My novel Dial One For Revenge has two main settings alongside the living world. The first is the Inbetween, where Cassie and her colleagues alongside others dwell after death. Within the Inbetween is the second setting, the Dial One For Revenge office, the afterlife corporate world where Cassie and her fellow deceased enact revenges for their living clients to obtain their killer's name.
World-building is always something I found daunting, so storyboarding and taking time to reflect on the Inbetween felt essential to the process. Using visual aids supported me in seeing the zoomed out version of the world, and gave me a structure to build upon. This included breaking down scenes and chapters to ensure I was using showing versus telling techniques to bring the world to life on the page. Drip-feeding the world, rather than info dumping was something I struggled with initially, so during revisions I asked for beta feedback on how the world moved through the story in a way that felt well-paced and not too overwhelming.
A critical part of my afterlife world involved the office environment and the portals that Cassie and her fellow case-workers use. As someone who enjoys writing and reading about sensory experiences, I wanted to give my world minute details that the reader could sense and feel vividly in their imagination without detracting from the world as a whole. The Nutmeg Café, where many important scenes take place, was inspired by a café in my parents’ hometown. To navigate writers block, I always find mixing up where I write helpful – cafes, libraries, anywhere where I can see, feel and taste different experiences. Breaking the cycle of the same place to write can open conversations, and people-watching, one of my favourite past-times, can add new and quirky details to characters and interactions. One of my characters wears a trench coat, which was inspired by someone I saw walking past a cinema in the rain!
Weather is something I devour and look for actively when reading, so thinking about the environment of the world can help too. Is it dark/light, does it rain? What time of day is it? Are the buildings big and looming or is the landscape charred and barren?
World-building needs a good foundation structure (which I love!) so I took time to consider the rules and hierarchy system, in order to weave this into the story. My main character is at the top of her game, but she has others to report to. If the rules are broken, there are consequences. How the rules are laid out can give flow and emotive stakes to your story and keep the reader invested in the characters and what happens next. I made sure it was clear what would happen if Cassie broke the rules, and how the characters and the world would respond and evolve to this.
Alongside the regulations of the world, purpose and motivation is a key driving force in world-building. What do the characters want in the world and how do they get there? When considering these questions, I created flash cards (in different coloured pens!) with character motivations so I could bring these into the story and have the reader either root (or un-root) alongside them.
Having a solid world can help the reader place and orientate themselves in the story so they don’t feel confused and get lost in a void. For inspiration, I looked at other worlds in films and stories – what worked and what didn’t so I could consider how the afterlife would come across for the readers. By using feedback from others, I was able to work on a balance of making the after-life feel real, and clearly differentiated from the living world Cassie oscillates between when travelling between the living world and the afterlife.
When building my fictional world, it was important for me to feel it was realistic and in full technicolour. The world of Dial A for Revenge may be a parallel world to my own, but it’s one I can open the door (or portal) to at any time.
Emma has always loved writing, but reconnected and fell in love with writing again during the COVID lockdown and also attended the Indie Novella writing course. A proud member of the LGBTQIA+ Community, Emma is passionate about diversity and representation in her writing, and exploring the complexity of relationship and friendship dynamics. Her debut novel, Dial One For Revenge is based on Emma’s reflections and experiences linked to revenge and finding yourself again through adversity.
Outside writing, Emma is an avid reader and film fan, having studied Film at University. She is passionate about mental health, having trained as a qualified counsellor. She can be found on Twitter and Instagram @EmmaLBWrites
Comments