In the novel and manga creation process one of the things that you have to do at the outset is world building. I just started writing chapter 4 of the novel “graphic noise” which will also be turned into a manga. The two main characters are Shiro Ijima, the best selling scifi author and the other character is Noiz, the manga artist.
The story is set in Manhattan in the present. Usually I write scifi set in a post-apocalyptic future, so I have to create the world of the story from scratch. Because this story will take place in an actual place, the world building was a little easier. However, there are certain things that still need to be created. For example, you need to know what New York City looks like. So – first thing… get a map. I had a subway map from when I lived in New York City fresh out of college. I downloaded the New York City subway app to my phone a while ago so it had all the most accurate subway stops. I myself was familiar with the 1/9 and the N/R, the Path Train from New Jersey and midtown where I use to live and the World Trade Center where I use to work and down on Wall Street.
Now with the tragedy that happened at the World Trade Center I needed to be true to the geography. The World Trade Center stop which I have not visited since the tragedy for multiple reasons had a subway stop there underground and the Path train came into that stop. I think with the damage that subway stop may have changed. Now a part of me wants to go to New York City and take the subway just to see that stop but I know me. If I set foot in New York City again I am not going to want to leave. So we have a quandary. But that is a whole other story which I may tell one day but it is still traumatic.
Back to world building now that you know a little more about me. I lived on 23rd street near Broadway, worked on Wall Street and Broad Street, also went to NYU and Columbia to hang out, took writing classes at the New School, spent time at my writing mentor’s apartment, and had been to Jersey City, Central Park, Uptown, the suburbs of Westchester and to Newark and LaGuardia airport so I personally had been in these places. This makes the world building a little easier. Now the big event in the story of “graphic noise” is AnimeFest comic con. The New York Comicon takes place in the Javitz Convention Center. First thing I had to do was get from the subway and the Path train to the Javitz center. How do you do that? What train do you take from the World Trade Center Path stop? How do you get there from Central Park. Well figure it out.
So since I already had a locale, it was important that I get the ambiance right. You can no longer smoke in Grand Central Station. You can get a slice of pizza at 2AM though. You can get an apartment in the city from a shady apartment broker that will cost you a fee of 5000$ US upfront just for the go see and an appointment with someone who looks like they are from the yakuza. You can walk in Times Square.
All these things are important to world building. The places must be in the right place and the culture and feel must be right. Now I have been to Costa Rica, Mexico, Shanghai, Tokyo, Quebec, Montreal, California, Austin, Phoenix, Virginia, Washinton DC, San Diego, Los Angeles, Malaysia, Hawaii, New Jersey, Boston and Philadelphia. All these places have their typical feel and an ambiance that is their own. Tokyo may be a large city but it feels different from Manhattan. That feeling needs to be relayed in the story.
Because “graphic noise” included AnimeFest it had to feel like a comic con. I have been to many cons in my life all around the United States. AnimeExpo in California has a different feel than the San Diego Comic Con. And the cons in Boston feel different than Los Angeles or New York and you can get different things. All these have to be taken into consideration when building AnimeFest for the story. I have also been to the Sundance Film Festival so I have a feel for that as well.
All these things need to be taken into play for AnimeFest in the story. I wanted to make it an amalgam of my experiences. Now I have never had my own table showing off the grydscaen series at a con but I have known other artists who have had tables at con.
After I figured out what the AnimeFest would be like I needed to locate things in space like Shiro’s upscale condo near Central Park, his agent Keita’s office in midtown, Noiz’ apartment in Jersey City, how Noiz would get into the City on the Path train, what were the train stops, and would Shiro be a snob and take a taxi over getting on the subway. These little things are all part of world building.
In addition I had to whip out some of my history as a runway model in New York City. Things like go sees and working with an agent were important to get right for Shiro. Keita who is Shiro’s agent works at a literary agency. How does the traditional publishing route look? How does Shiro work with the agent? Now I am published as an Indie author. So although I know about the traditional publishing route I needed to do a little research about how all that works. Keita who is Shiro’s agent acts a little like how my experience was with my publicist. I worked with a publicist on three different occasions for 6 months so was familiar with that dynamic. I just elaborated on it for Keita in the story.
Next was Noiz, who is only 19 and just fresh out of art school. I had a friend who studied film at NYU and another friend who graduated from a state school with a degree in Fine Art, painting to be exact. I had studied animation and game design in art school and also graphic design so I knew about art school. Noiz lives in Jersey City because he can’t afford Manhattan. Luckily I had lived in Jersey City for a year, which I hated but my apartment there was three bedrooms which could only have been something I could afford in New Jersey.
So luckily much of the world I knew, just had to get situated in space for the story which takes place in Manhattan, may have a chapter in Tokyo and also includes Jersey City which is different from Hoboken, another stop on the Path train. Working with a space you know makes the world building a little easier. When world building for grydscaen, a post nuclear war scifi series all these little details had to be set from the subway stops in the Echelons and the City, to the health system to the night clubs, how to pay for things, the currency, and Red Light District, to how pervasive is drug culture. These were significant issues in grydscaen. And it was necessary to understand those, history, back story, family tree, the location of the Echelons on the map and how to get from one place to another.
World building is necessary for writing a novel and it will be necessary to study the architecture of Manhattan when the illustration for “graphic noise” starts as backgrounds in Manhattan will be important.
Everything from how do you ride the subway, to how heavy is a bicycle messenger’s bike on his shoulder, to how much does a piece of pizza cost at a dive restaurant, versus how much is Noiz’ rent. All these things are important to know for your world building. Because I lived in Manhattan and Jersey City this was made a little easier. Struggling to pay the rent when I first got out of college and having two jobs was also integral to my time living in the City. It made me appreciate Noiz’ position better. Where I live now and the job I have now and my writing on the side, having published 7 books, puts me in a position to understand where Shiro is coming from for the story.
World building is an integral part of understanding the world for your story. Readers can catch you on things if you mess up and it can throw them out of the story. Now I will have to do some more research because the cost of living has changed a little since I lived in New York City. This will be important to get right if I refer to how much a piece of pizza costs. For Shiro this will not be an issue, although I doubt he eats pizza from a dive restaurant. It might be an issue for Noiz and can he afford it and still pay his rent for the month. Also I need to think about giving Shiro a car. He would have to park it at a garage in the City, pay the attendant a bonus at the end of the year. Where in the suburbs would he go with the car? All that has to be planned. Which potentially gives me an angsty scene I could use – great idea actually.
So I have more work to do. But what you really want to take away from this post is that you need to know your world down to transportation, cost of living and logistics. Back and Forth, in and out – you need to know the world the characters live in. This is important for your readers. Get it right. Research it, know it. Be as real as it can be even if you are building it from the ground up. Its all about knowing your locale. This is important for the novel or the story and it will also be important for getting the edgy feel of Manhattan right for the illustrations in the manga.
Hope you enjoyed this post on world building. Stick around there is more to come.