《Wattpad India Awards 2021》Learn: World Building & Backstory
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Alright, so you've started the story, but a whole bunch of other questions just flooded into your mind. Let's talk about one of them:
- What about my back-story and world building?
Back-story and world building are a tricky balancing act. They might slow you down from writing the actual plot but you will need to understand your world in order to write the characters into it. The questions above naturally bring up curiosities about the world it all takes place in.
Here are a some good rules to keep in mind when you worry about how long to spend on back-story:
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Readers only need enough back-story to understand what is happening in the scene they're viewing (which tends to be very little in most scenes).
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The more your world deviates from its natural rules (as in the normal rules of the given world, its habitants and its society), the more load you put on your readers, so be careful. They will have to learn and memorize new things about your story and it can get confusing.
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The reverse of number two, the more your world follows natural rules, the less you need to explain because most people know how the world works.
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You, as the author, will always know significantly more about the world than anyone else. It's amazing you put in all the work to figure out back stories, but it is possible that most of it won't make it into the story itself (because of rule 1). You won't necessarily realize what you would need to include in the story until you get to the part where it would be needed (or not needed). So, at any rate, it's good to have it brew in your mind. At least know that it helps you craft an amazing story!
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When you're crafting your world building details, make sure you put your characters in them and think about how they'll live and breathe in this world, how they interact with it, and how that might impact your plot. Your world is for your characters, so your planning should always be tied to them.
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Check yourself or have someone else check you for when you suspect you're spiraling over the edge. How do you know? If what you're writing is starting to feel more like a monotonous high school textbook rather than having a sense of excitement and continuity, you've probably gone too far.
Okay, you've got back-story and you've got critical questions answered. You're ready to write the opening. If you're planning on submitting a story you've already completed, that's fine! There's always room for improvement and you can polish your story given the above best practices.
Whenever we read these stories, as a writer, a tiny part of us always feels "What if I could create such a world too?"
Well, here's a secret, YOU CAN! Everyone can. All you need is a little determination and practice mixed with a pinch of imagination.
With that, we'll leave you to continue your journey with words.
Happy writing everyone :)
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