content.
3. I sometimes fantasize about having a Guide To [World Name Here] where I can finally reveal the glorious worldbuilding I’ve done to fans who love the story and world enough to want to know it.

Having those outlets allows me to write the story I want to write without strangling it with worldbuilding detail.

Tell your story, not your world.