The Need for a Universal Encyclopedia
When I began working with a concept artist I discovered that all of my images and descriptions were not catalogued in any convenient way for someone else to browse and get a quick feel for my ideas. I created a reference page for the concept artist I was working with, although during the process of my first concept piece I realized that the reference page was not as good as it could have been.
That got me thinking, “Why not just create a full blown encyclopedia of my world?” Hardly an original idea, but one which is proving helpful to my slow process of building an intellectual property.
With that in mind, I have set about building a comprehensive reference to explain different locations, characters, vehicles, factions, and other nitpicky details to chronicle my vision. As I work on my treatments and drafts, this will help not only solidify my own ideas, but help me communicate them to others.
Do you have an encyclopedia for your universe?
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February 28th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Behind my desk is a stack of paper boxes which contain every notebook, piece of scrap paper, player note, and character sheet that I have ever used in the creation of my world.
I now have a wiki in the works to make better sense of it all and clear up some floor space.
February 28th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
I’m a big PBWiki fan. That’s where I keep all my stuff, one for each WIP, the sites set to private so no one else sees them. And best yet, they’re free :D
March 1st, 2007 at 5:10 pm
Patty, I have an account with PBWiki but don’t use it very much. I have dozens of note-taking methods, from Google Notebook to Yahoo Notepad, Evernote, Stikkit, etc.
I’m talking more about a formal styled encyclopedia that you could share with others. My big old messy pile of notes is fine for me, but it’d be just that — a confusing mess to somebody else. So my efforts lately have been towards organizing something digestible for others.
Have you ever thought about organizing it for others to look at? Even as a hypothetical exercise, how would you go about arranging it? I think it’s useful to do, or at least think about, even if you don’t plan on sharing it with others. It forces you to organize all those notes and snippets in a coherent way, and that ‘cohering’ can have an impact on your writing itself.
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:49 am
I have things fairly organized, as I use the wikis to keep my notes on various subjects. For example, my wiki for my first WIP has (each of these is a different page):
-timelines
-what needs to be changed in editing
-summaries from the crits I got
-ideas about my villainous organization
-national security issues (it’s a political thriller)
-fbi procedures
-about Wichita Kansas (the setting is 24th century Wichita)
etc.
I also keep a copy of old versions of my text in the ‘files’ area as another form of backup.
It’s not perfectly organized, but I can find what I need pretty easily.
March 3rd, 2007 at 6:49 am
Interesting breakdown Patty, thanks for sharing that.