A World Building and Novel Writing Guide

The List System - A World Building & Novel Writing Organization Guide

Introduction

If you are like me, you are someone who finds a lot of benefit in making lists and keeping a lot of notes. This has naturally lead me into developing my own system in organizing my numerous story projects, in a way that keeps them easily accessible, clear, and able to hold any and all Information I need.

World building and Plot making are sometimes time-intensive processes. They can be spread out over long distances of time, or larger chunks of building sprees. Whatever works for you is great! If you aren't sure, listen to your whims. This is a very flexible and customizable system that can flow however you do. This method however is not for everyone, if you are not a list oriented person, this may seem more like a chore. If you are unsure, give it a try and see how well it works out for you.

This entire system centers around using and modifying a basic template. I use this template for my projects and it has always served me extremely well. I use wikidot syntax so I can easily paste my work into a private wiki, where I keep track of all of my work. I highly recommend it, but its not required! Its free and over at www.wikidot.com

All of my work starts off with the exact same template before I modify it for any special needs for the project, so lets take a look shall we?

Part 1: The Template

++ Premise

++ World & Society

+++ Important Rules, Laws & Legislation

++ Factions

++ Items

++ Technology

++ Locations

++ Characters

++ Plotlines

+++ Book 1

+++ Book 2

Part 2: The Template Explained

++ Premise

The first sentence/paragraph you write should always be /what/ this story is. What is the initial thought that inspired this story? Was it the idea for a character that eats rocks? Was it looking at a clock tower and imagining pirate ships run by liquor? This is where you put all your initial ideas in what makes this story idea a story idea. The first sentences should be your plot bunny/muse, raw and uncensored. Getting that down is all that matters.

After that, keep going. If questions or more ideas come to your mind as you write, write them as they come to you. If by the time you finish writing the question you found a decision, write the decision about that question after it, or if you see multiple answers to the question, write them ALL down.

This is kind of like a simultaneous writing/brainstorming location. Write EVERYTHING that comes to mind. Its something that with practice you can get better at and find it super helpful, and writing both the questions and answers means you can go back and look at that question. Later on in development you may have a different or sometimes better answer. Or it may bring up a story point you completely forgot about.

Often I will repeatedly return to the premise and add to it if I have more ideas. Sometimes if they are significant additions, I will date and color the text to bring the most recent additions to my attention whenever I look at the page. Its great and in fact encouraged to keep spewing raw ideas and questions into this space.

The number one rule for this system: Write down -everything- that comes to mind.

++ World & Society

Usually I'll just label this as 'world', but I'll often stick society things in here as well. Basically, this is a summary/brainstorm specifically about your world and it's current state.

Some Questions I ask are something like: What is the health of the environment here? What are common social norms or discriminations? Has Climate Change made the sea levels rise? Is there an ice age going on? Is there a lot of polluted wasteland? Do people shun dirt and sunlight? Are body modifications common? Is there a corrupt dictatorship in power? Is there a rough timeline that this takes place in?

The questions can be endless- Write what you know and what comes to mind. You can always come back and add more.

The number two rule for this system: Try not to delete what you have if you make a change, simply add the change at the bottom of the section, and color and date it. Old ideas and questions could still be useful [or spawn another story entirely], and you don't want to lose them.

+++ Important Rules, Laws & Legislation

This is an optional section that you may not need, but I use it in some projects where prominent social rules or laws will be important for the story. This may include social taboos and acts that would count as crimes.

++ Factions

This is where I list my factions, as well as a brief description about them. These can all be expanded upon later. This is the format I use:

Faction Name: What it is, who made it/leads it, where its from, and what it's goal is.

Its ok if you don't know all that information right away. Its there for you to add to later.

++ Items

This usually is a simple listing and description of significant 'things' in this story universe. this can be anything from a special stone of power, a family heirloom, etc. The format is similar to the factions section:

Object Name: Brief description of what it is/does/why its important & to whom

++ Technology

This is where I make a simple list of all relevant technology to the story world. This includes anything from transportation, medicine, computers, and weaponry. This section also follows the same listing format, but optionally could be broken down into additional sections if you wanted. This can work for both fantasy and sci-fi.

