R.M. Archer's Blog, page 19

Alpha-Readers vs. Beta-Readers

A question that comes up a lot in the writing groups I’m part of is the question of what alpha-readers and beta-readers do. What’s the difference? What is the purpose of each? Today, I wanted to tackle those questions and help you understand how best to work with each group.

The Purpose of Alpha-Readers

Alpha-readers are one or two people who read your first or second draft (depending on what’s going to work best for you and your current book) and provide encouragement, as well as some feedback on the big-picture of your book. They might point out structural issues, for instance, or inconsistencies, or elements that are unclear to the reader.

Who Should You Choose as Alpha-Readers?

You’ll want your alpha-readers to be authors you trust and authors who will be able to encourage you as you write (or rewrite). Alpha-readers are going to see one of the roughest drafts of your book, so be sure they’re people you’re comfortable with. You’ll also want readers who can balance helpful feedback with grace and encouragement.

The Purpose of Beta-Readers

Beta-readers are a larger group of readers who give feedback on a much more polished draft of your book. Often, you’ll be looking for readers who will give you a reader’s perspective on your book, and possibly point out structural issues. Beta-readers will tell you if your characters are likable, if they’re relatable, if your setting is immersive, if your scenarios are believable, etc.

When Should You Look for Beta-Readers?

You’ll want to look for beta-readers when you’re running out of edits you can make on your own. Are your edits starting to feel like spinning your wheels? It might be time to get some new eyes on your manuscript. Beta-readers will usually fall between your self-edits and the work of a professional editor.

Who Should You Choose as Beta-Readers?

Beta-reader requirements are more flexible than the requirements for alpha-readers. Beta-readers usually ought to be authors, and they ought to give balanced feedback; but while you’ll want a close relationship with your alpha-readers, you can get acquaintances to beta-read. You might want a mix of authors you know well and authors you don’t know as well when assembling beta-readers, so there’s a group that will be more familiar with your intentions and a group that can read with the perspective of a new reader. If you want, you can “test drive” your beta-readers by sending the first chapter of your book and seeing what sort of feedback they give and on what timeline. This will give you a better idea of whose feedback is going to be timely and helpful, but it’s not strictly necessary.

Often, writing groups are a great place to post and ask for beta-readers. Include a summary of your book, as well as its genre and any content a reader might want to be aware of, so that a potential reader knows if they’re going to be a good fit for your story.

Bonus: Sensitivity Readers

Another group of readers you might get to read a draft of your book would be sensitivity readers. If you’ve included situations or characters that would benefit from the feedback of people who have firsthand experience (e.g. chronic illness, mental illness, PTSD, military service, etc.), sensitivity readers are a good idea. Especially if that situation or character might offend readers if it’s not done well.

It helps for sensitivity readers to be people you know well, but it’s not a requirement. Sensitivity readers should have firsthand experience with the topic you’re writing about, and they should be gracious but honest so that you can best know what to fix and how to fix it.

For more on sensitivity reading and how to do it well (as an author), check out this post by Hannah Heath.

Have you worked with alpha-readers or beta-readers before? What was your experience like? Do you enjoy these sections of the process, or is editing not your favorite?

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Myth and Legend in Fantasy Worlds

Cultures are shaped by their stories. These stories might reinforce cultural ideals, religious ideals, general morals… or, on the flip side, they might subvert or reject these ideals. Myths and legends are a prime example of this, as they often reflect the mindset and values of the cultures that created them. So today I want to talk about how to build and use myth and legend in your fantasy world.

The Purpose of Myth

myth

/miTH/

1. a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.

Myths are stories created not only to entertain and inspire, but to explain. They might explain natural phenomena (creation, the origin of fire, a worldwide flood); historical facts, though they may be fictionalized (the naming of Athens, the ancient peoples of Ireland, the existence of giants); or societal practices (the installation of a monarchy, legal marriages), to name a few.

A good starting point for developing your culture’s set of myths and legends might be to ask, “What would they seek to explain?” Is there a magic system that needs an origin story? Are there social practices that the people would seek to justify or explain? Why do they think that the sky is blue? Having a list of these sorts of questions will give you a starting point for every culture you work with in the future.

Determine the Tone of Your Culture’s Myth and Legend

Once you have a list of questions to answer, choosing a tone and focal point for the culture’s mythology can be a good idea. Do they have a lot of stories about the gods themselves, like Norse mythology? Do they focus more on supernatural—but still relatable—heroes, like in Greek and Roman mythology? Are there stories of mythological beasts? Are the interactions between gods and men a big focal point, like in some Native American mythology?

As for tone, is it comedic like Norse mythology, romantic like Greek mythology, dramatic like Egyptian mythology, down-to-earth like Native American mythology, epic like Japanese mythology, dark like Mesoamerican mythology? Some combination?

Merging Myth and Legend from Different Cultures

Many cultures over the ages have synthesized their beliefs, shaping their native beliefs to fit some newly introduced worldview (or vice versa). The same might be true of your world, depending on its age and the culture you’re building. A very isolationist culture isn’t likely to synthesize beliefs, nor is a young civilization that hasn’t met any of its distant neighbors yet. But if your world is old and there’s been a lot of cultural mixing, you might ask what these cultures’ myths and legends looked like to begin with, which cultures have the most prevalent myths and legends, and how various cultures might have shaped those ideals to fit their own concepts of myth and legend. There are a few ways this synthesis might manifest.

