creative-writing

Creating Fantastic Worlds

/ abtimothy / 2 Comments

As creatives, we are tasked with understanding the hearts of our stories. Much as in real life, we find ourselves looking to the real world for inspiration, our characters must look to their own worlds for inspiration. Lacking a world for your characters to live in is something that I call the “blank canvas problem.” If all that exists in your story’s world is what immediately affects the main character, it can make the story feel shallow.

Here are six tips for creating deeper, richer worlds.

Tip #1: Look Around

Look around your world. Close your eyes, yes, you, the creative, close them. Okay, now imagine you are in your character’s or subject’s shoes, open your eyes, what do you see? Do you see a fantastical forest with trees reaching for the stars? Do you see epic cityscapes on a faraway planet? Write what you see. Even if this does not show up in your draft, or painting, or whatever you’re working on, having the written knowledge of what your character is seeing will help you create emotions on the canvas or depth on the page.

Tip #2: Look Within

Turn your imaginary telescope on your character now. Look within. See what is hiding in your character’s heart and soul. Who do they love, what do they fear, why are they persisting, and what do they want? All of these could lead to small details that will help your world, and not just your character, feel better developed. For example, if my character wants power, what does that look like? What does it mean, in this world, to have power? Is it merely strength, or is it political? If it’s political, that can lead me down a worldbuilding rabbit trail where I develop an entire political system for my Speculative World.

Tip #3: Use All of Your Senses

As you come out of your character’s soul-searching journey, stop at their surface. Feel everything they feel, smell what they smell, see what they see, hear what they hear, and taste what they taste. Each of these, again, can fill you with inspiration that leads to a more meaningful world. Do they feel hungry? Are they poor? What does economics look like in this world? Are they full and able to smell the pie their family member just baked? What are pies in this world of yours? Do they fill them with regular fruits or some new and imaginative pomological creation?

Tip #4: Create a Map

Getting out of the character now, we can look at the world itself again. Sometimes, especially if you are writing Sci-Fi or Fantasy, creating a real map of your world or solar system using a tool like Inkarnate, or even MS Paint. This will ask many questions of you and has the potential to be either the most shallow or the most enriching addition to your world. I learned much about my fantasy world’s setting when I made the map below for it. I learned where things were, mysteries that could develop, and who lives where.

A map of a beautiful island continent called "Avalon" The Home of the Once and Future King.

Tip #5: Write Short Stories

The best way to get to know a place you are creating is to write about it. This goes for all creatives! I don’t care if you’re an artist or a sculptor; writing will help you understand what you are creating. Does that mean these short stories ever have to see the light of day? No. It does mean that you will have a better, more detailed description of what you are working on, though. I am working on developing a Science Fiction setting about a war between humanity and space-faring dragons, and part of how I have developed it is by writing a series of short stories on the subject. While the short stories do a lot of character work, they also helped me develop what these space dragons are, who the humans are that are fighting them, and what kinds of spaceships the humans use to fight the void-breathing dragons. Interested in reading more about spaceships fighting dragons? Read this short story to dive in!

Tip #6: CREATE!

The original header I had for this section was “WRITE!” because that is what applies the most to me as an author, but “CREATE!” implies the same idea. You need to work out your creative muscles for them to grow. If I stopped writing after my first “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” fan-fiction, I would not have six published short stories and be working on publishing my first novel! Davinci gave up when he made a finger painting for his mother to hang on her fridge; we would have never received the Mona Lisa. No matter what, keep writing!

Still need more inspiration? Check out these other inspirational blog posts that I have written: Keeping the Beacon Lit, Working Out & Writing Down. Tell me about the worlds you are creating! Do you have an inspirational blog post you want to share to inspire others? Post it in the comments below!

Keeping the Beacon Lit

/ abtimothy / 3 Comments

Recently, I attended a Comic-Con in my hometown, and there was a panel hosted by an old D&D buddy called “Keeping the Beacon Lit: How to Stay Creative During Dark Times.” He and two other creatives took the stage and talked about their struggles with mental health and how that affected them and their creative ventures. I wanted to take a moment and go over some of the great advice I received and even add some tips that you could use to “Keep the Beacon Lit.”

As creatives, we think, and we think a lot. It is, after all, kind of our job. Sometimes those thoughts get in our way and put up walls against creativity. Today, we sometimes believe that there are little creatures out to steal our creativity. The chaos gremlin, for example, will make your life a mess so that you can’t pursue your passions as a creative. In the Middle Ages, however, there was something quite the opposite: a fantastical creature from Greek lore that would visit artists and bless them with new ideas or the right word for the poem they were working on. In both cases, these creatures would often be used as excuses. We modern artists will say, “Life is too crazy right now, thanks, chaos goblin.” Authors of antiquity might have said, “Well, the muse just was not with me today.” Both of these are excuses. As people, more broadly, not just creatives, we love excuses. “I’m too tired today,” “My heart’s just not in it,” or “I’m exhausted.” I myself have used all of these to just avoid doing what I need to be doing. There was one creative, however, who said, “Enough is enough.” Pablo Picasso famously said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

I love this quote and cite it often when discussing creative pursuits with family and friends. When I quote it, though, it usually sounds a little different. Mine goes: “When the muse arrives, she must find you working.” In medieval lore, as previously mentioned, the muse was seen as a source of creative inspiration and many excuses. However, Picasso’s quote and my own rendition of it flip things on their heads and put the ball back in your court.

If a mystical muse, the beautiful and illustrious creature she is, shows up because she heard your call for inspiration, but arrives to find you lying in your bed, or scrolling TikTok on your phone, why would she waste her energy by blasting you with a spark of inspiration? Instead, what if she finds you sat at your computer, or at your writing desk with a blank page in front of you, or a pencil in hand? In either scenario, she might still give you that spark, but blank pages are much more flammable than a TikTok FYP (For You Page).

Back to the Comic-Con panel now, much of what the three creatives had to say was about ways they have found to keep the fire alive. Something they did not mention was writing anyway. Which is something I posed to them. Write, or create, not because you want to all the time, but because it matters, or because you can! One author mentioned that she gave up on an entire novel/world that she had created because the Political Climate of the real world didn’t seem welcoming to her story. I rebuffed her later, during one of my questions. I asked, “What if there was a little boy or girl out there who needs your story to see what they could be? What kind of world could they create if they strove for it?”

If you stop writing because you feel like you’re in the dumps, that is a selfish mindset. It is self-centered and self-serving. People out there need your stories, sometimes more than you do! Think about what Dr. Tolkien wrote, “Since it is so likely that (children) will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise, you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.” Little children, both in body and heart, are out there and need to hear of brave knights and heroic courage. (No, I am not saying you must write Medieval Fantasy only.)

TL;DR?

Is the Creative Fire Dimming?

  • Create Anyway!
  • Create for those who need what you create.
  • Create for your family.
  • Create for your friends.
  • Go to a local bookstore and browse the shelves for inspiring books/covers.
  • Take your creating on the go, i.e. a coffee shop, a library, or a bookstore.
  • Take a break (don’t give up! Set a Timer).