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Sometimes, when writing a story, your world gets so big that it gets hard to keep track of everything that is happening in it. You can introduce so many different elements, settings, threads and characters that telling a cohesive story that stays faithful to everything you’ve established becomes a challenge. This is especially true when you’re writing a story that needs multiple installments or sequels. I faced that problem with a story I am currently seeking representation for as of this post. I have already started writing a follow-up book, and in writing it I realized I had set up a lot of concepts in the first book that I need to flesh out before writing the second. When that happens, You might want to compile a reference source that explains everything about your world that you can come back to when you’re stuck. This is usually called a story bible, or a sourcebook.

RPG elements

The best known sourcebooks are from tabletop Role Playing Games. The Dungeon master needs source material to create the scenarios for the other players to operate in, so he uses books full of material that references locations, landmarks, magic systems, races and cultures, along with key characters and any other details about that scenario that the Dungeon master may need. Armed with this information, they can then create adventures for the other players to get involved in, and be prepared for any action or reaction the players may exhibit during the game. You can apply this same principle to your story. In essence, you are both the Dungeon master and the players, and you want to be armed with as much information as you can generate to craft the most cohesive story you can make.

Elements of sourcebooks

Many, many years ago Lloyd Brown wrote an excellent article on developing Sourcebooks for tabletop Role-Playing Games (You can read it here https://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/free09jun05.html ). Let’s take the elements he introduced and expand them for a broader range of world-building.

The Tone

In creating your sourcebook, you want to establish what the overall mood or ambiance of your world is. Is your world dark and foreboding? Paranoid and suspicious? Bright and optimistic? Grand and regal? Satirical and Tongue-in-cheek? What is the overall tone that you want your readers to feel as they engage your settings? Take some time to describe how this world feels.

The Places

Landmarks and important locales are a defining element of Role Playing games as they present backdrops for the players to romp through. This is also true for general fiction. Take some time to describe and explain the most important places of your setting How they are built, what important events occur there, and what importance they have to the overall world. If you can even map out the locations, whether its a map of their interior or an exterior map of where they are in relation to the rest of the world, that will also be a great help.

The History

The original article says it best: “Give a background on the setting’s history, explaining how it got to where it is now. If it’s a fictional setting, you might start with a creation myth and work from there. If it’s an alternate history setting, where your history deviates from real-world history is a good starting point. For science fiction games, background elements usually include Earth’s exploration of space and first contact with aliens.”

To elaborate on that, any element or concept that has any importance in the story should have a history attached to it, explaining how it came to be in your setting and what led to its importance. And any detail of your story that deviates from real-word sensibilities will also need to have some backstory attached to it. And don’t forget to make sure all of your histories and backstories work well together, to help avoid conflicts.

The People

Explaining how the people live in your world is paramount to your story. You want to delve into the different races, classes and cultures and how they operate within your word, as well as how they interact with each other. Use every tool at your disposal, from describing art styles and rituals, to traditions, dress styles and cuisine. You can even mention their language tics and music. Anything that will help you as a writer and the reader get a clearer picture of how the people in your world live and breathe will help, and the more, the better.

You might also want to add some details about your most oft-used characters. It could be a great reference for both you and the reader as you continue depicting the situations those characters get themselves into and out of.

The Religions

Religion and faith play a heavy role in how the real world operates, so it must have a place in your world, too. Even the lack of a central religion in itself is a tenement of belief. Take time to explain the roles religion has with your people, places, culture and history. Who do your people believe in? How do they express those beliefs? What landmarks and rituals do they associate with those beliefs? How do these beliefs affect the way the world is run, and how different cultures deal with each other? These can have a profound effect on your story, so you might want to take some time to flesh these details out.

Mythology counts in this category, too. The fantastic creation myths and legends of pantheons and history explaining how cultures see the world is also fair game for delving into.

The Tech

This wasn’t covered in the original article, but it really should have been. If your world has any element that operates outside of the norms of the real world, you need to explain how those aspects work. It could be explaining how magic works in your high fantasy setting, or explaining what vampires and werewolves can and can’t do in your horror story, and definitely explaining how the outlandish, futuristic gadgets work in you sci-fi or espionage story. Having a concrete set of rules for how these important elements work grounds your story and makes it easier to stay consistent the more you write about it.

The Secrets

Your setting will have loads of secrets waiting for your characters to explore and discover. The more prominent ones that have a direct effect on your story will probably need to be fleshed out if they haven’t already been covered in the previous topics. Take the time to really delve into the who, what, where, why and how of these secrets, and possibly explain why they are secrets to begin with.

Referencing

While some of the more well-known story franchises have been known to publish their sourcebooks, it is really more for your own personal reference and understanding of the world you are creating. So be sure to keep your sourcebook handy while writing so that you can come back to it whenever you need to check the accuracy or consistency of something you are writing. And be sure to keep your sourcebook flexible. You will be introducing new ideas, concepts, places and people constantly to your world, so you need to be able to update your sourcebook as needed.

