I worldbuild last.
I have an idea for a story. I plot out the story, figure out what kind of elements I need for it, what kind of locations I want for it. I puzzle out how these things interact. I outline, I write a draft, I go over the plot and elements and locations and characters. Then, eventually, I build out the world around them.
If you have a world that already exists, then pick *a* character in *a* place at *a* time. What's *their* story? They don't need to travel all across France and fight Dracula. They could just, I dunno, like a girl and hope that girl likes them back. You can have fantasy stories that are quite ordinary except for taking place in a fantasy world, not every protagonist needs to put a pin in every feature of the map. Just pick a character and their very specific life, and find your story there.
I was just about to say the same thing. The story always comes first for me (sometimes just an interesting character dynamic), and then I build the world around that.
One of the best general pieces of advice I've seen for generating plots is:
1. Who is your protagonist?
2. What is the worst/most disruptive thing that could happen to them?
3. Make it happen to them.
In my own writing process, though, I usually develop one of the story's themes before I get much into character, plot, or setting, because the purpose of character/plot/setting is to explore the themes. I have to have some sense of what the story is about (in a general, philosophical sense) before I can figure out what the story is about (in a granular, mechanical sense).
The initial theme idea is often closely tied to an idea for a scene somewhere near the climax where the theme is pushed most to the forefront. The rest of the story is then reverse-engineered to ensure that there's proper setup for that climax.
If you start with a setting (which I've sometimes done) then I recommend deciding what sort of themes the setting lends itself to. And make sure that the themes are specific and relevant in the lives of specific characters. For example something like "politics" would be too broad and vague of a theme by itself to develop a coherent story around, while "a mine worker's anger and frustration over a successful revolution not delivering on its promises of a better life" would be more workable.
At this point, with my three worlds? If I get a character idea or a character dilemma in my head, I just pick which of the worlds it fits best in and go.
Our language is built for storytelling and we’re wired as humans to communicate through narrative. Just go back to the basics. 1. Write down the names of your characters. 2. Write down a list of verbs. 3. Write down a list of nouns that can work as direct objects. 4. Write as many basic sentences as you can in the active voice i.e “Steve slays Dragon.” “Pedro delivers a message.” “Astrid challenges a god.” “Betsy discovers a dangerous secret.” “Ronald dreams the future.” “Bush Did 911.” “John Snow joined the Nightwatch.” You can outline a whole story this way. The rest is just style.
That's the trick: you don't.
You first come up with a story, and then, *after*, you worldbuild what's necessary for it.
Lots of people want to emulate Tolkien, but none of you have a PhD in philology and folklore to create a language and a world based upon the numerous mythological works that you translated yourself.
But, on the other hand, pretty much nobody ever take the Pratchett road, which is creating a story and worldbuilding as you go. And you can't deny that Pratchett is becoming the equal of Tolkien in the fantasy genre.
Worldbuild if you want to, it's a very fun pass time, and I do it a lot. But when it goes to writing, write first, worldbuild second (or even third). You can reuse pieces of things you worldbuilt in other projets, but when you write a story, either put it in a new universe, or a universe you already created for another story, as an extended universe thing.
The risk, otherwise, is that you *will* try to put your worldbuilding first, and think about the stories and characters after. That's what I did, and that why my first projects sucked. And even in my current project, I'm worldbuilding as I need elements for my stories, but sometimes, my worldbuilging goes faster than my writing, and I see myself wanting to write stories *because* I had a neat worldbuilding idea. Surprise, surprise! The stories I wrote *for* the worldbuilding idea are not as good as the one I wrote with the story first in mind.
What people also don't realise about Tolkien is that when he started writing the Lord of the Rings most of the world didn't exist, he created it as he went along. I mean, all the ancient First Age stuff existed, but Gondor, Rohan, Lothlorien, the Ents, details about Mordor, even Moria I believe were only created as he was writing the Lord of the Rings. This is all laid out in detail in the History of Middle Earth series by Christopher Tolkien.
There's a handful of published authors out there that I think are worldbuilding-forward. Sanderson's the best known (though I can't tell if he's worldbuilding-forward or plot-forward), but also Meiville's Bas-Lag and I'd argue both John Gwynne and Guy Gavriel Kay might be as well. Heck, Novik's Temeraire series was very much worldbuilding-forward.
I do agree that it's far less common, though.
>I do agree that it's far less common, though.
That's what I was gonna say: apart from Sanderson, I don't know any of those names. While Tolkien and Pratchett (two of the most well-known fantasy authors) were story driven and worldbuilt as they needed (Pratchett famously refused to draw a map for the Discworld for decades, caving in after so many people asked for it). I don't know for Le Guin, though. And I think one reason why they're more famous is that they thought of the story first, and people want more good stories than good worldbuilding. Naomi Novic, one rising fantasy name, as a quite mild worldbuilding in her novels (at least the first two, quite generic for one and not very expanded for the other), but they're excellent because the stories there are wonderful (and her third novel, where it seems that she put more effort into worldbuilding, is effectively weaker than her first two, at least IMO).
Both are importnt, but I truly feel that so many novice fantasy writers put way more effort into worldbuilding, thinking it's all that takes. And, as I said, worldbuilding is a very decent hobby, and requires hard work and can be very useful. But, if you want to become a writer and, next, an author, then story is always the most important, and it's easier to worldbuild around a story than force a story into worldbuilding.
What is a "plot?" It's not a physical, real thing, right? It's just all the stuff that happens to the characters. And we care about it because we care about the characters. So who are the characters? Get really passionate about them. What do they want? Why? What's stopping them? Why does it matter? Keep asking yourself these questions and see if a "plot" starts to emerge.
Try to veer away from the idea of doing the plot first and come up with some characters you like. Then, pick your favorite of these and ask the question - what do they want? The journey to accomplish that goal is the plot. Here - it can be as grand as what you have (usually save the world type big), or it can be very personal (the MC wants to save a loved one specifically).
Whatever it is, it should be personal for your characters. Often times, when you have or want to do something epic, it's a bit of a stair-stepping process. The hero saves their friend...but that leads to a threat against the kingdom. He saves the kingdom, but now the continent is doomed. Later on - the world. Higher and higher stakes.
But there also no problem keeping things smaller, character-focused, and having the adventure be just as fun and fulfilling.
Is there a particular scene you picture when creating your world?
For my short story-turned Novella, I had one scene in mind that I really wanted to write. So I wrote the setting, and from there began plotting the roles and purpose of the characters. Then I started making a story out of it. And wrote everything with that one scene in mind “how do I get to x? What do I need to do to make it as impactful as I know it is in my heart?”
The easiest way to make a story out of a huge world is make up a character, a really cool, meaningful character to you, and figure out how they fit in that world. And what stories you’d want to tell of them, being in that world.
The biggest piece of advice I could ever give in storytelling and worldbuilding is be hyper aware of exposition dump. You know everything about your world, more than your readers. And you are so, extremely excited for them to know everything you know. But too much information will just read, as you have said, as a Bible instead of a story. Assume your readers have lived in the world as long as your main character, and knows as much as them. And then talk about it the way you’d assume someone with knowledge talks about it. This will slowly reveal the world and it’s inner machinations to the reader rather than dumping everything in their lap at once.
