Making Mixtures: Creating a Balanced World
Worldbuilding can be fiendishly difficult at times. It’s not easy to create a world that’s well-balanced between all the different elements you’re trying to add in, especially if you’re trying to write build for a wide audience.
I’ve recently read Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, and its sequels. It’s purportedly the only book ever to win three of the major sci-fi fiction awards: the Arthur C. Clarke award, the Nebula award, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel. I’d highly recommend it if you’re a fan of sci-fi, by the way.
But enough about that. It’s also one of the few books I’ve read that does worldbuilding excellently. Leckie has, somehow, created a world that’s balanced in almost every way – it has its little nuances, it has wider scoped themes, and it has the core elements that carry the world and the characters through.
So, I’d like to share some of my thoughts about how it’s done.
Language
The fictional world in the novels is based around a society that has expanded through space over millenia. As any society, it has its own language. But of course, the book’s written in English – nobody would understand it otherwise. Reading it, I’ve never actually seen any of that language written down, read out, or otherwise shown (apart from names). Rather, it’s described – we’re told about the nuances of the language and culture around it as it’s necessary.
“Then I beg your very humble pardon, Lieutenant.”
More formal than required, for the length of time Medic had known Ekalu.
Those two lines alone are pretty descriptive of how people in this world talk to one another: we can read that
- there are levels of formality required in speech
- this is a formal form of address
- time is a factor for the formality with which one should be addressed
Describing language like this is a bonus for your worldbuilding in a number of ways. For one, it eliminates the need to generate for yourself a whole new language, which can be daunting at best. For two, it’s a subtle way to show your readers the culture they’re reading about without shoving it in their faces.
Science
Sci-fi. Science fiction. You expect such novels to be based on science. And while Ancillary Justice mostly is, there are a few parts that it simply ignores, because they’re necessary to make the story work but otherwise inexplicable.
FTL (faster-than-light) travel is one of them. Ships get around the civilisation’s territory by using “gates”. These gates, analogous to wormholes, are never explained beyond “they link two points in space by a shorter route than would otherwise be required”. The ships never actually travel faster than light (they pass through the gates at light-speed, and take time to travel the distance), but the gates enable them to get around the universe faster than light can manage.
When I noticed the books were doing this, it struck me as a pretty clever idea – instead of trying to scientifically explain something unscientific to readers well versed in the principles of science that govern that something (which is hard), the something is simply stated as fact. “This is how it works – accept it.” I’ve written about suspension of disbelief before – this trick is very effective for maintaining it, because readers are not required to question whether this thing works or not; they can simply accept that it does.
Culture
This is the part I have the most respect for. Worldbuilding an entire culture is hard, no doubt about it. Cultures have traditions, ceremonies, ways of interacting with each other, all with their own nuances.
I think I can say that what I learned here is to establish permanence early. The culture described in the books is complex: it has religion, traditions, the lot. Most of these things were established within the very first few pages of the first book, and the rest of the less important aspects were established by the end of the first few chapters.
There’s a strong tradition around tea, for example. Probably not tea as we know it, but nonetheless. That was one of the first parts of culture I saw happening in the book, and it’s been referenced and repeated throughout.
OK, so having all those elements is great – now how do you put them together?
What I saw was repetition. Along with some direct mixture of the components (the culture shown alongside the language the characters are talking to each other in), some repetition, and obvious demonstration (the characters make use of all the elements I’ve described). And repetition, did I mention that?
Having all your components perfectly worldbuilded is worthless if they’re not included in your story. Make reference to them. Show them off. Intersperse them with one another. If you can start to show that these elements are irrevocably tied to the story, you’re well set.
