Writing Update + Crafting Imaginary Worlds

Writing Update

The story I’m working on has been knocking around in my brain for a couple of years and the feeling that I should be father along is strong. I keep reminding myself of the conversation where an agent I admire told me that making something special takes time. For the moment, I’m leaning into the excitement of discovery and fun of finding my way through this story.

The vibes were clear to me from the very beginning. I wrote an opening scene, workshopped it at a writing retreat, and promptly ran into a brick wall. Even after tackling the story from different angles, I’m still trying to find the piece that will get my drafting brain going.

In the meantime, I’m working on a universal timeline and map of my story’s world. It’s a speculative thriller in a historical setting, so I’m working with real places and imagined characters. The situations are fictional, but they will intersect with some historical events. You should see my notebook!

There’s some personal news that I’m excited about, too. We got a new pup! She’s a red Dobermann named Freya, and she’s brought a lot of fun to our household. I’m hoping to find some agility or nose-work classes for her.

As far as streamlining my life, I’m working toward wrapping up all my social media commitments by the summer and rerouting the time and energy I was using there to real-life activities. This may be considered a career misstep, but it’s important to me to build a life that is fulfilling and that allows me to be present.

+ Crafting Imaginary Worlds

Worldbuilding is a concept that applies to both literature and film. I tend to think of it as an important part of science fiction and fantasy stories, ones that take place outside of the world that is familiar to me. But writing my own stories disabused me of that notion.

It turns out that no matter the setting, the audience needs to be introduced to the precise world they’re entering. The movies Tea with Mussolini and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel both feature British ex-patriots, but the difference in setting changes the tone of the film. One is set around WWII Italy while the other is set in a modern-day India.

But even familiar settings require introduction. Are we entering a hospital or school where there are clear hierarchies? Will we be spending time in an exclusive apartment building where the neighbors share history and hold secrets? Either way, we need to understand the workings of the world if we are to fully grasp the workings of the story.

The tricky part of writing a setting is that you have to quickly orient the audience without boring or confusing them. Most of the time that means you have to weave information about the world into the unfolding story. A balance must be struck between describing the world, explaining its rules, and moving the story forward. And the audience’s taste for exposition changes over time.

Classic novels like Lord of the Rings or Frankenstein use exposition in order to explain the world. By contrast, modern fantasy works, for example Faebound by Saara El-Arifi or The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, try to sneak relevant information into the action.

As a writer of speculative fiction set in our historical world, I am always looking for books and movies that do a good job of weaving worlds that add atmosphere and layers of meaning. Do you have a favorite fictional world? Tell me in the comments!