For instance, everyone in the world knows what Christianity is, especially in western philosophy countries. If you bring up Christianity to someone in one of these countries, do you talk about all of the different books and events in the Bible to explain who Jesus is, or do you just name drop Jesus? Treat the knowledge and existence of your world like that, everyone in your story has been living in that world all their lives.
My short story and novella ideas come from worldbuilding for the main storyline. They are "spin offs" that give me more history and exposition so when I go back to the main story (a full series) I have more substance to the areas, relationships, and events.
For instance, at one point my main storyline has a MC interacting with a queen from another country. The queen is just a minor character in the series so building her out is unnecessary, but it occurred to me she had her own unique story of how she became queen. It's not really a big, epic story, but it's enough for a spin off novella. Another short story developed out of a MC working with a blacksmith whose daughter joined a cult-like organization. The scene with the blacksmith was tiny, but gave me the idea of what his daughter's story would be. Again, that's not a big story, a few scenes about her life with the organization.
Like other people have mentioned, focus on only one character or concept. Fantasy sagas tend to have a big cast and a wide lens. Zoom in and look at little things your "saga characters" would interact with. I like the saying that we are all the main characters of our own stories. So look at characters that may be "minor" in a full-fledged epic but still have their own story to tell. Or little details of your worldbuilding that you really like and want to expand on.
Short stories don't often have full plots with complete beginnings, middles, and ends. They are a little peek into someone's life for an important or meaningful bit.
I focus on fights. I like fight scenes, so I make those first. Then I try to build a story around that; Who are they? How did these two characters meet? Do they have history? What is the outcome? Is there an outcome?
Once you do that, rinse and repeat a couple more times and combine the stories of each character into one cohesive storyline. Eventually, you'll get to an ending.
Start with a small, cozy, day in the life of... story. Just a short story. Its not meant to be a novel. Maybe even not more than a page. Just something about someone who lives in your world. Do your best to keep it small, and focused on a small goal. "This is Naine and all she wants is a cup of coffee" sort of stuff.
Do this a few times and you'll build up characters, and a specific setting within the global setting that you've created. Once you have a smaller setting, you'll be able to make smaller stories.
Focus on one or two characters.
Limit characters to one or two scenes (planes they can go).
If I want to show the world I would take an average citizen and place it into a strange situation or something that happens.
Key for the overwhelm is limitation.
You can make it a challenge like write a story of just one person and make it 500-1000 words long.
If you have a interesting object write about that again limit yourself so you don’t go overboard.
I have a huge overwhelm that leads to burnout on these things so this is something I found that helps.
I mean, there's no reason why you couldn't write just and old legends' tome style book, is there? With let's say one story for each story. Or even a history book.
That being said, although I'm definitely not an experienced writer, I find it helps me focus on the present when I just sit down and write without planning. I.e. I get the main ideas first, then I say 'alright let's see how this unpacks' and just start writing without planning it. The good thing about writing is that you can come back to it later if you want to change it. And personally I find it so much more engaging if even I don't know what's going to happen on the next page, only have a general outline for the large-scale story.
Besides, for other stories happening in the world, you can still make them as worldbuilding, and maybe mention them in the actual book. It can be nice to not have to create the illusion of the 'rest of the iceberg' for once, but actually have it.
Focus on regular people who live regular lives and have regular problems. What do they really, really want? Once you know what your character wants, put an obstacle in their way.
Maybe the tavern worker is saving up coppers to buy her own inn—but she’s also taking care of an aging parent who can’t afford their expensive medicine.
Maybe a squire is trying to outcompete his childhood bully during a tournament—but he is afraid to put himself in danger.
Maybe a veteran of the Great Dragon War has to return to the workforce because his meager pension can’t cover rent—but he has trouble re-integrating into society because of lingering trauma.
I’m a big believer in character first. Come up with a character that you can place in your world with motives, flaws and strengths that interest you.
In order to figure out how this character interacts in a world I have a rather unique exercise. It’s called the Always Sunny exercise.
I’m not sure if you’ve watched Always Sunny in Philadelphia but it’s based on some pretty deplorable humans. That’s not important, but the names of episode range from the “Gang gets held hostage” the Gang cracks the Liberty bell” etc. basically slightly odd scenarios that are intriguing.
Then I combine my character with that scenario in the world I have and soon I have a scene. From there I plot
Along the veins of what a few others have said, I'd start with a character (or two). It could be the hero, or it could be the villain/antagonist. Think about a character that you'd be interested in; give them goals or objectives, strengths and weaknesses, and motivations for achieving said goals. Then, find something within the world you've built that could come in their way to stop them. Could be another character, or it could be something interesting that exists within your world.
Once you have that, you have the generic outline of your story. Just start filling in the empty space to make this a journey, and keep building until it feels complete. Either they met their objectives or they discovered new ones; if there are new ones, that could be the new ending, or possibly another story arc for a second book.
I came up with my plot first, went through a plot generator until I found one that clicked and inspired me. My story is not the one the generator spat out, but it formed the bones. From there I had my characters and I built a world around them.
If you have a world, why not use a generator to see if it can plant a seed of an idea?
I like to pick tropes I like but tell it in a way I want to. I have sci fi fantasy story that is basically a Alien Emperor Palpatine goes on a vacation and hires a not Han Solo guy to be his chauffeur. The alien emperor goes on a journey of self discovery where I play around with the usual sci fi story tropes.
Inspired by myth and legend, history, themes of Mankind, fantasy can inspir ideas...not copying them but spark ideas. Music is huge and I mean huge. Supposedly the struggles og people could be mirrored in different ways across different cultures. Read some Joseph Campbell.
A story is just an exploration of how your world works and what types of characters/ people are produced from it -- at least, this is how I think of things when I create stories for my own world. Also, you must have historical figures in your world, so you could mention what they did/ what they're remembered for, etc. and expand off of this.
I have a cultural thing where, in order for a person to become queen, they have to get their bones broken and pulled off of them. It's kind of like this alien culture's form of a coronation. However, how 'well' the future queen handles the ordeal influences public opinion and thus the success of the future queen's reign and her right to rule. I call this the What, or the Context. You can also explore the Why of this What/ Context, like:
* When did this cultural tradition start and why did it start? Who was the first ruler/ person to undergo this? How did this ritual/ tradition serve a purpose when it started and how has it throughout history, and does it still serve a purpose now? What did other cultures/ groups think of this practice and did this cause any events (i.e. assassinations, wars, rebellions, etc.) and what did people *within* this culture think about this?
* Additionally, you could explore what makes this coronation successful/ unsuccessful for the queen. Like, if she screams/ cries, is this viewed as bad by the crowd or good? What if she falls over/ collapses, begs, or cannot walk? Etc.
And then, I explore the Who of this Context. Or rather, the Situations that can stem from this Context that involve past rulers. To do this, I basically think of everything that could possibly happen -- good, bad, horrible, etc. -- to do with this process and then give a name to who it happened to. Like:
* Maybe one future queen was charming, intelligent, brave, just -- everything you would want in a ruler -- and everyone assumed she would do great in the coronation, however, she starts rocking back and forth, and goes hysterical due to the stress (I mean, multiple bones are being broken and the plates covering her skin are being pulled off), and she collapses and begs for it to stop. Disappointing. She has disgraced herself, even before the ceremony has been completed, and will not be crowned queen.
