Thanks a lot for joining me as I brainstorm, outline, and draft my new story (I’m pitching it as Robin Hood meets Les Misérables, via Six of Crows). 

In my last post, I talked about the first step in my brainstorming process: writing down my Magical Cookies to create a wishlist of all the weird and wonderful things I would like to include in my project. As a next step, I’m going to make notes about the story world.  

Story World

In my notebook, I jot down all the things I already know about the world in which my story will take place. Usually, these are quite “high-level” things, such as locations, government, welfare, specific rules for magic, and so on. 

For example, for this project, I’m looking to create an alternative history based on pre-revolutionary France (approx. 1760-1787). The main setting will be a small border town ruled by the Austrian Empire, though heavily fought over by the French, the English, the Prussians, and the Dutch. Both the schout and the local abbey hold a lot of power, with the abbey controlling the coal mines. Poverty and high taxes are forcing people into the dangers of the mines. Any form of dissent is heavily punished, witch hunts are still happening, and the devil plays an important role in daily life.  

At this stage, I’m still brainstorming, so I just write down the most important characteristics of the story world. Even though I do a bit of research to get the creative juices flowing, I’m not deep-diving yet.

Saving Details for Later

If I already have some specific details in mind that will help feel the story world more real and alive, I do make a note of those. Usually, these details relate to food (like pear syrup, cherry pastries, and jenever), vegetation (like linden trees and foxglove), architecture (like half-timbered houses), and swear words (like “going to hell in a handbasket” and “seigneur”). If I think of names for places and people, I will write those down, too. 

Most of the time, these details won’t come up again until I start drafting, but I find it helpful to write them down as I think of them. It saves time later in the process, and it helps me get a clearer view of what the story world will be like, eventually. 

I hope you found this helpful! Of course, writing remains a highly subjective thing: what works for me doesn’t necessarily have to work for you (and that’s perfectly okay). Next time, I’ll be talking about brainstorming characters. Stay tuned!