As we jump into April, we're sharing some of our favorite tips in the pre-writing stage, starting with Worldbuilding!
Tip #1: No matter the genre, every book needs a world, so don't forget to build one.
Tip #2: Keep your own rules to avoid breaking reader immersion.
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Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Author Wheel podcast.
I'm Megan Haskell,award-winning fantasy author of
the Signore Chronicles and theRise of Lilith series.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
And I'm Greta Boris, usa Today bestselling author of
the Mortician Murders and thesoon-to-be-released Almost True
Crime series.
Together, we are the AuthorWheel.
Our goal is to help youovercome your writing roadblocks
so you can keep your storiesrolling.
This month, we're going to betalking about everything that
goes into planning a novel, inother words, the things you do
(00:31):
before you write chapter one.
We're going to be talking aboutworld building, how to plan a
series, brainstorming tools andtechniques, and how to research
without getting lost in theweeds.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So let's take a deeper look into one of my
absolute favorite parts ofstorytelling world building.
But don't go running away ifyou're not a fantasy author,
because tip number one everybodyneeds to do world building, not
just fantasy authors.
Reader immersion depends on it.
(01:07):
So it really, it really trulydoesn't matter what genre you
write in.
You're still having toincorporate setting, culture,
history, geography All of it isinterrelated with your character
development.
Characters can't exist in avoid, and readers are drawn into
the story by characters andtheir relationships.
(01:28):
So if they don't connect withthe character, they won't keep
reading, which is why evensmall-town contemporary stories
need to have that strong senseof place, and that's what
world-building really is.
Nalini Singh is actually one ofmy favorite writers because
she's able to capture thefeeling of place and bring her
(01:49):
characters to life within it.
Now, admittedly, she did startas a fantasy writer.
She's mostly a fantasy writerand I think that's you know
probably where her strengthcomes in from, but she's also
branched out into contemporaryromance comes in from, but she's
also branched out intocontemporary romance and I've
read, I think, all of hercontemporary romances as well.
(02:13):
The stories are set in NewZealand, which is a place I've
never visited before, as it ison my bucket list but I haven't
been there yet.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I want to go too.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
My gosh, it looks so pretty, anyway.
So I definitely want to go, butI have never been there.
It also features rugby players,which is a sport I've never
watched.
I know nothing about it, exceptthat it's kind of sort of like
football but without pads orsomething I don't know.
And yet, despite that, it allfeels as real as if I'm in my
(02:40):
own home watching collegefootball, which I do love.
And she does a great job ofthinking through the trials and
troubles of the athletes, theculture of the game, the
geography, how they travelthrough the space I mean, she
lives in New Zealand so it'sprobably a little bit easier for
her but at the same time she'sreally thought through all of
(03:01):
these elements, both real andfictional, and how they interact
with those characters.
And she does all of that whilestill telling a compelling
romance story.
So that's just to say that thesetting is as much of a
character often as thecharacters themselves, and the
world building is part of thatGreat tip.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Tip number two is kind of adjacent to tip number
one and that is is kind ofadjacent to tip number one.
And that is once you build yourworld.
You got to stay consistentBecause if you deviate it really
will break reader immersion andoften they'll get mad at you
and we don't want readers mad atus.
Mad readers are no bueno, as mydaughter would say yes, yes, I
(03:49):
agree with your daughter, nobueno.
So the thing is, if you thinkthrough things before you start
writing, it's really much easierto keep your story rolling, as
we say, if you don't, you mightjust write your character into a
corner, and I'm going to giveyou an example of that.
When I started with theMortician Myster mysteries, I
did not stop to think throughthe magic system because
(04:12):
primarily, it's a mystery, it'sa paranormal mystery, it's not a
fantasy, it doesn't have whatwe would think of, strictly
speaking, as magic.
But I quickly learned thatanything that is not actually
normal world stuff that happenslike a paranormal thing or a
time travel thing, anything likethat, is still under a magic
(04:35):
system and that system has tohave rules.
So my main character gets finalsensations of the dead when she
touches their hair.
I thought, oh, that's all I needto know Just right away and
have fun.
But then in book three Idecided she needed to get a hit
that's what she calls it from askull.
(04:56):
Well, skulls obviously don'thave hair.
But I very cleverly thought orso I thought at the time that a
hair hiding under the shellacthat someone had painted on the
skull was enough for her to gethit.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
So I'm sorry, shellac on a skull, that's just.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Because they were trying to make it look old as
well, oh, okay.
There's a whole reason for that.
They were shellacking it tomake it look old.
All right, so it might not havebeen like actual.
Well, anyway, we're gettinginto the weeds here, darling.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yes, we are Sorry, Sorry, tangent.
That's what we do.
Yes, we do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Anyway.
So I was reading a scene frommy critique group to my critique
group about this and a writer,friend of mine, who's quite
brilliant, said wait a minute,greta, if she can get a hit from
a disconnected hair, a hairthat is not actually no longer
attached to the person, how comeshe's not getting hits from
hairbrushes or touching theclothing of a dead person?
(05:54):
Maybe there's a hair on it, orwhat is your rule?
I'm like oh my gosh, you'reright, I have to have a rule.
So after lobbing it around mycritique group, we decided
together I needed some moralsupport on this that if the hair
still had a follicle attachedthen she could get a hit from it
, but if it didn't, she wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
it would have been way easier that work with the
skull then still so there was afollicle, the hair was in a
follicle and the follicle wasstill there somebody had yanked
that hair right out of thatperson's head, so in a more
violent fashion.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
So there's still a follicle on it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
See, there you go.
Now you got the rule, and evenif you don't explain that to the
reader, you have it in yourhead, exactly, and so there.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
But I will say it would have been a lot easier for
me if I'd have figured out thatkind of thing before I started
the series, because then I hadto go back through, you know,
before I established it.
So set the rules up on thefront end and stick to them.
That is tip number two.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, and I will say just as a quick tangent here too
that I think sometimes that'seasier said than done.
You can do all the planning inthe world, but then you do hit
some point in your story whereall of a sudden it is it doesn't
have.
It has to be a skull and youhadn't really thought that
through.
But the key here is to thinkthrough what you've already
established, make sure it staysconsistent so that you don't
(07:22):
break that reader immersion.
So, yeah, do your best.
To be upfront, I'm not alwaysgreat at that, but do your best.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
No, I know, but then you have that brain puzzle to
figure out.
Well, how can I make this?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
work, but sometimes you can't and you got to go a
different way.
And then you got to think aboutrewriting and changing the story
, and that's okay too.
Just don't break the readerimmersion, exactly All right.
Well, do you want more on worldbuilding?
We do have a course that hasworld building in it, and that's
Layering your Story World howto Make Fiction Feel Real, and
(07:58):
the companion book, planning aNovel.
If you're enjoying this podcast, please consider supporting the
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It really, really, truly helpsus cover the costs of hosting
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(08:18):
Plus, you'll get a shout out,which is always nice.
Another way to support the showis to leave a five star review
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tips, which are often actionable.
So if you hear something thatyou like that you think will
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Until next time, keep yourstories rolling.
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