The Magical Art of World Building
Coldharbour was a strange place, really: the name referred to the seaside town, the Victorian part where Alex was being all insistent at that moment, but also the area in general, which included Crossgate, with its Roman ruins under Christianised cobbles, and Northmere, a tiny mediaeval village that was more marshland than civilisation and had more than one story about the Devil himself visiting in the middle of the night and strolling away with a sackful of lost souls. – Laura Clarke Walker, Coldharbour: A Gothic Tale of Love and Death
What is world building?
Guess what? It’s building a world. It’s most commonly connected to speculative fiction, in which the writer has to create more of the environment their characters are in, as opposed to researching a real time and place. For example, Tolkien is held up as a king of world building for the sheer scale and detail of Middle Earth (and for pioneering a lot of what we take for granted as high fantasy).
World building can include the physical geography of a place, its history, the sociopolitical situation, and other genre-specific elements such as magic systems or scientific concepts.
But where to start with world building?
Tips for world building
It can be overwhelming – after all, where to start?
First of all, I would suggest, reading, watching, and living widely (write what you know doesn’t have to be totally literal). It’s easy to be derivative, so try to pull on as wide a range of influences as possible. For example, when it comes to Coldharbour, my inspirations are as varied as Michael Corleone, M. R. James, and Marvel.
I also recommend just sitting on your ideas for a while and letting them percolate. I’ve very much taken my own sweet time with Coldharbour and the finished book is a culmination of twenty years of soaking things in, exploring, experimenting. For example, I can remember an early version around 2009 that was very heavily influenced by Being Human, Doctor Who and Queer as Folk and I was painfully aware of this at the time. But you know what? I was seventeen. I just had to go out there and experience a lot more of life.
I even read something a couple of months ago that’s now inspired a significant plot twist in the final book, which I might never have thought of otherwise. It’s okay to cherry pick and see what works for you. Here are some key aspects of the world I’ve built in Coldharbour.
Coldharbour as a setting
Coldharbour, while speculative fiction, is urban/low fantasy, which means that it takes place in a world which is recognisably ours, but with a twist. As a setting, it’s a love letter to the British seaside towns I’ve grown up around, along with the cathedral cities and extensive marshland.
It’s the type of environment that turns up time and time again in ghost stories – again, see M. R. James or The Woman in Black – bleak, desolate places ripe for all things supernatural.
Power
Like a lot of fantasy-inclined speculative fiction, Coldharbour has a magic system: Power with a capital P. These are my original notes that I keep in my ‘Important Information’ document that saves me from continuity errors now I’m several books deep into this series:
On a scientific basis, Power is expressed through a combination of recessive genes – Power is therefore hereditary and usually requires both parents to have Power (both parents must at least be carriers of the relevant genes)
There are certain elements to Power that all carriers have: the ability to heal non-fatal injuries, heightened levels of instinct and empathy, an awareness of other people’s Power
Most people with Power have three or four elements that it can express, which are usually influenced by their inheritance, e.g. mind magic, physical abilities, necromancy etc.
Everyone has a Master Power, which is the strongest expression of their Power and usually a rare element, e.g. resurrection, Power sharing, and other types of Power that truly defy the laws of nature
There are certain limitations: while Power is technically infinite, it can be severely depleted by significant use; it can also be blocked or stolen and it can grow weak with neglect or volatile without control
Charmed was a huge influence on this – honestly, Powerful people are not explicitly called witches in Coldharbour, but the idea of Power being hereditary, innate, and individual is straight from the American series. People without Power can’t see it or sense it, but everyone’s Power has a different colour and they tend to glow while they’re using it. Think Scarlet Witch or the regeneration energy in Doctor Who.
The Wildes
As I’ve said before, these characters have been living in my head for a long, long time, so they’ve mostly grown organically, often through general exploration while plotting, writing, and editing. However, I would also recommend creating pen portraits and filling in character questionnaires.
But honestly? The main one is pulling on a whole range of influences in terms of looks, personality, and character arcs. Without giving anything away, here’s a few influences for some of the main characters:
Alex: Alex Drake (Ashes to Ashes – where she gets her name), Eleanor Vance (The Haunting of Hill House), Jill (It’s a Sin), Margarita (The Master and Margarita), Mina Murray (Dracula), Rose Tyler (Doctor Who), the second Mrs de Winter (Rebecca), the Governess (The Turn of the Screw)
Matthew: Jack Benjamin (Kings), Loki (MCU), Merricat Blackwood (We Have Always Lived in the Castle), Michael Corleone (The Godfather), Pinky (Brighton Rock), Richard III (the Shakespeare version), Satan (Paradise Lost), Tom Ripley (Ripley’s Game)
Elizabeth: Alex (Being Human), Bucky Barnes (MCU), Hannibal Lecter (the Mads Mikkelsen version – very loosely), Natasha Romanov (MCU), my great-grandmother Matilda, Orlando (Orlando), Siobhan Roy (Succession), Villanelle (Killing Eve)
Coldharbour sneak peek
Here’s how Alex Wilde, of all people, tries to explain Power to her teenage daughter Maddie:
“But how does it work?” Maddie asked. “Power.”
Alex sighed. How could she even begin to explain it? And yet, that stale coffee still on her tongue, she said:
“It’s as natural as breathing. If we hurt ourselves, we heal, unless it’s something immediately fatal, obviously. If we get shot through the heart, it’s game over.”
Or plummet off a cliff.
“Our levels of instinct and empathy are stronger than most people’s,” Alex continued, “and we usually can feel other people’s Power. But then everyone’s Power has certain ways it shows itself. Usually, it’s a few inherited things and then your Master Power, which is the strongest expression of your Power. Some people talk to the Dead. Some people can move things with their minds. Some people can fly, for instance.”
“Can you fly?”
“I can levitate,” Alex said. “Well, I used to be able to. Your grandmother could fly. Apparently, cos I never saw it.”
Apparently, because she plummeted off a cliff.
Want to know more about world building?
If you’re interested in finding out more about world building (especially as how it pertains to writing fantasy), here are some good articles I’ve found:
Buy Coldharbour: A Gothic Tale of Love and Death (out now)
