de-cluttering

[marycatelli]

There are kingdoms.  Several of them, in fact.  The heroine is traveling through four of them in a month. . .

And one starts to ponder why there aren't wars.

Even historical wars might be more clutter that the world can take, since even as back story they can draw attention. . . .

Hmm. . . hmm. . . hmm. . . oh yes, I've already got the spell.  Perhaps Mercurio, capricious as he was, was nevertheless not unique.  He just cast a big version of a spell that makes it much harder to invade a place than to defend it.  Above and beyond the usual problems of invasion, that is.  Which means it just slithers neatly into the world-building. . . .

Perhaps I can have a rebellious lord trying to compartmentalize his land with that spell.  It will give me an excuse to info-dump and the world a little background.

It can be fun, finding things abruptly fitting together. 0:)

Comments

[dirigibletrance.livejournal.com]

I'm running into this. The tug of backstory is so strong.

Sometimes world-building actually gets in the way of telling the story itself.

[marycatelli]

Oh, yes. Decluttering the background is essential. . . .

The real horror is when your story needs an element that will eat your story entirely, because the world-building is so extensive.