Worldbuilding + A Short Story Detour
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the world, society, cultures, races, government, and environment of my WIP. When I switched the IP from Gloomhaven to an original world, I discovered I do NOT have the effortless worldbuilding skills I thought I did!
I’ve taken inspiration from A Trevena’s 30 Days of Worldbuilding, the Writing Excuses podcast, and the rich details in some of my favorite video games and books. All super helpful!
My biggest hurdle has been deciding on the types of fantasy races I wanted represented in the novel. The story speaks to racism and discrimination, so I needed to be especially intentional about how I proceeded.
After getting help and input from Erica Courdae, a friend and a trusted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) expert, as well as my trusty writing critique group, I’ve settled on a direction.
I have a whole new respect for the practice of worldbuilding, but I’m honestly super pleased with the way the writing (rewriting, at this point!) is going. Best of all, the project is flowing again, which is such a relief after months of hitting my head against the wall.
Fortunately, I used those head-banging months to be productive in another way: working on short stories. While I usually write in fantasy, I’ve been dabbling in science fiction and horror for this short story detour.
One particular horror story feels strong enough to submit to magazines, so I’ve been traveling down that road. More news as it comes!
Meanwhile, Jessi and I are still querying Unrelenting, and we hope that one of the agents we’ve pitched will love it.
Always staying busy!
