The following is something I found particularly useful in world-building, so as an opinion and piece of discussion, it may either interest you, or bore you on your coffee break at work enough to think about that pay rise. It is also a lot of rambling, so forgive me if it sounds redundant or nonsensical. I typed this up on the fly. Please forgive me if this is seems nonsensical and repetitive at times.
The following is a long post about the use of music in literary creations. Use it to enhance your stories and worlds, use it to define your worlds and characters, and use it to describe your characters and worlds. Still not sure what the hell I’m talking about? Then read on.
Over the past few months, I had begun doing some deep thinking on the worlds I create for my stories, and, probably foolishly, started to really think about the in-depth mechanisms of how a society or societies in this worlds would work. Of course, any serious author who creates a world where a series of books or prose may be published upon will have some sort of history or culture which these stories are built upon. Whatever happens in those stories becomes part of that world’s history and is built up from there.
And so on it goes.
However, because I am slightly obsessed with the details of such things, not to mention I’m in my thirties and should know better, I’ve gone deeper in some self-brainstorming and thought experiments that would help me, as an outsider (if you will), understand the people that I am trying to create. Outlining and drafting is important in any creation concept, plot or world, even blueprinting to create a wood table. That is most important.
Layered components that really flesh out the details for a fantasy world are a must. For instance, custom languages for races like elves and orcs or aliens from another world are common. Religion is another major component in these imaginary globes of civilization and wonder. They are the basic building blocks that a fictitious group of imaginary people develop from. You begin to develop a subconscious bonding with them. When you blend culture and history together, you create a society where you can develop a deeper and more primitive understanding of characters, either background or at the forefront, and it may even change your perception of how that world works. Without these crucial building blocks, your world and its people would be wooden and without proper character. One plays into the other.
For some of my stories and worlds, I have thought about some of those items and built a foundation to work on. The Severis Tales has the Deacon, a more balanced belief that attempts to bring the races on Algenon together, while others in progress, like Elineer, has the elementals and actual history for their beliefs, not to mention fifteen thousand years of other cults and sects. Language and regional constructs are in both; even language is a construct that is explored. Furthermore, Algenon has regional dialects and accents, giving more flavour to the characters and citizens that the citizens of Barlett would encounter, or who themselves would be descendants or a mix of races and regions.
So, those components create the foundation of an imaginary world, one that is full of wonder, history, creatures great and small. How about some music?
Now, I am not so ignorant as to say it isn’t widely considered, but think about it: what do background characters do when they’re not being slaughtered by ale in a pub? Fair enough, talking to others, gambling, whatever; but how stale does that get? At some point, you have to have some sort of concept of music; otherwise, in a cultural sense, your world or civilization is stale as month old bread.
Referencing History
For me, inserting some musical references, even by having a background character playing a guitar and singing folk songs about ancient heroes from three hundred years past plays a vital role. As an example, let’s say that song is played on a lute and the vocals are about a band of brothers who slay a dragon that grants a town freedom from their oppressor.
Two key facts are presented here: the style of music and instruments, and what is generally sung about. More importantly, you’ve just expanded your world’s history by far. Three hundred years ago, a band of heroes traveled the land to slay a beastly dragon. They were successful and the town was freed, and it flourished. You may not have realized, but that scene may only be a few lines long, maybe thirty words. In a metaphorical sense, you wrote several hundred years worth of history and material to build from. If you really care about the in-depth material, that could create a hell of a mess if you finished a manuscript that seems to contradict the said scene.
That would throw your head in for a loop, wouldn’t it?
Forgetfulness and Importance
Of the worlds I created for my stories, with their architecture and religion and customs and approach to life, I had never, on multiple times, put in a musical reference. It just doesn’t come to the top of my mind. I find that somewhat bizarre, as if you are creating a culturally and historically-fluid society that celebrates art, history, etc., you would think that a lute or two wouldn’t go amiss.
As I thought about that concept more, it occurred to me that it is, probably for good reasons, last on the list when developing plot or a story. I imagine it tends to be woven in to make a passage more lively, and one tends to forget about that possibility of contradiction.
This is just a very unobserved opinion, but, in my opinion, I think music is an important concept in the creation of a fictitious people. It influences history, it renders religion, and it can inspire architecture. It weaves its way through all the other important building blocks, and it can change the shape of how your world is perceived by others.
It has to be said that music is often used as a background plot device to help move the overall story along, or give it sparkle. Think of the cantina scene in Star Wars. There are musical instruments reminiscent of our own real world ones, but alien in design. As far as I can tell, it’s only there because it is a cantina with live music. Of course you would. That entire scene would have been drier than the taste of the sand of the entire Tatoonie desert.
What I’m talking about is blending in musical and lyrical history and concepts into society. Take a look below at why I think investigating music as a world-building concept is great.
It Shapes Your World
First, as stated, it shapes your world and its people. If you can imagine choirs singing in a church, or a drifter playing a piano in a pub in some fantasy land where the people are singing along and clinging pint glasses together, then that draws an emotional connection that helps you understand and associate with them on a more personal level, rather than as black printing in a paperback novel.
How Far Can You Go?
This is experimental world building. By that, I mean playing around with music and other instruments (including your mouth) to brainstorm and shape the overall concept of what music would be like in your world. Would it be fiddles and accordions, staples in the music tradition of Atlantic Canada? Would it be more harmonic and tribal, with flutes or percussion wood instruments?
By drafting out these ideas, you can create a theme of sorts for regions in your world. From there, you can think of questions like “Why a lute-like instrument?,” or “How did flute music become incorporated into the traditional dance?” From there, you can think of music development, and from there, you can create imaginary musicians with a background, and from there, you can create a whole section of history that traces the journey of a simple music instrument from ages past to the present. From there, you can branch out to adoption of ideas and so forth.
It’s also a great tool for starting a world. Take the example above. I could take that, create a history based on those heroes and the dragon, the evolution of the peoples from the town they saved, and develop a world with a scope that could present a nifty story, either short or in novella length. All it takes is a few lines, some singing, maybe even taps on a desk with paper towel rolls.
Theme
Over the past few months, I started buying musical instruments to practice and play on. Mainly, it was to do something new, but mostly, it was to help shape characters and worlds with sounds and music. I’m not emulating what would constitute music in the world, I’m using whatever I have on hand to make those personal and emotional connections to help describe them.
I have a mountain dulcimer, a Seagull Merlin M4 (a guitar version of a mountain dulcimer, essentially), a Hohner harmonica, and a Yamaha YPT-220 digital piano. Can I play these instruments well? Hell, no. Do I want to try? Yes. Is that the point? No.
By playing the keys, blowing the reeds, and plucking the strings, I created some abstract pieces that help give worlds like Elineer and Algenon shape and support. They create a theme for the characters and the overall story. The many moods you can pull out of a few simple notes and keys is amazing.
I’m now saving up to buy a synthesizer and some basic audio equipment to go even further. Also, because I like synth and electronic music, which I’m sure I can apply in some abstract and ambient way, especially to The Severis Tales. The reasons for doing this are clear to me: not only does it give shape to something off the cuff, but it also allows me to theme these creations, and branch out into other possibilities.
Try creating some music. Anything at all. Give a character a custom theme song. Insert musical scenes into your stories. Create music to define your literary creations. You may be surprised by the results. I know I was.