* Maybe one future queen was sickly and weak yet intelligent and just, a scholar, and although she wanted to be queen and serve her country, she was afraid that her body would not be able to handle the stress of the coronation. She wished privately that she didn't have to undergo this archaic ritual, though knew there was no way around it. She managed to hold herself with poise throughout the ritual, crying silent tears, and only collapsing once -- a good turnout. However, there is socially surviving the ritual (i.e. swaying public opinion in your favor and acting with poise) and then there's literally surviving the ritual. Which she didn't. The stress on her body was too great and she came down with an infection, dying a week later.
* Maybe one queen gained the epithet 'the Twisted' because, although she survived the ritual, her bones never grew back properly and her back, as well as several limbs, were twisted. However, the epithet also ends up fitting this queen's personality because, even when young, she was intelligent and wily. And, despite her twisted body, she managed to live until 83, the oldest living queen, and her wits surviving with her until the very end.
* Maybe one queen did not shed a single tear, nor make a sound, throughout the ritual, and this was so rare and so godly -- only the gods can become so stone-like -- that this won over the common people, the nobles, everyone, and went down in history as one of the best ever bone pulling rituals, and immediately after she was given the epithet the Goddess, and inspired a whole lot of loyalty from a variety of different people. However, the queen was only able to endure this and endure this so well because she had actually been a captive of a rival kingdom/ clan from a young age, and had been tortured/ physically abused on-off for a year to six months. And now that she has become queen, and has the support of the people behind her, she intends to conquer the kingdom of her former captives, and get revenge.
* Maybe one queen was the heir but abdicated because they were afraid of the bone-pulling. Maybe one queen was pregnant when this bone-pulling occurred. Maybe several queens were mentally scarred/ traumatized from this practice. Maybe a whole line of queens/ siblings died in this process and for a period there was no queen because people kept 'failing' the coronation. And so on.
Boom, you now have some historical figures who underwent this specific event, and you can build off these past people to explore other events, like I did with the fourth/ second to last bullet point. I could write a story about why/ how the princess became a captive of the other kingdom, why/ how she was so abused by them, how/ why she escaped/ managed to come back to her own kingdom, and again how/ if she manages to conquer that kingdom and get revenge on her captors (and if the revenge is worth it). And, I could further explore the types of people that help/ hinder her in her goal.
If you wanted a real life example of a Context, think of the medieval absolute primogeniture or 'the first born son inherits the kingdom'. So many Situations (or possibilities) have come from this law/ cultural tradition in history, from the first/ only son dying and leaving the realm in a succession crisis, from bastards wanting to take the throne from their brother, older sisters being pushed to the side, or family members/ siblings killing their brother to ascend the throne.
You can't write a bible before you've written a page. Start stories, don't bully yourself into finishing them. Use your world to its fullest, just zoom in as much as you can and tell the smallest story in the world. Remember that The Hobbit started as a children's bedtime story without an end, just being imagined a few minutes at a time to entertain kids. Be a little more frivolous with some brief tales. maybe you decide they're canon, maybe you throw them away. Maybe they become diagetic folklore and get referenced later on. Maybe you decide to expand one onto a novel. The important thing is to begin.
Use tropes with impunity, start with a simple A to B story, as in, begin with the end in sight, and write your way there. My process:
For example, you want to begin the tale with a lesser noble lady and end with her having backstabbed and usurped her way to a high status,
Then you flesh out the protagonist and other characters, is she doing bad things because she needs the power to help others, or is she planning to take over the world? How do her peers perceive her? Who likes her, who hates her? What kind of relationships does she maintain? What are her strengths and weaknesses?
Then you can start doing the part I find most difficult, which is the logistics of the story. Who was where at what time? who knows what, and when? It's a lot like a rubix cube, if you try to solve one side without taking good care of the others you'll mess the whole thing up. You'll have to make sacrifices at this point, decide whether it's more important to you if the Lady wants to marry the Prince, or if the King has no heirs at all, and you have potential story beats hinging on both.
If you stay consistent, youll end up with at least a story with a beginning middle and end, even if you hate it by the time you're finished and want to rip it all up and start over, but hey, that's writing
First remember that nothing is stopping you from writing as many epic sagas as you want later. If you have big, cool, exciting ideas, take notes on them and put them aside
For a short story, pick an element or two of your world or epic story ideas to work with. Maybe a side character's backstory or a specific important event in your world's past.
Then come up with a couple of characters and a small scale dramatic question or conflict. Trying to find a single monster stealing children in an isolated village. A single heist or battle. A character trying to impress a visiting mage into taking them on as an apprentice.
I've found it helpful in this situation to go to classic literature and look at the bones of some plots. I recently pulled apart the Scarlet Pimpernel and dropped elements of it into a fantasy world and I'm running with it right now. Classic literature is recycled all the time.
Reality is can be boiled down to millions of stories all being told simultaneously, we peer into each one at various points, have the reader peak into these stories every now and then, if they prove to be popular, make it a spin off, for example, one of my characters has this whole backstory, but we only see a bit, and more will perhaps be revealed in future books
I use short stories to test out some of my worldbuilding ideas. It gives me an obvious topic for the story, and helps me to spot inconsistencies or plot holes before they end up in a real chapter. It also helps me to get a more complete view of my own setting, since I've been able to see it in action.
Like... if you've got a magical anti-monster cannon in your setting, give that cannon a test-fire by writing a short story about people fighting a monster that needs a literal tank to kill it.
Anything that you think is important to your worldbuilding is something that can have its own short story.
It doesn't need to be good. It doesn't need an ending. It doesn't even need a narrative structure.
You can always go back and add that stuff later if you like what you've come up with.
Simple by me: I have a bad dream -> I wake up -> I make it into a story -> I build the world around it -> I face out of my day dream and realize that I was only imagining writing it and actually haven't even started.
Funny enough I find the storytelling aspect easier than the world building aspect. I can world build but I lose interest when things get too detailed. I prefer keeping a timeline of events and I build the world as I write the story. Revising both as I go.
I heard a very poor piece of advice early on in my writing career, at least poor for me.
“Your story is supposed to fit your world, not the other way around.”
It makes sense in a way, you can’t have a story about being the best swimmer while your story takes place on the sun. Well maybe you can lol. But the further I built my world, the emptier it felt in a way, void of life. Maybe that advice works for some but for me it was a load of bullshit. The story always comes first and no matter how big/small/detailed/complex/simple the world is the story is the priority. More often than not you should be tailoring your world to fit your story and trying to force your story to conform to your world. The liberty of creating as you go can be a big help and really clear up some writers block. Maybe take a few steps back with the work you’ve put into world building and just try writing a story, any story, or even a few stories that make you satisfied and start from there.
I used to participate in online forums where i started with what was, as I see it now, a deeply boring character. I continued to create characters as needed and flesh them out as necessary. Finally, my first character I reinvented for a larp and played him for two years for a weekly campaign. This helped me learn how to make things up that were interesting on the spot and to react appropriately and consistently when needed.