Cultures might assimilate the events of the myths, shaping them to fit with the timelines and morals of their own myth and legend (e.g. declaring that their legendary ancestors were placed there by their god rather than chased there by mythological beasts).Cultures might adopt the morals of the myths, but use them as the basis of stories that better fit their own mythos (e.g. taking a story of gods and making it about heroes, or turning a story about gods and men into a drama among the gods).Cultures might adopt the events and morals of the myths, but rewrite them to better fit the tone of their own mythos (e.g. taking a dark myth and making it comedic).Cultures might alter their own mythology to fit the new (e.g. shaping the moral of a certain legend to reflect the character of a newfound god)

Building synthesized myths, though challenging, will bring additional depth to your world.

What Impact Do Myth and Legend Have on Everyday Life?

This question can be deep (“Because of the story of Fer-Aven, the Piradi believe that true peace is unattainable without supernatural aid”) or it can be surface-level (“The myth of the unicorn is used as a bedtime story for children”). But myth and legend, like religion (and any other worldview element of your culture), will have bearing on your characters’ everyday lives. Even if they don’t ascribe to this mythos themselves, if it colors the culture around them then it will impact them to some degree. (Unless they’re monks or hermits or otherwise intentionally cut off from society, which could actually be a fun angle to play off of. But in that case, how would they react to be introduced to this mythos for the first time, and is there a situation in which this would happen? *cough* But I digress.)

Surface-level answers might also include good luck tokens or elements of décor that are derived from myth and legend. What if people hang black curtains in the spring to make the spring goddess feel more welcome in the overworld after half a year spent in the underworld? Or blue, because they believe she lives above the clouds when she’s not present? Myth and legend can impact setting as well as character.

Does your world have any myths or legends? What is their impact on the culture? What questions do they answer? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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Worldbuilding Checklist – The Basics

Last week, I talked about the core elements a fictional culture needs, and over time I’ve written posts on many different worldbuilding concepts and how to build them well. Today, I want to share with you a worldbuilding checklist that includes all of the elements (both general to a world and specific to various cultures) that I see as integral to a functioning world. And I’ll include a printable version, too, so stick around to the end for that.

Part 1: General World QuestionsWhat is the origin of the world?Does this world have a god/gods? If so, what are the most important elements of their character?What is the inherent moral law in this world?What are the scientific laws of this world?Are there magic systems? If so, how do they work and what are their limitations?

Related Post:  Deciding the Foundation Truth of Your World

What species grow/live in your world?What is the climate of your world?What is the general landscape of your world? (Having a map could help here.)Part 2: Cultural QuestionsWhat are your culture’s 1-3 core values?What is the basis of your culture’s religion?What are 2-3 of their core myths/legends? (Creation myths can be especially important. I’ll talk about myths and legends more next week.)What does education look like in this culture?What are some common traditions in this culture?Do they have any big festivals or holidays?What does their government look like?What is this culture’s approach to work? (Inside vs. outside the home, in community vs. individual, family-centered vs. not, etc.)What do family roles look like?How are romantic relationships and marriage approached in this culture?What historical events have shaped this culture?Who are this culture’s heroes?

All of these questions will help you to develop a world that shapes your characters and feels real to the reader. Some are a bit more important than others, or might be more or less relevant upfront depending on what kind of story you want to tell (e.g. romance/marriage customs will be less crucial if your book is completely free of romance), but they’ll all contribute to the overall shape of your world and culture and give you a foundation for stories moving forward.

To get a printable version of this worldbuilding checklist, join my Discord server or sign up to my newsletter for access to the resource library!

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Elements of Culture for Worldbuilding

There are a lot of elements to consider when you’re building a fantasy world. It can be hard to know where to start. Which elements of culture are the most important? Different authors might have different answers, but here are the four elements I think operate as the pillars of a fictional culture.

Element #1: Worldview

The worldview of a culture colors everything that culture does, so it’s an important element to develop. I talked about this more in-depth a few weeks ago, but worldview is the axis on which a culture turns. Without an awareness of what that axis is and how it moves the culture, you might end up with a culture that feels off-kilter, like it’s just barely off the mark. If you feel like your fantasy world is missing something, it might be that you’re not digging into the goldmine of worldview.

Element #2: Religion

Religion is closely interwoven with worldview, since the worldview of a religious person or culture will be influenced by their faith. The prominent religion in a culture will affect how its people act, what laws it passes, and what sorts of taboos it has, among other things. It might also affect what type of government the culture chooses and what the culture believes about science. It might affect their interactions with other cultures. It’s up to you whether you want this religious view to be the correct one in your world. A strong fictional religion is one that impacts the lives of its followers and operates like a real-world religion, with faith at the core and works forming the shell that others see.

Element #3: Traditions

As with the other elements of culture, tradition is tied in with its neighbors. Tradition is born out of worldview and religion and reinforces both, as I talked about a couple weeks ago. Traditions are a big chunk of what bring your culture’s worldview and religion into the tangible so that you can make them accessible to your readers through your characters’ actions. As with most things in writing, worldview and religion need to be shown rather than told, and traditions are a great way to do this. Traditions could be things like holidays and festivals, or they can be simple everyday things like prayers before a meal or chanting a mantra when you get up. Traditions are consistently repeated actions, no matter the frequency or size of the action, that reinforce beliefs. And these ought to be present throughout your characters’ lives, just as they’re present throughout our own lives. We take them for granted, our characters may take them for granted, but our readers will appreciate the glimpse into your character’s world and values.