You will find having a convenient reference source for the world you are creating to be a valuable resource, and it may even prompt you to do more deep exploration of how your wold works, which will in turn add more material to your sourcebook that you can mine for stories. I am constantly adding new ideas and concepts for the high fantasy trilogy I am currently writing, and most of those new concepts, landmarks, people, histories and ideas are built upon stuff I had added to the sourcebook long ago. Take some time aside to develop this, and your stories will be better for it in the long run.

As an African-American storyteller, it is important to me to properly and respectfully address the issue of diversity and rresentation in all of my stories. I personally don’t feel I’m seeing enough of certain grops of people represented in stories (my own group included), so I try to make sure to accurately and respectfully include characers representing those groups in many of my stories.

A white male has no problem with representation because he will always be represented. For those who aren’t white, and for those who aren’t male, that is not always the case.

So for the rest of us, it does feel good to see a character we can dircetly relate to portrayed in a non-stereotypical manner. Until recently, that was a bit of a rarity.

I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering since its early “Chronicles” expansion, and I was giddy when they devoted a major set to a tropical, African-inspired environment with dark-skinned characters. As an African-American, it was something I rarely saw and was something I could identify with. We can find things we relate to in really any character regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. But there is a more personal connection when you feel underrepresented or misrepresented and you see a character that is a direct reflection of your identity shown in a positive (non-stereotypical) way.

Here are a few issues I’ve identified when dealing with this in storytelling, and a perspective on how to approach them.

Using Language Tastefully to Identify Ethnicity/Culture

The way a character talks can give away a lot about their culture and background. Everything from tone of voice to their pet phrases, accent, and even the way they speak profanities can help identify their culture. One of my tricks when I write ethnic characters is have them say certain words or phrases in their “other” language. This is mostly to remind my readers of their ethnicity. But just like with all of these tips, be cautious of overkill. Having language doing the heavy lifting can come off as patronizing to your readers.

Being Authentic Without Being Offensive

There is a fine line between adding elements of a particular culture to make them identifiable, and stereotyping. That is something you want to be very cognizant of. A small element here and there, maybe a cultural tic or a particular feature would be enough to give away what that character’s background is would be enough. Sometimes even just a name can be enough. If you give your character a surname like Martinez or Rodriguez, most readers will assume the character is Latin. Likewise, if your surname is something like Valenti or Castagnacci, then the reader will assume they have Italian roots. But doing too much insults the reader’s intelligence.

If you know certain physical features that can be identified with a certain background, you can utilize those, too. But you really should go to this well sparingly. Maybe one or two mentions about bodily features tops. Especially skin color. You should only need to mention once about a character’s complexion for the reader to be able to get the visual.

Going Against Stereotype

In the grand scheme of things, having your characters buck accepted stereotypes is a good thing for a number of reasons. It challenges the reader’s preconceptions and prejudices, and helps make your character unique and memorable. If you, knowing that Asian characters are typically presented as genial and ultra-smart, want to create an Asian character that is a bit clueless, it should be within your right to do so. But I advise developing your un-stereotypical character and fully understanding why they don’t act the way readers would expect them to act, so you can portray them more authentically.

Handling Ethnic Antagonists

probably the toughest aspect of developing ethnic characters is making one that is the bad guy. The temptation is to lean in to their ethnic identifiers, or to place them in roles that are typically identified with their ethnicity (i.e. the Latino druglord, or the sheisty Jewish lawyer). But you can avoid that by taking time to truly develop your characters and fleshing them out the same way you would flesh out any villain. Preferably in a way where their villainy or villainous attitude is not inherently tied to their ethnicity or culture.

Avoiding Tokenism or Diversity Just for its Own Sake.

Many underrepresented groups feel slighted despite seeing “one of their own” in a story, because it is obvious that that character was put there as a “tolken” character.

The key to avoiding this is to make the character’s culture and background an integral part of the narrative. Having your character and your world be well-developed is the key to that. If there are aspects of your world where your unique character can exist as a part of the culture, then you create more authenticity and your character is less likely to stand out like a sore thumb.

This will also solve the problem of including characters of other races and cultures just so you can say you did it. That can come off as very disingenuous and patronizing, so making the characters and their backgrounds an integral part of the story is vital.

There are a few ideas I thought up to help you address the issue as you create your stories. I am sure there are other, better ways out there to handle it. But being cognizant of how sensitive an issue it can be and how important it is for you to get it right is a definite step in the right direction. And it doesn’t hurt to get outside opinions, either. There are plenty of groups on places like Facebook (like this one) that pay close attention to how various ethnicities and cultures are portrayed in stories. It couldn’t hurt to get their input on your story, too.

Tag: culture

Creating a Sourcebook for Your World