How to Write LORE for Stories (Fiction Writing Advice)

[@PuppetMaster-Blade]

Another way to write lore is Write a lorebook just for yourself. Pretty much an encyclopedia of your world, and when a scene or element of your lore comes to play take bits and pieces of what you wrote down. Helps alot, especially when you're doing an epic fantasy or something with indepth lore

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Yeah sometimes people call those Story Bibles. I haven't written one myself because most of the stuff I write takes place in contemporary times. How long was the one you wrote?

[@PuppetMaster-Blade]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty its always being added to and updated, but currently i have about 400pages of notes or small stories

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@PuppetMaster-Blade Whoa--nice! How do you keep it organized?

[@PuppetMaster-Blade]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thats the secret.. I don't 😅. Whenever something comes to my head i write it down, something could be from 1,000 years ago but the next line will be something from the present 😅. None of the writings make sense other than to me, its all gibberish and broken sentences. Perhaps when I'm done writing my first book I'll organize my "story bible".

[@-V-Lore-]

Oh I have that. It's written on a notebook

[@azazelthefallen3380]

A) Major Historical Events/Conflicts leading to current situations of- 1. Magical Research 2. Magical Warfare 3. Rulers of the daylight 4. Rulers of the shadows 5. Organisations with aims working in the shadows 6. Resource Farming Institutions 7. Professions that came along with all these 8. Religions and Belief Systems that followed 9. Magical Ambitions and aspirations varying on various social levels and conflicts arising from them. 10. Economical condition 11. Flow of resources 12. Various fantasy Races, their past beliefs leading to a history of conflict, current stances and situation. (Just came with these on the spot and they could be incorrect/ lacking, so help this newbie fix them or add new things.) [FOR FANTASY+ACTION GENRE]

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Good list of things to consider while writing lore

[@noname76787]

i prefer to have lore to be written enough so I can have confidence when writing the story. It especially helps with consistency and makes the world feel more alive.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Just curious, how do you decide what lore to create before you write the story? Do you build around a certain theme?

[@noname76787]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty firstly i have to start with inspiration what kind of theme i want to write. and then start from world building-important characters-lore back and forth. after reaching certain level of readiness then i start plotting-fixing those 3 back and forth. im more into outlining person

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@noname76787 Cool, thanks for letting me know. I'm always curious how other writers operate

[@reinotsurugi]

That Luke Obiwan chat was such gold. It totally painted a picture that stimulated so many images for me. It was short but so right on, a really great example of how to do it right.

[@stevensandersauthor]

I love the way you give information in an efficient, succinct way, always less than 10 minutes. There are a lot of terrific KZbin channels on writing, but yours has become my go-to. Keep ‘em coming!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thank you!

[@claudiag8823]

Even if it hurts; you're right. No Lore for Lore's sake. Especially with fantasy, I find that very hard because I want to incorporate all the great ideas I had for my world. Leaving something out because it doesn't contribute to the story will rip me to pieces, but I also need to admit that it is neccessary

[@Shadowx34]

😂😂😂

[@ludovico6890]

I write crime fiction, mostly, but i discovered that in entails a lot of world building and lore. You've got the various police forces and mob groups, the important players, etc.

[@johnnyryan656]

That sports game analogy was brilliant btw

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks!

[@Dhips.]

The lore or history is important for my story, but finding ways to implement it is hard. I don't want it to seem like info dumps or history class of the world it's in.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Find ways to bring it up in present-day conflicts/arguments. Make it relevant to the here and now of what your characters are going through

[@poptartpanda3081]

I’m hoping to get a book published that I am currently writing. My book is really meant to have a deep history. This video has helped me so much! I was able to make a great history for my setting and characters. So thank you!❤

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Awesome, best of luck!

[@Shadowx34]

What book is it about just curious

[@txLALA]

Favorite movie is LOTR, and I can't pick a favorite. Three-way tie between the elves, dwarves, and rings.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

LOTR is a treasure trove of lore. I wouldn't know what to pick as a favorite either

[@TheDuncanStudios2000]

GvK (Godzilla vs Kong) My favorite part of some lore in that movie is the ancient war between the Titans! And the Hallow Earth lore, I can't WAIT until Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire comes out! There's gonna be SO MUCH LORE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Side note- I'm currently working on a lore for a book I'm writing, I have a TON of it! The book is set in my superhero universe on another planet. I have at most 64k+ words of just lore (more or less info dumping), of my book alone... And that book ties into my Defenders of Earth superheroes too! I can't wait until I'm finished with it all! I plan on making some of these stories into films!

[@prathameshrana2099]

So in simple words lore characters talking about history.

[@divinexartist]

THIS ACTUALLY HELPED ME SO MUCH THANK YOU

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Anytime!

