C. Swallow's Blog - Posts Tagged "creation"
How to create another world!
The number one questions I seem to get as a writer, are, 'how do I start a story, where do I begin?' 'how do I continue a story?' 'I've written quite a bit but have no idea where to take the story next, what can I do?' 'I've run out of ideas, what can I do?' and 'I don't know how to construct a story at all, help me make a story?'
Here are my answers on how to successfully create a new world, from scratch! (For the fiction-writer, of course)
TO START A NEW CREATION...
An abstract concept to answer, but not too difficult when you focus your points.
Make a list of natural spaces you like to read about, city, forest, mountain, jungle, sea, island, space etc?
Make a list of the defining forces, will your story be set around reality, history, magic, fantasy, science-fiction, a dystopian world, a paranormal world?
What qualities does your main character have or do you have more than one protagonist? Are they fierce, scared, brave, gentle, quiet, loud, smart, naive, curious, adventurous?
What issues do you want them to face? A family struggle, a new friendship, a new romance, a magical object, a prophecy, an illness, a curse, an unknown identity?
This in general, should give you an idea of what your story is based around if you have no idea at the beginning.
NAMING CHARACTERS
Are you stuck on names? Googly a random-name-generator.
Do you want more meaningful names? Think of the number one quality of your character, and search names that mean that quality.
3 CHAPTERS IN... WHERE TO GO NOW?
Don't panic if you're overwhelmed about what is happening and what should happen next to progress the story. It can be daunting but it's not too hard. To overcome this, try these things.
Perhaps it's time to introduce a new character
Perhaps it's time to introduce the antagonist
Perhaps it's time to introduce a change of scenery, a change of plan for the main character/characters, for example from school, to a mission posed to them from an exterior source. If it's a mystery, perhaps they start to find clues. If it's a romance, perhaps they see prince-charming or have an encounter. If it's science-fiction, perhaps a new world is mentioned? A new law is created, or maybe someone goes missing?
A lot of this is easier when you have at least a general view of where you want the story to eventually lead in 20 chapters time.
10 CHAPTERS IN... WHERE TO GO NOW?
Perhaps you've stored up so many details, you can't remember them all. It's time to do a thorough-read over and edit once more. Make sure you catalogue all your details, you don't want to be the victim of creating your own plot holes when a character in the first chapter come back from a holiday ten chapters later with different coloured hair (Yes, I've done this so many times myself)
Perhaps your characters get over their first obstacle but now you have to think of the next obstacle.
How?
You might need some inspiration at this point if you 100% can not think of anything and you feel stuck.
Last resort; get a friend to read it, make sure it's online and you'll most likely get a few comments that can give you ideas or reassurance.
HOW DO I END THE STORY?
I hope at this point you aren't totally clueless about how to resolve things, but in case you are and you honestly have a few options but aren't sure which to take, try to think of it more simply.
Have a show-down. An intense confrontation. This is usually the climax. Something big will be revealed.
If you're planning a sequel, an easy way to end the story is have the huge reveal as the last line.
Readers will be dying to read the next book.
Personally, I don't understand how any story could have 'the end' at the 'end'. It's a world you've created, you have to imagine it exists now and when the story ends it doesn't mean the world is over. Unless you kill all the characters off or blow up the world, then damn you. I can't stand people who do that! But of course... totally up to you...
Here are my answers on how to successfully create a new world, from scratch! (For the fiction-writer, of course)
TO START A NEW CREATION...
An abstract concept to answer, but not too difficult when you focus your points.
Make a list of natural spaces you like to read about, city, forest, mountain, jungle, sea, island, space etc?
Make a list of the defining forces, will your story be set around reality, history, magic, fantasy, science-fiction, a dystopian world, a paranormal world?
What qualities does your main character have or do you have more than one protagonist? Are they fierce, scared, brave, gentle, quiet, loud, smart, naive, curious, adventurous?
What issues do you want them to face? A family struggle, a new friendship, a new romance, a magical object, a prophecy, an illness, a curse, an unknown identity?
This in general, should give you an idea of what your story is based around if you have no idea at the beginning.
NAMING CHARACTERS
Are you stuck on names? Googly a random-name-generator.
Do you want more meaningful names? Think of the number one quality of your character, and search names that mean that quality.
3 CHAPTERS IN... WHERE TO GO NOW?
Don't panic if you're overwhelmed about what is happening and what should happen next to progress the story. It can be daunting but it's not too hard. To overcome this, try these things.
Perhaps it's time to introduce a new character
Perhaps it's time to introduce the antagonist
Perhaps it's time to introduce a change of scenery, a change of plan for the main character/characters, for example from school, to a mission posed to them from an exterior source. If it's a mystery, perhaps they start to find clues. If it's a romance, perhaps they see prince-charming or have an encounter. If it's science-fiction, perhaps a new world is mentioned? A new law is created, or maybe someone goes missing?
A lot of this is easier when you have at least a general view of where you want the story to eventually lead in 20 chapters time.
10 CHAPTERS IN... WHERE TO GO NOW?
Perhaps you've stored up so many details, you can't remember them all. It's time to do a thorough-read over and edit once more. Make sure you catalogue all your details, you don't want to be the victim of creating your own plot holes when a character in the first chapter come back from a holiday ten chapters later with different coloured hair (Yes, I've done this so many times myself)
Perhaps your characters get over their first obstacle but now you have to think of the next obstacle.
How?
You might need some inspiration at this point if you 100% can not think of anything and you feel stuck.
Last resort; get a friend to read it, make sure it's online and you'll most likely get a few comments that can give you ideas or reassurance.
HOW DO I END THE STORY?
I hope at this point you aren't totally clueless about how to resolve things, but in case you are and you honestly have a few options but aren't sure which to take, try to think of it more simply.
Have a show-down. An intense confrontation. This is usually the climax. Something big will be revealed.
If you're planning a sequel, an easy way to end the story is have the huge reveal as the last line.
Readers will be dying to read the next book.
Personally, I don't understand how any story could have 'the end' at the 'end'. It's a world you've created, you have to imagine it exists now and when the story ends it doesn't mean the world is over. Unless you kill all the characters off or blow up the world, then damn you. I can't stand people who do that! But of course... totally up to you...
