Worldbuilding - Your Characters and Your World

So much WANT.

Am I reusing a picture of Jon Snow? Why yes. Yes I am. Can you blame me, though?

Also, can you tell I'm in severe Game of Thrones withdrawal? Cuz I am.

Anyway, I keep picking GoT because a) it's awesome, b) it allows me to use gratuitous Jon Snow photos, and c) I just finished it last night and OH MY GAWD.

And it's a fantastic example of worldbuilding and how the world you create impacts your characters, something I covered briefly in the last post but wanted to expound upon because it's kiiiiiind of important.

And I'm going to use Jon as an example ^_^

In Westeros, a bastard's surname is typically called by region. In the northlands, where Ned takes Jon, that surname is "Snow." In the river region, the name is "Rivers." You can see how that works, I'm sure.

When Ned brings Jon to Winterfell, no one can understand why, including Jon. Step-mom Catelyn despises him and little half-sister Sansa (who kinda sucks at life anyway) never accepts him into the family. He's called "bastard" as often as "Jon." So...how does all this fit into the worldbuilding?

Because of the cultural and societal implications of Jon's standing, he's seen as little more than a parasite. Alienated and alone, no matter how hard Arya, Robb, Bran, and Ned try to make him feel included, he's not. Never seated with his family at banquets, never allowed to take the name "Stark," Jon has no true family, though he'd die for Ned or his half-siblings without a second thought. So, where do men with no hope of establishing a house go?

TO THE WALL.

BRRRRRRRR.

The Wall is where bastards, some nobles (like poor Sam Tarly who is a horrible disappointment to his father) , rapists, murderers, thieves and other low-born ilk have a chance to make something of themselves defending the northernmost part of the Kingdom from...well, lots of things. Jon's uncle Benjen "took the black" himself, and it's through him Jon learns of the opportunity and decides to go himself.

Like most fraternities (not Phi Kappa Gamma, beer-guzzling fraternities, but actual brotherhoods) a committal vow is required of all new initiates. It's this vow, and its importance within the world, that compels Jon to stay when he doesn't want to. Deserters from the Wall are as good as dead. In fact, in the beginning of Game of Thrones (book or movie), the first scene with the Starks is Ned beheading a deserter from the Wall. Makes Jon think twice a little bit, and thusly affects his decisions and thought-process.

So, how do you apply this to your world?

What George RR Martin did with Jon (and really, I could go on for weeks just on Game of Thrones alone) is he took the time to figure out how the world affects his character. What's true in both fiction and life is that our upbringing and the society in which we're brought up affects us as we get older. The key is deciding how your world dictates your character and whether your character chooses to rise above it.

Case in point: Katniss Everdeen. Yes, I KNOOOOW but I loved the Hunger Games. So anyway, here's what society dictates for Kat: Be poor, participate in Hunger Games, die.

What did she do? *SPOILER*

She takes down the freaking President. Not herself, mind you. She misses the important action *GRRR*. But rather than take everything lying down, Kat becomes a symbol of hope for an oppressed people. She rises above the expectations set for her.

That's all well and good for the protagonist/main character/whatever, but since it's hard to pinpoint a main character in Martin's multi-POV epic, I kinda consider Jon to be more of a secondary character. He's important enough to warrant his own POV, sure, but in the end, the book finds its focus around the Lannisters vs. the Starks, and Jon's got bigger (and undeader) fish to fry.

This leads into using your world to round out your secondary characters too. We'll discuss that at a later date ;)

World-building - Fantasy & Society

This goes for SF too, but I'm in the mood to talk about fantasy today for some reason. I guess between reading Game of Thrones and playing Dragon Age: Origins, I've got fantasy on the brain. Also, I really wish I'd developed this a little better, but hey, I'm not a teacher, so I can get some slack, right? :D

Anyway, one of the most important aspects of building your world, be it SF or fantasy, is the society in which your characters live. This is something Dragon Age does fantastically. In the game, you can choose from three races: Human, Elf, Dwarf. Within those races are classes. For Human, you can choose Mage or noble. For Elf, you can choose Dalish (elves who live in the forest), Mage, or commoner (in which case you live in the alienage, which is an impoverished, sectioned-off portion of a city ). For Dwarf, you can choose noble or commoner. Whatever you choose decides how other characters in the game see you.

