Are your ideas bleeding?
My latest newsletter was about self-help for ghosts, thermodynamics and something to do with wasps, I dunno. But mostly, it was about worldbuilding. I admitted that I’m a lazy worldbuilder, but it gets worse: I think you can be, too, and reap the benefits. I call it «the bleed» and it’s my favourite way of framing it. I’ll compress the gist of it, but if you crave the deep dives, sign up for the newsletter, I’ll be happy to welcome you there!
Building a world is daunting. It’s not that you can’t think of anything, it’s that there’s too much to think of. And if you pick at random, your world will seem just that: random. In the real world, things have a funny way of affecting each other. So should your ideas.
Your greatest ideas will have impact. Power to create massive dents in your story. They will have causes and consequences. The good news: That’s why you don’t need many of them! You need ONE thing that matters. One idea that can bleed out into your world, creating a rich, interconnected tapestry.
Pick anything, let’s say you want to write a ghost story. Afterlife would have massive impact, so go nuts with the implications. If ghosts are possible, there could be millions. They would quarrel, we’d need rules and regulations for the dead. Structures. Institutions. And they’d be bored as F, you’d need ghost employment offices, scare-the-living-competions, medals made from the bones of your enemies. Bones would disappear at an alarming rate, affecting police investigations. There would be self-help books for the newly departed, («That’s the spirit!») Language would change («Do I look like I died yesterday?») Support groups for the religiously disappointed, and on and on.
Your greatest ideas aren’t necessarily spectacular or unique, they just bleed well! Not revolutionary in any way, but a very powerful mindset. All it takes is one thing. Find it, squeeze it to a pulp, and let the juices soak into the very fabric of your universe, flooding the streets, dripping into everyday life, affecting everything it touches. One drop - the lifeblood of your story.
