Saturday, October 9, 2010

History and Magic

I have finally - finally - done a bit of outlining and planning and stuff :D Yesterday I outlined another chapter or two and I started to further develop my magic and I'm trying to learn just what it can and can't do, creating the rules and structure and all that. I have to say that I particularly enjoy doing that type of thing, thinking about the way things should be with the magic and the world. I've also created a legend that has, for a long time, become a children's bedtime story, and it will be relevant to the story so I didn't make that just for fun. . . But it was fun.

So today I think I'm going to continue with the magic development and start to figure out the things about the remnants that have been on my mind for awhile now. The remnants have a very interesting history that I can't wait to dig into, that will be fun :D I wonder how much of their history will actually make it into the book though. . .

I think it's kinda funny how we will develop all this interesting history and magic rules and things about their world and tons upon tons of other things that probably won't even make it into the book. Even though we know that there's no way a bunch of this stuff will get into the books we write it anyway. Like I was just talking about the remnants history up there? Well very little of what I discover about it will probably make it into the book and I know this yet I will figure it all out anyway. Then I got Siron's mothers past and her family that I have to figure out and lots of her history will get into the book yet I'm not as interested in figuring all that out as I am about the remnants.

How many of you guys bother about making a history for your world? Or how much do you figure out about their magic rules and boundaries? And how are your outlines going, if you're outlining at all?

5 comments:

Snazzy said...

I kind of have to do this for my story as well - there are some magically components and I have to figure out what it's capable of and what it's not and maybe even why it functions that way - and I have no clue if I even need to put all that in the story!

That's what I like about stories. It has a whole world and reality beyond what makes it on the page.

Anonymous said...

This is why I love people who blog, you make me feel bad about not outlining when I should. yay~ I sympathize with you, when I do outlining usually I get a bunch of meaningless ideas that I won't ever use. Let's be serious, it's important to know well your world/character. It doesn't matter if you won't use half of it. Of course it's not the best idea for the Wrimo concept, but sometimes we can't let it go.

Claudie A. said...

I create a lot of background for all of my stories, even if it'll never make it to the novel proper. I think the more you know your world, the less generic it becomes, and your writing will get more immersive.

Admittedly, I am a worldbuilding addict, so I also put the details in for the fun. ^^

Anonymous said...

I LOVE to build worlds :D I don't outline as far as plot goes, but I will write down TONS of notes on the world. With Fie Eoin I even wrote legends and myths and such. It's so much fun, and it lends a deeper level to your world that makes it that much more real.

TayLyee said...

@Toranse Yes I love having to write all the extra stuff but sometimes it's just like: "Uh. . . I haven't written anything about the actual plot for a few weeks. . . *guiltily looks at spiral full of world and magic notes*

@rarte Glad to know I help guilt you into outlining :D I haven't written on more than the remnants history since this post <.< >.> So yeah, I like blogs for that same reason as well :P And while it may not be a good idea for a wrimo it is a good idea for inspiration and it can work out some kinks you didn't know was in you story idea until you had it worked out so yeah.

@Claudie A I do think that, about the world being more realistic with more background. I have read too many stories lately that feel very flat and generic and I don't want my story to end up like that =\

@stickynotestories YES! World building has got to be one of the best things about writing! It's the reason I don't care for writing stories in our reality (because, you know, we all already live here). So far I've got some notes and maps of my world and a legend, but this is only the beginning :DD

I hope everyone is having a good time with their stories!