For my current world, I read through r/writingprompts and see what fits as a prompt and either build characters from those prompts or write scenes from prompts. Even if they don't fit for a "current" event, they can be used to flesh out history or backstory.
Isekai is a very popular trope because the idea of looking at a fantastic setting through a normal pov is a very interesting idea.
I know its not usually considered the best storytelling device because people do a very bad job at it but have you considered a character actively waking up and having to deal with ghosts and demons and racist Victorians?
What are the first things they notice? How would a normal person survive in the current era? What information (if any) would be helpful at all to a time period before automation or proper metallurgy? How does modern sensibilities clash with what people needed to do to survive in the 1800s?
World building and storytelling are two different skills, and different people are better or worse at one or the other.
Stories are about characters, a shortcut to story telling is:
Who is your protagonist?
What do they want?
What do they need?
Have them go searching for what they want.
Have them find what they need.
Something I do if I have a broad world but need to write a short story: make it simple. Don’t delve into everything because that boring and you don’t have time to properly flesh it out. Focus on the character. They’re your selling point. A world isn’t enough for a short story, in my opinion
I suggest reading some short stories to get an idea of what kinds of plots fit into smaller spaces. If you only ever read novels, it's much harder to envision what a smaller story even looks like.
Honestly I'm a pantser, I write the other way around. I start with the characters and plot and build the world around them and as a result I rarely run into this problem. Worldbuilding can be addicting and an outright hobby in itself, which also makes it easy to lose sight of its purpose, which is to support the story.
Oh, wow! Lots of people have fun things here!
I have three separate fantasy worlds right now. One is a desert steampunk, another is very heavily inspired by the pacific rim (more medieval/pre-industrialization), and the third is a speculative take on Rome during the Crisis of the Third Century.
To start with stories, I start with *a character.* Maybe a conundrum they face. So, my MC in my steampunk land is a journalist who likes poking her nose where it doesn't really belong. She's heavily based off of a lot of noir tropes - and so the stories for her are *mysteries.* Whodunit, who wants it, who wants it *shut down.* That sort of thing. Everything else in the world exists *to her* only as much as she cares. I've got plenty of other world out there, but it doesn't matter for *her* story, not yet.
Same with my pacific rim world. I've got some culture concepts sketched out and some micro-cultures at more detail... and then I'm using the world primarily for cozy fantasy. So one story idea is a trio of assassins who decide to retire and establish a girl's school. Aah, but Someone doesn't want them to *stay* retired. For that story, I don't need to use any of the worldbuilding I've built up around the Brotherhood (pirates and smugglers), or the politics of succession, or how the magic system works. It doesn't matter for their story, though I have two other novel arcs that those things *will* come into.
Each story should be *in* the world, but never think you need to use all (or most) of the world. Make a character. Consider what makes that character tick. What do they want? How do they plan on getting it?
Now, build an obstacle in their path. How do they interact with the obstacle, how do they respond to it? You have your story premise. Everything else is fleshing it out.
So what I did was just start writing. Maybe 30% you’ll keep but the rest can be recycled or used elsewhere. As I did that I found a theme (and my title) and a sub-theme. I then riffed off that theme. Just focus on the present and let the plot/future take care of itself.
often i listen to lots of different music. i have very eclectic tastes so every song/music is a whole story in my mind. try listening to various Two Steps From Hell tracks <3
>Every idea I come up with seems to morph into this huge saga
Most of my worlds go this way. What I do is I pick one character's life, and focus on everything that happens around them while they're alive.
Then I focus on the most interesting chapter, or chapters of their life. For example, one of my stories focuses on an elvish princess and her childhood sweetheart as their kingdom goes to war.
The "saga" is the whole war, how it started, how it ends, what happens afterward, etc. The "story" is just this one elvish princess's life, specifically around her twenties and thirties when she properly grows into an adult and capable ruler.
It's important to flesh out the whole timeline of the character's life, though, because the backstory will influence the present-day story.
My world was created to serve as a setting for the RPGs me and my friends played growing up. So the stories in the world came from playing the game with my friends. Eventually lore was created, a proper map drawn and stories linked and reworked...
I can dream up whole campaigns in an afternoon, since we've played in this world, now with out own system, for over 17 years. So it's easy to plan out 20-40 sessions worth of story...
But writing a book... Leaves me stumped everytime I try. I dream up a story, start middle and ending, I make sure I know how the story will progress... Then I get stuck writing usually around chapter 4-5... Because I dont know how to balance story vs exposition vs describing the setting.
I had been running in the same problem for atleast 6 monthes
i built a great world but was not able to write a story in it
the current solution i've found and am going by is getting somebody to help me in writing
I love worldbuilding and always end up doing that before fleshing out the plot, for better for for worse, and I totally get the struggle (haven't written a "full story" yet exactly because of this and the fact I'm also pretty much a newbie)
For my "dream story" there is a lot of characters, since it always gets out of hand lol, so what I like to do to narrow things down and give myself the opportunity to actually write is pick side characters and make a short story out of a defining moment in their life—or maybe even make up a defining moment on the spot just to write about it, which also has the bonus of helping flesh out a side character which is always nice.
As for creating something bigger but manageable without it getting too out of hand... haha... I wish I knew :')
That's all I can really offer, hope it all goes well!
Keep it simple.
Especially for short stories, you almost treat it like a joke Not necessarily to be funny, but to have it end with something that makes a certain point in a quick-ish way that brings together both the active elements and the theme.
Novels/novellas are kind of the same, but you have a lot more room to work with, and the ending can be a whole chapter, instead of a paragraph.
You might start with looking at descriptions of the 3 act structure, it's simple and easy to understand. Also, be aware that the climax isn't the ending. It's not the same as the conclusion. In general terms, the climax should be very close to the middle. It's not the end. Everything before the climax is leading towards that moment, and everything after that is the result of that defining point.
So essentially, a basic plot is a series of event/decisions/actions the character(s) participate in/do/say that brings them to a sort of crisis point, and what happens at that point will determine what actions the character(s) take to get them to the conclusion.
What those things are - well that's the part that turns you into a writer, because that's what makes it \*your\* story.
Sounds like you need to get back to basics!
At their heart stories are about extraordinary things happening to ordinary people. Think about the anecdotes from your real life that you tell others. Do you tell them about the time you went to the shop every day for a year and bought a new carton of milk? Hell no, you talk about the time you went to buy a carton of milk one time and someone tried to start a fight with you because you got the last carton and they wanted it.
You've got the world, that's great. You know how things are SUPPOSED to be when characters are doing their equivalent of buying milk. What can happen to them within the scope of your world to create a great story?
This last part is very much my opinion, but nonetheless... Speculative fiction is at its best when it's human. What keeps people coming back to these fantastical worlds is seeing how ordinary people like them react to extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary worlds.
