World Building

As stated in my first post, I love paranormal's (both romances and urban fantasies) in an unnatural way.  They give me that taste I need for another place and time historical's once provided me, which is why I strive to write them myself.  I want to be able to transport you, the reader, to a place totally at odds with what you've been taught to believe.  I want you to believe in the unbelievable and for one minute, revert to childhood where anything was possible - even if my transportations take you to darker, more dangerous places, I want you to believe in what I "know".

But this is easier said than done.  I troll many sites, am a frequent visitor to blogs and boards, and recently, this problem plopped onto the screen by a fellow aspiring PR (paranormal romance) author.  She said:  "I've heard so many horror stories...about the amount of world building publishers prefer and how hard it is...that it gives me pause" (Go to:Discussion)

Now, this makes me think of my rejected piece.  Had I built my world thoroughly?  Had I thoroughly explained the rules for my supernatural beings? Did I mention the consequences for breaking rules early enough?

In my mind, I had, but as one of my readers pointed out, the details were slow to reveal themselves and she was distracted by the need to know.  I thought I was doing a good job of drawing these things out, of "revealing" as I went, but perhaps not.  I might have built up the anticipation in my mind because I knew what was coming and expected the reader to do the same without the same knowledge.

My bad!

What did this teach me?  Don't take fantasy for granted.  There's more leeway with conventional rules of our existence when building another "world", but  like all things, we want to know them early on.  Not in a big chunk, still a bit at a time, but maybe not as spaced out as I had done.  I'm definitely going to keep this in mind as I go through edits and rewrites.

Points of world building:

1. Identify rules for why things are and how they operate and make sure you adhere to them (making notes is a big YES in this case)
   
2. Even though many conventional thoughts can be set aside, keeping "real world" elements will definitely help your reader buy into what you're trying to sell (ex: cell phones are so prevalent now - I can't step out of the house without mine - but if your world doesn't allow them, should probably explain why)
3. You must believe in every aspect of your "world" in order to portray the elements honestly and concisely.  Trust me, it'll reflect in your words.

Happy writing!

~Hetal