Element #4: Education

Like tradition, this is an element of culture that both stems from and feeds back into worldview and religion. Education passes on both information and values, and it can encourage or discourage certain worldviews and faiths. This then impacts character voice, as you determine how your characters would have been trained to think. Education will also impact your character’s everyday life in your story. If they’re still students, it might impact their flexibility. If they’ve completed their education and they’re looking into careers, what education they had could impact their prospects. Are they content with their available options, or would they rather have a job they’re not currently qualified for?

Education can give a great look at the values of a culture, since education systems can and should differ significantly based on the values of a culture, as I explored last week. Education is an underutilized tool in displaying culture.

Bonus Element: Government

Government draws its influence from all four of these core elements of culture, which is why I didn’t make it a pillar itself. Government is decided based on a culture’s worldview and religion, and maintained through the influence of all four pillars. While it does feed back into a culture’s worldview, education, and even religions and tradition, I see it as secondary to these four. If you want a quick guide to government types and what cultural values they go along with, check out this post I wrote for Lavender Bleu.

What are your thoughts on these elements of culture? Are there any more important elements you think I missed? Do you develop these elements first, or do you prefer an inside-out approach to worldbuilding? Or do you mix and match? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

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Fantasy School… or Not – Worldbuilding Education

Education is an often overlooked aspect of worldbuilding, even though education defines our individual worldviews and skill sets and also supports society as a whole. After all, people can’t occupy trades or other societal roles if they don’t know how. Today I want to explore how to develop the educational systems of your world… and why “fantasy school” isn’t always the answer.

What is Education?

I want to start out by defining “education.” The first definition in Google puts it this way:

the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.

Let’s explore that word “systematic” a little bit more. The first thing that comes to mind when I think “systematic” is a consistent, set time for going through a specific topic in a specific way. But that’s really too narrow. “Systematic” really just means there’s a thoughtful process behind it, which can be implemented consistently and routinely or simply as it becomes relevant. For instance, my parents never set specific times to watch movies with me, but when we watched movies they brought up critical thinking questions about whatever we were watching. They did this routinely, so that the concepts were repeated. In this way, they systematically (through established use of discussion questions) taught me (educated me) to think through the media I consume and to pay attention to the content I’m taking in. But, though it was systematic, it was also very relaxed and interwoven with everyday life. So as we talk about education, I want us to have that loose definition in mind.

If this sounds like my definition of tradition, that’s because the two are closely interwoven. Though tradition often focuses more on values and education often focuses more on information, both are repeated behavior to reinforce concepts, and education is deeply influenced by (and has deep influence on) values as well.

How Do Cultural Values Shape Education?

Cultural values will not only shape what is taught, but also how it’s taught. A culture that values strict adherence to rules will have a very different education system from a culture that values the learning of skills and trades. The first culture is likely to have a centralized education system where one teacher teaches the rules to a large group of children; strict rules don’t require much of a personal touch. The second culture, on the other hand, might have a larger focus on apprenticeships and the careful passage of trade knowledge from a tradesman to his apprentice.

This concept was a big turning point for me as I was writing Calligraphy Guild. I’d fallen into the trap of shaping my fictional education system to look like the U.S. public school system (even though I was homeschooled and that wasn’t even the starting point I was personally familiar with), and I realized as I was reading Unschooled by Kerry McDonald that this model was a) boring and b) out of touch with the rest of the established culture of Virilia. It was actually a lot of fun to realize that I had more freedom with my education system and I could make it look more like what I thought education should look like rather than what I thought the world thinks education should look like.

When building education systems, we can sometimes get stuck in a rut of what we’re familiar with or what we think is expected of us, but thinking about how a culture’s values shape its education system allows for a lot more freedom, a lot more fun, and a much more dynamic world.

What Do Children in Your World Need to Learn?

Obviously a core thing you need to determine for your world’s education system is what is being taught. This will differ by age, but I’m going to focus on the children of your world since they’ll be the most directly educated. What are the sorts of things that children need to learn early on? What are inherent risks or tools of their world that they need to be familiar with? Children in the U.S. need to learn not to run into the road, or not to touch a hot burner, or not to give their names and locations out to people on the internet. What are these common lessons in your world? Are there goblins in the forest that need to be avoided? Are there certain plants that children need to be familiar with, either because they’re harmful or because they’re good for healing? Are there skills that children need to learn so that they can start to be part of society?

As another facet of this, are there common values that are taught to children? How are these conveyed? Hebrew law, for instance, was an important part of Israelite education. Parents were instructed to teach their children this law throughout everyday life.

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. – Deuteronomy 6:6-10

Are the important values of your culture taught through everyday discussion? Through direct instruction at a set time, as in school? Are they taught through tradition?

Another key stage of life for education is the transition from childhood into adulthood, but that could be an entire post to itself. In brief, what skills are considered necessary for a child to know before they’re ready for adulthood? How do these differ between men and women? What values do parents aim to instill in their kids before they move into adulthood?

Who Teaches?

This is another thing that will be influenced by your culture’s values, as a part of the “how” of education. A culture that values family will likely entrust the training of children to their parents, while a community-centered culture might have truly public schools, and that rule-based culture might intentionally remove children from their parents to be trained by specific teachers so that there’s less risk of other values being taught over the rules.

