Worldbuilding 101: Secret Histories and Lost Documents

First of all, I’m back from Marscon! It was a great time and I think I probably sold more books than I have at any of my previous cons. If any of you are reading this because you saw me at Marscon and decided to check me out, then welcome! The pictures are currently giving me trouble but if I manage to make them co-operate, I will be posting pictures of my table on my (currently hibernating) Tumblr.

That’s another thing I hope to change, I’ve tried using social media in the past to raise awareness of my books and brand, usually drifting off after a little while because it didn’t seem to be making any difference. I’m giving it another go. More details as they come. (Edit: They are up! And so is my latest ‘Tuesday’s Fact-Free Conspiracy Theory)

Worldbuilding 101: Secret Histories and Lost Documents

There are loads of instances of records, documents, histories, etc. that we know existed but are gone now (destroyed, lost, missing, etc.) On a related note, there are also famous pieces of art that fall under the same criteria.

Then you have the manuscripts we have but no one can read. The Voynich manuscript may be the most famous, but it’s certainly not the only one. There are also several writing systems that we haven’t managed to decipher yet.

And that, Fellow Writers, is where we come in.

Suppose we have a character who actually has access to one of these, real or made up for the story? Or perhaps they can actually read/interpret this mystery document?

Okay, it’s been done, but there’s still room for more, as long as it is done well.

Let’s start with a secret library of documents being deliberately withheld from the world at large. Well, why? In general, the purpose of writing a book is to share it with others. Probably the author wanted it shared. But someone decided that for whatever reason, it was better those manuscripts not be shared. They may even take extreme steps to make sure that no one else can have access to those books. But why?

I read a couple books in a cozy mystery series once where it turned out that the protagonist’s family considered themselves guardians of manuscripts famous authors wrote but were never published for one reason or another. They had no intention of letting these books see the light of day, or at least, not until humanity was ‘ready’. For an example, they had one author whose books, mysteries, were uplifting and optimistic. But apparently, the author became cynical and his last book was depressing and, according to them, a betrayal of everything the previous books stood for. So that last manuscript was kept hidden. Not destroyed, because there was nothing worse than one who would steal or destroy a book.

That was not the only thing in the book that had me questioning, but I personally found their reasoning lame.

So, what’s a good reason to protect a book from harm yet also refuse to let it be read? Maybe the information in it is secret, hidden, or dangerous. Yes, you probably shouldn’t sell a book that has the ritual to destroy the world using only common items from your kitchen on the shelves at Barnes and Noble.  Yet at the same time, it would probably be best for at least a few people to have a copy of the book so they know how to undo said ritual. 

Maybe the book contains information about the fact that humanity actually sprang from decedents of colonists from some planet in the Andromeda galaxy. For whatever reason, some people don’t believe that news should become public knowledge. Are they right? Who knows?

Maybe the secret tribe of demon hunters keeps a library of information on the various things they hunt. But they don’t share it with the general public because… why? Because it won’t be believed? Put it out as fiction. Because humans can’t know what terror stalks the night? Why not? Wouldn’t it be better to have some warning? Because they don’t want the demons knowing what information they have on them? Better. Especially since then the demons might try to release false information.

Or maybe the reason is more cynical. There are books of power and secrets that could change the world. But their guardian doesn’t want anyone else to know. They want to be the only one with that knowledge or at least limit it to a select few. Some knowledge is simply more powerful when only a few people know it.

Okay, what about the person who can read an unknown language? Why? Why them but no one else?

Well, maybe the language isn’t completely dead. Maybe the only speakers (which have to be incredibly few in number) are hiding that knowledge. Maybe they are in an isolated place that most don’t know about. Maybe one or more than one individual suddenly got time-shifted. Or perhaps you have an immortal who was alive when that language was actually in use.

Or maybe you have someone who’s really good at cryptography, puzzles, and languages figure it out? If so, please show that they have invested considerable time and energy into this attempt. People have and likely will continue to spend literal years studying the unreadable, and it’s almost an insult to have your ten-year-old genius protagonist figure it out in a weekend. Even a Deus ex machina like a translation spell or alien assistance only really works if this is the start of the problem, not the solution. Which it well could be. Maybe that information was hidden for a reason.

