Becka's World Building Workshop ~ Post #5 & #6

Hey there, gang. I'm posting two World Building Workshops today because I missed the last one, as I was pretty sick. :( Therefore, today, you get a twofer! :D Stay tuned! My next blog day will be the final installment of my seven-part series!

If you have missed the other installments, here are the linkies:

World Building Workshop Post #1

World Building Workshop Post #2

World Building Workshop Post #3

World Building Workshop Post #4

~*~*~*~

#5
HISTORY OF YOUR WORLD

Now that you have all the foundations in place, it's time to think of a history for your world. Now this can be as detailed or as sketchy as you want it to be depending on your story. Perhaps the inhabitants of your world *don't* know the history, in cases like Waterworld or Mad Max or what have you.

But a good history will make your world come alive, as you can add little details, maybe give magical items a history. If there's a pendant of invisibility or whatever, who made it? Who owned it? And what was it used for, good or evil? Think of leaders names, past and present. Maybe a lineage for a monarchy. Who was the first king?

Are there any heroes in your world? Tales of men overcoming all odds? Folk tales about mythical creatures such as the unicorn or dragon? If there are no unicorns on your world but there's folk tales about them, did they exist? Do they still? What happened to them so long ago to wipe them out? Or why do they now live in hiding?

These are all details you can jot down in a good history. And sometimes as you write your story, you can think of more history to go with your world, so it doesn't have to *all* be thought of at once. I know some of you might be thinking *whew!* :D

But these ideas can build a more believable world for your characters to live in. Just because you might not necessarily write about this information, YOU have it in case you need it to better understand your world, or perhaps understand the motivation behind your characters.

That should get you started on thinking of your own unique history. Just keep asking yourself the "what if" questions, and it will come. :)

~*~*~*~

#6
IDEAS FOR NAMES

A lot of times when I get stumped on thinking of a name, I combine words. Literally. Like one of my city's names is "Tabrinth". I named it that because at the time, I had a cat named "Tabitha" and I'd just recently watched the movie "Labyrinth". Hehe. Not really rocket science, is it! HAHA! But you might be able to do something similar.

Look in the phone book and combine names you find there for unique first names or surnames. Think of it this way. I just looked across my desk, and I saw a pencil and my printer. Combine them, and I have the name "Penter". Now, if I change up the spelling, Pinter, Pynter, Pentyr, Pintyr, Pintar, Pyntar... You get the idea. That could be a name for a creature, a city, a hero, a king...

But from “pencil” and “printer”, I can also get Cilrin, Enin, Terpen, Rinen, Cipri, & Ilrin.

Let’s see if I can do that again… Okay, again on my desk, I see a novel and a camera. Novera, Ovelca, Velmer, Merano, Lera, Cavel, Elcam, Rael… It’s really fun to do, and you can even come up with more words by scrambling the letters as well, not just pulling them from the words and adding them together.

But see how that works? It's what I do, and I've been complimented on my names more than once. Not only that, but I’ve never really been stumped for a name in my world. I guess it's my secret! :P

Good luck on your own names!

~~Becka
http://www.RebeccaGoings.com/

My example of Lyndaria comes from my fantasy/romance novels The Legends of Mynos, currently published at http://www.SamhainPublishing.com.