Features

Way With Worlds: Recording Your World

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Shelves

[Way With Worlds appears at Seventh Sanctum at at MuseHack]

So you want to build a nice detailed setting. You are ready to keep a record of everything so you review and expand your work. You’re ready to dive into this and put your world to pen, keyboard, map, and file.

This raises the question of just how you record everything.

If you’ve ever visited a fan wiki or purchased one of those “world of . . .” books that attempts to distill a novel or series of novels into a record of that universe, you know there is a lot of data. It can be a little daunting because when you want to create your setting in detail, really get into it, and you’re basically creating one of those. On your own. Along with writing your story or stories.  It’s a bit daunting

What’s the best way to do it?

Well, that’s actually several questions. So let’s get to them.

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Way With Worlds: Views, Lenses, and Your True Main Character

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Viewpoint Telescope

[Way With Worlds appears at Seventh Sanctum at at MuseHack]

Writing your world up is one thing. You can take notes, document everything, draw up timelines, and so forth. That’s a matter of technique, imagination and, frankly, your ability to write everything down. Getting yourself to use all those notes? That’s another challenge.

How do you actually bring all this worldbuilding to life?  How do you get the details to live and not sit forgotten on pieces of paper, wikis, and documents?  How do you keep this information in mind?  How do you avoid breaking your own carefully-crafted continuity without turning every bit of writing into a chore of review?

Perspective is my answer, though that now deserves an explanation.

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Geek Job Guru: Use Your Hobby As A Backup Career

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You may be quite happy in your career.  It pays the bills and plays to your interests.  You have your hobbies and passions, yes, but they’re fine where they are or are going in the direction you want.  Nothing to worry about.

However radical changes can come quickly as we all know.  You get laid off.  A company moves and you’re not ready to change locations.  Your profession starts to contract or alter radically – more radically than you’re ready to face or adjust to.  Trust me, I’ve been there – I’ve had many a sudden career change over the years.

So you may be left one day not only without a job, but without many prospects of doing what you’ve been doing.  You can’t even rely on relocation because the market has changed so radically that you’re not sure you can count on your old career to work the same way.

You may want to consider hobby-as-career not just as a laudable goal to tap your interests or a “someday” plan, but as a backup career in its entirety.  Perhaps for a time – perhaps as a transition that’s more permanent.

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