Worldbuilding for Romance Novelists
AUTHOR: Cory Daniells

Every SF&F writer knows about suspension of disbelief; it corresponds to the romance writer?s challenge of creating a believable and sustainable conflict for the hero and heroine. When the fantasy or SF reader opens a book, the writer asks them to accept that magic really works or that people have colonized the stars. The plot will pivot on these assumptions and, if at any time the writer fails to follow the rules of their world, the inconsistencies will throw the reader out of the story.

For a reader to suspend their disbelief in a fantasy, the rules of magic must be internally consistent. The writer must decide what the source of their character?s magical power is, bearing in mind that all magic must have limitations. Does the heroine have an internal source of magic which exhausts her every time she uses it, or does she have a magical power source that comes from a talisman and is powerless without it? Perhaps the heroine draws her magic from an outside source like lay-lines.

Once the writer has established these limitations, any breaking of the rules will lose the reader. They may keep reading, but it changes the way they perceive the characters. It is like comparing a Kung Fu movie where the hero can float on the air and dodge bullets with a Jackie Chan movie where Jackie actually does everything you see. There is breathtaking immediacy to Jackie Chan?s choreographed fight sequences because you know the people aren?t being lifted by ropes against a blue screen.

This is the difference between making your fantasy world so real that the reader becomes totally involved with the characters and producing something that is light and entertaining but ultimately not as gripping.

As a reader of SF&F, when I read futuristic (SF) and fantasy romances I look for a well-planned premise. The stories have to satisfy my love of romance with strong heroes and heroines, but these people must be the products of their world. And this is why creating a believable world, whether it is futuristic or fantasy, is so important.

In this article I?m not going to go into the nuts and bolts of worldbuilding because that would be as exciting as reading a shopping list. (See the appendix at the end of the article). For now I want to talk about making your world come to life. To do this you need to research. There is a danger here: some writers get so involved in their research that they never get around to writing the story. Nevertheless, if you research sufficiently before you start a new project, your worldbuilding will be integral to the plot and characterization, right down to the characters? names.

A reader?s suspension of disbelief can be destroyed by something as simple as the wrong name. Somehow Bob the Barbarian just doesn?t have the same ring as Conan. I used to have a problem coming up with names for my characters and places. Made up names often sound just that. To avoid fake sounding names, I try to use words from our shared linguistic history by selecting a defining element of the character?s personality and adapting the archaic form of the word. My hope is that readers will subconsciously pick up the meaning.

In my T?En trilogy I had trouble finding a name for Reothe. He was Imoshen?s first love, her betrothed whom she had to betray to save her people. I?d tried several names and none worked until I looked up Troth - to pledge one?s word in betrothal. The old English word is treowth (truth), which led to T?Reothe. Once I had this name I felt comfortable using it and it helped define his character for me.

Worldbuilding is about getting the details right and being consistent. You may need family trees, depending on the length of your timeline, and you will definitely need maps. You have to decide how far is it from one place to another and how long it takes to get there. If you are writing futuristic, you?ll have to decide what form of space travel your people use.

If you are writing fantasy, you need to ask yourself if your heroine?s people travel by winged beast, by boat, or by humble horse. How far can a horse carry its rider in one day? If the rider is a knight in armour, about 25 miles. If the rider is a Mongol horseman who eats in the saddle, then up to 80 miles.

With the nuts and bolts of worldbuilding, you can go into incredible detail, from the length of the day to the age at which a child is considered an adult, but your world won?t come to life unless you build in the idiosyncrasies that make each culture unique. In my T?En trilogy I set out to contrast General Tulkhan?s patriarchal society with Fair Isle where women held positions of power. Apart from the obvious example of having female Guild masters, how could I show this working in society? While researching how the Dutch used dykes to drown invading armies, I came across an interesting custom. In the prosperous seventeenth century Holland, wealth was based on trade and women had a relatively strong position. When a baby was born, the family would hang a wreath on the door to celebrate. I thought this was a wonderful example, and in book two of my trilogy, I had Imoshen identify a new father by the badge he wore on his hat. How new life is celebrated tells a lot about a culture. It reveals how important family is and the position that women hold.

