The best of world building: J.R.R. Tolkien

I love world building. There's nothing quite like being transported to a convincing alternate reality. There are a few of such sweeping scope and imagination that they've stuck with me for decades. They aren't just convincing. They delight and intrigue and tantalize. In the end, I don't care if they break the cosmological constants so long as they entertain and inspire.

To bastardize Homer Simpson, in my house, we don't obey the laws of thermodynamics.

J.R.R. Tolkien, in my books, is the uncontested King of World Building.

He's not the first. Not by a long shot. But Tolkien is unquestionably the most punctiliously thorough. This is a guy who wrote The Silmarillion, which is essentially a thousand page background document for the world of Middle Earth.

It doesn't get more hard core.

Heck, the appendices of Return of the King are almost as long as the book.

Tolkien developed not one, but several imaginary languages and scripts for the peoples of his imaginary world, along with some of the most thrillingly detailed maps. I remember pouring over Tolkien's rendering of Middle Earth when I was a kid for hours on end. Then I'd scribble my own map in pencil crayon, aping Tolkien's style and populating it with dark forests and jagged mountain ranges. Half the boys in my grade six class read The Lord of the Rings around the same time, and we were fascinated by it. Middle Earth was a thrilling, magical place. It was an alternate world, thought out in minute detail. There's a history behind everything, grounding the material and making it all the more believable.

If only real history were so emotionally fulfilling. But then, that's what myth is for: it makes history make sense.

There's something obsessive compulsive in Tolkien's work, which neatly fits with the mindset of a young boy. When boys get interested in something (or at least when I did), they learn absolutely everything about it, and Tolkien delivered on that thirst for detail in spades.

My grandfather had a Tolkien calendar, painted by The Hildebrant Brothers, which reproduced Tolkien's map in sumptuous detail, and I spent an inordinate time looking at that as well. After 1977 ended, I kept the calendar for over a decade. There's something incredibly solid about the way the Hildebrants sculpted and defined shapes with paint. The milky white highlights and deep shadows guide the eye with expert precision about the page with the confidence and surety of a master.

Even now I am in awe of not only Tolkien's imagination, but the art it has inspired. His imaginary world is a meme that sits in the heads of millions and millions of people, as real a place to many as ancient Rome or Greece.

Let there be no mistake: the key to the story are the characters, Frodo and Sam and Gandalf and Gollum, and the environments they travel through can only have meaning in relation to them. They resonate against each other. A world without characters is just an empty space. But a well conceived and emotionally resonant one can take the story, and the characters, to the next level.

Tolkien was a product of his age, which straddled the apex The British Empire. He was born under the reign of Queen Victoria in 1892, and if you read his work you can certainly see a fondness for monarchy and traditional order. The third book, after all, is called Return of the King, which is a big hint as to where his sympathies lie. Indeed, he has been taken to task for this traditional bent by Michael Moorcock in his essay, Epic Pooh. But Tolkien's views are not two dimensional; he advocated, for example, for the dismantling of the British Empire.

And while his books idealize rural life, he was no Luddite. He had doubts about how society was changing, which is understandable, especially these days. Ours is an age of unprecedented, accelerated change. Workers have to adapt quickly to keep up. Careers need to be reinvented. Learning and education are lifelong pursuits out of necessity. It's the only way to remain relevant and employable.

It should be remembered that even the Luddites were not acting out of blind, anti-technology zealotry. They were acting out of self-interest, protecting their jobs from being rendered obsolete by mechanical looms. It's futile to stand against the tides of progress, but it is understandable why some choose to do so.

Tolkien learned Latin at a young age, as well as Welsh, and studied Anglo-Saxon. He collaborated with his cousins in creating a language called Nevbosh, and later a language called Naffarin on his own. This interest in language would later find expression in The Lord of the Rings, for which he'd create Quenya, Sindarin, Black Speech, Entish and Valarin.

Tolkien mixed Nordic mythology together with his own life and inventions seamlessly. The Shire is reminiscent of an idealized English countryside, a pure and placid place upon which Saruman inflicts the blight of modern factories that belch smoke and ruin. The Misty Mountains were inspired by his trips to the Swiss Alps. The bloody, swampy, muddy mess of The Somme inspired The Dead Marshes. The war made quite an impression, upon him, after all: all but one of his close friends was dead by 1918. His wife Edith became inspiration for the main story of the Silmarillion.

The events in his fiction are externalized aspects of his self, of his own life experiences. Like an externalized dream. Dreams recycle and reconfigure our waking life and try and make sense of it. The places in his books are inextricably linked to the characters who pass through them. Good writing is holistic. Locations reflect or externalize internal struggle.

It's about emotional truth.

Tolkien argued that Beowulf was not about a specific monster, and therefore juvenile, as critics alleged, but about mankind's struggle in general. The monster is an expression of emotional truth. Just because it's cool and evocative doesn't make it illegitimate. Let the fuddy duddy pedants bloviate while we enjoy.

That is how, as an avid youth, I consumed his books.

We emotionally react to Sauron and Smaug and the fear of the Mirkwood dark just as we marvel at the tree forts of the elves and majesty of the Misty Mountains. These are evocative, emotional places, not physical ones. Mirkwood is a state of mind.