What system of education you choose will also have an impact on this. In an apprenticeship system, people will be taught by whoever is an expert in a given field. In a system where concepts are taught through everyday life, family or community might both be acceptable. In a curriculum-based system, it could be a community (e.g. early public schools) or it could be a chosen elite. Or, for that matter, the parents, like in more structured homeschool cases. (In that case, who creates the curriculum? Is it built by the parents, by the community, or by trained elite? How much flexibility is there for choosing different curriculum?)

Does Higher Education Use Fantasy Schools?

What vocations (or skills) in your world require more specialized education? Where can someone go if they want to learn more than they can glean from everyday life and their communities?

In the real world, doctors, lawyers, and pastors are a few examples of people who have to get specialized training for their vocation. Thus, we have more specialized schools. What vocations might need more training in your world? Is this found through fantasy schools? Or can they learn from people already in the vocation, through mentorships or apprenticeships? How much can they learn on their own? Do they have the resources to do so?

You might have a fantasy school for doctors… or you might have apprenticeships with healers. You might have a fantasy school for anthropology… or you might have a group of anthropologists who let interested young adults tag along on their expeditions.

And what about when it comes to simple curiosity? What if someone isn’t looking to go into a complex vocation, but simply wants to learn more than they can learn from their communities? Are there libraries? Museums? Are experts open to questions or to students shadowing them? How accessible is travel, if a student wants to learn from different cultures or communities?

Is Fantasy School the Only Way to Teach Magic?

A common example of a skill that might need more direct attention in fantasy is magic. This is where you’ll find the most fantasy schools; Harry Potter is just one of many “magic academy” stories. Fantasy school is a reasonable way to teach magic if you have a magic system that works the same for everybody, and enough experienced magic-users who want to teach. But it would be fun to see more people consider how these teachers were found, why the school was begun, how the founders built the school and decided for it to be structured, whether there’s an expense to get into the school or if it’s a non-profit situation… Honestly, I’d love to see a book about the beginning of a fantasy school.

But I’d also love to see more worlds that veer away from this model, even when it comes to magic. For one thing, not all magic systems do work the same way for everyone; there are plenty of systems where magic is unique to the user and they have to figure out their powers more-or-less on their own. In these cases, are there resources in place for them to practice and learn safely? Are there books about the general laws of magic and maybe examples of past manifestations? Are there open training grounds that have been cleared for safe magic practice?

And what about apprenticeships here, too? Are there any experienced magic-users who take young, inexperienced magic-users under their wing?

Or community education. Does the old lady with singing magic open her home every Thursday to a local group of kids who want to learn how to use their own singing magic?

Or do parents often pass on their own powers to their children, so they teach their own kids?

Fantasy School Limits

Are there limits to your world’s education? Does your fantasy school only admit one gender, or people with magic powers, or people from a certain culture? Is there an admittance fee that makes it nearly impossible for the lower class to attend? Do tradesmen only take on apprentices who fit certain criteria? Are those criteria difficult to attain?

Or are there limitations due to resources? Are there few teachers, so they can’t take as many students as they’d like? Are books time-consuming to produce, so students don’t have as much freedom to teach themselves? Does your character want to learn a skill that’s rare in their own community, so they have to travel to learn it?

Are Fantasy Schools Always Bad?

I’ve probably sounded anti-fantasy-schools in this post, since I’m trying to encourage you to explore the different possibilities. But fantasy schools aren’t all bad! They can make sense with the culture they’re part of. They can be the best way to teach a certain set of skills. They can also be more flexible than we always give them credit for. For example, an academy with set classes but that’s open to the public and allows for people to come and go as they please is just as much a fantasy school as one with a rigid schedule and attendance expectations. If you’re writing a fantasy school, don’t be discouraged by this post. Use it to strengthen your fantasy education system. Maybe mix multiple systems. Make sure your fantasy school and the culture it’s part of fit together. But if your fantasy school works, by all means, use it!

Is education something you’ve considered in your world? What sort of system(s) do you use? What are some things people in your world learn that are unique to your setting?

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May 2021 Wrap-Up

A bit of an early (and brief) wrap-up this month because I’m leaving tomorrow for my summer camp job! So here’s a quick update and a rundown of what to expect over the next three months.

Writing

I’ve been hard at work over the past several weeks writing up posts for this summer and I’m super excited for them to go up! Unfortunately, I won’t be around to see your comments right away, but I’d still love for y’all to share your thoughts and I’ll respond to them as soon as I get back! I have some great posts lined up, including a couple of guest posts, so keep your eyes open for those!

I’ve also done a bit of worldbuilding for Deseran, and I’m planning a Calligraphy Guild-related short story to write in the not-too-distant future, both of which have been fun.

Reading

I haven’t read much this month. I did finish the books on nouthetic counseling and sibling relationships that I mentioned in passing last month. I also read Tom Sawyer Abroad, which I enjoyed. But mostly I’ve been focused on prepping for my trip, so I haven’t gotten a lot of reading done.

How was this month for you? Do you have any cool plans for the summer?

See y’all again in August!

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Culture and Tradition in Fantasy

Culture and tradition are crucially interwoven. Tradition is the means through which culture is preserved and reinforced, which makes it the ultimate tool for exploring fictional worldviews. I’ve talked about building festivals and holidays before, but today I want to focus on how to use both “special” traditions (like holidays) and everyday traditions (like nightly worship) to emphasize and support a cultural worldview.

