How My Book’s World Was Created

Note from Cass: This is a guest blog written by my fabulous and supportive husband, Paul. He is the creator of my book’s world because he is amazing at it (and I am not). There will be a total of 7 posts written completely by Paul. I have not edited them, except to add a missing word or two in his rush to type them. I hope you enjoy this series of posts! All pictures are my additions. Click here for more world-building posts.

Once upon a time, in a house not far from here, there was a story written about a future that hopefully will never be. The brave author of this work made, what turned out to be, a small error in judgement. They asked for help with the worldbuilding. So, help was given. And, by the end of the help, apparently, at least from the helper’s perspective (should I add another comma here? They are like confetti, right?) the book of ‘the never to be future’ died a slow, silent, death.  

Yeah, let’s never do that again.  

So, it was with some surprise on a random Covid Date Night in early 2020 that Cass spoke to me about helping her with the world building of her book she was thinking about. She, being the smart one of our relationship, had had the epiphany: Get the help before the work is written, then maybe the breakage will be less.  

So that first night was a brain-dump from Cass about the things she wanted. I repeatedly tried to clarify what was a) narratively critical b) narratively useful c) an idea. My memory of the night has blended into a miasma of the accumulation of all of date night book conversations. Fun had. Lots and Lots of conversation. And possibly, just possibly, an adult beverage. Or two. 

So, we have spent the last six months or so, creating, reworking, plotting out how her world works, what is possible, what isn’t. How are the peoples of her world are, how they interact. What is the meta history. My one time Douglas Adams intro to cosmology and the Big Bang fits in here. Fun, but I am not the driver of this particular bus.  

What we haven’t spoken about is narrative. Sure, we have chatted. I have been a sounding board for a few ideas. Each in isolation. That is all her. I have the vaguest idea about the plot. And, there are two good reasons for that. A) It’s her book. B) I am pretty rubbish at narrative.  

I do, however, love world building. It is what I would sometimes think about on a commute to work. I like how things fit together. I like how people live in a world and sometimes how they break things.  

So, over the coming few weeks I am going to write about our process of world creation. Not mine. Our. I like where we are. I like that where we have got to is not where either of us could have gotten to alone. 

I will touch on journey pieces or even the finished (or is it?) world. I may throw in bits and pieces how we worked together, compromised, argued. Whatever. Maybe not.  

That’s it for now.  

P/ 

Oh, yeah… maybe obvious but everything I write is my perspective and what I think. That includes me being wrong about things. Which happens more than I know    😛