Worldbuilding and Readers

 How does the wind of another world feel like? Is it like ours? Or maybe so different you can’t tell it is wind? The wind has always fascinated me since a young child. It can be cold, warm, violent and gentle. It rustles trees and carries flower petals. But it can topple trees and uproot those flowers from the ground.

Worldbuilding is more for writer than for the reader. *ducks head* Yes, I just said worldbuilding is more for the writer than the reader. The details created during the building of the world are not for readers but for writers to understand how the environment will impact their characters. How the wind feels does not impact the readers only the setting.

As a visual person, I push play in my mind to see the movement and feel the sensations.  The writer in me translates the movement and sensations on paper for the reader. Sometimes the translation cannot be literal but molded for the audience reading enjoyment. You know the saying: a movie adapted from novel is not the same as reading the book. The reader’s mind is used to read a book and not their eyes.

When you read a book, your mind will fill the gaps the writer didn’t provide. It isn’t because the writer doesn’t know. Trust me, we do. Any good writer knows our readers are smart and will fill in the details. Provide the outline and the rest will fill in by the person reading it. If the writer pencils in too much, then the reader doesn’t use their mind as much and they don’t enjoy as much.

There are always exceptions. Tolkien is the first person I think of, but I also believe it is a product of his time. And finding readers who love all the details I believe aren’t the norm anymore. Please let me know if you believe otherwise.  I’m curious to prove another theory I have in head I want to post on.

Post your thoughts readers and writers!

Associate Editor

I am proud to announce starting this week I will join Savvy Authors as a Newsletter Associate Editor. And if you did not know already I will continue answering support emails for the site. I look forward to working with Dawn McClure on Savvy’s newsletters. I thank Savvy Authors for helping me grow as a writer and to broaden my professional career.

Season of Craziness

 Half-way through October and I still haven’t gotten myself together for NaNo this year. I decided to write on an old story idea and briefly wrote on a few years back. Short lived affair but the idea stayed with me over the years. To refresh my mind I’m stepping away my epic fantasy to urban fantasy with sci fi elements .

Storylines in Games

Excitement coursed through my body when I watched the last scene of opening movie to Mists of Pandaria. It reminds me WoW is so much more than gearing and leveling up. The richness of story is real as the stats. At times it slips my mind but the opening opened my eyes again.

My attention is focused at the end game context when it should be focused on the story and how it is woven together. Sometimes my mind shifts on the gameplay versus the storyline in MMOs. The only reason I play any game is for the storyline first and then the rest second. I will push through any game mechanics I don’t like just to finish the storyline.

The latest generations of consoles no longer have games with great stories lines. And for the first time, I couldn’t finish a game because of the gameplay. Final Fantasy 13 raised my hopes to only to crush firmly within the first 10 hours of the game. No more roaming around the world but just the path chosen for you; Plain out boring and not my style for playing RPGs.

The WoW Mists of Pandaria opening is below and I have beta access due to my pre-order of the expansion. It it now time to divide my attention between my draft and WoW again.

Random Info

Another crazy near finish week.

I started reading the first book in the Hunger Games after my nieces begged me to read them. I’m not far along and I plan on watching the movie this weekend. I really don’t see all the hype behind the series yet. I will save my official opinion until I read the entire book.

Next week is the Savvy Authors Summer Symposium 2012. For more info, visit the official page.

It’s been a while since I attended my local writer’s meeting and one is coming up this weekend. I’m bringing along a friend this time. Our guest speaker will cover pacing and creating emotional tensions. Two topics I love to learn about. It will be great two hours.

I’m still waiting for A Discovery of Witches  from the library for Speculative Society bi-monthly book club. Hopefully soon. I plan on picking up a high fantasy book soon. I feel left out of the loop of my genre. I missed out on great books I’m sure.

Have a great weekend!

Unexpected

In the last few weeks I experienced changes more than ever before. Some good and some bad and others just bizarre. I’m still in a haze over the changes in my life but it is slowly lifting. The positive always overcomes the negative in the end.

More than ever my lack of urgency in life has turned to panic in chasing my dream. Instead of running I’m walking to it and miles are adding on every day. The only way to take away the miles is to catch up. My goal over the next few weeks will involve major reworking of my activities. I will focus on my goal of finishing a draft by the end of the year.

I will limit playing WoW until my daily writing goal is complete. I will post to my blog once a week unless it is a holiday week and keep up with my group blogs. I will do anything else needed to complete my goal.

Three simple steps to tackle my dream head on. Look forward to progress!