Tech Name: What it does/how its used/how widespread it is

++ Locations

Following the theme of the other sections, this is a simple listing of locations significant to the story. So there's no need to list every town, city or graveyard that exists in your world, only ones that are important/will be visited or talked about.

Placename: Brief description, significance, & interesting aspects/lore.

++ Characters

This for me usually just starts out with a list of names and a brief description of who they are and what their role is, but I have been trying to refine my method to try and organize the present information. This list does not replace a good long character analysis, and I highly suggest that you do that for you main character(s) on another page, so you can get into the nitty gritty [you can find an optional character analysis at the end of this guide]. This section on the list serves merely as an overview/summary of all major characters and a brief list of minor characters. Here is the format I use.

First 'Nickname' Middle Last - Age - Species/Title/Profession/Role - Hair Color - Eye Color - Brief summary of history and how they got to the present, likes/dislikes and, brief personality/behavior description

You could add other parameters, such as Gender, Height, Faction and etc as well! Just keep it uniform and the same for all your main character profiles.

+++ Other Characters

This is a much more brief and simplified listing of minor characters. All of them!

Character Name: Young or old, role in story, brief sentence on personality.

++ Plotlines

This will be the section you use the most while actually writing. It may also be one of the hardest to pull together. Basically, this is a brief list of all the things that happen in your story, in order. I will do this for projects that cross multiple books all in one page, since the source material is the same, but you don't have to do that.

The first thing I do is write down all the events I know/have come to mind in my initial world building run. You may not be able to do this right away, but if a scene pops in your head, you come here to write it down. Don't sit and judge if its lame or not either, an idea is and idea.

Gaps are ok. If you know 'other things happen' between two events you actually do know, just put 'Something happens'. That allows you to stay roughly chronologically accurate while still being able to fill it in later.

Throughout working on the plotline, you'll find you think up more information for the world. Go back to the other sections and add it in at the ends, even if there's a contradiction. You have both options there and may change to one or the other later.

The two headings below are examples of how id set up a brief first run through. Typically, they will end up much much longer as you fill all the gaps, but I want to keep this example short.

+++ Book 1

- Scene starts with MAIN CHARACTER running away from cyber boars

- they stole a loaf of bread and are being pursued to be taken to jail

- They fall through a hole in the ground, the boars pass right by

- he passes out in exhaustion

- Something happens

- wakes up to find the hole was an old man's house.

- The old man is nice, and it is revealed he is a cyber shaman. He warns that they want him for more then the bread.

- Something happens

- Something happens

- Something happens

- trapped on a cliff between more cyber boars, he decides to leap into the unknown

- he wakes up 2 days later on a riverbank, his arm is broken. He finds he is surrounded by wilderness

- Something happens

- Something happens

- Something happens

- meets a girl named pepper pea who is a ninja

- he frees her from ogres by making them fall in a pit of giraffes

- Something happens

- they escape on a boat to the big city

+++ Book 2

- 3 years later

- the boy thief and his friend pepper pea have sabotaged a wealthy CEO's party

- they escape into a manhole

- Something happens

etc etc...

This works for both just one book, or for many kept in chronological order. You may know that in 'book three some event happens' but otherwise you know nothing beyond the middle of book two. It lets you plan ahead for future events while still on earlier parts.

If your first run looks very barren and blank, don't give up hope! It will take numerous runs going through your lists, adding to them and springing new ideas. Sometimes stepping away for a few days, week, or even month helps freshen up my head with new ideas so I can go back with a new perspective. Sometimes I find even a whole season is what I need [though that may be a bit much!].

This template may not be all encompassing for your project, so you may need to add more headings. Tailor it to your needs in order to get the most out of it. Some examples I've used in the past for different projects are:

++ Magic

++ Species

++ Races

++ Diseases & Illness

++ Deities

++ Languages

And so on. Add in what you need so you can organize and have a place for ever scrap of idea or information that pops to mind.

The number three ruled for this system: Every idea is a worthy idea, but it may take some time to see if its a 'fitting' idea.

Part 3: How to organize a plotline into what to write

Once you have your plotline completed, its time to organize it further so it is in more manageable blocks.

This section can be different for everyone based on interpretation. Overall, it depends on what sort of goals and style you want to use for your story. Here, I will be discussing the method I use for turning my plotline into instructions on what I should be writing when.