If you're a Human noble, for example, everyone treats you with optimum respect, referring to you as "my lady" or "my lord" depending on your gender. If you choose Mage, people are afraid of you because they don't like/understand magic. If you choose Elf, people are more likely to talk down to you because most elves are servants. Regardless of your standing as Gray Warden, people will still refer to you by your previous social status. Most of the time, you have to tell them you're a Gray Warden to get a little respect.

So, what do you need to think about in order to construct your society? Well, a lot, actually. Now don't be alarmed. There are a lot of wonderful tools to help you along your way.

Some important ones:

• Economic/class model - This one is probably THE most important one because this will shape how your characters view the world and themselves. Is it a commerce-based society? Are merchants the at the top or close to the bottom? Is there a gap between haves and have nots? Are you shooting for more of a communist-based society where there's no wealth?
  
         Ex. Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy uses the world's economic model as the catalyst for the Hunger Games. Basically, it's all for rich people's amusement.
  
  
• Technology - Are you writing steam/cyber/other punk? Basing your society around the Middle Ages when people still rode on horses? Is it an era of invention?
  
         Ex. Steampunk is all the rage these days. Kady Cross' The Girl in the Steel Corset utilizes the steampunk automatons and advanced technology. The plot centers around automatons being used for dastardly deeds.
  
  
• Religion/Spirituality - This is probably tied with Economic model in terms of importance because it will help shape your characters, whether they're believers, non-believers, or just don't care either way.
  
         Ex. In Dragon Age (I know, I know, but really, it's a good example), the central religion (Chantry) is built around a prophetess and a higher power referred to as the Maker. Chantry belief dictates everything from the lore surrounding the evil critters you have to kill (Darkspawn) to how Mages are treated to curses and praises. There are people within the Chantry called Chanters who can only speak the religious text the religion is based around.
  
  
• Geography/Setting - The actual world part of your world-building. If you are setting your story anywhere besides present-day Earth, you're going to have to figure out the geography. Draw *really crappy, if you're like me* maps. Figure out important places. Mountain ranges. Deserts. Flat lands. All these things (and more) will determine how your character travels and the potential hazards therein.
  
          Ex. Star Wars. Dune. Game of Thrones. Pitch Black. Each of these uses setting to show something about character, whether it concerns how the character grew up--Luke was raised on a desert planet with 2 suns--, a character's attitude--Ned Stark is often referred to as cold because of his "northern blood" while characters from around Kings Landing are "those southron folks"--or a character's adaptation to his environment--Riddick's night-vision.
  
  As you can see, when you build a world, you literally build a world. You design it. You make its history, its culture, its classes and all of that. Everything, be it where a character's from to what he believes in, will shape your characters and their reactions to the world around them. 

MANic Monday

Oh, I've been chomping at the bit for this week's MANic Monday. If you've talked to me AT ALL, you'll know about my love of Jon Snow from HBO's Game of Thrones. I'm so glad he's older than in the books, because otherwise I'd feel like a perv.

So, onward to the eye candy.

Those doey brown eyes are going to be the death of me...

BWAHAHAHA, hipster Jon!

 Jon is the bastard son of *presumably* Eddard "Ned" Stark (played by the ever-wonderful and kill-offable Sean Bean), patriarch of the Starks in Winterfell. Ned takes Jon to raise as a son alongside his other children, thus giving Jon the foundation of a loosely-connected family. Jon gets along best with his half-brother Robb and his half-sister Arya (one of my all-time favorite characters), for whom he bought a small sword she calls "Needle." Sansa, Ned's eldest daughter, barely tolerates him, but she takes seriously her role as one of the Ladies of the Stark house. He and Bran get along. Bran always misses Jon when Jon's away.

Ned's wife Catelyn despises him, feeling that he shames both the household and her. He's the symbol of a love Catelyn can't hope to share with her husband Ned. She bears no love for Jon whatsoever, and is part of the catalyst that leads Jon down the pathway he's chosen.

