Now What? How an Editor Can Catch the Things You Miss

You wrote a novel! Now what? NaNoWriMo’s “Now What?” Months are here—this January and February, we’ll be helping you guide your novel through the revision and publishing process. Today, author and NaNoWriMo participant Cass R. Morris shares a peek into her research and editing process:

When we think about editing, we think about the words. We think about cutting scenes, adding them, rearranging them. We might even think about “big picture” edits that change a major plot point or eliminate a character. But what about the world that all those smaller components take place in?

By the time From Unseen Fire sold, I had been living in its world for almost four years. An alternate-history version of Rome, but with magic. I knew its history, and where it diverged from our universe’s. I had maps galore. I’d gone through stacks of books about the pattern of an average Roman’s day. I had clearly defined how my system of magic worked. I would not have thought I needed to spend even more time world-building.

But I did.

My editor’s eyes caught what I hadn’t–or perhaps it’s more that her brain asked questions I had only half-answered.

A lot of them were economic – something I’ll admit I tend to hand-wave, much though I shouldn’t – but the one that ended up being the most fun to dig into was demographic. “Just how many mages are there in Aven?”

Well. I had a vague idea, but when she asked the question, I realized (as someone who’s always been bothered by the relative size of Hogwarts to the wizarding population of Britain) that I had to come up with a definite answer.

For a start, that meant figuring out the total population of the city. Easy enough–history gives me some guidelines to go on. Augustus’s 14CE census put the population of Rome at about 750,000; since my Aven is set some 70 years earlier earlier, has expanded more slowly, and has recently been through some rough times, I set my total at about 350,000.

Then I had to think about what proportion of the population would be magically gifted. They perceive it as a blessing bestowed by the gods, and it’s unusual, but not super-rare. There are enough that the non-mages have always been worried about their potential power accumulation and have written the city’s laws to keep them out of higher office, and–thinking back to my economics–there are enough mages who make a career out of their talents to participate in the economy, but not to overwhelm it. After playing around with some numbers, a birth rate of about one in a thousand seemed reasonable. That gives me about 350 mages in the City of Aven, distributed so that there are about 35 in each of the major districts, and thus, probably at least one or two per neighborhood.

And then I went even deeper.

I mean, if I knew how many there are, I should know who they are, right? How many are patrician versus plebeian? How many have a lot of natural talent versus just a touch, and how many have good magical education? What’s the age distribution? What’s the distribution of the various Elements, since some are more common than others? And, perhaps most importantly, what do they do? I took inspiration from research and Roman poetry, applying the system of magic I’d developed to the demographic and economic patterns of my world. Here’s a peek into the world of Aven, as seen through its magical community:

Not everyone’s world-building details will look the same, but they’re important to consider, no matter what kind of story you’re telling. If it’s historical, dig into your facts. If it’s fantasy or sci-fi, apply real-world dynamics to it. If it’s contemporary, be sure to think about the amazing spectrum of the world we live in. Having these details in your head and being able to include them in the background of your story results in a richer and more satisfying world for your readers to visit.

Cass Morris is, by day, a Shakespeare educator who develops classroom resources, writes teaching guides, and leads workshops and seminars. A graduate of Mary Baldwin University and the College of William and Mary, she lives in western Virginia with two royal felines, Princess and Ptolemy. She reads voraciously, wears corsets voluntarily, and will beat you at MarioKart. Her debut novel, From Unseen Fire , began life as a 2011 Nano novel and will be released through DAW Books on September 5th, 2017. Visit her website at cassmorriswrites.com; catch up with her on Goodreads ; or follow her on Twitter @CassRMorris.

Top photo by Flickr user Amber Case.