{"id":450,"date":"2013-12-04T18:41:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-04T18:41:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theresarogers.art\/?p=450"},"modified":"2022-09-10T17:14:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T00:14:09","slug":"hey-its-1725-or-two-techniques-to-add-to-your-worldbuilding-toolkit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theresarogers.art\/?p=450","title":{"rendered":"Hey reader! It\u2019s 1725! -or- Three Techniques to Add to Your Worldbuilding Toolkit"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first books I ever wrote takes place on a pirate ship in 1725. The 1725 part is important, because that was the end of the Golden Age of Piracy and several countries were combining their efforts to hunt down the last of the big-name pirates; specifically, one of the pirates in my story. As a first-time author, I struggled in my attempts to let my readers know this important worldbuilding information. Some of my early tries basically boiled down to:<\/p>\n

The Captain reached the end of his letter: \u201cWe are not able to careen at Tortuga,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAs you know, I\u2019m being viciously hunted down. 1725 has certainly has had its challenges!\u201d<\/p>\n

*delete*<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, [name of character], here we are in 1725, and we certainly are being viciously hunted down, are we not? That is because I am a very important pirate.\u201d<\/p>\n

*delete with extreme prejudice*<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

You absolutely 100% had to know this picture was coming.<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem is I was dropping information in without any motivation for it\u2014creating the notorious \u201cinfo-dump,\u201d where the author basically stops the story dead and tells the reader a bunch of information. If you listen carefully, you can actually hear your readers rolling their eyes while they put your book down.<\/p>\n

So I spent a lot of time studying this aspect of the craft. To this day, I still look at how other authors handle the balancing act of letting the reader know the when, where, and why-it-matters of worldbuilding without \u201ctelling.\u201d Three techniques I\u2019ve noticed effective authors using over and over are:<\/p>\n

a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To avoid \u201ctelling,\u201d write information in such a way that it sets up story questions the reader will ask and then reveal world information that answers them.<\/p>\n

b)\u00a0\u00a0 When possible, use concrete, world-defining objects to answer story questions.<\/p>\n

c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To keep readers reading, keep raising immediate story questions and answering them, but only to raise more.<\/p>\n

Eric Nylund\u2019s\u00a0book The Resisters <\/i>is the first of a YA science fiction series, which is, in my mind, possibly the most difficult worldbuilding situation you can find yourself in. Here\u2019s how he uses these three\u00a0techniques to show me his world. These are the first three paragraphs of his book:<\/p>\n

1) Ethan Blackwood prepared for battle.<\/p>\n

This seems straightforward, at least at first. We know battles mean some kind of war. So Ethan is involved in a war.<\/p>\n

2) In the months to come, Ethan would look back and marvel that there could be a fight in which someone didn\u2019t <\/i>get hurt\u2026or his life or the entire human race wasn\u2019t constantly at risk.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rather unexpected, yes? And so kick-ass.<\/em><\/p>\n

In (2), Nylund presents a brief inner flashback. Although it might appear to be, Nylund\u2019s flashback isn\u2019t \u201ctelling.\u201d It\u2019s a response to the question raised in the first sentence: \u201cWhat battle is Ethan preparing for?\u201d But I have no way to contextualize the information the flashback gives me and so it raises more story questions\u2014\u201cin which someone didn\u2019t <\/i>get hurt\u201d [wait, so the battle Ethan\u2019s about to be in has no casualties? What kind of a battle is it where no one gets hurt?] and \u201chis life or the entire human race wasn\u2019t constantly at risk\u201d [WHAT? The entire human race<\/i>? And why isn\u2019t his life at risk in this <\/i>battle?].<\/p>\n

3) At the time, though, he did think of it as a battle. No one ever thought of it as a game\u2014not when you strapped on six hundred pounds of nuclear-powered exoskeleton athletic suit.<\/p>\n

(3) answers one question raised in (2)\u2014why this \u201cbattle\u201d isn\u2019t a battle (it\u2019s a game)\u2014but it raises another immediate question: \u201cWhat time period am I in?\u201d Nylund doesn\u2019t tell me, he shows me, in (3), by introducing a concrete, world-defining object\u2014manned robotic exoskeletons used to play sports. He could have just told us about the exoskeleton: \u201cEthan put on his six hundred pound, nuclear-powered exoskeleton athletic suit and charged out onto the field, ready to play.\u201d \u201cOh really?\u201d the reader says, \u201cIt\u2019s six hundred pounds, is it? And it\u2019s nuclear powered? Well, thanks for telling us that, Mr. Author! I see we are not in 2013.\u201d EYE ROLL. We have this reaction because there is no story question driving the description. It\u2019s just dumped in there.<\/p>\n

But the appearance of that suit is motivated by the question \u201cWhy is this game, whatever \u2018it\u2019 is, considered a battle<\/i>?\u201d This gives us a totally different encounter with the world-defining exoskeleton: \u201cOh holy crap! Why are they wearing those<\/i>? What is this \u2018it\u2019 they\u2019re playing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s get back to (1), and its apparent straightforwardness. (2) and (3) make us we realize we no longer understand what \u201cbattle\u201d means there. In fact, that battle now appears to be some kind of game! And that\u2019s how we get to the story question: \u201cWhat is this game, this \u2018it,\u2019 which is considered a battle and requires Ethan to strap on a six-hundred-pound metal suit?\u201d<\/p>\n

Nylund\u2019s given me so much story information in such a short amount of time without me really even noticing. My attention has moved from story question to story question and so I am fully engaged as a reader\u2014I want to know why Ethan\u2019s life and the whole human race are in danger, and I want to know more about this mysterious game\/battle and these suits. I also want to know what battle Ethan\u2019s headed for, and whether or not I\u2019m on earth, so I\u2019m motivated to keep reading. But most importantly, not an eye-roll in sight because all the information was generated naturally from story questions Nylund led me, as the reader, to ask.<\/p>\n

And now back to those pirates\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n