Writing Workshop

"Creating a World - and Living With It"
A Workshop for Writers
by Rachel Lee

Development and Documentation:  Rachel Lee

Development and Documentation: Saving your World. - Rachel Lee

At a minimum, have a notebook or binder.  Better yet, take advantage of having a computer.  I develop and document my worlds, characters, and stories with mind-mapping software, but you can also use a word processor, or PowerPoint.  It helps if the software you use allows you to embed hyperlinks – to documents or web pages – because it’s easier to retrieve the information.  Most word processors do support hyperlinks now, as does PowerPoint.

I use mind-mapping software because it links ideas without forcing me to develop them in sequence, and those are actually two very different mental processes.  Ideas can and usually do come to us in odd ways.  We get a tickle of an idea for a character at one time, and a day or a week later something more, or perhaps even a whole “person” bubbles up out of the subconscious.  Likewise for the geography or layout of a town or city, or an idea for a conflict, or a sense that your world wants one thing or doesn’t want another.  A traditional outline format asks you to think of those ideas in order, or at least to put them in order as you’re thinking of them.  And the question “where does this fit in the outline?” can break the train of thought that was giving you the idea to begin with.

So don’t try to develop your ideas “in order.”  Unless you have the sort of hyper-organized brain that always creates ideas in sequence – and don’t admit that if you value your life – use a note-keeping system that matches the free-flowing way you find ideas.  And make sure it’s easy enough to use that you will actually use it, because….

Developing a world is not a one-day activity.  You’ll need to work out some basics as you’re planning your story, but you’ll find and need to fill gaps as you’re writing.  And if you’re writing a series, planning and writing each story will both require you to look up details from previous books and add details from the new book.  Creating a world is an ongoing process, and you’ll need to keep your notes in a way that allows and encourages that process as you go.

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