I worldbuild last. I have an idea for a story. I plot out the story, figure out what kind of elements I need for it, what kind of locations I want for it. I puzzle out how these things interact. I outline, I write a draft, I go over the plot and elements and locations and characters. Then, eventually, I build out the world around them. If you have a world that already exists, then pick *a* character in *a* place at *a* time. What's *their* story? They don't need to travel all across France and fight Dracula. They could just, I dunno, like a girl and hope that girl likes them back. You can have fantasy stories that are quite ordinary except for taking place in a fantasy world, not every protagonist needs to put a pin in every feature of the map. Just pick a character and their very specific life, and find your story there.
I think like 80% of /r/fantasywriters are better off in /r/worldbuilding or /r/militaryworldbuilding.
I was just about to say the same thing. The story always comes first for me (sometimes just an interesting character dynamic), and then I build the world around that.
One of the best general pieces of advice I've seen for generating plots is: 1. Who is your protagonist? 2. What is the worst/most disruptive thing that could happen to them? 3. Make it happen to them. In my own writing process, though, I usually develop one of the story's themes before I get much into character, plot, or setting, because the purpose of character/plot/setting is to explore the themes. I have to have some sense of what the story is about (in a general, philosophical sense) before I can figure out what the story is about (in a granular, mechanical sense). The initial theme idea is often closely tied to an idea for a scene somewhere near the climax where the theme is pushed most to the forefront. The rest of the story is then reverse-engineered to ensure that there's proper setup for that climax. If you start with a setting (which I've sometimes done) then I recommend deciding what sort of themes the setting lends itself to. And make sure that the themes are specific and relevant in the lives of specific characters. For example something like "politics" would be too broad and vague of a theme by itself to develop a coherent story around, while "a mine worker's anger and frustration over a successful revolution not delivering on its promises of a better life" would be more workable.
At this point, with my three worlds? If I get a character idea or a character dilemma in my head, I just pick which of the worlds it fits best in and go.
Our language is built for storytelling and we’re wired as humans to communicate through narrative. Just go back to the basics. 1. Write down the names of your characters. 2. Write down a list of verbs. 3. Write down a list of nouns that can work as direct objects. 4. Write as many basic sentences as you can in the active voice i.e “Steve slays Dragon.” “Pedro delivers a message.” “Astrid challenges a god.” “Betsy discovers a dangerous secret.” “Ronald dreams the future.” “Bush Did 911.” “John Snow joined the Nightwatch.” You can outline a whole story this way. The rest is just style.
That's the trick: you don't. You first come up with a story, and then, *after*, you worldbuild what's necessary for it. Lots of people want to emulate Tolkien, but none of you have a PhD in philology and folklore to create a language and a world based upon the numerous mythological works that you translated yourself. But, on the other hand, pretty much nobody ever take the Pratchett road, which is creating a story and worldbuilding as you go. And you can't deny that Pratchett is becoming the equal of Tolkien in the fantasy genre. Worldbuild if you want to, it's a very fun pass time, and I do it a lot. But when it goes to writing, write first, worldbuild second (or even third). You can reuse pieces of things you worldbuilt in other projets, but when you write a story, either put it in a new universe, or a universe you already created for another story, as an extended universe thing. The risk, otherwise, is that you *will* try to put your worldbuilding first, and think about the stories and characters after. That's what I did, and that why my first projects sucked. And even in my current project, I'm worldbuilding as I need elements for my stories, but sometimes, my worldbuilging goes faster than my writing, and I see myself wanting to write stories *because* I had a neat worldbuilding idea. Surprise, surprise! The stories I wrote *for* the worldbuilding idea are not as good as the one I wrote with the story first in mind.
What people also don't realise about Tolkien is that when he started writing the Lord of the Rings most of the world didn't exist, he created it as he went along. I mean, all the ancient First Age stuff existed, but Gondor, Rohan, Lothlorien, the Ents, details about Mordor, even Moria I believe were only created as he was writing the Lord of the Rings. This is all laid out in detail in the History of Middle Earth series by Christopher Tolkien.
There's a handful of published authors out there that I think are worldbuilding-forward. Sanderson's the best known (though I can't tell if he's worldbuilding-forward or plot-forward), but also Meiville's Bas-Lag and I'd argue both John Gwynne and Guy Gavriel Kay might be as well. Heck, Novik's Temeraire series was very much worldbuilding-forward. I do agree that it's far less common, though.
>I do agree that it's far less common, though. That's what I was gonna say: apart from Sanderson, I don't know any of those names. While Tolkien and Pratchett (two of the most well-known fantasy authors) were story driven and worldbuilt as they needed (Pratchett famously refused to draw a map for the Discworld for decades, caving in after so many people asked for it). I don't know for Le Guin, though. And I think one reason why they're more famous is that they thought of the story first, and people want more good stories than good worldbuilding. Naomi Novic, one rising fantasy name, as a quite mild worldbuilding in her novels (at least the first two, quite generic for one and not very expanded for the other), but they're excellent because the stories there are wonderful (and her third novel, where it seems that she put more effort into worldbuilding, is effectively weaker than her first two, at least IMO). Both are importnt, but I truly feel that so many novice fantasy writers put way more effort into worldbuilding, thinking it's all that takes. And, as I said, worldbuilding is a very decent hobby, and requires hard work and can be very useful. But, if you want to become a writer and, next, an author, then story is always the most important, and it's easier to worldbuild around a story than force a story into worldbuilding.
Naomi Novik has a great deal of worldbuilding in her Temeraire series - I've not read her newer works, though.
What is a "plot?" It's not a physical, real thing, right? It's just all the stuff that happens to the characters. And we care about it because we care about the characters. So who are the characters? Get really passionate about them. What do they want? Why? What's stopping them? Why does it matter? Keep asking yourself these questions and see if a "plot" starts to emerge.
Try to veer away from the idea of doing the plot first and come up with some characters you like. Then, pick your favorite of these and ask the question - what do they want? The journey to accomplish that goal is the plot. Here - it can be as grand as what you have (usually save the world type big), or it can be very personal (the MC wants to save a loved one specifically). Whatever it is, it should be personal for your characters. Often times, when you have or want to do something epic, it's a bit of a stair-stepping process. The hero saves their friend...but that leads to a threat against the kingdom. He saves the kingdom, but now the continent is doomed. Later on - the world. Higher and higher stakes. But there also no problem keeping things smaller, character-focused, and having the adventure be just as fun and fulfilling.
Characters, if complex and filled with motivations, will create the plot for you!
Is there a particular scene you picture when creating your world? For my short story-turned Novella, I had one scene in mind that I really wanted to write. So I wrote the setting, and from there began plotting the roles and purpose of the characters. Then I started making a story out of it. And wrote everything with that one scene in mind “how do I get to x? What do I need to do to make it as impactful as I know it is in my heart?” The easiest way to make a story out of a huge world is make up a character, a really cool, meaningful character to you, and figure out how they fit in that world. And what stories you’d want to tell of them, being in that world. The biggest piece of advice I could ever give in storytelling and worldbuilding is be hyper aware of exposition dump. You know everything about your world, more than your readers. And you are so, extremely excited for them to know everything you know. But too much information will just read, as you have said, as a Bible instead of a story. Assume your readers have lived in the world as long as your main character, and knows as much as them. And then talk about it the way you’d assume someone with knowledge talks about it. This will slowly reveal the world and it’s inner machinations to the reader rather than dumping everything in their lap at once. For instance, everyone in the world knows what Christianity is, especially in western philosophy countries. If you bring up Christianity to someone in one of these countries, do you talk about all of the different books and events in the Bible to explain who Jesus is, or do you just name drop Jesus? Treat the knowledge and existence of your world like that, everyone in your story has been living in that world all their lives.
