Examining World Building

As the author, you know what your world looks like where you have placed your characters. You know what the buildings look like and you know what the food tastes like. As an author, it is your obligation to the reader to make sure they are with you on this journey. With that said, you have to remember that you do indeed know everything about your world, but the reader really doesn't need to know EVERYTHING all at one point.

I know this might sound a bit confusing, but too often, writers simply slow the entire pace of the novel by inserting blocks of world building and material that is probably not necessary at that moment. It can be a tricky thing.

Let me explain.

I am currently working with an author on a new paranormal. The story is fantastic, but it does involved a ton of world building. This is a unique setting with unique characters. A couple of days ago, as I was working on the edits, it hit me that the story seemed like it had gone on forever. No, it wasn't a bad read and no, I wasn't board. It simply felt like I had been reading a long time. When I checked how far I had read, the iPad told me I was roughly 30% into it. Wow! Why did I feel like I had been reading for much longer? We had a ton of world building.

Again, let me remind you that I didn't mind this with her story. It read great. But the pace of the story was too slow for the plot that required much more action and urgency. Because of who the target audience is for this project, we have to do some serious cuts. As we talked about the situation, we knew exactly where the cuts had to be. It was the world building.

Now, instead of simply hacking all of the material, we cut it back to a "need to know" basis. If, at that particular time, the additional material wasn't necessary to the plot (the abilities of the characters, the language they had been speaking, the stories they had been telling) we cut the material.

This problem is not something that just deals with paranormals or the other supernatural stories. It works with historicals and contemporaries too. I have seen a lot of writers have the characters sit down for a meal. The plot requires a great conversation, and yet the author felt the need to include every element of the meal and talk about every bite the characters ate. As our teens tell us with Texting, "TMI".

As I said at the beginning, this is a tough challenge for writers. In your head, to get the story going and moving, you personally needed all of that information. You had to see the world in a 3-dimensional fashion. But your readers don't.

Think about Tolkien and his world building. THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS has a ton of world building and mythology. But for the reader, it isn't all necessary. The reader has just enough to maintain the plot.

So, if you feel as if your story is plodding along, you might want to consider looking at the world building. Do you really need it all?

Inspirational Romance

This is a repeat from an earlier blog post.

We're talking inspirational romance today. This is really a tough genre to write for but really one that is in hot demand if it is done well. Writers can be extremely successful with inspirational stories if they know what they are doing. Too often, when I see inspirationals come across my desk (which up until recently were accidents) I see stories that are really forced and lack that "umph" necessary to really be competitive in this market. Let me explain.

As I point out in the title of this post, writing inspirationals involves much more than simply having the characters pray about everything, remind themselves what they are doing by throwing scripture out every now and then, and eliminating the sex. Writing inspirationals really goes back to the same things I keep screaming about time and time again - what is the theme and thesis of your story?

When we look at the basic elements of this genre, we are looking at how one or more of the characters are transformed over time through inspiration and religion. Because it is also a romance, along the way, we are watching the growing attraction and emotion occuring between the charcters. All of the plot and character development through the story is guided by a single theme or idea that you want the reader to walk away with.

If, for example, you wanted to build a story around John 4:48 "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe," you might set up the story where the heroine, involved in say an underprivledged education program has to bring the corporate hero down to her level just to see where the money is going to. Basic, straightforward but a theme that can guide the entire story.

Now, does this mean that the characters can't quote scripture or pray? Absolutely not, but this is not the only thing they should be doing. What we should be seeing in the story is very similar to the ideas that the Apostle Paul talks about with his idea of "justification by faith." The thing that comes first is the faith and then the actions follow, not the reverse.

I am currently reading Carla Capshaw's The Protector and I believe this does a great job with showing how the inspriational message is really guiding the characters. Why does it works so well here? It is set in ancient Rome so the characters are really lacking the ability to run around and quote Bible passages. It is strictly the faith issues that are guiding the characters.

The key to all of this is to be subtle. Use the Scripture and use the message as the theme to build the story around. It takes talent but you have to trust yourself to do it. Don't force the story.

Scott