Turning your list into scenes

You could use this also for chapters, but I usually balance things out by initially considering every completed scene a chapter. After my first draft is done, I will have the opportunity to go back and combine/split scenes that are either too short or super long for a more uniform chapter structure. Though often I like the more natural scene brakes and keep it how it is. This is all up to your own taste, though! But first- how do we break our list up into scenes?

For this system, I consider an entire scene as a complete 'happening'. This will probably be better explained using an example from our sample plotline.

- Scene starts with MAIN CHARACTER running away from cyber boars

- they stole a loaf of bread and are being pursued to be taken to jail

- They fall through a hole in the ground, the boars pass right by

- he passes out in exhaustion

- Something happens

- wakes up to find the hole was an old man's house.

From this chunk, we can tell our first scene is actually the first 4 lines. It starts with the character doing something, it playing out, and the ending/transition is when he falls unconscious.

An ending of a scene is marked by being followed with a Transition. A transition between events can be things such as a passage of time, a change of point of view, or change of location.

Our character encounters a 'passage of time' transition, which is depicted by him being passed out.

- [SCENE 1 START] Scene starts with MAIN CHARACTER running away from cyber boars

- they stole a loaf of bread and are being pursued to be taken to jail

- They fall through a hole in the ground, the boars pass right by

- [SCENE 1 END] he passes out in exhaustion

- [SCENE 2 START] Something happens [SCENE 2 END]

- [SCENE 3 START] wakes up to find the hole was an old man's house.

Additionally, when he wakes up, that is the start of scene three. The 'Something Happens' seems to be an event that happens elsewhere, and would count as it's own self contained scene. You can label these however you want [I tend to mark them at the ends in red then the starts].  

You will do this to your entire plotline, and will end up with a series of chunks. Some scenes will be only one line long, some multiple. That's ok. I consider these as 'mini stories', which together in a sequence tell a larger story.

You can go back and add additional details to scenes at any time, and you still can now. When you are sufficiently satisfied, you can hit the ground running. What you have written for a scene is the instructions for the first small part of your story.

Braking up your story into small parts makes it seem less formidable and more manageable. You should celebrate for each scene you complete, because its another step towards completing your story!

Conclusion

The 3 main rules here are:

1. Write down everything! Make notes on scraps until you can get to your notes again.

2. Save everything! Don't delete old ideas, just add updates at the end of them.

3. Every idea is a worthy idea! Don't throw it out before giving it a chance.

Using this template as a way to organize might be what you need to have everything in order, and really get you going on your story and brainstorming. I hope it is helpful to you!

Copy paste the text below for the blank template as well as an optional character questionnaire if you'd like to work on developing your main characters.

---------------------------

++ Premise

++ World & Society

+++ Important Rules, Laws & Legislation

++ Factions

++ Items

++ Technology

++ Locations

++ Characters

++ Plotlines

+++ Book 1

+++ Book 2

---------------------------

Character questionnaire

Full Name:

Alias/Nicknames:

Age/Age Range:

Height:

Weight:

Hair Color:

Eye Color:

Scars/Marks/Birthmarks:

Body Build:

Origin/Birthplace:

Birthdate?:

Piercings or Tattoos?:

Other Special Physical Traits:

Current Home Location:

What is their home like/where do they call home? Describe it:

Who else lives there?:

Who are their relatives? What's their family like?:

Who are their friends? What are they like?:

Do they have any enemies? Who are they?:

What do they enjoy doing in their spare time? Hobbies?:

Where do they run when they are angry and upset, need some space? Who would they go to?:

Do they like healthy foods or junk foods? Sweet or salty?:

How has their life been up to this point? Hard? Easy? Anything significant happen?:

Have they lost anyone they knew or cared about?:

What are they most knowledgeable about? What do they know least about or avoid?:

Do they have any other special skills or talents?:

Night owl or Early Bird? When are they most active:

Do they follow the law or tend to disregard it?:

List some of their morals that are important to them:

What kind of people do they like? Dislike? Everyone?:

Do they have any Phobias or fears?:

Do they have any Obsessions or passions?:

Favorite Color?:

What's their personality? Easy Going or strict? Friendly or cold?:

What is something they have always wanted? If they could have any wish granted what would it be?:

Have they/do they have any love interests? How did they turn out? Is it something they even care about?:

An overall brief summary of this character: