Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

Language is a touchy subject for a lot of writers. When creating a world it’s easy to get lost in the cadence and flow of your words. Likewise, it’s easy to be pulled by the siren song of making your world unique. So unique, in fact, that you start using or making up foreign words. Especially if you are writing in the genres of science fiction or fantasy where there may be characters who are not human.

However, very few writers can actually pull off using made up words, or phrases in another language. The proper way to do it is to reveal the English equivalent immediately after the foreign word or phrase:

“It’s the Diablo Furca,” he explained, “the Devil’s Fork.”

Providing the English translation allows your reader to understand what’s being said without an interruption in their reading flow.

That being said, if there is a concept or item that has no English equivalent, it’s ok and expected almost that you would create a word or phrase to convey the meaning to your readers. However, you need to explain the meaning, not just use the phrase and expect your reader to know what it means or get the gist of what you’re trying to get across.

It also bears mentioning that if you use a foreign language that is a real language, make sure to use it correctly and accurately so you do not alienate your readers who speak and read that language. even worse than confusing your readers with words they don’t know is using their native language wrong or unknowingly insulting their culture.

Another important thing to remember in regards to language is to use names and words that can easily be pronounced by the average English speaker, If you use words made up of a strange combination of letters and punctuation (i.e. Lotz’zun, P’orgen’to, DeS’alvzentch, etc.) you will cause the reader to take a step back and remember they are reading words on a page, not witnessing a story unfold before them. It is jarring and disruptive to the reader and their experience with your work.

All this leaves the discussion of jargon and dialect. Some writers make up or use existing location or cultural slang dialect or phrases in their writing. Few authors can really pull this off without sounding trite or insulting or both. If you’re not really good at writing dialect or jargon and think it would really add to your story, read some books that do dialect well such as Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange. You can also study some techniques for using dialect and good dialogue in books like James Scott Bell’s How to Write Dazzling Dialogue. If you’re ever in doubt whether you should use jargon or dialect in your work, you probably shouldn’t.

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A Clockwork Orange

How to Write Dazzling Dialogue

~ Eileen

Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

When a writer sits down to write, he might begin by making up a character. This character will have a name, a job, a physical description, probably a hobby or two, and some friends. This is a two dimensional, superficial character. There is not a lot of depth.

To truly connect with a character, the reader needs to understand the whys of who they are. Does your character live where they live because they grew up there? Because they took a job there? Do they love the town? Hate it? If they hate it, why do they stay?

If your characters are not human, what do they look like, what drives them, what do they most desire? Why are their eyes big? Is their planet dark? Why? Answer all the why questions your readers might as as they read your work. Randomly joined actions never come across as they would if they were well thought out; because they aren’t.

A character’s history builds who they are. readers connect with their past tragedies or current joys. There is no real connection built with blond hair and green eyes. It’s the character’s whys that create a bond between your story and your reader. It adds the depth needed to make your character three dimensional, real.

To be clear, a character’s history is not always revealed in a story. Sometimes pieces are leaked out as they become important to the story or to set the story up for something that happens later on. Knowing your character’s history makes you better able to represent them in the story.

For example, say your characters are heading to a basement because a tornado is coming. One of your characters, Stacey, is reluctant to enter the basement and has to be drug inside to avoid harm. She continues to become more and more agitated the longer she is in the basement.

Your reader, should they notice Stacey’s behavior, will be drawn in and begin to wonder why she is acting the way she is. As the writer, you know that her babysitter used to lock her in the basement for hours at a time when she was little. you may never reveal this information in the story, but you KNOW it. You know Stacey’s terror of being in the basement is very real and so you are able to write the scene in a very believable and relevant way.

Whatever it is your characters are afraid of, you know why. Knowing the WHYs will allow you to tap into your characters and write them with an authenticity you would not otherwise have. To give your characters enough depth to be three dimensional, you must answer their whys for yourself.

I love writing short back stories for my characters. Even if I never use them. It allows me to feel like I know them really well. More importantly, knowing the character so well helps me write them in a way that is true and authentic to who they are as an individual.

Do you write back stories for your characters? What’s your method for creating a history for your characters and places? Let me know in the comments below!

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The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

~ Eileen

Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

Today’s post is on making rules for your world. Now, when I say your world must have rules, I don’t mean ‘No pushing on the stairs.’ or ‘No picking your nose where others can see you.’ (Although a story in a world with those rules could get interesting!). I mean rules about how the world your characters will move around in operates.