What is Tradition?

The first definition from Google is as follows:

the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.

Author Max Florschutz goes into more depth about what tradition is in his post on the topic, but the basic idea is that tradition is a repeated action that reinforces a belief. For example, Christmas is an annual reminder of Jesus’s birth. Thanksgiving is a specific day that we set aside to be grateful (its historic meaning having been largely dropped in celebration over the centuries). I’d make a comment on Halloween but I’d make people mad, so I’ll refrain from using that example. The same is true of smaller-scale traditions. If a family does nightly worship, that’s a way of passing on the faith from one generation to the next and reinforcing a family’s beliefs. If someone gives a donation to the same homeless person once a week, that might be an intentional reminder to themselves to be kind and generous, or to slow down and connect with strangers, or to consider the importance of their community. Traditions are repeated actions that reinforce a belief.

How Do Culture and Tradition Connect?

Now you’re wondering, “Okay, but what does this have to do with a whole culture? How are culture and tradition connected?” I’m glad you asked. The biggest examples of cultural tradition are holidays. Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Independence Day… Why do we celebrate these days? Sure, on some level it’s likely because we individually value what they celebrate. But why are they nationally (or even internationally, in some cases) acknowledged? Because, at some point, our culture valued them, as a whole. The United States values freedom (nominally, if nothing else), so we celebrate the anniversary of our independence. Christians all over the world acknowledge Christmas as a reminder of Jesus’s birth; and non-Christians who celebrate Christmas acknowledge it as a reminder to value family, or giving, or whatever the case may be. These traditions are ingrained in our culture and steeped in our cultural values.

Values are just as important for smaller-scale traditions. Families do family worship because they value their faith. Family dinner comes about because we value family. Weekly study sessions indicate we value learning (and likely the friends we study with). The list goes on.

Culture and tradition ought to be just as deeply connected in your fantasy world. What does your culture value, and what traditions do they have in place to reinforce those beliefs? Does a culture that values unity have an annual festival to promote cooperation among differing sub-cultures? Does a faith that values action organize a weekly day of missions, or send new adults on mission trips as a rite of passage? Does a culture that values community have a weekly community dinner?

When Culture and Tradition Gradually Disconnect

As I hinted at when I mentioned Thanksgiving, culture and tradition don’t always line up perfectly over time. Sometimes we begin a tradition for one reason, and then over time it loses its original meaning and takes on a new one. Thanksgiving doesn’t commemorate the harvest or remember Plymouth, in most cases, but simply acts as a generic day of thanks. Even Christmas has become more about gift-giving than about Jesus, in the context of American culture as a whole.

The same can be true on a smaller scale. Let’s take family worship as an example again. Are there stages where this is no longer a genuine reflection of the family’s beliefs, but simply going through the motions? Is a family’s faith evident in their everyday life, or do they only have this tradition as the last vestiges of a dying faith?

How have the traditions in your world lost their original meaning? What meaning do they now hold? Are there any traditions that are simply empty now, and no one knows what they originally meant?

Harmful Tradition

Sometimes traditions come about for more malevolent reasons than to support cultural values. Sometimes traditions are put in place by the elite to control or manipulate those below them. Consider the era when the Bible was only available in Latin, allowing the clergy to twist its meaning without the knowledge of the laypeople. Or consider how veils have been used by various cultures to dehumanize women. (Yes, wearing a face covering is a repeated action to reinforce a belief. Something as simple as clothing can operate as tradition.)

How do such things occur in your world, and how are they received? When the underlying motivation is revealed, does your culture rear up against it or brush it under the rug? What values were these traditions masked behind in order to be established in the first place?

Historical Events, Culture, and Tradition

“But what about traditions based on historical events? How do those fit in with worldview?” Remember how I mentioned the U.S.’s value of freedom when I commented on Independence Day? That’s a prime example of cultural values and historical events weaving together to create a tradition. Christmas, too, whether a direct anniversary or not, is a mix of historical event (Jesus’s birth) and cultural value (Jesus Himself, Christianity, the Gospel).

What we value determines what historical events we remember in tradition for years and years to come. Sometimes, two different values can lead to commemoration of the same event. For instance, a militaristic culture might remember an invasion as the birth of their strength, whereas a theocratic society might remember it as an attack on their faith that they had to stand firm against.

What historical events have birthed traditions in your world? How do your culture’s values color their interpretation of a given historical event? What historical events have been forgotten because they don’t line up with your culture’s values?

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Sunshine Blogger Award #6

Another Sunshine tag has come my way! This one is from Grace over at Gabbing with Grace, so thank you Grace. :)

Rules

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.

2. Answer all the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.

4. List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your blog post.

Questions

1. What was your worst childhood experience?

Ummm… There was one time we were on vacation and I went down a water slide with my aunt and fell out of the inner tube at the end, which was really scary at the time. I… can’t think of much by way of negative childhood memories? XD

2. What was your first ever blog post?

Oh hey, I think I’ve answered this in another tag. To quote that post…

“My very first blog post was an itty-bitty review of Frozen. So small, in fact, that I can feature it here:

Yesterday, March 25th, I finally got to see Frozen. I liked that it had the right underlying message, true love is putting others’ needs before your own. I liked Anna because of her excitement and peppiness.

Elsa should have learned to control her powers rather than hide them.  She could have done wonderful things if she had learned to control instead of conceal.

