World Building

Lots of talk about this lately, what with the amount of paranormals, and sci fi romances out there. And (because I can be slow) it's taken me a while to really understand what this means.JR Ward said she cemented the rules of her world really early on in her Brotherhood series, knew what she could and couldn't do, and you know, I really bought in to her world.Her characters seemed to be true to her world, which made me believe it more.I know that's a cryptic statement, and the best way I can explain is using Historical romance. There is occasionally talk of world building in Historicals, but mostly it comes across as historical details and getting them right. And sure, don't have your character flip a light switch in the regency period.For me lately, it's become less about the details and more about how the characters interact in their environment.For example, a regency romance, where the focus is often on the heroine, a lovely young woman from a good family making a good match. And then in the course of the book, gives up her virginity without any real thought, for either herself, or her family.This happens a lot and usually drives me nuts. For me, it's often a case of the author setting the rules of their world, and then abandoning them to drive the story forward.If the author started by creating a world of upper, upper class where money and position drove the marriage process and affairs were ignored, then I'd buy into the above scenario, which for the regency period isn't historically inaccurate. (really awkward sentence, but can't think of a better one, sorry)Just something that's been top of mind for me. My heroine is a young woman from an impoverished family, not hoping to make a good match and I'm trying to think how she feels about a pre-marital affair. And I'm setting rules for my world, that I'm hoping will take me through 5 books. I know if I screw it up now, I'll end up paying down the road. (no pressure)And on a completely side note: some amazing books out there. If we haven't raved enough about Sherry Thomas, well here's more. Read her second book, Delicious and it's so good. And it's a lesson in world building in a historical and characters staying true to their world.