Photo by: svklimkin

A world needs rules and laws of nature to become three dimensional. For example, if you were writing a story that takes place on another planet than Earth, the reader would need to know what sort of world the story takes place in. Is there gravity? Oxygen? Can inhabitants grow a garden? Eat the wildlife? Is there a water source? Are there planet natives? If so, how do your characters interact with the natives?

In order to become immersed in the story, your readers need to know what they’re dealing with. The reader needs to understand this unknown environment. They need to know what can and can’t happen, what they can expect. The reader won’t know about the world you created until you open it up for them and tell them what they need to know.

You may wonder why you have to figure out all this information before you even begin to write your stories. The answer is consistency. You need to define the boundaries and make sure your characters stay within those boundaries or explain to the reader why the rules don’t apply to that particular character.

In addition to consistency, making your world rules clear and documented from the beginning will help ensure you don’t get confused later on and create conflicts in your stories. Your readers will call you out on it, I can guarantee it!

If you’re writing science fiction, you may want to establish rules around space travel, for example. This might include things such as what happens if you fly into a black hole, what are the effects on someone traveling at light speed, what kind of fuel do the space ships use, and how does cryo-travel work?

The purpose of rules is not to write them all out in your stories and bore your reader half to death. The purpose is so you, the writer, have the world and how it works clear in your head so your characters don’t violate any of the rules of the world on their adventures.

If you’re writing a book that includes time travel, you’ll want those rules laid out. Time travel can get pretty sticky!

Some other rules you might consider, depending on your story’s genre are Magic Rules. Remember that each rule should have consequences. There is always a price for using magic or traveling through space and time. What makes the cost of these activities worth the risk of the consequences? That is where your character’s goals come in. His desire to accomplish his goals make the risk acceptable to him.

What are your thoughts? What rules will you create for your world? Let me know in the comments below!

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Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction

Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding

~ Eileen

Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

There is really no ‘right’ way to come up with story ideas and concepts. Sometimes a story idea will come to you when you’re reading something. As long as you’re not copying the work of another writer, it’s perfectly ok to get inspiration and ideas from the works of others. Other times, you could have an idea just come to you from out of the blue while you’re doing something completely unrelated to reading or writing!

Picture By: Domas

For example, my Chosen series all stemmed from a prompted short story I wrote over a decade ago that I never did anything with. In the short story, the main character, Marcellus, was involved in a trial of some kind and he was hiding in some bushes that had thorns. Marcellus was dripping blood on the ground and that’s how he was discovered by the Master conducting the trial.

That story struck me and it stewed in the back of my mind for years. That scene, where Marcellus hid behind the thorny bushes, trying to control his breathing, his heart pounding, it was one that stayed with me until I knew it would be a book. In book one of the Chosen series, Time Chosen, Marcellus does go through a trial and hide behind a thorny bush.

My Chosen series has been the work of many years. I have planned and outlined, written and edited, draw maps, done character creation exercises and so much more to make a world. As I worked through these exercises, a world emerged. One where I could write more than one book. A series was born in my mind. As I worked on that series, another region of my world emerged and suddenly I had two book series planned. These ideas expanded until I had 8 series planned of 5 books each and a slew of short stories planned.

All of this came from one scene in a short story I wrote over a decade ago!

Story ideas are everywhere. I carry a notebook and pen everywhere I go. I jot down things that seem terrible or things full of beauty. Conversations and people, scenes and places; all of these could find their way into my notebook and maybe even into a story a month from now, or years from now.

The good news is ideas for stories are all around you. People watching can give you some great material for creating a character, for fleshing out a character, or even creating a character sketch. Why is that woman alone? Is she waiting for someone? Who could she be waiting for? Why is she wearing a red flower in her hair? Is she meeting a blind date? Maybe she’s a spy! What mission is she on? Start asking questions about everything you see and soon a story will appear where there wasn’t one before.

Look back at some old stories or poems you may have written. Seek out pieces that are intriguing or especially good and ask yourself if you can expand it to make a longer piece, a novella or even a novel. Ask questions about the piece to help you expand it. Use writing prompts to get your ideas flowing. There are some affiliate links to writing prompt books that I like below.

Do you have a good source of ideas? Let me know in the comments below!

Here’s an affiliate link that helps me keep this page going, thanks for your support:

The Writer’s Lab: A Place to Experiment with Fiction

The Daily Writer (free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription)

Happy Writing!

