Welcome to Week #3 of the 30-Day Writing Challenge to Preparing Your Novel for NaNoWriMo.

This week we focus on World Building & Story Plot Points.

Time Commitment: I've created 17 world building categories for you to focus on and one main story plot point exercise with open-ended questions to help you brainstorm. Each question in the world building categories can take you from a minute to 15 minutes or more to answer. For the story plot point exercise, give yourself 10-20 minutes. Break your work into small chunks, so that you can answer all the questions during week.

SHARE & ASK QUESTIONS
  When you’re ready, share your results, Ahas and questions on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #30DAYWC.

  For those in the Premium, ALL-IN group, share your results, Ahas and questions in our private Facebook group.

Let’s get started!

Keep in mind: Take note of your genre and genre conventions. This will give you an idea of what your readers expect and some ideas on how to surprise your readers and yourself with your choices. Also, review your notes on character that you drafted in week #2.

Tip: If you find yourself getting bored with your replies, bring in an idea from another genre or from left field. Surprise yourself! 

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Do you feel overwhelmed when you sit down to write about your fantasy or science fiction world? I did!

I have found some entry points into world building. The strongest entry point for me is my characters. I interview my characters to learn about my fantasy world. If my main character can't tell me what I need to know, I choose secondary characters to interview. In fact, I interview all my characters, even the minor ones, to learn about my world. Sometimes, I’ve invented an "off screen" character to learn more about my story world. That's sometimes how characters get "on screen."

Not all the pieces of your world will you know, and not all pieces of your world will end up in your book. I start with the facts and lore that just flows from my subconscious and research the rest. For example, my heroine, Henrietta, was trained to be a blacksmith and sword smith. Why? Because I'm interested in those things. I researched by visiting a black smith and by reading about medieval sword construction and use. That was fun!

Note: If the research isn't fun, STOP. The first person you get to please is yourself, so research only the things that are fun. What is joy-producing for you is also a clue that you're on the right path with your research and your story. While I may love researching 1850s Paris and asking question about how Paris was built to be the marvel it is today, it was tortuous trying to write a novel set in that period. However, if I think of time travel story that uses that period, then I'm on fire.

The process of world building is a personal one, so each of you will discover or has discovered your own method of creating your story world. Personally, I start with my main character, her GMC, her backstory and history, then start developing the world with that material. From there, other characters and their stories start fleshing out the world. Then I look at plot, and as I develop that, I come up with more questions and answers about the world. Then, as I write and edit my book, I answer more questions still. Later, when my critique partners ask me questions, I answer those too. I don't sit down with the list below and fill in the blanks. I tried that once, and it didn't work for me. But it may work for you. Try one way, and if that doesn't work, try another. You'll eventually find the way that works for you.

A Note on Fantasy vs. Science Fiction & Making Stuff Up
Though we can blur the lines between the two, I want to draw a distinction on how we make up stuff for each genre. From what I understand, and have read, you can make up everything when you write fantasy. You can do this as long as everything holds together logically and has meaning for your characters. If the world you’re building feels totally random and that's not your intent, then you need to spend time figuring out the WHY and HOW of things. If you want to make up words, that's cool, as long as you and your reader don't get confused. For science fiction, the world is usually based in some scientific possibility. We aren't traveling the stars yet, but one day we could be. We don't time travel (yet!), but according to physics there isn't any reason why one day we couldn't.


Questions to Ask While World Building
Here are some of the things I ask my characters about.

:Language -- Does your world have different languages? How did they evolve?

:Origin Tales -- How did the world came to be?

:Folklore – What is your favorite childhood folktale or fairytale?

:Family tree – What do you know about your family tree?

:Jobs/professions -- What kind do people have? Do men and women divide work, share it? What kind of training do your characters receive, if any? How are they trained and by whom?

:Gender roles – What are people's attitudes about gender roles?

:Clothing/Costumes -- How do people dress? What do your characters wear and why? Where does fabric come from? Who makes it?

:Weather -- Does your place have four seasons?

:Flora & Fauna – What are some of the important or relevant animals and plants where you are?

:Food -- How it's planted/harvested/hunted/gathered? What do people eat and when? How it's cooked? Who cooks? What's poisonous?

:Geography – What are the main geographical regions of your land?

:Annual Rituals -- What is important to your world and why? How do you celebrate weddings, funerals, birthdays, puberty, other?

:Technology – What kind of technology exists? How is it powered? Who creates it? What training do they need?

:Animals – Are there any special or magical animals in your world

:Religion/Spirituality – What are their beliefs and how will they create conflict and why.?

:Magic – What are the rules and boundaries around magic?

:Politics/Power – Who is in power and why? How is power transferred to the next generation? What people do or don't do to get close to powerful people?

A Special Too Short Note About Time Travel
If you're writing time travel, then you need to figure how and why it works. If your story is fantasy based the rules can be different, based in magic. If you're writing science fiction, then your audience will expect you've figured out ways around the paradoxes that our modern readers will know (like in time travel), and explain them in your story world.

Have fun with your world building. Whether you start with your characters to discover the story world, or your start with the world and add your characters, world building can be a wonderful process of discovery as we create our compelling and engaging worlds for our readers.

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You can download the identical material in handout format here: http://30daywritingchallengefornovelists.bethbarany.com/course-content/#week3. Password: #30DAYWC (case sensitive)

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I’m a pantser. That means I like to write my stories by the seat of my pants. The problem was, when I started writing novels, the inspiration for my story and the love of my characters wasn’t enough. I needed a way to figure out the story, but all the standard plot tools didn’t work for me, or not very well. I was still stuck on how to create a compelling story that would keep me and my readers riveted to the page and caring what happened to my dear characters.

One day at a writing workshop, the teacher had us brainstorm our character’s worst fears, and then think of the worst thing after that, and even further, think of the worst fear after that.

I did this exercise and shuttered in fear at all horrible things I dreamed up for my character. And then I experienced an Aha. The Aha wasn’t that I scared myself with my imagination, even though that’s what happened. My Aha was about using my strength of knowing my characters well to craft the story from start to finish.

So that’s what I do now. I start the novel preparation process for all my novels and novellas with drafting my characters. Then I spend extra time on uncovering their worst fears. Next I turn these fears into points in my plot that move the story forward as I share below.

Here’s how you can do the same…

Exercise: “List of 20″
On a piece of paper or on your computer writing program, create a numbered list from 1 to 20.

Then set the timer for 10 or 20 minutes. 

Now brainstorm your character’s worst fears. Keep moving your hand across the page to uncover more worse possibilities. And keep making things worse for your dear, sweet characters.

If you're stuck, ask: What is she really afraid of? What does he not want to see or acknowledge?

Keep in mind that this is just a list of ideas, and you may or may not use all of these. The idea is just to write down as many fears as you can. If you find yourself drafting other ideas, just go with it. There are no mistakes, only information for your creative mind.

You may be surprised at what you discover.

Take a break from your work if you need to. 

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An author asked me recently how I (Beth) keep track of all my story and character details. The answer is I use the software called Scrivener to keep all my story notes, research, images, and first draft.

I’m giving away 1 copy of Scrivener to a Lucky Winner! 

To enter: Post a fun discovery about your main character on Twitter using the hashtag #30DAYWC through Oct. 21, 9pm Pacific.

Prize: We will give 1 Lucky Winner a coupon for 100% off Scrivener. ($45 value) (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/)