World Building
I did a brainstorm with a writing friend the other day, and one of the things I keep circling around is how un-built out this world is. For my last two books I was able to base some elements of the world on historical periods, which feels like a cheat code, especially if you don’t feel super confident in your world building abilities. But what I’ve found when making a world like that is that it has to be there (for me) from draft one.Â
My last MS was viking inspired and I knew it from the start. And the MS before that was based on early 1900s Austria/germany. I’ve also done another Austrian world (Vienna in the age of Mozart). But for this book I didn’t center any time period, so it just feels ~spooky~. Which means I need to graft details and build the world after I’ve created the story. Normally I like for them to flow together, building story and world at the same time, along with the characters.
Obviously there is a world in this book, but it doesn’t feel real yet. So I’m reading and researching and thinking about what it should be. Because I want it to feel deep and lived in. I was so excited to write this book I just kind of dug in. Also I think I’ve learned my lesson, and I’m back to having an idea of the world building before I write out the first word.














