Storyworld Builder's Disease

Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.

This post now part of the book Storyworld First: Creating A Unique Fantasy World For Your Novel by Jill Williamson.

I mentioned how I really got into this whole storyworld building thing early on when I was working on By Darkness Hid. I drew the map, I named the cities, I wrote a history and a description of each city, I researched climates and the animals and plant life that went with each type, I drew floor plans of castles, got lost for a while researching types of swords, then--since I'd been a fashion design major--I thought it might be fun to draw the clothing for some of my main characters.

It was during one such fashion coloring moment that my husband said, "I thought you were going to write a book."

And I was like, "Oh. Yeah."

An early drawing of who became Lord Nathak

And I looked around me. At the mounds of papers, the piles of markers, the lead stains of the side of my hand from sketching the map again and again to get it just right. I looked at the pile of encyclopedias on the floor, the binder I had started to organize all of these things. And I realized that I might have gone too far.

So after about three months of playing with my storyworld, my husband knocked some sense into me. I set aside my piles of storyworld stuff, and I started to write the book. Good thing Brad had said something. If he hadn't, I might still be playing around with that storyworld today!

This is what's affectionately known to science fiction and fantasy writers as Storyworld Builder's Disease. And it happens to the best of us. Because you know what? It's fun to make up a new world! And it can suck you in. And you can get lost there for a very long time.

Some people like it there. You never have to actually do any writing in that place.

But do you want to write a book or what? Because if you do, then you've got to do the hard work of writing that book.

So take the time you need to build your storyworld. But give yourself a deadline, and when you reach it. Stop. Write! You can always go back and create a deeper storyworld. But if you get lost forever with Storyworld Builder's Disease, we'll never get to read your staggering work of genius.

Have you ever had Storyworld Builder's Disease? How did you come to realize it? How did you get past it?