Part of the movie almost made me cry, I mean, poor Anna, she was separated from her sister when they had been best buddies, and they didn’t even tell her why, so she thought that Elsa didn’t like her anymore.”

3. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Officially, mint chocolate chip. Unofficially, we’d be here all day while I tried to decide. (Black cherry is really good, though.)

4. If you could be allergic to anything, what would it be?

This is a peculiar question. Um… I… can’t think of anything off the top of my head that wouldn’t make me consistently miserable. Maybe procrastination, so I wouldn’t do it so often? XD I don’t know.

5. What is your least favorite song ever?

Well… see… I have this awful habit of hating super catchy songs, so if I were to say I would probably get it stuck in my head (and yours, if you know it). So. Let’s just say it’s an Ed Sheeran song that was very popular a couple years ago but which is disgusting.

6. If you could meet any US president, living or dead, who would it be?

Either Washington or Reagan. Probably Reagan.

7. You have three wishes—but there’s a catch: you’re wishing for another person. Who and what would you wish for?

I’d wish for my mom.

No more health issuesA bigger house (including a huge space for our library) that’s fully paid for and comes with cleaning helpA lifetime supply of dark chocolate Hershey kisses. XD

8. Can you sing the full lyrics of any song(s)? If so, what is it/are they?

*laughs* Are there any songs I’ve heard more than once that I can’t sing the full lyrics of? (Okay, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” is pretty tough.) Seriously, though, I memorize lyrics really quickly and sometimes by accident, so… I know lots of songs.

9. What do you want your mansion to look like in Heaven?

Probably a lot like I want my real-life future house to look. Wide open, welcoming, with lots of natural light and plants throughout. Always set up for guests. But also, I’d like to spend a lot of my time outside of that mansion, exploring the New Earth with limitless energy. :)

10. If you could change the course of any historical event, which one would it be and how would you change it?

This might be controversial, but… I’d change the ending of the Civil War and have the South win their secession.

11. You are given the choice to pick your dream spouse—from FICTION! Who will you be picking from any book, movie, TV show, etc.? Why them?

Too many options! If we lower it down to Christian characters that limits it significantly. But now I’m struggling to think of anyone. XD Ooh! Maybe Matthew from The Eleventh Hour by Michael Philips? He’s a sweetheart. Orrrr… *grins* You didn’t specify that it has to be a published book, which means I could marry one of my own characters, in which case Halder from The Masked Captain immediately comes to mind. He’s a (fantasy equivalent) Christian and a musician and storyteller, he’s a big brother (and part of a big family), he likes plants, he probably dances… OH WAIT. JEEVAN. I’ve literally said that if Jeevan actually existed I would marry him. XD XD Jeevan is from The Shades and the Elect and he’s essentially my ideal guy. Spontaneous, fun, but also grounded and able to take things seriously, always ready to lend a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on, would absolutely be a youth leader, also a musician, definitely dances even if he’s not good at it… Plus, his friend group is amazing and I’d love to be friends with all of those characters.

Nominees

Okie doke. Now that I’ve gone on for way too long about my characters. XD The folks who get to answer this tag next!

Allie at Of Rainy Days and Stardust VeinsBleu at Always Write the Good WriteMaple at Maple Quill Penning MagicFarren at Pen & QuillEdna at Bleeding InkSyberyah at atTAGirlAnyone who likes sunflowersAnyone who dislikes horror moviesAnyone who has a playlist for every situationAnyone who has an overflowing email inboxAnyone whose favorite season is summerNew QuestionsWhat’s your favorite song at the moment? Why do you like it?Favorite book at the moment?If you were sucked into the world of your current WIP, what would you do? How would you make a living? Which characters would you get to know?What book is tops on your TBR right now and why?What subjects are you fascinated with these days? What’s the latest fun fact you’ve learned on that topic?If you could go to any three places in the world, where would you go and in what order? What activities would be on your “must-do” list?If you could do anything with your hair for a day and have it go back to normal the next day, what would you do?What’s your favorite tea? (Or coffee, if you’re a weirdo who likes that bitter bean water.)If you were to grow one type of plant, what plant would you choose?Your thoughts on dancing?What’s your favorite summer activity?

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Why Cultural Worldview in Fantasy is Important

In the past I’ve discussed how to use fantasy worldbuilding to explore worldview (and why it’s important to include real-world worldview), and I’ve talked about how to build the foundation of your world (which is what will form the basis of worldview). But I haven’t actually talked about why a cultural worldview is important as an aspect of the worldbuilding process, so today I want to fix that.

Worldview Colors Everything

This is the core point. Everything else is secondary. A cultural worldview colors every aspect of a culture, influences how your characters think, breeds conflict when worldviews clash… Everything within and surrounding a culture is going to be influenced by that culture’s worldview. Therefore, it ought to be an intentional consideration. A culture’s worldview is the axis on which it turns. Since realizing this and becoming more intentional about cultural worldviews in my own worldbuilding, I’ve come to struggle to develop any culture that I haven’t found the axis of. Only once I discover the driving beliefs behind a culture can I figure out how it behaves, because its behavior is driven by that cultural worldview.