Research is the greatest tool a writer has, particularly if you create worlds. In Australia and American our societies share a common source so we would be familiar with European culture, mythology and history. For a different slant, read the histories and myths of cultures other than Europe. Take the time to look at Asian, South American, Indian and African culture and mythology. For an insight into what happens when vastly different cultures meet, study the catastrophic clashes of cultures. What were the factors that enabled Cortez to conquer the Aztecs with only five hundred and fifty-three men and sixteen horses? Why are there no living pure blood Australian Tasmanian aborigines?

Buried in the world?s history are individual stories more bizarre and touching than anything you could dream up. In twelfth century Japan there was a Samurai warrior called Kumagai. When his Warlord ordered his men to capture the Taira fortress, Kumagai set out to distinguish himself in battle. On the beach he disarmed an enemy warrior. But when Kumagai took off his captive?s helmet, he discovered it was Taira Atsumori, a beautiful seventeen year old youth about the same age as his own son. By the rules of war he had to take the boy?s head. (If he hadn?t someone else would have). Afterwards he discovered a flute in the young man?s belt. None of Kumagai?s Samurai were cultured enough to play the flute. Kumagai was so moved he gave up being a Samurai and became a monk instead.

The more varied the input, the richer your output will be. Research will reveal common misconceptions. For instance, you may decide that your heroine comes from a society with a low level of technology. But this doesn?t mean her society will be culturally primitive, or even live in a primitive manner. There were towns in the Indus valley dating from 2,500 BC to 1500 BC which were laid out on a grid pattern with three and four story buildings. These homes had indoor baths and toilets which drained into sewers.

To build a believable world for your hero and heroine you need to understand the forces that shape the way we think. People who do not have control over their environment turn to deities to help them avoid drought and floods. For example, fishermen who risk their lives each time they go to sea can be highly superstitious.

This leads the writer to religion. How religious are your heroine?s people? Where does she fit into this? Is all knowledge based on religion? Did she come from a wealthy family with access to written histories other than religious texts, or is all their history oral? Do men control religion? What role do women have in this society? Can they own property or are they only slightly above the level of a good horse? If women get sick, are they left to live or die, according to their strength? Who looks after the health of the tribe? Who holds the power, a religious elder or a warlord? Is the warlord in power because the heroine?s society is in danger from an internal threat such as famine, or an external source due to invasion?

You see, as soon as you start to worldbuild you discover everything is related.

This brings us back to your heroine?s safety. If her tribe is secure, they will be more tolerant. If not, they may ostracise those people who are born different. Is there something different about your heroine? In my T?En trilogy Imoshen is a throwback to an earlier race who had mystical powers. She is marked by her odd colouring. This is more of a curse than a blessing as the True-people are wary of Imoshen, so her differences have shaped her perception of herself.

If the differences between your hero and heroine are central to their characters, having arisen from their place in society, then you have a believable conflict. Good worldbuilding creates great conflict. In a futuristic romance, part of your hero and heroine?s conflict could arise from their different backgrounds. She might come from a planet that was inhospitable for humans so the settlers chose to sculpt their bodies using genetic manipulation, or nanotechnology. Because they have changed their bodies they may be very tolerant of other ideologies and welcome aliens. The hero, on the other hand, may come from a planet whose settlers chose to maintain a static society, such as the Amish, and forbade all technology later than the Renaissance. He will find it hard to understand her openness. She will be impatient with his self-imposed limitations.

We all have limitations. With six children to put through university I will never be able to afford to travel, but I can armchair travel. To create rich settings for your characters, browse National Geographics. These not only show you beautiful places but give you an insight into how people live. I read one article about a tribe who lived on pole houses over shallow lakes. They made platforms from reeds and hauled up silt from the lake bed to create floating gardens.

Watch documentaries about times and places you?ll never get to visit. Use these as backdrops for your story and, where possible, as plot pivots. In the Bahamas? jewel like sea there are deep blue holes. According to local legend, Lusca lives in these, a creature half octopus and half shark who draws in his breath creating whirlpools over these holes. He sucks down debris and men, even fishing boats. Then, when he is satisfied, he exhales forming a dome of water. Naturally the fishermen avoid these places.