There’s also niche history. Even today, we have that. History that isn’t lost, per se, but only really is known to a few. In Nightmare’s Revenge, there is an extremely brief mention of the Fae-Vampire Alliance of ’68 and the Werewolf Uprising of ’69, which are implied to be related to the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Considering I had made up the dates before looking up Franco-Prussian War, I was actually delighted to see that the years could work nicely. Do I know how the Fae-Vampire Alliance and Werewolf Uprising affected the Franco-Prussian War? Nope. Will I come up with an explanation? Perhaps. But it’s a secret history for a secret world. Yet linked to the real world.

In the Hyde Chronicles, it’s stated that, contrary to popular belief, the Library of Alexandra was not destroyed, it was hidden. And it’s, like Hyde University, one of the few points that is in every known major dimension, allowing easy dimensional travel. (The other is in the Bermuda Triangle).

How have you used lost or secrets histories, books, or works of art in your stories?

Character Development: Personalizations

Sorry about the delay. Had a bit of trouble working this week. Next week’s post might be late too since it will be just after Marscon. If you happen to be in Virginia Beach area over the weekend, I recommend checking it out. I have a table. Free gift to anyone who tells me ‘Whimsy’.

Character Development: Personalization

Most of us are in a position where we are allowed at least some individuality in style of dress, decoration, and so forth. These decisions that we make say things about us, sometimes deliberately, sometimes incidentally. So, the choices that characters make to express themselves will say things about them.

Many car owners have bumper stickers, window clings, or other details that set their car apart from others. For example, my sister’s car is covered with bumper stickers of various fandoms, and she has an ad prominently placed on the rear window of her car that earns her a trickle of income.

I have had bumper stickers, though don’t currently. I do have a Firefly license plate holder, seat covers, and a small glass mason jar salt shaker with a wax melt in it. I place that on the dash and the sun melts the wax, releasing the scent. I also have cobolt blue tire stem caps. Not because I care so much about tire stem caps but because when I lost one and needed a replacement, all the options were the same price, so why not buy the prettiest?

What does that tell you about the differences between my sister and I? That even leaves aside that her car is much newer and nicer than mine.

I was given a sticker to put on my car for my last birthday. It is a small dragon, surrounded by books, that says, “In a world of bookworms, be a book dragon.” I love the sticker but it is very colorful and I was afraid that it would get washed out and damaged by being exposed to the elements. So I stuck it on my computer.

I’m not saying you can or should go into massive psycho-analysis based on our cars, but they do say a few things about us.

Let’s take another character. Let’s make him a rich important CEO of some wealthy company. Not one of those people that everyone can name, but maybe like owner of a bank or investment company. The kind of person who wears bespoke suits, shoes that cost almost as much as a car, and pays hundreds of dollars for a haircut. All these things are more or less expected of a person in certain areas of society.

Now, let’s give him a Mickey Mouse watch.

Oh, there’s a story there. But what? Maybe it was a gift, particularly from a child or grandchild. Could easily overlap with tragic keepsake (Language Warning). Maybe it is a reminder of his honeymoon spent in Disney World. Maybe it’s a rare or limited-edition watch that is actually worth loads of money. Maybe it’s something he coveted as a child and decided that now that he’s an adult and rich no one can tell him he can’t have it. Maybe it’s a reminder not to take himself or anyone else too seriously. Maybe it’s a conversation starter where if someone asks, he lies and gives one of the previous answers.

Every one of those gives us a different idea and insight into a character that we wouldn’t have gotten if he wore a gold Rolex or some other expensive watch.

Does your character have a signature look? Do they tend towards a certain type of jewelry or always wear the same thing? I’ve made signature jewelry plot significant in Secrets of the Moon Fox and a currently unpublished novella called Starlight and Ashes.

What kind of vehicle does your character use? Have they customized it at all? Why or why not?

What does the space they can call their own look like? Did they paint the walls? Put up posters? Are there any knick-knacks on the desk? Maybe they have a preferred pen or pencil type they make sure to keep stocked. Do they add things because they like them, or because it is something they are expected to like?

Even if your character goes to a boarding school with a school uniform, there may be ways to show individuality, even if it’s just lacing their shoes a different way. What can they get away with? What do they hide because they technically aren’t supposed to be doing? Even astronauts on the space station probably have little ways to celebrate their individuality. Maybe they color code sections of their storage units. They would probably have to be more creative than most because I imagine they are limited in the types and quantity of things they can have. But hey, they’re astronauts, they’re used to being creative.