~ Eileen

Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

Let’s talk about organizing our world information. I use binders, but you can use whatever method speaks to your creative side.

I have a binder with dividers where I keep all the information about my world. I call it my Chosen Bible (my series is called The Chosen). I have tabbed dividers inside. One tab is for maps and geography information. I have a glossery for non-English termas and their meaning. I have a tab for character sketches and basic information about them. Another tab contains story outlines. This Bible binder is one I go to again and again to write in new information or reference something for a story or book. If I’m going to be writing away from my home office, I can grab my Bible and head out.

Photo by: Ladyheart

I have another binder for book outlines and story arcs. Another binder is for characters. Each book, as it’s finished, gets printed and put into its own binder for editing and beta reading. I have other binders for other topics as well. The point is, I have a system to organize my information. You should have some sort of system to organize your series and/or book information as well as information about your world(s).

You may think this is starting to sound like a lot of work. Guess what? It IS a lot of work! But anything worth doing is worth doing right. If you’re serious about creating a world and writing books and stories and making a career out of this world, then it will pay off in the long run to do it correctly from the very beginning so there are not ugly surprises later when you call someone a wrong name in your work or reference a city that is nowhere near where the action is happening. Keeping things organized will keep you out of trouble with your writing.

I recommend three ring binders for your world and series organization efforts. If you buy them at a bulk store, they are very affordable. You can put dividers int hem to break up the contents into sections. You can also remove and add pages wherever you want. Binders are wonderful, magical organizational tools.

When creating your world, you will always want to leave room for expansion. A misty edge where no one has gone before but legends say there are horrible monsters beyond your wildest imagination past the mists. Leave a body of water where what’s beyond the water is unknown. Binders allow you to put in new pages, and keep things neat and easy to find later when you need to reference them.

If you already have some stories or books written, when building your world you will want to put in all the places that have action planned in your works. The other part is to put in some towns and places that don’t have any action yet. So you can build more action in later if you want or need to. Sketch out maps to help you stay oriented and know the correlation between one location and another. Sketch street scenes if you like to draw, or find pictures online that represent what you think the city or town might look like. Print those out and put them with your location information. It’s nice to have a visual when you are writing about a place.

Plan ahead. When I started my Chosen series, I knew I would have eight realms with five books in each realm. I also knew which minor characters would get their own short stories. I planned it out to create interest in the Chosen books and to have an endless supply of writing ideas.

Think about how you want to organize your world and series information. Get your binders, notebooks, file folders, or stacks ready and join me next week when we will talk about how to get an idea for a world.

Here’s an affiliate link that helps me keep this page going, thanks for your support:

Three ring binders – set of 4 on Amazon

Happy Writing!

~ Eileen

Hello Writers!

Happy Sunday to you!

Today I want to talk about my project a little bit. I’m building a world. I am a god! 🙂 Just kidding. Seriously though, how do you create a whole world? It’s a little overwhelming if you stop and think about it.

There are realms and regions, maps, rules, lore, and so much more! (Hey, that rhymed! Totally unintentional. But I digress.)

Picture by: lauramusikanski

Some of you may know that I’ve been working on a series of books for a few years now. While I’m writing the stories, questions come up about all sorts of things like, what religion do these characters believe in? Are they human? Do they believe in some sort of afterlife? What happens if the species interbreed? So many things to decide for these characters I’ve created. Not answering these questions leaves my characters and my world two dimensional; lacking depth.

As a love of Sci-Fi and Fantasy myself, I know what it’s like to read something that contradicts itself or goes against its own rules. As a reader, you feel cheated. For me, it’s like the writer thinks I’m dumb and I won’t catch the error.

In reality, the writer probably forgot their own rules or didn’t remember the character had green hair instead of blue a few chapters back. It’s simply overlooked. I’m sure writers who make these errors would be mortified to find those mistakes in their own writing.

I’m a pretty good Internet researcher, but I had trouble finding information on creating worlds. So, I’m going to take you on this creation journey with me in the hopes that my discoveries are helpful to you. Along the way, if you have questions or suggestions, please speak up. I love to collaborate instead of just talking to myself all the time! 🙂

By the way, I will post affiliate links from time to time. It earns me a little cash and allows you to find some cool products.

So, how is a diligent writer supposed to keep everything straight with their world and characters without tripping all over themselves or making a mess of the whole effort?

One word. Organization.

Stay tuned! Next week, we delve into organizing our world information and materials.

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Orson Scott Card’s Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction

Happy Writing!

~ Eileen