So I keep on going back to the world, I’ve done a ton of world building over the last year or two and what was just a concept has ballooned into a universe and it is killing me. I created a science fiction universe from who the science works, to the state of Earth in the future but I am stuck.
It is as if in becoming the creator of this world that exists in my head I lost the ability to tell the story or I would say find the story. Unlike most writers I didn’t start with the story and build out I built the world and have to find the story within it.
It is much harder to come up with the story after you’ve built the two, usually you would have the cbasic premise first and build the world in tandem with the story. I think doing it the other way is just harder because you are not as focused.
I guess because I am a gamer building the world and figuring out how it works was the rabbit I started to chase and I just couldn’t stop. So I already built a world now comes the challenge how to make it interesting enough for someone else besides me.
So I’ve decided to create characters that exist in the world and write a moment in their lives. Now I think for the most part these characters will exist in the present of near to where I have ended the timeline but not all of them.
I think I will write maybe a third of the chracters as people that existed in the universe prior to the start of the story if only to flesh out the world itself. So what I plan to write doesn’t have to be a epic or anything but a moment, a defining moment for that chracter.
There is a few reasons I want to do it this way, one is so I don’t have to have to know or invent their entire history. I just want a moment that matters, maybe it would be the first time being in a space ship or seeing the lights of the ships every evening but something that matters.
It can be traumatic, it can be joyous or maybe it was a word or an event that helped to shape who they are. Now I don’t necessarily think I am going to use all these characters but if I create them, then to me they exist.
They will not all be connected, some will not be connected at all but I hope this is a way I can get past my writer’s block and start filling my universe with voices. It will be hard to make them feel different. I may have to approach each one differently.
I think I may approach this as a way to test different approaches to character development, tone of voice and even basic structure. This way I can get to it with the pirmary focus on experimenting with style, substance and structure.
Because of how I started this process I feel like this is the best way for me to move forward. So my goal will be to each week write two chracters. I don’t know if I want to share what I write because I know no one will read it but maybe I will put up a little bit of it, if I think I need some advice or feedback on it on certian platforms like Wattpad just to get some feedback.
So here begins the real beginning. All the background information is the foundation now comes time to start filling it in.