This is also useful if you have a group of characters and need to find ways to distinguish them. So, we have a small werewolf clan, say five people. They aren’t major characters, but you don’t want to treat them as a group either. Okay, well, what if one of them really goes into the whole wolf thing and researches every thing there is to know about wolves complete with pictures and posters, another is into astronomy and has glow in the dark stars on their ceiling. One is an aspiring pop singer with some decent recording equipment and frequently practices vocal exercises and is always playing music. One likes to do the craft of your choice and has plenty of equipment for that, and probably gives away various projects. The last one is into classic cars and likes to keep models. All of these were picked mostly randomly. None of those have to be linked to certain personality traits, though they could be, and each would probably show in minor details about dress, their room, or how they spend their time.

What do those little details mean? What does it mean if they aren’t there?

Allusions and References

First of all, I sincerely apologize about last week’s post and the formatting issues. I don’t know how that happened but I did fix it and will make it a point to check that such a thing doesn’t happen again. Secondly, this is another post that I wrote while on my last job. Reference is made to it in the present tense.

Third, I would like to remind you of Marscon, a Science Fiction convention in Hampton Roads, Virginia. It’s in Virginia Beach this year, and I have a table in Author Alley. Stop by if you are in the area. Free gift if you tell me, ‘Whimsy’.

Allusions and References

There is nothing new under the sun. It’s a common saying and pretty true as far as it goes. Do you know where it comes from? The Bible. The book of Ecclesiastes, to be precise. Which also includes such cheerful sayings as, “Meaningless, meaningless! … Everything is meaningless.”

William Shakespeare alone is responsible for dozens of words and phrases that we use every day. Whether we mean to or not, we reference things and quote phrases. Sometimes without even knowing where it came from. Some things just circulate so thoroughly that they become divorced from their origins. TV Tropes calls it Pop Cultural Osmosis.

It’s important to understand the references we use. One, so we don’t use them the wrong way. Many common idioms are now used differently then their original meaning. How about, “Birds of a feather flock together”? Which actually ends with, “Until the cat comes.” Which sounds like more of a warning of fair-weather friends. We hear a lot about pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, and how that’s supposed to be admirable and praiseworthy. Except, it’s actually supposed to be a comment on how ridiculous it is that anyone can succeed on their own. You can’t elevate yourself by pulling on your shoes.

It is also important to realize that other people may not share your reference pools. I currently have a seasonal job working at a Santa photography set. When working on pet night, one couple brought in a pair of West Highland Terriers that they named Dante and Virgil. So I brought up the Divine Comedy. Most people have heard of Dante’s Inferno, where he is guided through Hell by Virgil. Not nearly as many people realize that Dante also wrote Purgatorio, where he travels through Purgatory, and Paradisio, where he explores Heaven. Together, these make up the Divine Comedy. When I mentioned that I hadn’t been able to get all the way through the last book, they pointed out that most people didn’t know there was more than the Inferno. We all agreed that was because the Inferno was, by far, the most interesting of the three. (When putting in links, I discovered from the TV Tropes article that Dante and Vergil are also brothers from the video game series, Devil May Cry. This is probably itself a reference to the Divine Comedy. If that was what the owners were referencing, they didn’t mention it.)

You also may want to avoid using a reference or idiom in an anachronistic way. While you probably won’t have anyone making a mention to buying the Brooklyn bridge in a medieval fantasy, think twice about having the skeptical knight asking the trickster if they have a bridge to sell them. I’m not saying you can’t do it, but it is a very American idiom that may feel jarring to readers, or even possibly confusing to Non-American readers. Perhaps the knight asks instead if the trickster is trying to sell him a unicorn? That gets a lot of the feel across, and will probably be recognized as an allusion by those familiar with the scam, while not likely to be confusing to those who aren’t as familiar, as long as you’ve established that people aren’t likely to be selling unicorns (they don’t exist, they are super incredibly rare, they are too unmanageable to be trained, etc.)

There is nothing wrong with making allusions, references, or easter eggs in your stories for perceptive readers to catch, but be careful about putting so much weight on the reference that readers who won’t get it will be confused and not understand large portions of the story. If it matters that much, then either it has to be a reference that almost everyone will know, or that they will be able to understand just from your story. It’s one thing to quote a line from The Princess Bride, it’s another thing for the climax of the story to require readers to know exactly who the Dread Pirate Roberts is. Yes, inconceivable as it might seem, there are people who just don’t know The Princess Bride.

What have you referred to in your stories? How did you do it?