Very valid notes to the writers out here- thanks for being so honest about pitfalls/ wrong steps. Also great to know that readers’ feedback is of use. John is a gem!
Hi Simone--Thanks for the mention. I'm with you on having the backstory/worldbuilding at least clear to yourself in concept or theory, whether written out or mentally. Writing the details out is a must when you're talking about character design--taking a sheet of paper, and writing down basics like name, role, appearance, relationships to the MC or plot (significant, ancillary, red herring, etc.) and the like, or whether the character's good, evil, neutral; sane or mentally disturbed--whatever it is. Even where you want to introduce the character, if they get killed off, just disappear as someone incidental, and so forth. You can keep these in a folder to refer back to and add to as other ideas may occur to you. This is similar to how we used to make up our characters when we played Dungeons and Dragons when I was a boy (a very paper-intensive game, where you needed good record-keeping skills!).
For the MC, depending on how complex the MC is, and what kind of story you're writing, a small biography can even be called for, since it can even end up being a fairly close rough draft of the story itself, so you end up saving yourself time. You can do the same with an antagonist as well. Of course, as you point out, all of this detailed material is "protected work product," and is for your reference in writing whatever it is you're writing. Just there to guide you, stimulate further progress, and help you along the way like a road map. No need to provide a St. Thomas Aquinas-sized treatise on the inside information about your characters and the literary universe they operate in. Just fosters confusion and slows the pace.
Great points!!! Characters, and settings are both somthing I somtimes either over- or under-detail. And it's not often evident til I take off the writer hat and put on the editor hat. I'm kinda manic at times about having all sorts of details worked out and defined, even when I may never use them. Once, I wrote a story about basically, a shadowy, secret societys bimbo school. But before I'd written a second page , I'd filled a whiteboard with the facility map, building layout by floors, dorm details down to the furnishings, etc. Crazy?? Probably!! But I found it useful to have any detail I wanted to add already decided on. (Thankfully, I didnt overuse it...I think🤔)
Getting the balance of detail right is tough. The struggle is real!!
It's like they say in spy thrillers, 'It's on a need to know basis.' Does the reader need to know. I admit I often think, oops, should have told them that and have to go back and add something. Like you say, getting the balance right is tough,
Very valid notes to the writers out here- thanks for being so honest about pitfalls/ wrong steps. Also great to know that readers’ feedback is of use. John is a gem!
Thank You Posy—that’s incredibly kind! A very sweet thing to say.😊
Hi Simone--Thanks for the mention. I'm with you on having the backstory/worldbuilding at least clear to yourself in concept or theory, whether written out or mentally. Writing the details out is a must when you're talking about character design--taking a sheet of paper, and writing down basics like name, role, appearance, relationships to the MC or plot (significant, ancillary, red herring, etc.) and the like, or whether the character's good, evil, neutral; sane or mentally disturbed--whatever it is. Even where you want to introduce the character, if they get killed off, just disappear as someone incidental, and so forth. You can keep these in a folder to refer back to and add to as other ideas may occur to you. This is similar to how we used to make up our characters when we played Dungeons and Dragons when I was a boy (a very paper-intensive game, where you needed good record-keeping skills!).
For the MC, depending on how complex the MC is, and what kind of story you're writing, a small biography can even be called for, since it can even end up being a fairly close rough draft of the story itself, so you end up saving yourself time. You can do the same with an antagonist as well. Of course, as you point out, all of this detailed material is "protected work product," and is for your reference in writing whatever it is you're writing. Just there to guide you, stimulate further progress, and help you along the way like a road map. No need to provide a St. Thomas Aquinas-sized treatise on the inside information about your characters and the literary universe they operate in. Just fosters confusion and slows the pace.
Looking forward to where the Dream saga ends up!
Great points!!! Characters, and settings are both somthing I somtimes either over- or under-detail. And it's not often evident til I take off the writer hat and put on the editor hat. I'm kinda manic at times about having all sorts of details worked out and defined, even when I may never use them. Once, I wrote a story about basically, a shadowy, secret societys bimbo school. But before I'd written a second page , I'd filled a whiteboard with the facility map, building layout by floors, dorm details down to the furnishings, etc. Crazy?? Probably!! But I found it useful to have any detail I wanted to add already decided on. (Thankfully, I didnt overuse it...I think🤔)
Getting the balance of detail right is tough. The struggle is real!!
It's like they say in spy thrillers, 'It's on a need to know basis.' Does the reader need to know. I admit I often think, oops, should have told them that and have to go back and add something. Like you say, getting the balance right is tough,