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I have my own little world I like to call Deus. It's not just in my head, but on pages and pages of writing that I like to think are my best work. Do any of the hatrackers have their own worlds? You own personal middle-earth, maybe? Also, any charcters that you use over and over? I do, and I enjoy it hugely.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I have one "core" world on which about 2/3 of my material is set, which has been in existence for around 20 years, and which I know like the back of my hand. The stories there mostly focus on three main characters, and there are at least a dozen novels I could write just covering those three, as well as others set elsewhere in the geography and history of the place.
Not every story idea fits into that milieu, though, so I've got a few others lying around. They tend to be less well realised, though they solidify alongside the story as needed.
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My world's still evolving. I have all these little aspects that I know so well, and some not. Some things are changing, like names and organisations. Some of it is staying the same, some of it not. It's interesting to see and watch it all happen because I know that I created all of this, and it makes me feel like a god...in a less arrogant way, of course. I decided to take a fantasy world, with maps and so on, and make it more of a sci-fi world of my creation. Giant robots feature heavily, for some reason.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I have two worlds I enjoy writing in, although one is not developed beyond a certain atmosphere. My second world is in the process of creation (and going through a lot of those birth pangs) I have about half the map, some creation myths, a migration pattern that's probably going to change, and a small region where most of my stories are set. I'm gradually moving south with each story, exploring the new lands as best as I can. I'm still doing research, though. I'm not comfortable with using the same characters twice, but a story may form a mythical basis for a more recent one.
Posts: 1075 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I have a world that has practically been in existence since I started writing. Probably a solid half of everything I have written happens in this world (with 90% of it happening to one character). I just recently made a lot of changes to it, so it doesn't appear the same in a lot of respects, but it's still there. It's gone through a lot of mutations, but hey, what world doesn't?
I also have a smaller, double world, that is loosely based on our own (at first it practically is, but then there is a dimensional shifty-thin and well...) The character for that world has been around for some time too.
Is it a bad thing that there are two or three characters (and names) I like to use over and over?
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I have a couple of intersected worlds, (Perecambria and Windward) so what I actually have is a private universe to play around in. I could write a few series of novels based on these, and have written a few stories and stuff there. My main problem is that I'm almost too close to the place, to the characters I've made that inhabit these worlds, so much so that it makes me incredibly nervous, as in sick-to-the-stomach-with-fear, when I consider letting someone else see those stories. It's definitely an evolving universe, and I've made a lot of changes to it over the years, and there's going to be a lot more before it's done, so I'm kinda afraid of completing something only to have it become invalid later or something, you know? Mostly, though, my problem is that no one I know, in the real world, I mean, could read what I write and not wrinkle their noses at how strange the world is, because everyone I know, family, friends, and all, they only read RealWorld Stuff, and just don't get what I write at all, and I'm kinda afraid that no one else except me will get it, either. The only way to conquer fear is to face it, I know that, but easier said than done, *sighs*
I have a core set of characters that I work with mainly, the ones in the so-called Last Era, but I've done a novelette set in the Second Era, which would be about 3000 years prior. There's a lot of history inbetween there, and I would be the happiest person alive if I could write entirely about these worlds, except for the fact that I'd be the only one to see what I wrote. GAH! Anyhow, I'll have one of Windward's short stories to share this time next week, and will out it up in FF. I don't know, maybe I'll see that there's nothing to be worried about.
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I could probably write any idea I ever came up with in the context of my WIP's world, and it does generate a bunch of stories. However, I've found that more often than not, the stories become far more effective when I remove them to their own separate worlds.
Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004
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quote:Is it a bad thing that there are two or three characters (and names) I like to use over and over?
Characters aren't necessarily a problem, if you're really telling a series of stories about the same people. But if you're just using the same basic characters in a series of unrelated stories, then I think you may have a problem; your reader will have certain expectations (if they've read other stories featuring these characters) and may be nonplussed when it becomes apparent these characters have no memory of other events, or the milieu is different, or whatever.
I seem to recall that Mary Gentle has used two characters - Casaubon and Valentine, I think - and after reading Rats and Garrgoyles (which is nifty - I liked the fact that about six different factions are all trying to stave off an apolcalypse, but you never know which of them is actually responsible for saving the world...) I then read another of hers (the name escapes me) which ostensibly featured the same characters but which, it became clear, weren't actually the same people. Or they were, in terms of their base characterisation, but the world wasn't, and there were no cross-references. I have to admit I found this kind of irritating and confusing. I then read The Architecture of Desire and one of the characters turns up again, but clearly has no memory of the other books. I guess she just really loves these characters but doesn't wish to fix them to one set of events/milieu/whatever. I'm not convinced this is a good technique to use. I haven't read anything else by her since, so clearly it didn't work for me...
[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited June 22, 2005).]
[This message has been edited by tchernabyelo (edited June 22, 2005).]
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It's actually only aborted stories. Once I finish a story with one of these characters in it I'll stop using them. It's like they are a free spirit looking for a home, and once they find it they'll settle down. I can't believe somebody uses the same names for apparently unrelated characters.
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So far I have one World I've delved deeply into, the second is still stewing in the pot.
