World Building: Breathing life into a story

This is something that every writer/author has had to deal with. Many ask us what is our method, our thought process and how do we go about it. If you've ever read a fantasy novel, you know there are worlds that are created out of the author's mind. It's something I've thought about as I've written and read other works. How does one come up with the world they write in?
First, for me, I tend to watch everything around me. From the people that wander past, to their movements and body language, to the way they speak to each other. I try and get a feel for how I respond to questions and discussions, and how I would try and describe it to someone else. Most take daily interaction as part of life and do not look further into it. I take everything in. Some of my friends tend to think I'm quiet, and I can be, but most times I'm just taking in everything. I try and go over it in my head and pull it apart. Now take that to a different level.


When I am out and about I am still watching everything. (Not when I'm driving of course!) But when I'm walking around the store or outside my house and neighborhood I'm still jotting down what I see and making a mental note of it. Heck, there have been times when I'm at my son's concert and it is a wealth of noises, sounds and sights. Learning how to see the world as more than just something that passes one by helps me, as a writer, become more adept at describing and building worlds based on reality. For instance. When I'm looking out my window during a storm (when we actually get them here in Texas) I think about the movement of the clouds, the texture, the colors and how they float in the sky. Taking in the strikes of lightning that arc across the sky and the resounding thunder as it cracks above. Pull that into a new world. Take the sounds, the visuals and twist them and see what comes about. An example is something that is going to be in one of my upcoming releases KEEPERS OF WATER. 


In this novel I took that storm and transformed it into much more than just a life giving moment. This act of nature I've used as an instrument of destruction that sparks off the storyline. It is no longer the simple rainfall that drops to the ground, but storms of energy and lightning that ripple across the lands. It's fierce and it is powerful, something that I was able to use my own experiences to manipulate it into something quite different.
This is just a small part of world building. Taking in everything we see, hear, feel, sense and using it to help formulate what works. From the lands and waters, to the mountains and forests. Knowing how they work and finding the right balance to make it real and then finding the best way to describe to you, the reader, so that you feel what we feel and see what we see. A true gift, and one I strive for, is to have you immersed in a world I create and see it through your mind's eye as if it is real. That is the ultimate goal of world building, to make it as real to you, as it is to the characters that inhabit the new world. 


Again, this is my way of doing it. I am sure every author has their own ways and steps they go through when creating the world of their books. None are wrong and only the person wielding the pen (or in my case keyboard) can know if what they tried to create really worked.
As always, happy reading and writing my friends.
War regards,
R.G. Porter