How Do I Build My Paranormal Worlds?

I am not a world builder. I’m in awe of the masters at this, like Lois McMaster Bujold or Anne Bishop. I’ll never have their talent, because my passion for writing is driven 100% by my characters. I have a limited amount of patience for crafting elaborate societies or political and magical systems. I do my best, but I let my characters do a lot of the work!

What do I mean by that? Some years ago, when the first of my girlfriends had a child, I remember her saying: “It’s fascinating to see how she’s becoming a person in her own right, and she’s barely started to walk. She has traits of both her parents, but as she grows and learns, she weaves those traits into who she’s becoming as she interacts with her environment and accumulates experiences.”

That’s a perfect description of not only how my characters develop, but how THEY create the world in which they’re living. Wouldn’t it be so cool if we could all do that?

My paranormal worlds, which are mostly based in our contemporary world, start with my characters. Let me give you an example of how this works. When I wrote the opening chapter to Vampire Queen’s Servant, I knew that Lyssa was a 1000 year old vampire queen who’d recently lost her human servant, and that she was sitting in a limo outside a spa, debating on whether she could risk getting her scheduled midnight manicure. Yep, that’s it. That’s all I had in terms of knowing what shaped her paranormal world.

So, let’s stick with the example of my friend’s toddler. As I wrote the first chapter, my “baby” took her first steps and started to interact with her environment, shaping it according to conflict and emotional needs. I learned that Lyssa wanted a new human servant, but had reasons of her own for not wanting to commit to that. She’s the last of vampire royalty, so that necessitated thinking about the current political structure. If they don’t have royalty, there had to be another governing body, so that became the Vampire Council. What was her relationship with them? Wary, because she has secrets that the Council and perhaps the vampire world wouldn’t tolerate. What kind of secrets would the Council not tolerate? In short, what type of laws had been institutionalized by vampires and what events (Territory Wars, transgressions by vampires/human servants) had shaped those, fueling my vampire queen’s need to keep her secrets? And therefore her vital need to have someone she could completely trust?

I knew up front the answer to that last question would be her human servant, and so that bond had to be defined in a way that made sense. Human servants, once blood bound, are the unequivocal property of the vampire, to be used for a variety of things, not the least of which is sexual pleasure and carnal political games with other vampires. These games make the edgiest BDSM play look like the Dumbo ride at Disneyworld. Enter Jacob, the former vampire hunter and Renaissance player waiting inside the spa. He’s trained for nine months with her former servant to spring this surprise “audition” on her tonight. In the initial dialogue between them, we start shaping the relationship between vampire and human servant, the core Dom/sub culture that guides this entire series:

* * * * *

“Why do you want to become a human servant?” she asked. “Are you running from death? Or are you one of those idealistic idiots who believe vampires are misunderstood creatures, issuing pretentious threats while we cling to the shadows and whine out our angst over our lost mortality?”

The description made Jacob smile. Too late, he realized he should have curbed the urge. He’d been warned her moods changed as quickly as the snap of a whip.

In a blink, the room closed in on him with a suffocating energy. Making the chamber much warmer than the gas log fire, the power raised the hairs on his neck.

“Do you realize, mortal, I could rip you apart limb by limb? Tear out your entrails and take your blood while you watch, choking on your last breath? Don’t play games with me, and do not speak false, or those words will be your last.”

When Jacob raised his gaze, he saw her eyes had taken on a reddish cast as she spoke, a hint of fang pushing over the right side of her full lip. The humanity had disappeared from her expression.

A wise man would have taken his hands off her foot. Put about a hundred feet between him and the threat he knew she was capable of executing. But Jacob knew that would be it. Game over. The last nine months of his life a waste. Most importantly, he would fail her, something he’d sworn to a dying man he would not do.

“I know you can destroy me,” he said quietly, staring down at that shapely foot. “My reasons for wanting to be your servant are complicated and personal, my lady. My tongue isn’t clever enough to explain them as you wish me to do. But I can prove myself to you, if you’ll give me the opportunity.”

It took Herculean effort to manage the words in an even tone, to raise his attention back to her face and hold that preternatural gaze without flinching, though his muscles tensed in an involuntary readiness he knew would be futile if she chose to strike. “I suspect if you truly intended to tear my limbs off, you wouldn’t take the time to threaten me.”

“Perhaps I feed on fear.”

“There are other, more satisfying meals I can offer you.” Daring or just plain stupid he didn’t know, but going with his gut, Jacob bent and placed his lips against the top of her foot.

* * * * *

By the time I reached the end of the first chapter, I had a sense of all of the following:

1) The political structure of the vampire world

2) The inferior status of human servants, and the conflict that caused, since vampires were so reliant on them.

3) Some of Lyssa’s past history with her former servant, which included a husband she’d had who’d died (that was unexpected to me, lol).

4) The full nature of her secrets. While I didn’t reveal them in that chapter, it was there the ideas for them were planted and developed in my own head, based on how her personality and Jacob’s developed during those first few pages.

Every challenge Jacob and Lyssa face from the human and vampire worlds is a chance to deepen and intensify their relationship, and these obstacles offer more opportunities to flesh out their world with additional props, political, magical and cultural systems that mesh with their love story.

Let me mention this is not the typical or recommended way to build a world. But it is not done in a vacuum, either. Like anyone else, I snort when I watch a crime show and they come up with a sudden solution to solve a problem: “Oh, I have a contact with the FBI who magically provided that vital piece of data to solve the case.” When my characters hit a wall, I either fall back on the foundation they’ve already built to come up with a solution, or see it as an opportunity to flesh out their world even further with new and interesting variables.

However, since my stories ARE relationship-driven, when it comes to action/magic plot, I won’t claim I’ve NEVER resorted to “uh, yeah, forgot to mention before, he has the power to conjure that, so bam, there it is”. But if I do resort to that, it’s only so I can get back to the best part of the story in my mind, the emotional bond or steamy eroticism between my love interests (grin).

Note: Special Thanks to Ghosthunter for suggesting today’s topic!

Want to read the entire first chapter of Vampire Queen’s Servant? You can find it by clicking HERE.