Emily Layne's Steps to Write a Book:
Step One: The Inspiration & Jewelry
Step Two: Prepping My Muse
Step Three: Building My World (Part 1 & Part 2)
Continuing my first half of Step Three in the series, Idea to Pages, I'm concluding the building of my world.
Part 2 involved a less historical setting. Instead I shifted my focus to the present... and the future! To be honest, this part didn't require as much work as Part 1. Which makes sense, considering I'm particularly familiar with the present-day and the future is entirely up to my imagination.
The freedom in this part was a lot of fun. I got to place my setting somewhere in the U.S. I've always wanted to visit (won't spoil that--you'll have to read the book!). And I got to create a future society decades down the road.
Though, while imagining the world past the 21st Century, I couldn't help think of SciFi movies and books before me. Like Edward Balmy's Looking Backward. Balmy's book imagined a society of "universal credit." People in this futuristic world used cards to purchase goods on "credit." Sound familiar?
Or George Orwell's 1984. In Orwell's society people were monitored by an interconnected web of security cameras. Surveillance. Absurd, right?
Not.
Then, of course, there's the well-known movies, Back to the Future. We're still waiting for some of the tech in that movie. But we're getting there (you won't see me on a hoverboard anytime soon though!).
All of these technology concepts came from Balmy and Orwell's imagination, but today they're in common use! It's crazy to think, far down the road, that some of my imagined tech could be real--even used by people!
Though 2965, my futuristic world, is awfully far away, and it's doubtful I'll live to see my imaginings become real. And, to be honest, I think that's a good thing.
Soon to come, Step Four: Let the Plotting, Begin!
Emily Layne's Steps to Write a Book:
Step One: The Inspiration & Jewelry
Step Two: Prepping My Muse
Step Three: Building My World (Part 1)
Up next on my blog series, Idea to Pages, is the first part of Step Three. I'm building my world!
Normally, I would research and implement the main setting of my book during this stage--and I will. But SECOND-HAND SCAVENGERS is jam-packed with historical events. Which means lots of fact compiling before I even nail down the "future world" that one of my main characters is from.
At first I thought all the research would be daunting. I can't say I ever loved history class.
But boy was I wrong.
History is so interesting! I won't spoil it, but I've chosen eleven time periods to visit from early AD all the way to the late 1900's. Society has evolved and changed so much since then. It's amazing!
Not only has my study given me a better understanding and respect for history, but it's also inspired ways that I can mold the world's future in 2965 (when my book takes place...sorta).
With the past groundwork laid and cemented, next stop... the future!
Don't miss Part 2 of Step Three: Building My World.