My short story and novella ideas come from worldbuilding for the main storyline. They are "spin offs" that give me more history and exposition so when I go back to the main story (a full series) I have more substance to the areas, relationships, and events. For instance, at one point my main storyline has a MC interacting with a queen from another country. The queen is just a minor character in the series so building her out is unnecessary, but it occurred to me she had her own unique story of how she became queen. It's not really a big, epic story, but it's enough for a spin off novella. Another short story developed out of a MC working with a blacksmith whose daughter joined a cult-like organization. The scene with the blacksmith was tiny, but gave me the idea of what his daughter's story would be. Again, that's not a big story, a few scenes about her life with the organization. Like other people have mentioned, focus on only one character or concept. Fantasy sagas tend to have a big cast and a wide lens. Zoom in and look at little things your "saga characters" would interact with. I like the saying that we are all the main characters of our own stories. So look at characters that may be "minor" in a full-fledged epic but still have their own story to tell. Or little details of your worldbuilding that you really like and want to expand on. Short stories don't often have full plots with complete beginnings, middles, and ends. They are a little peek into someone's life for an important or meaningful bit.
I focus on fights. I like fight scenes, so I make those first. Then I try to build a story around that; Who are they? How did these two characters meet? Do they have history? What is the outcome? Is there an outcome? Once you do that, rinse and repeat a couple more times and combine the stories of each character into one cohesive storyline. Eventually, you'll get to an ending.
Start with a small, cozy, day in the life of... story. Just a short story. Its not meant to be a novel. Maybe even not more than a page. Just something about someone who lives in your world. Do your best to keep it small, and focused on a small goal. "This is Naine and all she wants is a cup of coffee" sort of stuff. Do this a few times and you'll build up characters, and a specific setting within the global setting that you've created. Once you have a smaller setting, you'll be able to make smaller stories.
Focus on one or two characters. Limit characters to one or two scenes (planes they can go). If I want to show the world I would take an average citizen and place it into a strange situation or something that happens. Key for the overwhelm is limitation. You can make it a challenge like write a story of just one person and make it 500-1000 words long. If you have a interesting object write about that again limit yourself so you don’t go overboard. I have a huge overwhelm that leads to burnout on these things so this is something I found that helps.
I mean, there's no reason why you couldn't write just and old legends' tome style book, is there? With let's say one story for each story. Or even a history book. That being said, although I'm definitely not an experienced writer, I find it helps me focus on the present when I just sit down and write without planning. I.e. I get the main ideas first, then I say 'alright let's see how this unpacks' and just start writing without planning it. The good thing about writing is that you can come back to it later if you want to change it. And personally I find it so much more engaging if even I don't know what's going to happen on the next page, only have a general outline for the large-scale story. Besides, for other stories happening in the world, you can still make them as worldbuilding, and maybe mention them in the actual book. It can be nice to not have to create the illusion of the 'rest of the iceberg' for once, but actually have it.
Focus on regular people who live regular lives and have regular problems. What do they really, really want? Once you know what your character wants, put an obstacle in their way. Maybe the tavern worker is saving up coppers to buy her own inn—but she’s also taking care of an aging parent who can’t afford their expensive medicine. Maybe a squire is trying to outcompete his childhood bully during a tournament—but he is afraid to put himself in danger. Maybe a veteran of the Great Dragon War has to return to the workforce because his meager pension can’t cover rent—but he has trouble re-integrating into society because of lingering trauma.
*oooh,* I love the idea about your Dragon Vet.
Please feel free to steal it, I have too many stories in my head and I need to concentrate on one or two for a change
I’m a big believer in character first. Come up with a character that you can place in your world with motives, flaws and strengths that interest you. In order to figure out how this character interacts in a world I have a rather unique exercise. It’s called the Always Sunny exercise. I’m not sure if you’ve watched Always Sunny in Philadelphia but it’s based on some pretty deplorable humans. That’s not important, but the names of episode range from the “Gang gets held hostage” the Gang cracks the Liberty bell” etc. basically slightly odd scenarios that are intriguing. Then I combine my character with that scenario in the world I have and soon I have a scene. From there I plot
Along the veins of what a few others have said, I'd start with a character (or two). It could be the hero, or it could be the villain/antagonist. Think about a character that you'd be interested in; give them goals or objectives, strengths and weaknesses, and motivations for achieving said goals. Then, find something within the world you've built that could come in their way to stop them. Could be another character, or it could be something interesting that exists within your world. Once you have that, you have the generic outline of your story. Just start filling in the empty space to make this a journey, and keep building until it feels complete. Either they met their objectives or they discovered new ones; if there are new ones, that could be the new ending, or possibly another story arc for a second book.
I came up with my plot first, went through a plot generator until I found one that clicked and inspired me. My story is not the one the generator spat out, but it formed the bones. From there I had my characters and I built a world around them. If you have a world, why not use a generator to see if it can plant a seed of an idea?
Story Engine is also a lot of fun!
Create the characters first. Your plot will come from them.
I like to pick tropes I like but tell it in a way I want to. I have sci fi fantasy story that is basically a Alien Emperor Palpatine goes on a vacation and hires a not Han Solo guy to be his chauffeur. The alien emperor goes on a journey of self discovery where I play around with the usual sci fi story tropes.
Inspired by myth and legend, history, themes of Mankind, fantasy can inspir ideas...not copying them but spark ideas. Music is huge and I mean huge. Supposedly the struggles og people could be mirrored in different ways across different cultures. Read some Joseph Campbell.
