World-Building

I'm not going to lie to you guys--I don't have the first clue about world-building. You want to know what my idea of WB is? Giving more details. (And I have no idea if this is what I should be doing. Eek!)

What concerns me is the idea that this chaotic world inside my head may never be told the way I see it. I'd love for readers to envision everything perfectly, and imagine the falling stars and Legora and the King's castle as I do.

So where do I begin? I honed in on Andy(my MC)'s thoughts. I mean, really listened and watched. And she showed me things. Things I'd never thought of.

She had said to me, We're in a desert with nothing but sand. The sun burns our skin. But it's the nighttime that scares me the most. At this point, I'm like, whaaaat? If I lived in a world where the sun burned my skin (okay, I did live in this world; it's called Phoenix), then I couldn't wait until night falls. Andy said, You're not listening, Becca. Pay attention. And this is where I sat up and kinda went...whoa. She continued, At night, there are creatures you don't even want to know about. I'm all like ewwwwww. Then she gets impatient with me, so I shut up. She finally said, The bitter cold comes at night, along with the mutated creatures. (mutated creatures? wtf?)

Then it....just...clicked. It's like I needed that extra push for all of the different pieces to fit together.

Of course they live in a world that's seen so many wars that the ozone layer has a gaping hole in it (which will happen to us if you don't go green, people! /rant). Of course the sun and moon are off-kilter; nothing's the same anymore and the two of them cause extreme weather. Of course the stars plummet to Earth. There's barely an ozone layer to slow them down. Of course there's a King in a castle. They have to have some sort of government, don't they? Just because it's the end of the world doesn't mean there aren't laws. Of course there are towns where weary travelers can rest their feet or choose to stay. Of course they're running out of supplies because they can't grow their own food in the heat and cold.

These, my friends, are a foundation for world-building. From there, I can build up. And you can too. Once you have the basic components of your world, you can show the reader whatever the story entails. Remember, even the smallest of details can make a difference. Not only does it show how much time and effort you put into your story, it makes your story feel real.

Now, I'm not the queen of WB by any means. But I do know I can work on it and try to produce a book that's better than anything I've written so far. I can do that with each new WIP.

I want to hear what you guys do when it comes to WB. Do you have any tricks you'd like to share? What are some of your foundations for the world in your mind? Have your characters spoken to you?