WORLD-BUILDING: RESEARCH is your Best Friend

The Great Kanto Earthquake 
September 1, 1923 -- Taisho Era

WORLD BUILDING

RESEARCH is your Best Friend

 

----- Original Message -----

"...for bigger fictions (maybe 10-20 chapters, or more,) ... how much do you plan out? Since you are an actual Author I was just wondering how you would fair on this idea?" 

  -- Curious Kitty

How much do I plan out for one of my novels?
I detail everything. Seriously.

I start with a basic 4 Act plot formula 

• Act One: The Hero rises to prominence.
• Act Two: The Hero has a major Flaw -- that he tries to hide. 
• Act Three: Because of his Flaw, the Hero does something not-heroic, and falls. 
• Act Four: The Hero overcomes his Flaw to Rise Again! 

 

 

then Add Genre specific events.  

 

• Romance needs romantic encounters and extra doses of pining. 
• Adventures need lots of fight scenes. 
• Gothics need angst and suffering. 
• Horror needs room for monster attacks. 
• Sci-Fi's and Fantasies need moments of wonder.

This gives me a rough plot outline to work from.

 

I then outline each of the  

Three Main Characters: 

Hero - Ally - Villain.

1: Who am I and what is my place in my society? 

2. What do I Want most?

3. What's the Worst thing that could happen to me? 

 

I need all three main characters to have these questions answered to make sure that they are psychologically in sync with the Plot and Each Other, so their actions/reactions will mesh in the way I intend. Ahem... That their personalities will clash nicely.

If I'm doing a Historical, I also look up the 4 years they were 15, 16, 17, and 18 -- the high school years, to check out what major News events were happening at the time, plus the books, songs, plays, movies, and TV shows that were popular. 

 

Believe it or not, the Music, News, and Stories which includes: books, plays, movies, and lately: video games, that were seen and heard during one's High School years tend to influence the foundational Characteristics and Values of most people's personalities.

Think I'm kidding? 

 

Look up your own high school years and check out what News Events, Books, Music, TV shows, Games, and Movies were out during that time. How did they affect the way You think about People, Places, Relationships, Employment, War, Politics, etc? 

Now consider how much they STILL influence your opinions today? 

 

If you're still in school, check out the News Events, Books, Music, TV shows, and Movies came out during your Mom's or your Dad's high school years. The results will be shocking!

 

Once I get my Three Main Characters down...

 

 

I sketch out the  

major Support Characters.

 

I don't go into detail on them. Just names, jobs, physical descriptions, and what I've based their personality on; Scorpio and an INTJ? or who; Riddick under a new name... 

Why not detail the Support characters?

 

I don't want to get attached to a character that ISN'T who the story is about. If I get too attached to a support character, that character could very easily take over the whole damned story. 

 

 

I Research the LOCATIONS I intend to use.

 

Location Research is especially important if I'm writing a Historical piece. I begin by researching the NEWS local to that area. 

• Did riots break out the summer my story happens? 
• Was there a killing snowstorm that winter? 
• Droughts? 
• Floods? 
• Fires?
• Quakes...? 
• A major WAR?  

Weather and social conditions are vitally important because these conditions will make or break all the plot points caused by Setting.

In other words, if one location won't work; "Oops, on that day, there's a riot on that street." I'll have to thrash out either a way around it, or find a whole new location -- or a whole new Time Period. 

 

 

 

Case in point: 

I seriously considered writing a story set in

 the Taisho Era (1912-1926).

 

 

During this era in Japan, Period Drama movies were all the rage. However, Taisho era cinema predates the use of sound in Japanese films. These films were presented with live music, and live narrators called benshi, who explained the on-screen action, and were often influenced by traditional Japanese theater like Kabuki and Bunraku. 

 

In-home radios were becoming commonplace which played local and national news, traditional Japanese music, and western classical music. Classical music gained so much popularity among the newly rich industrialists, that it became common to bring in tutors to teach their school age children to play classical instruments such as piano and violin. 

Then I discovered that Japan was in and out of War with Russia and China that whole period because of World War One, known as The Great War at the time, plus a few other less than savory--and still hotly debated--invasions of Korea. 

 

Then there was the 1923 Kanto Earthquake that came with hundreds of massive city-wide fires. 

 

Add to all that, the violently contested Political environment of the slowly dying traditional noble families verses the quickly multiplying newly rich Industrialists, plus a Justice system that was NOT Just. If you had money you were innocent. If you didn't...you weren't. 

 

Don't even get me started on all the weird religious shit that was going down with the tearing down of all the torii gates and shutting down the shrines because of the enforced national worship of the Emperor and his family. 

 

This gets really weird in school settings because the Imperial Rescript on Education, and the emperor's portrait had to be locked in a special vault called the 

Ho-an-den (奉安殿) after school hours. 

 

In short, it was waaaaaaaaay, too much work to thread my little story in the middle of that hot mess. 

Now then, back to Locations! 

If I'm using  

a completely fabricated world or country:

 

I suss out the political system and history for that country or set of countries for that last 200 years--or more. 

 

Then there's the time system: how many hours in a day, days in a week, a month... (Is there a moon on this planet--or two?) How long is a year? 

 

Education system, medical system, money system, invention or magic system, what occupations are available...etc.

If I'm doing a

Sci-Fi or Steam Punk:

 

Invention and Science research is paramount in writing a Steampunk or Sci-Fi, but it never hurts to know what inventions actually existed during any time period you're writing in, no matter the genre. 

 

Current experimental sciences, such as Robotics, and what current science says is possible can give you fantastic jumping off points. I normally find major inspiration during these research sessions.

If I'm doing a  

Paranormal or Fantasy story:  

 

Since I've got quite a home library on Mythology, Magic, and the Paranormal, this is just a matter of pulling a book from a shelf. 

 

After all that is done, I take one last look at my plot outline then set it aside and begin to write.

I believe in a Total Immersion style of writing. In other words, I want to know the world so well I can simply step into the mind and skin of my main character and LIVE the story. 

In the course of writing,

most things work with my plan,

but some things won't.

 

Some locations won't offer quite the right atmosphere I intended for a scene. Sometimes a whole new character will step onstage and become the Ally to the main character or the Villain INSTEAD of the one I mapped out. 

Nothing is ever perfect. 

When things don't go the way I planned for, I take a few moments to extrapolate how such changes will affect the story. If the ending doesn't change--or a better one suddenly crops up, I go with it. 

 

I DON'T stick that hard to the plot outline. I change as needed to make the STORY better--not my ego, or worse, my Character's ego.

~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan Hawke