A geologist would explain that the blue holes are actually the openings to underwater caves which are linked to ground water on the islands. When the tide is high, the pressure of the heavier sea water forces water down into the caves below the blue holes causing the whirlpools. The ground water rises a little. When the tide is low the sea water pressure drops and the ground water forces sea water down so that it wells out of the blue holes in great domes. Here you have an amazing natural phenomenon which just might play a role in your plot.

Just as every romance writer knows you must build layers into the hero and heroine?s relationship, you must also build layers into your world. You only have to look around you to see that no society is so homogenous that everyone dresses, eats and thinks the same way. Not only are there layers of wealth within your heroine?s society from the rich to very the poor, but there are also layers of architecture and beliefs. In any large city today you can walk down the streets and see buildings that date from last year, through last century to, in some places, ruins from two thousand years ago. And just as there will be physical differences, there will be people who hold divergent beliefs living alongside each other, perhaps in tolerance or perhaps in a state of armed truce.

Little idiosyncrasies and layers breathe life into your world, helping make your hero and heroine the people they are. Even within the heroine?s family there will be differences in attitude.

We are all products of our time. When my mother was young, married school teachers had to quit work, but only if they were female. For women of that time it was a limitation they had to accept. My daughters expect their gender will not limit them. In three short generations you get diametrically opposed expectations.

Your hero and heroine will be products of their time and their worlds, but they will be willing to grow and learn and in doing so they will come to value each other for their differences. The richer their worlds? cultures, the deeper the differences and the greater that leap of understanding will be for them to discover true love.

The very best writers can bridge the genres, satisfying both the romance reader and the SF/F reader. So learn to love your research and worldbuilding. It?s fascinating!

* For the nuts and bolts of worldbuilding take a look at the SFWA site. This author has covered everything in amazing detail. http://www.sfwa.org/writing/worldbuilding1.htm

* For an overview take a look at my article on worldbuilding at the ROR site. www.powerup.com.au/  coryd/rorIndex.html

* For author?s personal insights on worldbuilding take a look at your favourite authors who may have articles on how they world build on their sites.

* Because author Sara Douglas?s is an historian, she brings a wealth of background to her worldbuilding. www.saradouglass.com

* For writers of Futuristic romances who want information on Artificial Intelligence and Nanotechnology made easy to understand, get a copy of Damien Broderick?s The Spike from Forge. ISBN: 031287782X; (February 2002) http://www.panterraweb.com/the_spike.htm

* To get to know the science fiction and fantasy genre, read the books which are short listed on the Locus website for the Nebula and Hugo. www.locusmag.com

* To scratch the surface, here are some interesting science fiction and fantasy books with above average worldbuilding:

The Earth Sea Trilogy by Ursula le Guin (anything by this author)
The Fire & Ice Trilogy by George RR Martin
The Books of Ash by Mary Gentle
The Assassin Series by Robin Hobb
The Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh
The Witches of Elienan series by Kate Forsyth
Elric books by Michael Moorcock
Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books by Fritz Lieber
Daughter of the Empire series by Raymond Feist and Jenny Wirts
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
Perdido Street Station by China Meiville
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson
Ringworld by Larry Niven
The Barrayar books by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Skolian books by Catherine Asaro
Dune by Frank Herbert

Sources used in this article:

* For information on the blue holes of the Bahamas see Atlas of Earth?s Mysteries, RD Press ISBN 0-86438-164-6

* For information on the Japanese warrior see The Book of the Samurai, Bison Books ISBN 0-86124-061-8

* For information on how wars were fought see Ancient and Medieval Warfare, Avery ISBN 0-89529-262-9

* For information on knights see The Medieval Knight, Tiger Books ISBN 1-85501-919-1

* For Holland in the seventeenth century see The Embarrassment of Riches, Vintage Books ISBN 0-679-78124-2

* For the Harrapan Indus Valley culture see Historic India Time-Life Books, pub 1968.

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Cory Daniells? latest book and the third in the Last T?En trilogy, Desperate Alliances, aka The Shadow Kingdom (in Australia), is now available in the US. Visit her site at: www.powerup.com.au/  coryd