I haven't been in a mental state to post. Yesterday I was mentally... I don't know what, but something was wrong and it was frustrating. And today I'm just plain out of it from sleep deprivation. I probably won't have any time to post until late Friday night, just so you all know.
But hopefully by then I'll be a little more awake.
Every writer does varying levels of worldbuilding. Fantasy and Science Fiction writers especially. Currently, I'm struggling with my own worldbuilding, so I've decided to post a series of blog posts about, well, worldbuilding.
Why? Because I really don't have much else to talk about right now. I will, eventually, post a series of links to some wonderful worldbuilding sites that I've seen-and there are quite a few of them-but for now, I'll describe the three basic levels of worldbuilding that I myself do. Each one is meant to be alone, but each is just the one before it with additions.
1-A map with some locations and a few ideas about those locations. I did this for East Wind Road, because with the spontaneous insanity feel of the story, details and map after map would just bog the story down. For me. With a story like this I need a lot of wiggle room to create any random stuff I like as I go along. But a map is necessary so I have some clue of how many times I can actually legitimately have her say 'I've been here before'.
This is ideal for stories with a lot of spontaneity and a lot of oddities. Things that are so out there as to be almost unbelievable. Why? Because of the wiggle room. It's beautiful.
2-A map with locations, ideas, and cultures. I use this for a lot of Nanowrimo projects because I started planning um... two days early... or halfway through the month, depending. I don't have time to go into too much detail, but I need to have some idea of what the world looks like and the people. Sometimes the culture is even just implied with the character sketches, but not always. It varies.
I use these when I NEED more background, but don't have the time to invent everything before I start writing. I did this for Moonshadow's Guardian. And in Moonshadow's Guardian, the history pretty much wrote itself, and more details, because of who Riana was. It might not happen that way in all the stories, and you'll have to fill in later. But it seems to always work out one way for me.
3-A map with locations, ideas, cultures, and history/mythology. This is for when I have plenty of time to plan in advance-and need a world. I do enjoy writing this. Normally this excludes minor details-those are done in the story or the aftermath. But worlds are fun to build, and I use it for stories where I need a sturdy background and have time to make a really well detailed one. I haven't done much of this in the last year or two, but I'm doing it right now for two of my Nanowrimo novels.
The history isn't really coming to me, but the maps have been good so far and the basic ideas for the cultures seem pretty well done. I have all the proper prejudices in place that I need for my stories to work. I haven't done the Vampire culture or the Werewolf culture yet, but those are somewhat-integrated with human culture and I have a fair idea of them. I just haven't written it down.
Worldbuilding can be fun. In the next few posts, I'll show some example notes and review some really useful sites, articles, workshops, and the like.
Yesterday was Daddy's birthday. I didn't have the motivation to do much of anything, but I went out and had dinner in his honour. Today I will follow up with a tradition I have tried to uphold; it's been an on and off thing.
I try to write Daddy letters as often as I can, or as often as I think about it. Today I will post one on my blog-and challenge you to write a letter of your own. It can be to anyone-an ex, a loved one, a friend, a former friend, anyone-you can send it or not, as you so choose. Or as the person it is meant for so dictates by their status of livelihood.
Here is mine.
Dear Daddy,
Happy birthday! I wish that I could be with you right now, but it is not to be just yet, I suppose; I will see you again someday, I promise. A lot of crap has happened, but I'm sure you've been watching. Because it's been hard to miss.
I guess then you'll have come to understand my mental state right now. To tell you the truth, Daddy, I am on the fringe of despair. I'm just on the OK side of the line. I'm standing with one foot on the line and one just inside that 'all right' range.
Anything, any slightest thing, can set me off. It wouldn't take much to send me spiralling back into depression and despair. I've gotten used to that. This is the best I've been in over a month, but I'm here right now, so I'm okay.
For two weeks I sat in my crappy apartment. I spent half of my time daydreaming, or sleeping, to try and escape it. I don't want to go back there, Daddy. The memories haunt me. Only by being away from that place can I even be okay. So long as I am there, I am in so much pain.
I kept imagining the phone ringing at three in the morning, like it had so many times back then, when I was happy. When I was OK. Before all this. I'd imagine that he was calling me again, to say he was sorry. To try to make up for all of it; to say that he still wanted me. But clearly, it's too late. The monster destroyed it all.
Here I am safe, I am free from the memories. Some of them are there, but they aren't as concrete, as real or as numerous. I remember all the times I was on the phone here-but here I can at least live with it. Here the one most haunting memory isn't.
I cannot be haunted by the end of everything here. The end of what might even be my life, because it eats me up from the inside out. It isn't here, it wasn't here, it has not touched this place. This place is pure and unharmed. For that I am grateful. It is my safehaven in a world where everything has crashed down around me.
Who knew it would be so easy to lose myself? Who knew it would be so easy to lose everything and everyone I cared for?
I've lost it, Daddy. All of it. There is no longer any light in the dark. But as long as I'm here, I can stand that. Because the darkness is just empty darkness. Not a darkness filled with cold, despairing memories.
I miss you.
~Dianna
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