Workshop:

A Year of World Building Part 4

We are over the half way point for this year. This is a list of what have I covered so far:


Issue # 55:


1. What is your population type and density?


2. What is the history of the area?


3. How are outsiders treated?


Issue # 56:


4. How are the people housed?


5. Where does the food come from?


6. How do they pay for it?


Issue # 57:


7. What are the modes of transportation?


8. What types of long range communications are used?


In this issue, we're going to look at things that impact your characters in everyday ways. These things, in fact, sometimes help to create the characters because they can define how a person was raised and how he or she will react in a new and different environment.


9. How does the weather and environment affect the story?


This is a far more important question than some people realize. The weather and the general climate of the story location should affect not only your characters, but also a great deal of the sorts of things that they encounter in daily life. How buildings are made depends on the weather they will face. Sometimes even when and how people work is affected by the climate around them. People in hot countries often take noonday naps, and not because they are lazy (as outsiders often assumed) but because -- as the popular saying goes -- Only "mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." (Made popular by a Noel Coward song of the same name.) In countries close to the equator, it is often dangerous to wander around in the worst heat of the day.


But what about other climates? If you are going to put your story in a rainforest, then you must study what that means. Putting up a canopy of trees and letting it rain all the time is not enough. For instance, the rate of mould is extremely high in a rain forest. What does that mean for the food supply? Clothing?


A thick rain forest has several layers of ecosystems, from the highest reaches of the trees down to the ground. Each layer has its own native life (though many creatures will move from one layer to another during the day or night). Finding edible food might depend on where you have to climb to get it and what dangers you have to pass through.


Much of what you research for your setting will not appear in the story. However, there will be echoes of it as you apply the overall feel of the area to your manuscript. In the simplest form, the weather affects how we act and what we do and the environment affects what we have and how we can use it. Take a little time to work out the details and you'll have a very good layer for your background.


Also remember that ecosystems don't suddenly end and another begins. Even the coastlines between land and sea have transitional tide pools.

Exercise 1: If you are working on a story at the moment (and if not, why not?), then see how changing the climate would affect your story. For instance, if you were writing a romance in a Caribbean Resort, what happens if you move it to an Alpine ski setting? How does it affect the general 'feel' of the setting? What changes in behavior, work, etc. does it create for your story? How about from a generic medieval forest setting to a tropical paradise?


What opportunities does it create that were not part of the other setting? What changes in plant and animal life?

10. Clothing Clothing isn't just about coverings to protect your character from the elements. Almost all clothing styles are directly related to culture which in turn is highly influenced by religion and morals. It's all interrelated, and you cannot simply decide that your characters will go about in elaborate robes and headpieces without those items meaning something -- either in a cultural or in a historical (past culture) relationship.


So now you should look back at the earlier sections, in particular 'What is the history of your area?' This can have a profound influence on clothing styles. An invading group brings their own clothing styles. Local clothing styles can be a sign of subservience as well as a sign of protest. If certain styles are banned, what happens to the old 'coming of age' ceremonies that revolved around them?


The dictates of fashion are also cultural. Today's fashions are often directly linked to cultural phenomena like television shows or music groups. High fashion is the epitome of rich indulgence, often created just for show and with anything like practicality kicked right out the door. High fashion is art and should not be confused with what the rich will wear on a day-to-day basis.


In restrictive countries, social morality has a strong influence on acceptable dress. These need not be poor, Third World lands. They do require a strong government with a concern for morality and codes of conduct beyond what most of us would consider the basic laws (murder, assault, theft, etc.). Those types of governments are usually religious based.


So, if you have a fantasy world with a religious leadership, this is one aspect of the life that you should seriously take into consideration.


Strong cultures are very slow to adapt new clothing, even if it is better for them. For instance, T.E. Lawrence -- the famous Lawrence of Arabia -- had a hard time convincing Bedouin tribesmen to wear white robes instead of black. White reflects heat, black absorbs it. A white robe was wiser, but it was against the customs of the time.


That has changed.


So here we have culture, climate and history connecting in something of a conflict. This can cause a lot of tension in a story. Changes in culture are often observable in the clothing style of one generation and the next. Those changes can reflect the influence of an outside force (television beamed in from another country, along with clothing imports to support it) or the actual influx of people -- or an invasion far enough in the past that the new generation does not think of them as outsiders and enemies.


Clothing can be a key to a number of things, especially ethnic and religious background. Even in the real, every day modern world, it is still a sign of rebellion.


Along with clothing goes hair styles, makeup and body art. This is all a part of the world as well as character creation. We are all creatures of our culture, whether we conform to it or rebel against it. World building is more than just a static background against which your characters move, like the backdrop of a play. They must interact with their world in everything from noticing the weather to what they wear and why.

Exercise 2:


Choose one of your characters. How does he or she dress and why? What is the purpose of the clothing, aside from a basic covering? Does it have any cultural significance? Personal preferences? Is there a style of clothing the character would wear if a little more daring? Something the character doesn't like and sees others wearing?