Day 2: Logic in fantasy
It's day two of Nano, and I'm tripping over the fact this shiny has no prewriting work. World building is one of my favorite parts of writing, and I like to know (at the very least) the basic rules before I release my characters into a brand new story. Not this time. I'm writing blind. It is a fun in an experimental type of way, but writing blind also means my main character has to spend time figuring out what I, as the writer, should already know (which means the words won't last the second draft.)
Every new idea brings with it a mass of new and interesting questions. Want teenage vampires who are going to grow up to be adult vampires and not stuck at sixteen forever? How does that work? How can an unageing/immortal being age? If a character can walk through a shadow and end up in another shadow, what happens if light is brought to the shadow while he steps through? What type of portal is a shadow? Logic has to come into the answers of world building questions and "Because it's magic" or worse, "Because I'm the writer and I say so" doesn't work for me. The great thing is, while figuring out answers to strange twisty questions, the world not only gets richer, but the possibilities of what the character can encounter tends to get far more complex.
So, with that in mind, I have decided that since I've reached the word goal for the day, I will spend the rest of the evening world building. Here is my current word meter:
3771 / 50000 words. 8% done!
How is everyone's day two going? Any interesting world building questions spring up while writing today?
Every new idea brings with it a mass of new and interesting questions. Want teenage vampires who are going to grow up to be adult vampires and not stuck at sixteen forever? How does that work? How can an unageing/immortal being age? If a character can walk through a shadow and end up in another shadow, what happens if light is brought to the shadow while he steps through? What type of portal is a shadow? Logic has to come into the answers of world building questions and "Because it's magic" or worse, "Because I'm the writer and I say so" doesn't work for me. The great thing is, while figuring out answers to strange twisty questions, the world not only gets richer, but the possibilities of what the character can encounter tends to get far more complex.
So, with that in mind, I have decided that since I've reached the word goal for the day, I will spend the rest of the evening world building. Here is my current word meter:
How is everyone's day two going? Any interesting world building questions spring up while writing today?
Comments
Storywise, car crash went great, and I'm about to pour into the
psych evaluation and the supernatural reveal for my urban fantasy.
As for world buidling, did a lot beforehand for this one, but I always have to pull names out of nowhere for almost everyone.
I have a big problem. In the interest of speed on day one, I skipped over pretty much an entire scene in the beginning explaining why my MC felt the need to run away from home because I had a vague idea but I wasn't sure. I left a short note reminding myself to get back to it...and now I'm stuck needing to know exactly what happened then so today I need to go back and write it.
Heather
Word count looks great, Ginger. Eeks on the back tracking. Personally, I'd space down and write the scene exactly where you are now, pretending like the info is revealed in the write place and worry about blending it into the earlier scene later. I'd be too tempted to start editing if I tried to weave it into the correct place. But, that's just me. Good luck with getting it on paper!
I agree Simon. It always disappoints me when the world building has holes in it.
You can catch up Heather. Not worry. **cheers you on**
You do have plenty of cushion, Kailia. Good luck on plotting and character development, and congrats on the strike of inspiration. Don't you love those?