Jon joins the Night's Watch, a group of men--thieves, murderers, pickpockets, bastards, high-born, low-born, etc--who have sworn to protect the continent from things called White Walkers, which are basically zombies, and other assorted things that live beyond the Wall. Ned's brother Benjen is a member as well. He's the one who convinces Jon to make the long journey north to the Wall.

There are a million and one reasons to love Jon. Aside from the obvious physical reasons (Those eyes! That hair! Those lips!), Jon is probably the most honorable of the Stark house, even though he's not truly a Stark. He actually behaves above his station as an outcast among a family. Jon is always there for a kind word or reassurance, and the Stark family misses that when he leaves for the Night's Watch.

Jon with direwolf cub Ghost

One of the main reasons I fell in love with Jon was because beneath the calm, almost docile exterior lies a man  who wants nothing more than to belong. Ever since Ned brought him to Winterfell, he's felt like an outcast. The direwolf he finds in the woods is the same. Ghost is an albino direwolf with snow-white fur and red eyes, whom Jon found a few yards away from the rest of the cubs and their dead mother. Like Jon, he's fiercely devoted to those he loves.

I'm anxious to watch Jon's progression through both the TV and book series. He's definitely one to keep an eye on...

You look good on that throne, oh yes you do!

Writing Strong Female Characters: Daenerys Targaryen

Feels like it's been forever since I've written about this. The last time I did, I wrote about how Bella Swan is not a strong female character and listed my reasons why I felt that way. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would argue me and that's fine. Fiction automatically sets up for debate; that's one if its beauties.

Today, I wanted to highlight a character I've been thinking about a lot lately--Daenerys Targaryen from George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones. As much as it pains me, I haven't yet read the books, though I did buy the first book yesterday (with Sean Bean on the cover--YUM), so I'm basing this entirely on the TV adaptation, which may or may not stray from the book.

The first scene with Daenerys just weirded me out. It seems the brother-sister relationships are just effed up. We see Daenerys' brother Viserys basically sizing her up, ensuring she'll be just perfect for the Dothraki leader Khal Drogo (AKA Mr. Crazy McSexypants). Daenerys' value is based solely on her beauty and whether Khal Drogo will want her, and really, Viserys is putting a lot of pressure on his little sister. At first, I wondered if Daenerys was going to be one of those pitiful, whiny girls whose life is determined by those around her. Oh man, was I pleasantly surprised.

Daenerys quickly became one of my favorite characters. She's AWESOME. First, yes, she's shy and nervous and scared, and who wouldn't be? Drogo is INTIMIDATING AS HELL. Plus, she doesn't really speak the language. The Dothraki are a barbaric, violent tribe, and they prefer doggy-style. Daenerys doesn't just lay down and take it, though. She learns how to please her husband the way she wants to (girl on top FTW), and thereby earns Drogo's respect.

Through the rest of the season, Daenerys and Drogo perform this delicate dance of cultivating respect and affection, eventually falling in love with each other. Apart from Ned and Catelyn Stark, they have the most stable loving relationship.

So. Cute. OMG.

I found myself looking forward to their scenes because I was so intrigued by how Daenerys had grown as a character since wedding Drogo. She adopts a lot of the Dothraki's characteristics. While her brother is busy whining and complaining and being a total douche canoe, Daenerys accepts her role as Khalissi with a grace and power I didn't expect from her. She loses her quiet doormat self and becomes a strong leader among a tribe that does not accept her because she wasn't born Dothraki. And though Drogo is willing to protect her and stand up for her (including ripping a dude's throat out for insulting her [hot]), Daenerys is also willing to stand up for herself, even if every person in that tribe could rip her limb from limb in a second. I LOVE that about her. Her inner strength is amazing. She even finds the strength to stand up to her brother. 

Daenerys' progression is only beginning. I'm so anxious for Game of Thrones to start again (and to dive into the book) because I want to know what she's going to do next. Seriously, if you haven't checked out the show or the books, you should. Daenerys makes it worthwhile. 

(Also, Jon Snow. He'll be featured on MANic Monday soon.)