We talk a lot about story world here at My Book Therapy.

And many of you have mastered the craft “tool” creating a story world.

We define story world as the “place and space” where your characters live.

You have to set their world so the reader can picture the scenes and setting, get a feel for the protagonist’s environment.

But story world is so much more.

Story world must permeate your novel.

Story world is the time of day when a new chapter starts.

It’s the place, the sights, the sounds, the fragrances of where your protagonist was when he launched his story journey.

I’m not talking about over describing a living room or the walls of a town hall meeting — unless it’s significant to the story — but creating a world is which your characters live.

Old school writing doesn’t give a lot of time and place.

The protagonists simply go to “the next day.”

Or, “Gina met Tom at the diner for lunch.”

When? The next day? A week later?

Is it sunny out? Raining?

Sometimes the author forgets to even give us meal times.

“Gina stood on the sidewalk waiting for Tom.”

Where? Why? When?

Story world can be tedious and frustrating. But you need to be diligent to set the place and space for your characters.

For example, if you heroine meets her friend for dinner on Friday night, and nothing significant happens over the weekend, put us back to her job on Monday.

“Monday morning, Gina drove to work in the rain. Perfect. Another manic, rainy Monday. Tom said he’d call over the weekend, but he didn’t.”

Now we have an anchor. We know where she is, where she’s going, how the weather is affecting her.

In fact, it’s the perfect weather for her mood.

Maybe you add, “She passed the break room on her way to her office. Her empty stomach rumbled at the fragrance of coffee and donuts.”

I’m totally set in this scene now.

Not to nitpick, but I’ve read more than one novel where I had no idea what day it was, what time, where exactly there characters were standing. (See blog on blocking.)

Story world IS the world of the story.

And just like your every day life, it flows from morning to night, weekday to weekend, with rain, sun, clouds, heat and snow.

Don’t leave the readers hanging, wondering, “Is she ever going to work again?” Or, “Didn’t she go to church yesterday? Why is she back there again today.”

Tips on anchoring your story world.

1. Feel free to use terms like “the next day,” or “two weeks later,” to get the anchors down. You can be more creative on the rewrite.

2. Pay attention to other books you read. Some require more story world than others, but if you ever feel lost, note why. You should never feel lost.

3. Use weather. I love weather. Here’s an example from Softly and Tenderly: The Tennessee sun surrender to Kentucky clouds by mid afternoon. An icy chill filled the Caddy and on the last stop, Jade insisted on raising the top. See, we get a sense of where they are and the time of year. Cold.

4. Time and space doesn’t always have to be in the beginning of the chapter. Work it into the previous or upcoming scene. Here’s a time stamp in the middle of a scene. Same book. “I’m going. I’ve got to get out of here. Ride though the plains with the truck windows down.”
“Can you be ready to go by noon?” June checked her arched. It was eleven o’clock now.”
So we get a sense about the time of day in the middle of the scene.

5. Use externals to give us story world boundaries. Here’s another example at the beginning of a scene: “Jade saw the girl almost the moment she pulled up to the light just under the I-24 overpass. She stood at the beginning of the ramp onto the northbound highway with her thumbs hooked over the waistband of her low-rise jeans.” So we get the space of being on the road, about to turn onto the highway. Story world. Spacing. Blocking.

Don’t forget to layer in these key elements to drawing your reader into the story. If you don’t like to go back and rewrite, take the time to layer in story world on your daily edit.

Happy Writing.