Worldbuilding Wednesday: Prompt 1

Let worldbuilding help you get unstuck

We’re a little over a week into November, so, Nanoers — How’s it going?

I’m definitely far behind, but I have written every day, and I’m proud of myself for that. The goal here for me is not to leave November with a novel or even 50,000 words of one; it’s to get myself back in the flow of writing. And the only way to do that is to do it! So, every word is a victory.

Whether you’re trying to hit the par of 1667 a day or taking a looser approach, you may find yourself in need of a push now and then. So that’s what I hope these Worldbuilding Wednesday prompts will do!

When using these prompts, don’t worry too much about how what you write fits into your plot. That’s not important now. You might not use any of these words in what you eventually call a draft of your manuscript.

That’s okay, because a) the words count for Nano no matter what, and b) they may help you find something that you do need for the plot.

This is definitely part of my overall ethos of writing, though I know it’s not everyone’s style. My words wander while I find out what the story really is. It’s not always efficient, but it’s a lot of what I like about writing. As Terry Pratchett put it, I’m telling myself the story — and that means I can tell myself the parts that no one else will ever read.

One great way to let your worldbuilding help your drafting is to ask yourself a question about something in your world and write out what a character feels about it. (And then, if you still need some words to hit your daily goal, repeat the prompt with another character!)

So here’s one for this week:

There’s an important holiday coming up. Decide what it is and how your character participates (or doesn’t).

Holidays can reveal so much about a society and what they value. Is the day deeply spiritual or more secular? Is that division even meaningful in the world you’ve built? Is your character fully into it or annoyed by it? Does it involve solitary observations, or is it family- or community-oriented? Do people get time off? Is there gift-giving? Are there special foods involved? Figuring out what the holiday is and how your character relates to it can take you down some super-interesting paths.

In the Aven Cycle, I have the advantage of being able to borrow ancient Roman holidays: major events take place during Saturnalia, the Lemuria, and other observances. I did invent one, though, to show the integration of magic into religion. The Cantrinalia takes place in October and is a rite where the mages of Aven give thanks for blessings and rededicate themselves. It’s one of my favorite scenes in From Unseen Fire — but in the first draft, it was much too long and didn’t do anything to move the plot along! That was okay, though. I enjoyed writing it, and later on, I trimmed it down to the essentials and found a way for the scene to be an important moment in my main character’s development.