This lesson contains arguably the most important aspects of world building (in other words, please excuse the length! I shortened it as much as I could). No matter how interesting you make everything else, if this section is lacking it can ruin the rest of your hard work. We’re going to look not only at how to create interesting and realistic characters, but also how to fit them into your world through the creation of whole societies and magic systems.

 

Let’s begin with magical systems. This can get very complicated, so always try to keep in mind exactly what implications and ramifications each ability has on the rest of the world. No matter what sort of magic you decide to create, remember that it should have limitations placed upon it so that it doesn’t become too powerful. If there is no limit/cost to the power you give a protagonist or antagonist, then there is no tension involved in the story because goals become too easy to achieve. Another thing to keep in mind is consistency. There is nothing more frustrating than reading a scene that explicitly states that something is impossible, only to have another character perform the same action without any explanation. Foreshadowing someone overcoming an obstacle thought impossible is fine, having them achieve it without reason is not. In order to create a magical system, you can use some of the ideas presented in the premise, such as 'what if' questions and how the magical abilities came to be. The system can be a tweaked version of common magic, such as wand use, elemental magic, superheros, etc., or you can try to create your own from scratch. Because a magical system can be made up of any elements you would like, there is not too much I can say on the topic of how to invent your system, only to ensure that you use the above advice to guarantee that it is logical and works both for problem solving and problem creation. Other things to keep in mind include who can use magic, the ethics of magic, the cultural and economic implications, whether it is secret or public, and the way it is organised and viewed.

 

Next we will look at culture and language. The footnotes in the last lesson touched on some cultural considerations, however I would like to reiterate their importance and go over a few of the mentioned ideas. To ensure that your characters are well-rounded, we need to have a good idea of where they come from. What do they do to entertain themselves? What is popular – music, sports, movies? As teenagers, what do they do to rebel? What do they need to rebel against (think back to religion, politics, and laws), and what counts as taking it too far? What differences might you find between towns? Cities? Countries? Even worlds? What about racial or gender differences? Are people considered different because of skin colour, eye colour, number of limbs, or other aesthetic standards? What is the ideal standard of beauty? You can use these questions on humans or any other race you would like to use or create.  Also have a look at family structures, when children leave home, whether they are raised by parents or a community or they are left to fend for themselves. How do people choose who to marry (or do they not marry?), how do they express love, what cultural conventions might cause the community to frown upon a union? Finally, look at how everything you have created will affect language. What common sayings might they have? What slang would arise, what curses, and what would count as foul language? How do people from different areas differ in slang, accent, and frequency of profanity? What are the naming conventions? Are names long, short, guttural, lyrical, creative, or standardised?

 

Now that we have all of the background information under our belts, we’re going to begin my favourite part – character creation! I could write a whole lesson solely on this, however I will try to limit my rambling to only the core information. For most stories there are three types of characters to create – protagonists, antagonists, and fence-sitters. Whichever you choose to start with (and yes, it is the same process for all), we’ll begin with the easiest part: appearance. Let’s be realistic here. No one is perfect, and people who are portrayed as such tend to be pretty boring to read about and difficult to relate to. Keep it simple, keep it genuine, and keep in mind appearance can affect how they are perceived by characters in-world, but will mean very little compared to personality to most readers. Next up is personality. A lot of different things feed into someone’s personality, but the basics that you will need to begin with are: upbringing (strict, poor, loved/neglected, etc.), who they depend upon (siblings, friends, themselves) and whether they should depend upon them, a few basic traits (brave, stubborn, intelligent, etc.), and flaws (quick-tempered, gives up too easily, prejudiced). Many writers find themselves trying to write a character that is completely flawless, forgetting that imperfections are often what make a person so interesting, or what keeps the reader invested as they root for the character to overcome their obstacles. Flaws are often used as a plot device: a character who hates a certain race due to a traumatic event in the past is forced to interact with a member of that race in order to achieve their major goal, or; a character is terrible at just one aspect of a larger field of knowledge, only to find it is the one thing they need to learn to pass their course. The final thing to remember in character creation, and one that is rarely mentioned, is that your character won’t be brought to life until you have finished your first draft. Yes, your entire first draft. There’s no point in going over tiny aspects and completing giant lists of irrelevant information such as favourite colour and most hated soft drink. As with real life, you will learn about this person the more you interact with them and the more situations you see them in. Once you’ve finished, especially in a longer story such as a novel, you will find yourself going back to the start and realising all the little things that the character you have discovered wouldn’t do that you have written. That’s what the editing process is for. When you’re at this stage is when you can look into refining your character, doing character exercises, and discovering just how many of the little things you have made up along the way without even paying attention to it.

 

That being said, we’re still going to look at some fun character exercises in our assignments. Use a character you already have created if you like, or use them to create a new character and then compare your results after you’ve finished your first draft.