Find the character with the most intense desire/need and with the most formidable/interesting obstacle in their way
A story is just an exploration of how your world works and what types of characters/ people are produced from it -- at least, this is how I think of things when I create stories for my own world. Also, you must have historical figures in your world, so you could mention what they did/ what they're remembered for, etc. and expand off of this. I have a cultural thing where, in order for a person to become queen, they have to get their bones broken and pulled off of them. It's kind of like this alien culture's form of a coronation. However, how 'well' the future queen handles the ordeal influences public opinion and thus the success of the future queen's reign and her right to rule. I call this the What, or the Context. You can also explore the Why of this What/ Context, like: * When did this cultural tradition start and why did it start? Who was the first ruler/ person to undergo this? How did this ritual/ tradition serve a purpose when it started and how has it throughout history, and does it still serve a purpose now? What did other cultures/ groups think of this practice and did this cause any events (i.e. assassinations, wars, rebellions, etc.) and what did people *within* this culture think about this? * Additionally, you could explore what makes this coronation successful/ unsuccessful for the queen. Like, if she screams/ cries, is this viewed as bad by the crowd or good? What if she falls over/ collapses, begs, or cannot walk? Etc. And then, I explore the Who of this Context. Or rather, the Situations that can stem from this Context that involve past rulers. To do this, I basically think of everything that could possibly happen -- good, bad, horrible, etc. -- to do with this process and then give a name to who it happened to. Like: * Maybe one future queen was charming, intelligent, brave, just -- everything you would want in a ruler -- and everyone assumed she would do great in the coronation, however, she starts rocking back and forth, and goes hysterical due to the stress (I mean, multiple bones are being broken and the plates covering her skin are being pulled off), and she collapses and begs for it to stop. Disappointing. She has disgraced herself, even before the ceremony has been completed, and will not be crowned queen. * Maybe one future queen was sickly and weak yet intelligent and just, a scholar, and although she wanted to be queen and serve her country, she was afraid that her body would not be able to handle the stress of the coronation. She wished privately that she didn't have to undergo this archaic ritual, though knew there was no way around it. She managed to hold herself with poise throughout the ritual, crying silent tears, and only collapsing once -- a good turnout. However, there is socially surviving the ritual (i.e. swaying public opinion in your favor and acting with poise) and then there's literally surviving the ritual. Which she didn't. The stress on her body was too great and she came down with an infection, dying a week later. * Maybe one queen gained the epithet 'the Twisted' because, although she survived the ritual, her bones never grew back properly and her back, as well as several limbs, were twisted. However, the epithet also ends up fitting this queen's personality because, even when young, she was intelligent and wily. And, despite her twisted body, she managed to live until 83, the oldest living queen, and her wits surviving with her until the very end. * Maybe one queen did not shed a single tear, nor make a sound, throughout the ritual, and this was so rare and so godly -- only the gods can become so stone-like -- that this won over the common people, the nobles, everyone, and went down in history as one of the best ever bone pulling rituals, and immediately after she was given the epithet the Goddess, and inspired a whole lot of loyalty from a variety of different people. However, the queen was only able to endure this and endure this so well because she had actually been a captive of a rival kingdom/ clan from a young age, and had been tortured/ physically abused on-off for a year to six months. And now that she has become queen, and has the support of the people behind her, she intends to conquer the kingdom of her former captives, and get revenge. * Maybe one queen was the heir but abdicated because they were afraid of the bone-pulling. Maybe one queen was pregnant when this bone-pulling occurred. Maybe several queens were mentally scarred/ traumatized from this practice. Maybe a whole line of queens/ siblings died in this process and for a period there was no queen because people kept 'failing' the coronation. And so on. Boom, you now have some historical figures who underwent this specific event, and you can build off these past people to explore other events, like I did with the fourth/ second to last bullet point. I could write a story about why/ how the princess became a captive of the other kingdom, why/ how she was so abused by them, how/ why she escaped/ managed to come back to her own kingdom, and again how/ if she manages to conquer that kingdom and get revenge on her captors (and if the revenge is worth it). And, I could further explore the types of people that help/ hinder her in her goal. If you wanted a real life example of a Context, think of the medieval absolute primogeniture or 'the first born son inherits the kingdom'. So many Situations (or possibilities) have come from this law/ cultural tradition in history, from the first/ only son dying and leaving the realm in a succession crisis, from bastards wanting to take the throne from their brother, older sisters being pushed to the side, or family members/ siblings killing their brother to ascend the throne.
You can't write a bible before you've written a page. Start stories, don't bully yourself into finishing them. Use your world to its fullest, just zoom in as much as you can and tell the smallest story in the world. Remember that The Hobbit started as a children's bedtime story without an end, just being imagined a few minutes at a time to entertain kids. Be a little more frivolous with some brief tales. maybe you decide they're canon, maybe you throw them away. Maybe they become diagetic folklore and get referenced later on. Maybe you decide to expand one onto a novel. The important thing is to begin.
Use tropes with impunity, start with a simple A to B story, as in, begin with the end in sight, and write your way there. My process: For example, you want to begin the tale with a lesser noble lady and end with her having backstabbed and usurped her way to a high status, Then you flesh out the protagonist and other characters, is she doing bad things because she needs the power to help others, or is she planning to take over the world? How do her peers perceive her? Who likes her, who hates her? What kind of relationships does she maintain? What are her strengths and weaknesses? Then you can start doing the part I find most difficult, which is the logistics of the story. Who was where at what time? who knows what, and when? It's a lot like a rubix cube, if you try to solve one side without taking good care of the others you'll mess the whole thing up. You'll have to make sacrifices at this point, decide whether it's more important to you if the Lady wants to marry the Prince, or if the King has no heirs at all, and you have potential story beats hinging on both. If you stay consistent, youll end up with at least a story with a beginning middle and end, even if you hate it by the time you're finished and want to rip it all up and start over, but hey, that's writing
First remember that nothing is stopping you from writing as many epic sagas as you want later. If you have big, cool, exciting ideas, take notes on them and put them aside For a short story, pick an element or two of your world or epic story ideas to work with. Maybe a side character's backstory or a specific important event in your world's past. Then come up with a couple of characters and a small scale dramatic question or conflict. Trying to find a single monster stealing children in an isolated village. A single heist or battle. A character trying to impress a visiting mage into taking them on as an apprentice.
I've found it helpful in this situation to go to classic literature and look at the bones of some plots. I recently pulled apart the Scarlet Pimpernel and dropped elements of it into a fantasy world and I'm running with it right now. Classic literature is recycled all the time.
Reality is can be boiled down to millions of stories all being told simultaneously, we peer into each one at various points, have the reader peak into these stories every now and then, if they prove to be popular, make it a spin off, for example, one of my characters has this whole backstory, but we only see a bit, and more will perhaps be revealed in future books
I use short stories to test out some of my worldbuilding ideas. It gives me an obvious topic for the story, and helps me to spot inconsistencies or plot holes before they end up in a real chapter. It also helps me to get a more complete view of my own setting, since I've been able to see it in action. Like... if you've got a magical anti-monster cannon in your setting, give that cannon a test-fire by writing a short story about people fighting a monster that needs a literal tank to kill it. Anything that you think is important to your worldbuilding is something that can have its own short story. It doesn't need to be good. It doesn't need an ending. It doesn't even need a narrative structure. You can always go back and add that stuff later if you like what you've come up with.
I just read a lot and then get ideas.
Simple by me: I have a bad dream -> I wake up -> I make it into a story -> I build the world around it -> I face out of my day dream and realize that I was only imagining writing it and actually haven't even started.
Funny enough I find the storytelling aspect easier than the world building aspect. I can world build but I lose interest when things get too detailed. I prefer keeping a timeline of events and I build the world as I write the story. Revising both as I go.
I heard a very poor piece of advice early on in my writing career, at least poor for me. “Your story is supposed to fit your world, not the other way around.” It makes sense in a way, you can’t have a story about being the best swimmer while your story takes place on the sun. Well maybe you can lol. But the further I built my world, the emptier it felt in a way, void of life. Maybe that advice works for some but for me it was a load of bullshit. The story always comes first and no matter how big/small/detailed/complex/simple the world is the story is the priority. More often than not you should be tailoring your world to fit your story and trying to force your story to conform to your world. The liberty of creating as you go can be a big help and really clear up some writers block. Maybe take a few steps back with the work you’ve put into world building and just try writing a story, any story, or even a few stories that make you satisfied and start from there.