It's funny, I've written one and a half books set in this first world and I still don't have a name for it--and there's at *least* one more, but hopefully six all together. All the towns and geography have names (I've drawn several maps and dictated history and myth going back five thousand years). I have names for the surrounding countries. But no revelation about the main local. It's like I'm waiting to for it to fall from the sky. I guess I'll know it when I hear it--I hope. It doesn't change the story any, but I feel a little crunched since I'm getting closer to publishing it. *Oops!* Before that thing hits print I've got to get an epiphany or something. Does anyone know where I can find one? It has to be *just right*. No cheezy, been-there-done-that kind of stuff. It's gotta roll off the tongue and come alive. It's gotta stick in the brain. This is just waaay too much pressure.
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I had a world once, but it quite literally got eaten by the dog. I had put a whole lot of effort into it, and I'm not very good with the scientific aspects. I was doing some character stories from it to try to get a sense of the protag I wanted, and I had a whole notebook full when my old dog ate it. I was pregnant and emotional and couldn't remember a third of what I'd written, so it just kind of got tossed in the pooper. I've been contemplating starting another one. Posts: 239 | Registered: May 2005
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I have my own world. It's an incredibly complex society patterned after medival Europe. However, after trying to write a few stories and one novel out of it, I have found that I am totally out of my league. I can't decide if I'm either not sofisicated enough to write characterizations of the people I see in my head and their relationships with each other or if I'm just not educated enough. Sad to say, I have temporarily given up writing about it because I feel so naive compared to my characters. ::sigh::
Oh, btw, I'm back from my maternity leave from this board. Hi, all!
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I have two worlds I go to, but for the most part, they stay in my head. It used to be three, but for the third, I made so many notes, I realized I couldn't keep up with everything I had in mind, the notes were cluttered, and I got so oversaturated with it that I finally put it away and I haven't touched it again in almost three years.
The one I go to most often is the real world set a few years in the future, but with many fantasy elements, and overall, a very dark place to live, because of all the diverse wars.
The other is still developing, a month at a time, whenever something strikes me and it wouldn't fit anywhere else. I don't want to do too much with these worlds until I feel I've learned enough about writing to do the worlds justice on paper. I fear my current skills would destroy them in their infancy. <sigh>
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I really hate world-building, and do it as little as possible (which can be, on occasion, a fair amount). I just want to tell my story. I world-build because I have to.
Posts: 932 | Registered: Jul 2001
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quote:However, after trying to write a few stories and one novel out of it, I have found that I am totally out of my league. I can't decide if I'm either not sofisicated enough to write characterizations of the people I see in my head and their relationships with each other or if I'm just not educated enough. Sad to say, I have temporarily given up writing about it because I feel so naive compared to my characters. ::sigh::
Why do you feel that you're not educated enough to deal with these characters? Are you trying to remain true to the setting these stories are in, or is it a fantasy world? Perhaps both?
Don't let that kind of thinking bug you. Do a bit of research if you feel you need it... but I find that--especially in fiction--it's best for me to work without trying to hold the story to exact strictures and requirements.
quote:Oh, btw, I'm back from my maternity leave from this board. Hi, all!
Congrats on the baby! Girl or boy? ---------- Wellington
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For the time being I only write about the same Universe that we live in, with a few slightly modified laws of physics that I felt I could get away with.
The reason for this is that I do not understand enough about world-building yet to try to build any worlds NOT earth-like.
In fact, at this point in time I have only actually written about Earth and Searth. Searth being a distant twin of Earth, just on the opposite side of the galaxy.
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I have a world which I have been building for the past two years. I don't know how many pages of notes, thoughts, plots, I have scribbled out. Several thorough large-scale maps, 6,000 years of history, and slowly devoloping cultures and religions. I have several stories from this world that have been on the back burner for a while; I don't feel I'm ready yet as a writer to make them what I want them to be, but I do poke around with them from time to time.
Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I feel like the odd one out much of the time because, unlike so many talented writers on this board, I have focused only on a single story for the past 2-1/2 years, the world of Kaldara. http://www.a2zgorge.info/kaldara/home.htm
I have put an enormous amount of time in building the world (the website is actually out of date in many respects). I opted to include a caste system to create automatic friction between the haves and have-nots, we have a diversity of religious beliefs, and varying opinions on the use of magic - ranging from people who fear and despise mages to those who wield magic openly. We have a backstory history that goes back 3000 years. Building this world has been an act of love.
The richness of the world we've built strongly influences the characters who live there. Their morals, their behavior, all interact with the world. I can instantly calculate my characters' reactions to events knowing how they fit into the milieu we've created. I wouldn't want to do it any other way!
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If everything isn't lost to a nearly defunct laptop, I can share my world with all of you. My gran liked it, so it has to be good.
Posts: 14 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I definitely have my own world I like to write about. The great majority of my stories take place in it. I've also developed this world quite a bit--not just in my books but in the countless pages of notes I've made on it. I've developed (somewhat) a couple different languages, atypical fantasy races (meaning I have no elves, dwarves, etc., but a set of different races as have yet not been seen in sword and sorcery fantasy), and an entire history of the place. Also, each story I write, involves different characters at different times in the history of this place. So basically, each story is a different piece of my world's history.
And those last few sentences use the word "history" far too many times...
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