WORLD BUILDING…
A two week exercise to explore new worlds, go to new places, boldly go where no writer has gone before!
Week 1: What is your world?
Whatever book, story, poem or anything you read inhabits a world. This world may be fantastical (e.g. Terry Pratchett’s books) real but through a different lens (e.g. Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere which was forensically set in Shaker Heights near Cleveland) or the past (e.g. Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall). Even if it seems the world is just a normal setting (London in present day) the way you describe it, the themes that come up, the characters that populate it, are all through your personal writer’s eye.
So this week we will start building the world of your story. (I’m saying story as a starting point but you can use this as a jumping off for a poem or play, anything you like. If you are inspired to write something else DO. You have permission!)
You might have ideas for characters as we start, but keep those in your pocket for next week, jot down any ideas you have.
- First take a sheet of paper and do a 5 minute Brain Dump. This is where you jot down all ideas you might have for a world you want to create. Is it somewhere you know? Is it fantasy? Caught in a landslide no escape from reality? (sorry I’m doing a Queen song now). Close your eyes and the first image that pops in of a place start jotting it down.
2. Put that paper away. Don’t look at it. It was a warm up for your brain! Now get a NEW sheet of paper and write down headings as follows:
Place – what is the main location of your world? Is it a city? e.g. Ank Morpok in Pratchett Countryside? e.g. Yorkshire dales in All Creatures Great and Small. Is it a place you have visited or a place you are going to invent?
Describe the main location in three sentences or write a list of words that describe it.
What are the surrounding areas of your main location? (Suburbs, retail park, forest, sea)
Describe the surroundings in one or two sentences.
Draw a map of the area.
Time
When is your world set? Is it history, contemporary or fantasy (perhaps in a time long long ago like Star Wars, or far off into the future) or dimensional different place on a different timeline (e.g. Handmaid’s Tale or His Dark Materials.)
This is an enormous rabbit hole of a topic, but all you need to do at this point is give yourself a very sketchy idea, so I’m going to give you a time limit – only spend a maximum of 15 to 30 mins on this. Less is fine.
Invent a history for your world – start now and draw a long line down a sheet of paper, like a washing line and add years/events. You don’t have to do too many – I’ve added a link to lots of timelines in history to give you an idea if you wanted to place something in historical fact. They are hugely detailed though so don’t feel you need to make anything this detailed!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_timelines#History
Set your timer to 15 minutes. Add events and ideas along the timeline as they pop up. Make them up if you like!
Next week we will have a go at populating your world! Please send email to Hazel or me with any pictures of your world building, we would love to see them!
Have a great bank holiday weekend!
Rachel x
Holborn Community Association - Creative Writing 