I’m half-way through my first edit of The Varken and The Blessed is fully outlined and developed and ready to go in November for NaNoWriMo, if not sooner.

So, of course, now I am allowing myself to think about The Book Book. Finally. I can already see how much I have grown in my writing, in my stories, in my characters, and in so much more while going through The Varken. But there is still a lot of room for growth, and that makes me very thankful to still have The Blessed to work through before diving completely into The Book Book.

But, I’m excited! And world-building is an important stepping stone in the process. One that takes thought and time and logic and research and brainstorming. So I’m finding all the bricks to build my world, especially diving into history and culture creation.

Pinterest, as always, is a huge help in this aspect visually. Of course, things will change about the aesthetic of the world I am creating, but it’s helpful to have images to inspire my imaginations.

A new Pinterest board I have been developing for world/character/plot development is my Something Else board. This board has images that convey emotions and feelings and inspiration. Here are some examples:

These have been fun to gather and build together to create the feeling I want my world to have. How the people that live in this world feel. It has been unexpectedly helpful…and also, it’s just super fun and inspiring.

So my Pinterest board has been a first step in my world building.

The other has been those weird google searches every writer has to do. Now, mine haven’t been anything crazy like “how to kill someone in 15 seconds”, but are simply things outside of my knowledge, such as:

• Alternative Economic Systems
• Political Systems & Types of Feudalism
• Final Fantasy Interviews
• Dune Series Politics and Religion

Just to give you a few glimpses. Although not all of these are outside of my interests (such as Dune and Final Fantasy), some of them are not something I would actively seek out (i.e. economics and governments), but I have found that I really enjoy learning about all of these pieces that come together to build a whole new culture, world, and universe.