Writers & Authors: How expanded do you like your universe?

[C.L.]

Here's the real question: To what length does your fantasy universe span outside the course of your novels?

The flagship novel of my first fantasy series, Trials of the Serpent God, actually started out as the backstory to my LARP character (you can read about that in my blog). Over the course of several years, I started to really expand on the overall concept, lore, and details of the world my novel series would eventually take place.

Now, on the proverbial eve of my second novel's release, my universe has expanded to include a homebrew D&D campaign and the potential for spin-off comics. So, to circle back to the question, how far do you like your universe to expand? Do you like to have only the pieces required for your writing, or do you go off the rails and expand it ridiculously like I do?

[Michael]

I was quite happy to turn out a succession of romantic comedies until a friend who writes crime stories suggested I should have a stab at detective stories. The result is my latest novel, 'Death at the Last Chapter' by MIchael Norman Wilton, a story about a young man who is invited to investigate the mysterious death of a close friend, a well known novelist by his uncle, a former detective. During the case, he falls in love with his friend's secretary who he realises is out of his reach after inheriting a bequest, If you like the story, please post a review to let me know.
mike@thewiltons.net.

[Jim]

The wonderful thing about any Fiction genre is that imagination has very few limitations regarding the storyline or potential fan base..

As long as the storyline follows a logical, entertaining format, without straying into absurd and totally illogical realms, there are no restricitive or taboo subjects, plots, sub-plots, or potential audience/reader expansion opportunities.

[Helen]

I have my own universe in which most of my SF and fantasy stories are set. You can find out more about it in two ways: I include information about it in the stories, but my website is set up partially as a companion to my fictional universe. Find out more at www.Zarduth.com. Two of my three currently published books are set in this universe: The Stallion, and Floodtide. My next two books are also set in it, and I hope to publish them this year.

[Natasha]

I love expanding like crazy like you. I've spent a lot of time working on my story universe and I really love it. Personally, I can't see ever getting tired of exploring it. If your readers like your universe, I think they'll only want to know more and more about it and the stories that go on in it.

[[deleted user]]

To me, a Universe that is frozen and unchanged is a dead Universe. A good author with imagination can and should always add to it as he/she goes. I write sci-fi (Space opera types, time travel), historical fiction, alternate history and military/spy fiction, so there are very few barriers to what I can put in my stories. However, I always do lots of preliminary research work before writing a novel because, while it is fiction, it must feel and sound realistic, especially on a human level. History is written by warm-blooded persons, not by wooden figures. Thus, you should also expand your Universe in terms of the human dimension and not only in terms of World building.

[David]

It's not Fantasy, but my Six East End Boys story spawned any number of spin-offs, expanding to include developments and look into little corners here and there. SEEB led to Tales From Section D, which led to Apostles of Section D, which led to Reports from Independent London. Add to that numerous little vignettes*, and there was quite a lot.

* I do a fair number of little vignettes, largely for my own benefit, to help capture a character or a concept. Just two thousand words or so, but it can crystallise some ideas and concepts.

Likewise the Building Jerusalem series has any number of spin-off options.

Any good book will. There will be little corners and future developments and bits of background that are simply hinted at in the original novel but left out because they weren't needed for the novel.

A rich story will generate these.

[M.T.]

I personally love reading and creating worlds that feel like they expand beyond the pages of the main story. My new serial novel came into my head with ideas for backstory novellas built in, and I could see even doing some kind of choose your own adventure within the world of the story (a speculative circus). The place keeps expanding, sometimes without my knowledge or permission.

[Art]

I wholly agree. Expansion is good. I like my stories of any kind, whether those I read or that I write, to have depth and that each of the characters are more than just what appears on the pages. And that their 'worlds' make sense.
My just completed novel, 'Morris', is not fantasy or science fiction, but it follows that rule. It is 640 pages about a fictional multi-generational family. Why? Because I didn't want it to be 1,000, but it very easily could have been.
I felt I needed all the tangential plot lines, side-stories and back-stories for each of the characters, even those that might appear peripherally or as ancillary to the main story, to be completely thought out to make them whole and be more real to me; not just a caricature added for plot purposes. And that each then became pretty much a story unto themselves.
My intention was not to do this as a series, but I now see that I will be revisiting those characters' developments and give them their own platform to expand the story further.