Monday, April 16, 2012

Organization of Worldbuilding

I've mentioned before how I have the various nations of the world that Druthal occupies given some degree of definition in "National Documents".  These are, in essence, a handful of neutrally-written wikipedia-esque files on each country (or, in the case of areas of lesser organization, regions of general geosocial commonality).  These documents were organized as follows:

POLITICS
  • Government
  • Laws
  • Criminal Activity
  • Military
  • Foreign Affairs
GEOGRAPHY
  • Maps
  • Regions/Political Subdivisions
  • Major Cities
 ECONOMY
  • Currency
  • Key Imports/Exports
CULTURE
  • City Life
  • Country Life
  • Religion
  • Holidays & Ceremonies
  • Family Units
  • Homes
  • Clothing & Hairstyles
  • Education 
  • Food
  • Entertainment
  • Great Works
HISTORY

PEOPLE
  • Key Historical Figures
  • Current Major Personalities
 Now, while this format is solid, and given that it's mostly for my own personal use, it's just fine, I'm not thrilled with it.  I feel something is missing-- flavor mostly.  Possibly from my own desire to maintain that dictionary neutrality, I've lost some degree of voice.  And perhaps there is a key element to these documents that I've somehow glossed over.

So I'm thinking about how to rectify that. And, of course, whether I really need TO rectify it, or just focus on, you know, the actual writing.

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