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Giraffes, Refrigerators, and Worldbuilding

by Kelly Swails

Kelly SwailsA few weeks ago a friend sent me a long-winded joke complete with goofy font and cutesy pictures. It went something like this:
Q: How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?
A: Open the door, put in the giraffe, and close the door.
Q: How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
A: Open the door, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door.
Q: The Lion King is hosting and animal conference. All the animals attend … except one. Which animal misses the conference?
A: The elephant. He’s in the refrigerator.
Q: there is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles and you don’t have a boat. How do you manage it?
A: You jump into the river and swim across. All the crocodiles are at the Animal Conference.

After I groaned, I chided myself for not seeing it coming. Why? Because this is a lesson in worldbuilding dressed as a joke.

Building a unique world for characters to live in is complex, even more so when an author is writing fantasy and science fiction. An author must juggle hundreds of details and facts, only a fraction of which may end up in the final manuscript. Those details include—but are certainly not limited to—dates of historical events, geography, languages, government, economics and currency, and dietary habits of imaginary or long-forgotten tribes. It’s the author’s job to give the world enough depth and nuance that readers will suspend their disbelief. But a thousand years of back-story or a genealogy of the protagonist’s sex partners won’t do a bit of good if story details change in midstream. If Sally’s favorite ice cream is peppermint in chapter two but chocolate in chapter twenty–the reader can be jolted out of the story. Writers have to remember to take the giraffe out of the refrigerator so they can put the elephant in.

While a few writers may be able to keep everything straight in their head, the rest of us need organizational tools. Some systems are better than others, but the most perfect system in the world for another writer will fail if it doesn’t click with your own work style.

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How to be a Writer and Have a Life: or, Livin’ the Dream

by Kelly Swails

Kelly SwailsWriting is a rewarding and fun gig, but finding the time to write can be a challenge. The only commodity an author has are her words, and the only way to produce that commodity is to get some quality butt-in-chair action. Contrary to urban legend, stories don’t write themselves or grow on Novel Trees. So how do you find the time to make the magic happen? Perhaps a few of the strategies outlined below might work for you.

Find your sweet spot.

What time of day are you most productive? All hours in the day are not equal. This will take several rounds of trial and error. Some folks are morning people while others are night owls. One writer can spit out 1500 words per hour at six a.m. while another writer will only produce 250 words during that same time period. If you have the luxury of taking several days off of work, try to find your best writing time. Sleep in and write in the afternoon. Stay up late and write during Conan. Try to get in a few pages as the sun rises. Which time period produces the most usable words? Writing 2000 words every night at midnight means nothing if you consistently have to scrap 1800 of them. Once you find the best time of day for your creativity, exploit it. Get up an hour before everyone else to squeeze in some writing time. Find a quiet spot after dinner and let the words flow. Or fire up the coffeemaker and burn the midnight oil. Once you discover when you produce the most and best words, you’ll need less BIC time to produce the same amount of product. This is crucial to having a life outside of writing.

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