These are from the INTRODUCTION. (Again, first draft, may be buggy as hell. I just finished writing them and have not checked.)
Course Objectives
By completion of Create A World Clinic, you will know and be able to effectively use the following:
The Three Building Blocks of Worldbuilding
The Dot World.
You’ll be able to identify and build Dot worlds and recognize the situations for which they’re a complete solution to your story problem—as well as those for which they’re only an appropriate starting point.
You’ll also build several Dot worlds.
The Line World.
You’ll be able to identify and build Line worlds, recognize when, along with Dot worlds, they’re the appropriate and complete solution for your story problem, and understand the story needs that will require you to add more extensive development.
You’ll also build several Line worlds.
The Tube of Toothpaste World.
You will be able to identify and build Tube of Toothpaste worlds without overbuilding them, and will be able identify the situation where your story will need this expanded development.
You’ll build at least one Tube of Toothpaste world.
The Three Universe Types for Writers
The Container Universe.
All single stand-alone stories, including single stand-alone novels, live inside container universes. So do some story and novel series. You’ll understand what defines a container universe, and when it’s appropriate for the story or stories you want to write.
You’ll also build out the core stubs of a container universe.
The Knowable Universe.
Both knowable and infinite universes are the exclusive domains of series writers, but not all series writers will need either a knowable or an infinite universe. So you’ll learn to identify the writing goals and story objectives that will require you to develop a knowable universe for a series world.
And then you’ll build out the core stubs of a knowable universe.
The Infinite Universe.
Finally, you’ll learn to identify the writing goals and story objectives that will require you to develop and infinite universe for a series, and you’ll build out the core stub of an infinite universe.
The Four Reasons Writers Worldbuild
Worldbuilding for Story Ideas
If writers consider worldbuilding at all, writing for story ideas is not usually something they consider. Yet it is the #1 reason to worldbuild. You’re facing a blank page with a blank mind and no enthusiasm; you’re at the beginning of a new scene and searching for strong conflict; you’re struggling for characterization to distinguish a bunch of cookie-cutter characters; or, you can’t locate a plot with spotlights and bloodhounds.
In this section, you’ll worldbuild your way out of each of these problems quickly and easily.
Worldbuilding for Story Fixes
Even writers who worldbuild regularly almost never realize that sane worldbuilding is the fastest and most effective technique for: Turning dead thirty-page novel starts into living, working novels; getting your characters out of corners into which you wrote them; coming up for a compelling ‘what happens next’ when you’ve gone blank; and, when all hope is gone, finding the way to save the life of one character you desperately do not want to kill. (Sometimes.)
You’ll learn how to do all of these things, and more.
Worldbuilding for Continuity
Many writers who worldbuild—or who know of worldbuilding—consider it a valid technique for making sure they can get their characters from Point A to Point B in the amount of time they said they could.
But you can also build clear, visual timelines, track character and story changes, correct developmental errors you created in previous books of series WITHOUT having to rewrite earlier books, AND get your folks from Point A to Point B with a number of different worldbuilding techniques. Some are plain. Some are fancy. One made me crazy.
But I got two complete novels (at this writing, one—Warpaint—is in print, and one—The Wishbone Conspiracy—is in development) out of the single-question worldbuilding fix I did for one worldbuilding mistake I made seventeen years earlier.
Worldbuilding for Immersion
This is the main reason most writers can think of for building worlds. You create world details, and describe them, and readers read your descriptions, and fall in love with your world. So writers tend to create tons of unnecessary and pointless details, and miss honing in on the ones that are useful for active description.
So you’re going to learn how to leave out the clutter, and create just those details that really matter. It makes keeping track of what you’ve built much easier. It saves you unbelievable amounts of time. And you’ll get better books.
Write Your Sample Story
Finally, to make sure you can apply the concepts taught here, you’ll use my walkthrough to write one six-scene short story, using the techniques you’ve learned in this course to get from start to finish.
You’ll end up with a first draft story that will need revision and editing (which are both beyond the scope of this course)…but if you do the walkthrough, you will have a completed piece of work you can then revise, edit, and submit. Or self-publish.
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