World Building - everyone wants 'to know where they are'

I've always viewed worldbuilding as a sci-fi kind of thing. Since I've not been writing science fiction or fantasy, I never put much credence in that ' world building ' word. In my view, it didn't fit the fiction I was writing.

Finally, one day it occurred to me that 'research', the word I use most often to describe writing, is much the same thing as world building. Different genre and outlook, but pretty much the same end result.

In pursuit of some validity with new thoughts, I often look at what has passed. In this case, I review my favorite books from my favorite authors for clues as to how much of my like for their work is derived from world building? In other words:

Why do I like the books I like?

Robert Crais and his books (e.g Monkey's Raincoat) come to mind right away. Why do I like this author, his writing style and his books? In part I like them because I like the world that Elvis Cole and Joe Pike inhabit. I like the description he writes of the A-frame house that Elvis lives in up the narrow canyon filled with laurel and eucalyptus. I like the description of the freeways, the restaurants, the grit and grime of LA and its myriad suburbs. Clearly (to me anyway) Robert Crais is a master when it comes to world building. He makes his settings so realistic I am left wondering if they are realistic because they're REAL. That may not even be world building, maybe he's just adept at putting his characters and plot in a setting whose reality is good enough to pass for fiction?

Clive Cussler is one of my earliest finds. For my taste and reading preference, I've come to realize he doesn't quite work as well as Robert Crais. Cussler goes big. Big as in over the edge - into places and settings that are a bit too far from the reality I now know that I've come to prefer. I've (re)read all of CC's books and loved them, but his world building is a monster swing for the fences, that simply goes beyond my subjective preferences. Not really right or wrong, but a question of individual preference.

CJ Box (e.g. Open Season) is another author whose work I vastly admire and consume. Again, In looking at why I like what I like, Mr. Box writes about a setting I like. The game warden, his wife and three daughters live in Saddlestring, Wyoming, a small town on the edge of wild space type of setting. I can picture the setting and have been in that exact part of the state, but never in Saddlestring, which I'm still not sure exists. But it could and that's part of what makes his setting and world building so cool.

There's some corollaries to this world building notion that also work. Myron Bolitar, another of my all time favorite characters, is plopped down in New Jersey. Author Harlan Coben (e.g. Deal Breaker)does a great job with making NJ seem like a reasonable place, but what he does that I like so much is make Myron a former NBA player. Basketball is one of my favorites when it comes to watching and playing, so having a character with basketball as a big part of his backstory is a great piece of corollary world building.

Maybe fiction is at its best, when the world building is so good and so in sync with your personal preferences that it gets hard to separate real life from fictional life?

R is for Research

Sometimes I feel like writing the fiction of River and Ranch and New Grass Growing is the underpinnings on a Master's degree in Idaho history and geography. It is still an ongoing process and throughout has been a compelling aspect of writing. I can't wait to get back to Idaho and (re)visit the places I have learned more about and discovered over the course of writing these books.

Sacajawea. Sharkey Hot Spring. Lemhi Pass. Tendoy. Viola and her store. On and on the list goes. Lemhi Pass itself. This is the place where Lewis and Clark first topped out on a pass and peaked into Idaho. The Last Chance vein has kept miners interested for most of the time ever since.

The fiction of River and Ranch rests upon Cale and Lane watching over a rare earth mine on Lemhi Pass. This is reality. That Last Chance vein is a gift that just keeps on delivering. One mining company has hoovered up many of the mining claims and is actively exploring the space. Their efforts are apparently enough to keep them going. The historical mining claims and grounds apparently include existing tailings piles, which apparently are containing enough rare earth rich material to make the tailings piles the first rare earth materials to be "mined" on the North American continent in quite a while, and they've been sitting next to the adit just waiting for someone to sample them. No need to mine them, just transport them to the processing facility.

Which brings up to the next interesting bit that research has uncovered. Not only does China have a large majority of rare earth reserves, China also has the relevant tribal knowledge and the only REE processing facilities on the planet. Everyone else is playing catchup on the processing front. China, meanwhile, just keeps pouring chemicals into shallow holes on the mountaintop and recovering what they can from trenches in the valley below. It seems to me that China has a lead on destroying their environment more so than processing rare earth ore. Research suggests that China just goes ahead and does virtually whatever they want, wherever they want, with little regard for future consequences. Somewhat like the US did a hundred (or more) years ago, during this nation's heavy industrial development phase.

Research is fascinating. It reminds me once again of what the U.S. did to its own environment and native populations in the name of manifest destiny and development. As I research the Chinese portions of this project, I frequently see that. Hard to call the kettle black when our own original kettle is as black as anything the Chinese are doing.

Research. Fascinating stuff. It makes me think about more than just the fiction I am writing.