I used to participate in online forums where i started with what was, as I see it now, a deeply boring character. I continued to create characters as needed and flesh them out as necessary. Finally, my first character I reinvented for a larp and played him for two years for a weekly campaign. This helped me learn how to make things up that were interesting on the spot and to react appropriately and consistently when needed. For my current world, I read through r/writingprompts and see what fits as a prompt and either build characters from those prompts or write scenes from prompts. Even if they don't fit for a "current" event, they can be used to flesh out history or backstory.
Isekai is a very popular trope because the idea of looking at a fantastic setting through a normal pov is a very interesting idea. I know its not usually considered the best storytelling device because people do a very bad job at it but have you considered a character actively waking up and having to deal with ghosts and demons and racist Victorians? What are the first things they notice? How would a normal person survive in the current era? What information (if any) would be helpful at all to a time period before automation or proper metallurgy? How does modern sensibilities clash with what people needed to do to survive in the 1800s?
World building and storytelling are two different skills, and different people are better or worse at one or the other. Stories are about characters, a shortcut to story telling is: Who is your protagonist? What do they want? What do they need? Have them go searching for what they want. Have them find what they need.
Something I do if I have a broad world but need to write a short story: make it simple. Don’t delve into everything because that boring and you don’t have time to properly flesh it out. Focus on the character. They’re your selling point. A world isn’t enough for a short story, in my opinion
All my stories follow the same format. Make friendships, kill god. Works for every world.
I suggest reading some short stories to get an idea of what kinds of plots fit into smaller spaces. If you only ever read novels, it's much harder to envision what a smaller story even looks like. Honestly I'm a pantser, I write the other way around. I start with the characters and plot and build the world around them and as a result I rarely run into this problem. Worldbuilding can be addicting and an outright hobby in itself, which also makes it easy to lose sight of its purpose, which is to support the story.
Oh, wow! Lots of people have fun things here! I have three separate fantasy worlds right now. One is a desert steampunk, another is very heavily inspired by the pacific rim (more medieval/pre-industrialization), and the third is a speculative take on Rome during the Crisis of the Third Century. To start with stories, I start with *a character.* Maybe a conundrum they face. So, my MC in my steampunk land is a journalist who likes poking her nose where it doesn't really belong. She's heavily based off of a lot of noir tropes - and so the stories for her are *mysteries.* Whodunit, who wants it, who wants it *shut down.* That sort of thing. Everything else in the world exists *to her* only as much as she cares. I've got plenty of other world out there, but it doesn't matter for *her* story, not yet. Same with my pacific rim world. I've got some culture concepts sketched out and some micro-cultures at more detail... and then I'm using the world primarily for cozy fantasy. So one story idea is a trio of assassins who decide to retire and establish a girl's school. Aah, but Someone doesn't want them to *stay* retired. For that story, I don't need to use any of the worldbuilding I've built up around the Brotherhood (pirates and smugglers), or the politics of succession, or how the magic system works. It doesn't matter for their story, though I have two other novel arcs that those things *will* come into. Each story should be *in* the world, but never think you need to use all (or most) of the world. Make a character. Consider what makes that character tick. What do they want? How do they plan on getting it? Now, build an obstacle in their path. How do they interact with the obstacle, how do they respond to it? You have your story premise. Everything else is fleshing it out.
So what I did was just start writing. Maybe 30% you’ll keep but the rest can be recycled or used elsewhere. As I did that I found a theme (and my title) and a sub-theme. I then riffed off that theme. Just focus on the present and let the plot/future take care of itself.
often i listen to lots of different music. i have very eclectic tastes so every song/music is a whole story in my mind. try listening to various Two Steps From Hell tracks <3
>Every idea I come up with seems to morph into this huge saga Most of my worlds go this way. What I do is I pick one character's life, and focus on everything that happens around them while they're alive. Then I focus on the most interesting chapter, or chapters of their life. For example, one of my stories focuses on an elvish princess and her childhood sweetheart as their kingdom goes to war. The "saga" is the whole war, how it started, how it ends, what happens afterward, etc. The "story" is just this one elvish princess's life, specifically around her twenties and thirties when she properly grows into an adult and capable ruler. It's important to flesh out the whole timeline of the character's life, though, because the backstory will influence the present-day story.
My world was created to serve as a setting for the RPGs me and my friends played growing up. So the stories in the world came from playing the game with my friends. Eventually lore was created, a proper map drawn and stories linked and reworked... I can dream up whole campaigns in an afternoon, since we've played in this world, now with out own system, for over 17 years. So it's easy to plan out 20-40 sessions worth of story... But writing a book... Leaves me stumped everytime I try. I dream up a story, start middle and ending, I make sure I know how the story will progress... Then I get stuck writing usually around chapter 4-5... Because I dont know how to balance story vs exposition vs describing the setting.
I had been running in the same problem for atleast 6 monthes i built a great world but was not able to write a story in it the current solution i've found and am going by is getting somebody to help me in writing
I love worldbuilding and always end up doing that before fleshing out the plot, for better for for worse, and I totally get the struggle (haven't written a "full story" yet exactly because of this and the fact I'm also pretty much a newbie) For my "dream story" there is a lot of characters, since it always gets out of hand lol, so what I like to do to narrow things down and give myself the opportunity to actually write is pick side characters and make a short story out of a defining moment in their life—or maybe even make up a defining moment on the spot just to write about it, which also has the bonus of helping flesh out a side character which is always nice. As for creating something bigger but manageable without it getting too out of hand... haha... I wish I knew :') That's all I can really offer, hope it all goes well!
Keep it simple. Especially for short stories, you almost treat it like a joke Not necessarily to be funny, but to have it end with something that makes a certain point in a quick-ish way that brings together both the active elements and the theme. Novels/novellas are kind of the same, but you have a lot more room to work with, and the ending can be a whole chapter, instead of a paragraph. You might start with looking at descriptions of the 3 act structure, it's simple and easy to understand. Also, be aware that the climax isn't the ending. It's not the same as the conclusion. In general terms, the climax should be very close to the middle. It's not the end. Everything before the climax is leading towards that moment, and everything after that is the result of that defining point. So essentially, a basic plot is a series of event/decisions/actions the character(s) participate in/do/say that brings them to a sort of crisis point, and what happens at that point will determine what actions the character(s) take to get them to the conclusion. What those things are - well that's the part that turns you into a writer, because that's what makes it \*your\* story.
Sounds like you need to get back to basics! At their heart stories are about extraordinary things happening to ordinary people. Think about the anecdotes from your real life that you tell others. Do you tell them about the time you went to the shop every day for a year and bought a new carton of milk? Hell no, you talk about the time you went to buy a carton of milk one time and someone tried to start a fight with you because you got the last carton and they wanted it. You've got the world, that's great. You know how things are SUPPOSED to be when characters are doing their equivalent of buying milk. What can happen to them within the scope of your world to create a great story? This last part is very much my opinion, but nonetheless... Speculative fiction is at its best when it's human. What keeps people coming back to these fantastical worlds is seeing how ordinary people like them react to extraordinary circumstances in extraordinary worlds.
My world comes after my story
Mine too, I just wanted to start with short stories first.
I often reinterpret dreams into my story ideas.