World Building and Plot

Confession: I'm always the first to show up at parties.

Reading:

• Someplace to be Flying, by Charles de Lint

Listening:

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

Writing:

• "Ferian Fetlock Cures a Horse"

Revising:

• "Cora and the Sea"

As soon as I finish "Ferian Fetlock," I'm going to go back to Dairhenien's Library for a while. The status at the top of my posts won't say "Writing," since I won't be writing. It will say "Developing." I'm still in the world building and plotting phase.

I go back and forth between these two activities when working on this novel/series. The world building is the fantasy equivalent of research, and it is both easier and more difficult in its way. Whenever I want to figure out what the culture of given place is like, I make it up. What could be simpler? But the tough part is making sure that the details I create are internally consistent with the world I've created... and I have to be certain that any unusual details can be communicated through the story without needless exposition. If a world concept distracts from the story, it has to go. All must serve the story.

When I get tired of world building, I work on plot. I have a general arc for the series, and pretty decent idea of the first book, but there's no depth. I usually work on plot until I get stuck, then do some world building to move forward until I get bored, then go back to plot.

By the way, you can see from the status header of my post that I'm now listening to the audiobook version of Harry Potter book 7. Honestly, I listened through book 6 just recently too, but didn't think to mention it. I'll make sure that status is included from now on, since listening to an audiobook is as legitimate a way of experiencing a story as reading.

As long as they're unabridged.