Let’s take an example from Deseran. Piradin’s cultural worldview stems from its origin myth:

According to Havanir religion, the god Havani came upon a fully formed earth and saw its great potential as wasted. Desiring to fulfill the world’s potential, Havani created men. For a time, men lived in peace as Havani intended. However, Havani eventually discovered that something was missing from man’s life, and that men also had no way to procreate like the animals did. Havani developed the idea of woman, but he only created one at first, to confirm that his plan would work. Thus, the first fight broke out. The men all clamored for the woman’s time, attention, and body, disrespecting her and fighting each other even to death. Havani tried to remedy his mistake by creating more women, but the damage had been done. Men had discovered the lure of competition, and continued to fight over even small things, and women endured continued disrespect from many men.

Havani sent a group of pure-hearted men to intervene, but they were unsuccessful. Havani withdrew the pure-hearted men, and the few women who remained unadulterated, from the rest of mankind and walked with them personally, teaching them how to live in peace and nurture and protect the earth as intended.

It’s this myth that leads to their practice of pacifism, their matriarchal society, their courtship practices, their hierarchy of crimes (abdication of family responsibility is one of the highest offenses), their approach to the treatment of animals, etc., etc. All of their behavior stems from this cultural worldview. And so does their opinion of neighboring cultures. Piradi relations with a neighboring culture that does a lot of hunting are strained because the Piradi believe hunting should be engaged in only when it’s necessary to control the size of the animal population

Cultural Worldview Influences Character Voice

As Kristen Kieffer mentions in her post on developing character voice, the culture a character lives in is going to influence how that character thinks and speaks and behaves. The degree of influence may vary. If a Piradi character were displaced to the U.S., they might cling to their Piradi culture and reject U.S. culture… thus displaying the influence of the Piradi culture and the lack of influence of U.S. culture. Just as we are influenced in real life by the cultures that surround us–whether primary cultures or sub-cultures–your characters ought to be informed by the cultural worldviews around them.

Cultural worldview is as much a character consideration as a worldbuilding consideration. Considering your character’s worldview, as informed by the culture around them, will enable you to create a stronger and more unique character voice. And the influence on character voice, in turn, will help your worldbuilding to seem more organic and meaningful.

Worldviews Conflict

Worldbuilding, character… The next cornerstone is plot, right? And cultural worldview contributes to this, also. Worldviews are a natural source of conflict. Take, again, the example of the Piradi and their hunter neighbors. One culture believes that humans shouldn’t injure animals unless it’s necessary, the other believes that hunting is a natural part of life. This produces external conflict. And this external conflict could provide internal conflict, as well. What if one of the Piradi struggled to reconcile their positive experience with individual hunters with their belief that hunting is a grotesque offense? Might they have trouble understanding how such good people can be so evil? Or perhaps how hunting can be evil if the people who practice it are so good? Internal conflict.

You could also have a character whose worldview shifts over the course of a story, first drawing its influence from culture A and then coming to see culture B as the right one. Or you could have a character who blends different worldviews and is spurned by members of both cultures.

Or you could go larger-scale and write about one nation that seeks to overthrow or conquer another in order to squash their conflicting worldview. Or a nation that tries to win others over to its worldview, with mixed results.

As with character voice, using cultural worldview to influence plot not only strengthens your plot, but also strengthens your world and makes it invaluable to the story. Worldbuilding ought to be an integral part of a book, and utilizing cultural worldview can be a great tool to ensure that it is.

Let’s chat! What are some of the most prominent worldviews in your world? How do they impact the characters and stories within the world? How do they conflict with one another?

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Worldbuilding Process: Three Examples

I’ve said this before, but there are many ways to approach creating a fantasy world (or sci-fi world). Should you work outside-in or inside-out? Should you use vignettes? Beyond the basics, what is the best order to take things in? Those are questions that are going to be unique to each writer (and potentially each world), so I can’t give you a concrete answer, but in this post I’ll show you a few of the processes I use for my own worlds. (And if you want a guide on how to develop your own answer, check out my course Worldbuilding Toolbox!)

Example #1: Aleruus

Aleruus is the world (or pair of worlds, rather) that I began building when I was first starting to write fantasy. It’s a world that drew a lot of inspiration in its early days from classic fantasy worlds such as Shannara, Hyrule (roughly Twilight Princess-era), and Landover. As such, it fits a lot of the classic fantasy tropes.

When I started out, Aleruus existed primarily as a vehicle for the stories that took place within its borders (though my fascination with worlds was clearly budding, as one of my kingdoms was built in large part to explore the areas of Hyrule that I was unfamiliar with and wanted to imagine more about). It didn’t have a lot of depth and I developed various aspects of the world as stories called for it; there were few elements that came about simply because I wanted to develop the world itself.

Nowadays, Aleruus is a bit more interesting. As I’ve reconstructed pieces of it, I’ve made an effort to develop unique details that set it apart from “every other fantasy world,” since I’m aware of its inherent weakness in that area. A lot of these elements have come about simply because I wanted to know more about the world, rather than to serve specific stories. I’ve also developed more concrete central values for each of the kingdoms in Aleruus, so that I have a very basic framework to go off of. But Aleruus remains largely story-driven. The largest number of its new developments occur as I’m writing and details come up that I need to explain or as I want to give characters a certain backstory that doesn’t make sense yet. Occasionally I’ll branch out from those details, but as I build Aleruus it’s largely a practical project.

Since it’s helpful to have all these practical notes in one place, they’re often immediately turned into World Anvil articles or added to my orderly Google doc of Aleruus notes. There’s little chaos involved in the process.

