Master of One Worldbuilding

I do have some new work to share in the LitRPG Master of One series, but before I post the next iteration, since the winning option right now in the spoiler poll is "broad strokes and themes", I figured I'd take a few moments to talk about the worldbuilding I'm doing for Master of One, and some of what I hope to accomplish with it.

Unlike Augur, which was originally written to be Erotica - that is, extremely high content of sizzle compared to the rest of its writing - Master of One is intended to have a higher ratio of action and relationship building to sex. It's ultimately a Harem Fantasy novel, so there is absolutely going to be sex, but it's going to take a bit longer before we get to it and I'm going to let it build (in some cases - there's likely to be at least a couple characters who hop straight into bed with the MC and then have their relationship build meaning.)

Part of how I'm doing that is building out far more of the world at the front so I have a better idea of what kind of a stage the action is going to take place on, and what kind of players will be on it. I have a pretty solid idea of the granular details of how the system works, with a focus on the metaphysics behind everything, and have been extrapolating from that to try to build a cohesive universe and a plot to match.

The only real issue with doing that is a) it takes longer (which is why I had to pause my actual writing to worldbuild for a bit) and b) a lot of the things I now have in my notes for the series are unlikely to even come up until like 90% of the way through the series plot. There was a question my editor asked me as I was talking through some of the setting notes: 'Do people keep pets?'

It's a good question. The answer if you asked that about the real world is 'yes'. Some people (PETA, for example) don't agree with the practice, many many more people people do, but everyone has their reasons for their opinion. The answer to the question in MoO is also 'yes', and those who do have their reasons - but because the rules the world operates on are different, those reasons are different.

One of the premises I'm to explore that informs a lot of my worldbuilding starts from two simple facts, which were both revealed in the prologue: People don't remember what happened while they were dead, but they do know that they have a purpose here (as does everyone else.) That creates an obvious knowledge gap - everyone has to form their own conclusions about how and why they're being judged.

This information is relevant in the answer to the above question - some people keep pets because they think that doing so is helpful. Perhaps they believe that the thing they're being judged on is how well they treat others, and taking care of a pet is a good example of doing so. Perhaps they believe that the judgement is based on how powerful they can become and keeping a pet can aid them in that path. Or, perhaps they still believe they're being judged on how much power they can accrue, but think that it's a zero-sum game, and the best way to win is to tear down everyone else. In that case, not only is keeping a pet a bad thing, but allowing others to keep a pet becomes a negative as well.

The thing is - there is an answer to all of those questions. I already know what it is, even. But until we've explored a huge amount of the setting and a majority of the plot... it's never going to come up on screen. Even if the act of keeping pets isn't directly plot relevant, the factors that drive it are, so while it's a simple question, with a somewhat less simple answer, it's also something that is probably going to live only in my notes and in my head (ok, and my editor's head) for months or years to come.

As a final note - let me know how you like this format of blog / information post! I've usually got something similar to this going on, but even revealing the process that goes into some of the decisions I make while writing can be spoiler-y. I enjoy sharing the information, but all of my series revolve around a core element of mystery (i.e. how does The The Nootbook work and why, what's the deal with Cindy's sourceless memories, how exactly does Alex' power work in Dark Path, etc) and I don't want to spoil things for people who are primarily here for early reader access.