So, this is my first real post, and I don't even know if it's in the correct location, so please bear with me here... I have my story, sort of. I have a general outline of a fantasy novel that I've been building for quite a while. I think it's good. But I tell folks that I'm building the world my story is based in, and that's true. I'm building this world, Coytazar, from top to bottom. I have a large map of it and everything. I'm creating the races, the people, and the creatures. From me rambling on here, am I creating too much? And through all of this, I haven't written much of the story yet. Its like, as I think about how I want it to go, I build brick upon brick without ever reaching a climax... Perhaps I'm just crazy and this is all nonsense, but there's my tale. Please tell me what's on your mind!
I can't tell you how much backstory to build before writing the actual story, but I can say that having a plot with no climax is a bad idea. I would say that any background you create should help your story. This help can be creating versimiltude, or shaping characters, or framing the central conflict. If the details don't perform some service to the story, then they aren't really a priority when creating it. This doesn't mean you shouldn't do it, sometimes the line between backstory and story is very thin. Especially for a very big world (J.R.R Tolkien's world comes to mind).
Here's my advice for you. I have a giant elaborate world like that stuck in my head. I tried to put it to paper and got nowhere, so i started drawing maps, listing characters and creating the history etc. I got to 30 pages of that. Still can't write the story. Problem was it's a huge task to take on, and unless you've already been very immersed in writing on a daily/weekly basis, it's project impossible. I think if you're new to writing, you should start with real life relatable stories. That's what I've started doing despite my burning desire to create a world like harry potter or naruto. It's going well. Im learning useful tools that'll one day enable me to take on my big project.
Okay, sounds good. I do write a lot outside of Coytazar, a varied lot of fantasies and reality-like fiction. A good handful of these tales contain bits and pieces of other works of mine, but I think that that is part of being a writer: mixing bits and pieces until you find a recipe that tastes just right.
Well if you define the everything through exposition they're be less questions for all of us Just create a basic level of everything you want and then use the story to help flush them out
I think you're focusing too much on the world you're creating, this Coytazar. Unless the world is your main focus point (I.E like it sort of is in Final Fantasy 7) then try not to focus on it so much. Sure certain parts of the world will affect the story and the characters, but unless it is a MAJOR thing, worry more about the characters, the plot, and what you hope to achieve over the world you're creating. If the world does play a significant role in your story, like its ending and your characters need to save it, then by all means try to flesh it out some. You may also consider the idea of the movie Avatar, or even how Columbus and the explorers felt when they discovered a new world. To me though, it does sound like your focusing more on the world, and not enough on everything involved with the world.
In my opinion, when you make up any crazy world, it have to have some kind of purpose. Like you couldn't write it this way if the climax weren't made up. So I do this because two jerks can make a fun of it and also it has some cool resemblance to the real world. Everytime you put up fantasy world with no idea except it should be just interesting by itself, it end up really terrible. Like new Totall Recall movie. Its not in Mars, they travel underground and are in some kind of dictatorship prison, but solving just some memory problems. I mean, what's the point of any of this?
If you're really into world building, don't just describe the world: Narrate it. Write a firsthand account of historical events (and so the elves did mightily beat the dwarves at the seventeenth checkers tournament in a row and did merrily mock the short, grumpy beard-faces). Write a conflict that occurs during a time period Write a field journal detailing an exploration of locations, flora and fauna Write a guided tour through a city, dungeon or landscape These can just be short stories, but they serve the dual purpose of fleshing out your world AND providing prompts for any larger scale projects you might tackle later. In the meantime, take your readers on a short adventure through the world you're building.
