Everything is Related

[image error]Often times when we think of world building we think of great fantasy writers.  The worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Terry Brooks and J.K. Rowling.   Whether it's Middle Earth, Narnia, Landover or Hogwarts, we are transported to a magical place created inside the author's mind.  But this kind of world building isn't limited to the fantastical.  All writers build worlds.  Granted some are more elaborate than others.  But in every author's mind there exists a special place where their characters live.  We're transported instantly, and sometimes without warning, while driving down the street, watching passersby, and sometimes, unfortunately, in the middle of something that quite honestly should be considered more pressing.  But there you have it –writers live in their own little worlds.

People often ask which of my books are connected and I'm often tempted to tell them that they're all related.  Katherine and Jeff from Everything in its Time are related indirectly to Kacy in After Twilight and quite distantly to Michael in The Promise.  And in my newest series, Harrison Blake, who appeared as a supporting player in the Last Chance series and once worked for John in Midnight Rain, shows up in the third book A-Tac book, Desperate Deeds, to help the team find the traitor in their midst.   And these are just a few examples of how my imaginary world links the characters within the books I write.

World building in series work is perhaps even more important.  Continuity is crucial and if a series spans more than a couple of books, it's critical for a writer to maintain not only a story bible, but one for details as well.  Characters favorite things, descriptions of their homes, their families, their feelings on any number of subjects.   If A-Tac's second in command Nash Brennon hates technology in Dark Deceptions he'd darned well better not hack into a computer in Dangerous Desires (at least not without a lot of grumbling and some serious help).  Or if Tyler Hanson, who we learn in Desperate Deeds, has good reason to hate umbrella drinks, we'd better not find her sipping a pina colada in Dark Deceptions.  Readers are smart people and believe me they always catch these kinds of mistakes.

So whether the writer's world is as far removed from reality as Lewis Carroll's Wonderland in the Alice books or as grounded in truth as J.D. Salinger's New York in Catcher in the Rye, world building is crucial to creating a compelling read.  One that transports the reader away from their own particular reality, if only for a few magical hours.

[image error]When you think about great world-building what authors and books spring to mind?