The depth of thought that went into these imaginary realms help make the books wonderful reads, or did, back in the days before the internet and truncated attention spans. Few today can read omniscient third person POV anymore, at least not without throwing the book against the wall and running around screaming in outrage. I kid you not. Writing fashions change like everything else.

But I am from an earlier age, the last millennium, like an elf who has outstayed his welcome in Middle Earth and must soon depart for the Grey Havens. I guess it's like Florida.

Mirkwood, Mount Doom, Gondor, Minas Tirith, The Shire, Rivendell. All these places evoke strong memories in me, perhaps even more so having seen the film adaptations by Peter 'Swoop' Jackson.

There's enough detail on this imaginary world to create cool 3D maps showing Middle Earth from orbit. Which is just awesome. Few fantasy worlds inspire faux satellite shots.

Essays have been written on Tolkien's world building efforts. Tor has a good one (Although they are mistaken that he invented world building. More on that later).

It also should be mentioned that Tolkien's writings are a major point of inspiration for Dungeons & Dragons, which started off the whole craze of role playing, novels, movies, map making and television shows.

Tolkien defined not only the genre, but made maps and world building an inextricable part of it.

Need I say more?

Top spots on my imaginary Middle Earth travel itinerary:

Rivendell
Who wouldn't want to visit this oasis of peace and tranquility in a world being overrun by slobbering orcs and fire belching balrogs? It's the Switzerland of the fantasy world. Better than a Swedish spa, and infinitely more scenic.

Mines of Moria
I think Moria is probably the most majestic mine ever imagined, with great soaring staircases and gaping chasms that lead down to the centre of the earth. Jackson's film brought them to life and I have to admit his cinematic version rivaled, if not exceeded, my own imagination. But I think I'd go with a tour group, and keep a close eye on the guide. Safety in numbers. It's not a place I'd want to get lost in.

Mirkwood
Another dark, foreboding place that leapt to life in my imagination. The tour would be carried out from an armored van equipped with flamethrowers, but I'd still be game.

Minas Tirith
The definitive fantasy city, and the source of inspiration for many others. Seven tiered rings! Gleaming white towers! The White Tree! The nearby Pelennor Fields archeological site, where one of the greatest fantasy battles ever was fought. How could you go wrong? You can always visit the real life inspiration: Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France.

Or just go to New Zealand.

Next time: the original world builder, granddaddy of them all!

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Quest for an Audience: Promotion devotion.

The default response to the question I have found is: WRITE ANOTHER BOOK. Written in all caps and 36 point. Write books until you've authored a library.

Period.

And they're right, of course. The best way to promote a book is to write another, and by so doing, establish a presence in the field.

But I believe they are also wrong.

Writing a hundred thousand words, or even fifty thousand, takes time. And then it needs a thorough edit. So we're looking at a year or more before the next book comes out.

While that's in progress, there are many little things you can do to promote your work.

And I believe you should.

Kboards has more about publishing and promoting than you can shake a stick at, and the more I learn, the more I realize how difficult the road ahead is.

For what it's worth, here's what I have done:

I established a page on Goodreads. You just create an account, indicate you are an author, link to your book on Amazon for proof, and voila. I also created a blog, a Facebook page, and an Amazon Author page, and I've linked them all in to the blog.

I've joined several forums and began to participate in the online writing community. This not only helps you improve your work by presenting it for constructive criticism, but gives you exposure to people who are interested in reading. Most authors, after all, are avid readers as well.

I work a day job (yay), and I have set aside a small budget to fund my writing hobby. Most of it will go into purchasing artwork, which I am happy to do. The recession in 2008 hit the art community quite hard, and there are plenty of artists out there in need of work and support. I am all for helping people pursue their dreams, even live them if they can.

For my first book, I hired a wonderful and talented artist by the name of Nimit Malavia, who has done fantastic covers for Fables. He frequently works for Marvel and DC. He did a smashing job and I'm tremendously happy with his work.

I consider it money very well spent.

I also intend to set aside a small amount of cash for promotion, likely in the form of banner ads which I will run for a couple months. I plan on spending about $100 to $150 on this. This is fire and, mostly, forget. I will run the campaign using Google AdWords, which will keep statistics on how well the ads do. I am not expecting much, and I'm good with that.

I also intend to approach local publications that do book reviews, as well as review sites online. This will likely be difficult, as they are no doubt inundated by submissions, so I intend to tread carefully. This thread on kboards has some really useful information about reviews and how to get them.

I've also written a couple of short stories set in the same world as the book, which I'm submitting them to sci-fi magazines. There is little chance of getting in for a novice like me, but you never know. One must try. If they are rejected, I will then put them up for sale on KDP Amazon, and in so doing, build the collection of titles I have written. Who knows? An editor may like my writing and the submission may draw their attention to my novel.

I also intend to shorten the length of my books. The key seems to be having a LOT of published work, rather than a few epics.

Welcome to the new normal.

I think these are reasonable steps, and they won't break the bank or soak up all my time. I suspect I will be further ahead having done them than not, and they will not significantly slow the progress of my next book, which I am also working on. It will be my central effort.