Example #2: Esleon

Esleon is my sci-fi world, and my method for this one is sort of a cross between my processes for Aleruus and Deseran (which I’ll talk about in a minute). Esleon has gone through some serious changes over the years; it was originally a fantasy world! At some point, stories came together and I decided to update some of my story ideas to take place in a sci-fi/fantasy version of our world. Thus began an exploration of how the world was significantly remolded, how survivors of a world-wide apocalypse rebuilt afterward, and how magic and mythical creatures would impact the development of society afterward.

Unlike with my other worlds, my focus with Esleon is primarily on a single nation: Concordia. So instead of a framework of cultural values, I mostly work off the timeline of Concordia’s gradual development. The worldbuilding starts out more of a post-apocalyptic fantasy blend and then gradually works its way into a more solidly sci-fi style (with superheroes and still a hint of fantasy).

Esleon is often story-driven, like Aleruus, with various elements appearing and being reconciled with existing details as they crop up in short stories or novels. But I often explore modern cultural issues (sometimes exaggerated) through the lens of this superpowered world (both technologically and magically speaking), thus exploring some details independently from any written stories. These can be inspired by current events, conversations with friends, hypothetical questions, philosophical dilemmas, media I’ve been consuming recently, etc. These most often impact the development of the world’s history and values rather than its technology or other tangible elements, but sometimes there’s overlap.

Since Esleon is a younger world than Aleruus, I allow myself more freedom to explore brand new ideas. There’s less fear of ruining what’s already established, simply because less is established. So it strikes a comfortable middle ground.

Notes on Esleon’s worldbuilding might end up slightly scattered as I jot things down in notebooks or various documents, but they (will) all find their way back to World Anvil eventually so that they’re all in one place when I need them for story reference.

Example #3: Deseran

Deseran is my favorite fantasy world. You’ve probably heard me use it as an example in many of my worldbuilding posts, since it’s the world in which I feel like I’ve hit my ideal process (and it’s the one I personally find most interesting).

While I call Aleruus and Esleon “story-driven,” I’d consider Deseran more “story-building.” Deseran started off small. I started with the core values of a small handful of cultures and began building from there. (I recommend cultural values as a starting point for development, since they’ll inform everything around them.) For a while, those few cultures were all I worked on. I explored the various facets of their culture; how they interlinked with one another, their history, their religions, and their conflicts both internally and externally… and over time those developments led to the creation of neighboring cultures, which then went through the same process.

Other cultures were developed based on the principles and habits I’d learned from my earlier work. I learned that free-writing about a given culture works really well for me (at least for this world), and that my habit of asking questions upon questions about interlinking issues can be super powerful when I just let my brain run. I learned that I love exploring worldview through fantasy cultures, since fantasy allows you to use a focused lens on a certain concept in a way that is difficult to achieve in different types of worlds. That led to the creation of entire cultures centered around concepts like pacifism, duality, exaggeration of focus on different elements of worship, etc.

I also give myself a lot of freedom with Deseran. I have a sprawling map that I’ve barely even started to develop yet, which leaves tons of room for additional cultures as I build, and they can be as varied as I can imagine. Shapeshifters who use animal skins to change shape? Why not? Put them in conflict with the culture that doesn’t believe in harming anything living. A nocturnal species that’s light-years ahead of its neighbors in astronomical knowledge (pun intended)? There’s space for them, too. Which means that if I come upon a seed of an idea, I can almost always fit it into Deseran somewhere.

With core values and concepts in place, questions will often crop up, either as I’m going about my day or as I’m writing stories. For instance, my legend of the Scarlet Wraith came together thanks to the question of whether one of the characters in Calligraphy Guild would know of any legendary heroes to name a pet dragon after. (The Scarlet Wraith turned out to not be a character Sairsha would name a dragon after–or even a hero at all–but the question was the necessary spark.) Having core values also allows me to use tools such as worldbuilding prompts to a fuller extent, since I can see a prompt like, “What is the most famous art piece in this culture?” and answer it based on what I know of their values. The best-known art piece in my artisan nation is very different from the best-known art piece in my military-led nation.

Notes for Deseran are much more free-form than my notes for my other worlds… and yet get into World Anvil more consistently. Deseran notes (almost) always start as ramblings in one extremely long Word document. A given ramble might only consist of one topic (one of my entries is only one sentence), others might jump around a good deal. Afterward, as I feel like it, I scroll through the document until I find a topic that catches my interest and I work on inputting everything I have on that topic into a World Anvil article so I have all of my related notes in one place later (and so I can share Deseran with others between now and when I’m able to publish more stories set there). If my notes don’t start as rambles, they start instead as World Anvil articles, either based on a World Anvil prompt (as was the case during a couple of their community events, in particular) or simply because I think a template would be more helpful for the particular worldbuilding element (for example, the Scarlet Wraith).

Common denominators

A few things do remain consistent over all of my worlds.

Have a framework in mind (cultural values, a cultural timeline, etc.)Ask questions about the worldKeep notes together (World Anvil is the ultimate destination for all of my notes, but there are several organizational options)

These are what I would say are the core of any worldbuilding process, regardless of what method you find works best for you.

Hopefully this was a helpful look at some examples of worldbuilding process! There are other methods I haven’t personally used that thus didn’t get into this post, but you can explore more about worldbuilding approaches and what core concepts to focus on in my Worldbuilding Toolbox course for just $15.

What does your worldbuilding process look like? What is your favorite part of the process? What worldbuilding tools do you use?

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