I’m not as precise or as disciplined about creating character hinterlands as this article suggests, but it’s pretty close to my process.
Of course, this is only fashionable to admit if one becomes a success at it, I suspect. Otherwise, we are told ‘Don’t write so much backstory’, ‘You’ll never finish the actual story, will you?’, and ‘How long have you been writing this?’
That plot generator might be just what I need to jumpstart my next series. Mind Node looks cool too! I have the Emotional Thesaurus and found it really helpful.
People who endlessly play with these kind of worldbuilding tools annoy me. They aren’t writing. They’re in an extended mental masturbation session.
I mean, you’ve got an epic you’ve been working on for years, but have also managed to write other books.
BTW, I’m gonna kidnap that new cover artist from NineStar and make her do all my covers from now on! To make her imprisonment bearable, she will have the finest wine and all the scantily clad eye candy she could ever want.
I had to part ways with a good friend years ago, because we were in a self-reinforcing feedback loop on worldbuilding, where settings and backgrounds kept happening, but no actual stories. So yeah, been there. I cheated afterward, because my ‘epic’ is really a very large, loosely connected story arc over many generations of characters, in different historical periods. I build enough of the setting, then start to work on the characters.
It’s for that reason that standalones both thrill and unnerve me. My pattern-matching little primate brain wants to Fill All The Backstory, when I may not need to.
Yes, she is an amazing artist, isn’t she?
I’m sorry you lost your friend. It’s so hard to find another writer that’s compatible. It’s like finding another couple to hang out with when you get married. You go out a few times with each other and realize when you met them they were drunk and interesting with lots of stories, but sober they are boring and basic.
Eh, I knew them for 3 years, and it’s been 7 times that long. The split was better for both of us, I think. Still don’t know if that person ever published a thing. Hope so.
I suppose this is why I finished a chronological outline of events for three generations of my family of werecats from the present day back to the height of the Cold War (all 100+ *pages* of it) before I wrote the opening line of my book! But I’m an engineer and can’t help myself. We design for months if not years before construction begins–we know what the final product will look like before even one shovel turns dirt. I’m a plotter and doubt I could have ever finished my book being a pantser. But finish I did, and shopping it around now. Working now on book 2…even knowing what the beginning, middle and end will look like it’s filling in all that stuff in between which keeps the journey exciting (and hopefully captivating for Yon Maddlesome Reader.)
And I eminently agree with you both about those who spend so much time worldbuilding they don’t do any *writing*. Because but for writing something someone can read someday, then what’s the point? Unless maybe it’s therapeutic or something. I would find it maddening. My MC has been trying to claw her way out of my head like a rabid wolverine since before I even gave her a name. Sure I need to research and develop my craft, but those are to support my writing–not a substitute for same.
MJE