The blog, this blog, will be focused on three topics:

1) Science fiction.
2) My promotional efforts.
3) My books, short stories, skits.

Blogs do better when they are focused like a laser on one narrow, niche topic. I've decided to focus for the moment on world building. Several of my crack crew of readers noted that I seem to like it. And I do, although I've tried to keep it to a minimum. I cut over 10,000 words of background material and 'world building' from an early edit, to help improve the flow.

But it's something I find interesting and have enthusiasm to write about, so that will be the subject of a series of posts.

Quest for an Audience will be the second topic.

I hope to write an article once or twice a month, on top of smaller, less involved posts. Every one of them is an opportunity to refine my writing skills.

Finally I will also post excerpts from new novels, short stories, and skits.

I'm not if any of it will be relevant, considering that just about anything I decide to write about will already be extensively covered by others. All I can offer is a strong POV and colourful opinions.

So far, my promotion efforts have not amounted to anything, but the book only went up a week ago.

I'm still digesting the author tips and tricks page on kboards.

I'll let you know how it goes, and in the meantime, I wish you all the success.

It's official: I have an Amazon author page.

The most flattering picture of myself that I could find on short notice. I look better once I've had my morning coffee.

Check it out here.

It even links back out to this blog.

It's almost like I'm tech savvy.

Almost.

Keeping track of your character arcs

Organizing all the elements required for a novel can be challenging. I struggled with it a lot writing Magnum Thrax and the Amusement Park of Doom.

I now use sticky notes and cue cards, a tool taken from screenwriting.

If I have multiple characters with arcs, I create a set of sticky notes for each, detailing the steps in their emotional journey.

I use cue cards for scenes. They're easy to move around. Key plot points are usually key character points, so there's a good deal of overlap. But using stickies as well allows flexibility as you build the character up (or down). If I just work with plot points, character development becomes secondary and I lose track of the arc I'd planned. It's much harder to keep track of everything than you'd think when looking in from the outside.

I the cards and stickies all out on a board broken up into three acts, with the middle act being twice as long as the beginning and the end ones. I then place down the stickies on, or beside the cue cards.

This helps give me an overview of the writing 'battlefield' if you will. I can coordinate the various character arcs and the plot, see it all at a glance, and move things around as need be. Sometimes you want to spread out your arc more, or condense it, or you'll realize you can align the arcs of characters in an interesting way. If you can find different colors for your stickies, so much the better. You know where each character has a major transformative moment.

Use different color pens to note positive or negative changes. Have fun. Do what works for you.

Of course, once I have my outline done and start on the first draft, I often find myself going off track. I'm not saying my process works, or that I follow it perfectly, just that it helps me organize things in the beginning. Lays down the race track. My bad driving is another problem altogether.

An effective character arc can be easier to plan than execute.

You can find lots about structure in books like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat. Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell and The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker are also very good. They give a nice break down of plots frequently used in mythology, which also run in tandem with the character arc. In fact, plot elements are really just externalized representations of what's going on inside the main characters head.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was great for that sort of thing. They'd use the poor, doomed monster-of-the-week to throw into sharp relief a flaw, or personal dilemma, of one of the main characters. Tempt their greedy side. Play on their idealism. When you start from that position, it gives the story a very strong emotional hook. Sometimes, it really IS all about them. Very solipsistic in a way: the villains attempt to take over the world and cast humanity into everlasting darkness only happens to help a main character learn a lesson about sharing.

Personally, if I was a villain, I'd be rather put out. Let's not sugarcoat this: it takes a lot of hard work, planning, dedication, and determination to take over the world. People are always trying to stop you. Let's not even get into the logistical difficulties, or what to do with it once conquered. To have such a grandiloquent effort reduced to minor lesson in the life a whiny adolescent would make it so not worth trying.

But then, we read mostly for the emotional connection.

Something to get better at. 

Creativity: are you born with it?

And if so, are you nuts?

"For decades, scientists have been tinkering with the idea that genes may have a role to play in developing creative abilities in individuals. The association described above was suggested in a study of 300,000 people with mental illnesses carried out by scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden."

Learn more over at brainblogger.

Magnum Thrax and the Amusement Park of Doom

Publication calls for a promotional post. And a drink!

Check out the sweet cover by the sensational Nimit Malavia, of Fables fame!

Here's the book blurb in full:

In the barren post-apocalyptic future, former sex emporium Pleasurepit Five is the last bastion of human civilization. It has survived for a thousand years, weathering everything from nihilistic robots and gibbering megamutants to insane advertising campaigns.

Now another, long forgotten remnant of the ancient world has emerged from the smashed ruins: a rogue amusement park, under the sway of a Dark Lord wannabe. It's expanding at an exponential rate, threatening to reorganize the world into sanitized blandness.

To stop it, Pit citizen Magnum Thrax must whip a team of repurposed fembots into shape and lead them into a winner-takes-all battle for the future. Their only chance? Enlist the help of Technowitches and deliver a virus into the evil, beating heart of the Amusement Park of Doom. Yet to reach the witches, they must cross The Death Zone. Like, literally. And no one who enters it has ever emerged alive…