Look Around You

An Exercise in Worldbuilding

We are continuing with lessons from my upcoming course, Write YOUR Novel YOUR Way. This course is filled with exercises that can help you write your novel. Here’s one of those exercises. Time is running out for you to get started with the first round of lessons. It all kicks off Monday. Click here to find out more and to register. It’s only $47. But writing your novel: Priceless.

Look Around You

The next several lessons will deal with the most obvious side of worldbuilding, and that is creating the physical world in which your story takes place. We will go into depth about factors such as geography, topography, climate, architecture, etc. However, before delving too deeply into the technical side of this, it is good to do something a bit less systematic and more imaginative.

This lesson is mostly an exercise for you to complete. You will need a quiet place and a notebook, digital notepad, or audio recorder.

Here’s what I want you to do.

Choose a setting from your book. It can be outdoors or indoors.

Now, sit in a restful position. I would advise against lying down if you are tired. Falling asleep won’t help.

Visualize yourself at the center of the setting. What do you see in front of you? Turn 90 degrees to your right. What do you see there? Turn 90 degrees to your right again so that you are facing in the opposite direction from where you started. What is there? One more 90-degree turn and observe the scene.

Don’t try to force anything. Don’t try to invent it. Just let it appear to you. If you are writing contemporary fiction set in a real-world setting, go to that location, if possible, and do this exercise.

Stop with each turn and write down what you “see.” Or, if you have a voice recorder on your phone or tablet, you can record it with your eyes closed.

Here’s an example. I will use compass headings just for the sake of convenience, but you can use directions or be nautical and go with bow, aft, port, and starboard.

Location: Main conference meeting hall at Xanadu resort on the moon.

North: A temporary raised dais with a light wood podium in the center. A red velvet skirting stretches the length of the platform, covering the supports. Behind the podium, are four nondescript armless chairs. The upholstery is black on a silver metal frame. Behind the podium is a clear glass wall, which curves gracefully overhead. Revealed outside are the browns and tans of the lunar surface. One can see the edge of a crater a few hundred meters from the dome. Behind that, a few kilometers away, are some dark brown rolling hills. In the dark sky, each star stands as a steady dot of light. With a near vacuum, stars don’t twinkle. Behind the bright stars, appearing as a band of dust, is the Milky Way. Rising slightly above the horizon is the blue and white half disk of the Earth.

After you describe the visual appearance of the location, move on to the other senses. What are the smells, sounds, feelings, and even taste, if appropriate?

Have one section for each sense.

If you have been putting off writing that novel because you don’t know where to start, start next week. With sixteen courses and more than 100 lessons, Write YOUR Novel YOUR Way helps you lean into your own writing style and get that novel out of your mind and into print. From premise to publication, we are with you all the way. Click Here to learn more.