The HEA Cafe

I write science fiction romance. You know, starships and space freighters and starports and ‘droids, and him and her kissing whilst a galaxy implodes somewhere behind (or in front of) them… that kind of stuff. So at book signings and conventions when I sit there with my bookcovers replete with starships and starports and kissing couples, I’m frequently asked about the worlds I build: the planets, the civlizations, the languages, the cultures.

And I’m often sitting there with a romantic suspense author on my left and an historical author on my right…yet rarely do they get asked about their world building.

It’s as if writers and readers feel world building is a disease only SF authors get.

It’s not. It’s a disease all authors get. At least all good authors who want to bring their readers into their books. The reality (of the unreality we create) is this, and I’m quoting writing guru Dwight Swain:

“You need to remember three key points about the world in which your story takes place:
a-Your reader has never been there.
b-It’s a sensory world.
c-It’s a subjective world.”

Notice Swain says nothing about “science fiction story” only. I don’t care that Swain penned those words in the mid 1960s (according to the copyright date on my copy of Techniques of the Selling Writer). SF existed in the 1960s, by the bucketful. But Swain recognized something that all good writers need to: your story world–no matter how common to you or your culture–is still a unique experience for your reader.

That’s why world building is not just for SFF writers. Or SFR/RSF/Futuristics writers. Or paranormal writers.

“But I’m writing a rom suspense in Orlando, Florida!” you wail. “Everyone knows what Orlando is like.”

Maybe they do, if they’ve been mouse-ified. But even if they live deep in the heart of Mouseville, they still don’t know Orlando in the same way your character does. They don’t have the same emotional responses, same memories, same experiences your character does.

So let’s go to item ‘a’: your reader has never been there. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing about Cirrus One Station (as I do), Orlando or Oshkosh. When you bring your readers into the story, it’s a new experience for them. They’ve never been to Cirrus One or Orlando or Oshkosh as you are now going to present it.

So don’t gloss over your book’s setting (apartment, shopping mall, park, grocery store) assuming the reader knows. Swain had another maxim: “Vividness outranks brevity.” That doesn’t mean you slather on oodles of description. It does mean you realize as you write that the reader has never been there before. Don’t miss a chance to use something of the setting to impart something more about your character(s).

Which brings us to ‘b’: it’s a sensory world. What are some of the things someone living in Orlando, Florida might uniquely notice? The intensity of the sunshine at midday? Trust me, Orlando in August at noon is a veritable frying pan. How about the humidity? How about the fact that it’s 98-degrees at noon and then chills down to a balmy 94-degrees by nine o’clock at night. In other words, you rarely stop sweating (at least, in August).

Or how about the plethora of out-of-state license plates on the highways? Or the sound of the breeze rustling through the palm trees. It’s nothing at all like the sound of the wind through the pines.

Sensory experiences.

Which brings us to ‘c’: it’s a subjective world. Even if your reader grew up in Orlando, s/he didn’t grow up in your character’s lime-green Crocs. I grew up outside New York City and I often feel cheated when I read novels set in that city because a character “walks through Times Square” and that’s it. That’s all the author gives us, as if we all should know exactly what that entails. Well, I’ve been through Times Square hundreds of times and if there was ever a setting that cries out that it’s a unique, sensory and subjective experience, it’s that one. Times Square on a Tuesday afternoon in December is not the same as Times Square on a Saturday night in July. And Times Square on a July Saturday night is a different subjective experience for the beat cop sweating on the corner than for the hooker lounging against the taxi. And different for the tourists from Oshkosh and the young party-goers from the suburbs of Newark.

I spent ten years as a private detective and took many a post-accident witness statement and trust me, you can have five people standing elbow to elbow on the corner and all five will remember something different about the same accident.

It’s the same with your characters and your readers. The character’s experience, perceptions and interactions with the setting you place her in is uniquely hers, filtered by the background and conflicts you give her.

So don’t short-change your readers or your characters. Bring them into your world, let them see it, taste it, hear it, smell it. Let them fear it, desire it, love it, shun it. But bring them in and make the reader feel it.

And now for a bit of BSP: Check out the Out of this World Writing Workshop this weekend:

Writing Out of this World Romance with Some of The Hottest Authors in the Science Fiction and Futuristic Genres 
October 12th, 13th, and 14th at Romance Divas

Featuring:
Susan Grant
Patti O’Shea
Linnea Sinclair
Robin D. Owens 
Gena Showalter
 
Want to know how to write out of this world romance? Romance Divas is hosting a 3-day workshop with some of the hottest names in the Science Fiction and Futuristic genres. It will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register. 

~Linnea
www.linneasinclair.com