[@pompeiiizzy265]

I usually think up lore and then a story around it, like how it affects the people surrounding the stuff

[@ButterCookie1984]

Great explanation of lore!! Thank you. I am creating werewolf lore with heavy research. Subbed.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks! Glad to help

[@taylorcouz526]

Thank you for the pictures they make it so organized and understandable again thank you 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@ScarletFang423]

Thank you for making this video! It is definitely a insightful and good one. Keep up the good work

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks!

[@tylerourada9719]

My favorite movie is Jaws. The most interesting bit of lore is Quint talking about the USS Indianapolis.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Phenomenal scene. I did a video on it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZewkKOKratsesk

[@easternpa2]

Thank you for this explanation. I've been wondering how to tackle lore (or if I even need to). My main character doesn't like how the place he calls home is changing, nor is he fond of the "new crowd" moving in. Now I understand why I need to flesh out why he doesn't like the new people and why he blames them for the problems that coincidentally arrived when they did. I need to understand "the old days" so I can see why one might not be too happy with the way things are now.

[@joshcrackedboooi2392]

i just bullshitted stuff that works with the magic system in my comic and the current saturation in my comic. that was how simple lore was for me, make up stuff that worked with my magic system and the current situation lol.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Awesome, best of luck with it!

[@evan_game_dev]

not writing a book or making a movie but I'll definitely use this advice, thanks. in case you are interested, I'm making a video game

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Awesome... I'm playing Hollow Knight right now, and that's got some great lore in it

[@TreeAgon]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Video Games have (sometimes) the best lore in my opinion. Because of the players perspective, especially in open world games, it’s easy to build lore

[@fhetty]

I actually am committing fully to the latter. It started with an idea for a contemporary fantasy story. However I just recently read the entire Silmarillion and became fascinated with building an entire historic time-line/lore for the universe my original story is set in, the way that Tolkien had done. I'm still going to write my original story, but now it's but one event, albeit important point in a much, much larger history of events in this universe.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Nice. Best of luck!

[@fhetty]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Thanks! I'm doing it in a unique manner, producing it in video format on a KZbin channel. I might hit you up later on to check it out. I value your opinion.

[@bombas42069]

Thanks, I’d prefer writing a story with prepared lore, and even that in the center of the story are characters, I want the lore to exist, and impact the characters and world with it…

[@peterheyes8552]

Video request please. Can you do a video on writing good dialogue? You could show examples of good dialogue vs bad dialogue.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Sure thing. Anything specific you want me to cover? Dialogue is a pretty broad subject, so I want to make sure I'm targeting your areas of need

[@peterheyes8552]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty I would like to learn how to write engaging dialogue that does not bore the readers. Just anything that you think would help us write damn good dialogue with some literary techniques

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@peterheyes8552 Gotcha. I'll mull this over and drop a dialogue video in the coming weeks

[@ThreeDaysGrace97]

This was really useful. Thank you.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad it helped! Thanks for watching

[@ajkonecny6830]

Really enjoyed the video! I've definitely got some ideas on Lore for my sci-fi adjacent series that I'm currently brainstorming. So I've been thinking of writing a sci-fi series with some bits of fantasy in it and I've grown up with shows like Gravity Falls and The Owl House for some ideas. And for video games like Five Nights At Freddy's has been an inspiration for me. I do have a watch list of TV shows and movies old and new that I'm watching for more interesting ideas. Example of movies would be: The Thing, The Blob, Terminator, Alien, Matrix Avatar,ect. For TV it would be shows like: Avatar Last Airbender, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul,ect. I know theres more shows and movies but those are the few that i could think of.

[@brianedwards7142]

My all time favourite movie is Brazil. I've filled out a 27b stroke 6.

[@connorcoltrane1777]

One of my favorite books is Dracula, and the most interesting bit of lore is the mention that Dracula may have studied magic in the Scholomance.

[@SuperHeroStoriesUnlimited]

This might sound crazy but i peiced together my storys lore after creating the whole world and stories

[@surendra_varma]

Love your explanation.!!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Thanks for watching!

[@Bobber_Foote]

“THE LOOOORE!” -MatPat

[@josephrowlee]

Great video! Thanks for explaining! Answer: Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Lore: The Tragedy of Darth Plagus the Wise. LOL!

[@theengineer_0]

Me whose starting to create my own lore: yeah thanks for explaining man

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad the video helped. Best of luck with your writing!

[@naturalgoldenjazz]

video idea: fnaf lore breakdown but not in depth cus yeah.... just the story structure

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

What's your favorite movie? What's your favorite piece of LORE from that movie?

[@potatomanboooi3105]

attack on titan and the origins of the titans.the only problem was the lore kept raising the steaks but the ending the lore just fell down the drain but it doesnt change how good it is.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@potatomanboooi3105 Still need to check that one out

[@desertgecko4549]

My favorite movie lore is about townsfolk who have issues with shady deals they make with an outsider. Which movie? Oh, it hasn't been adapted yet. But soon I expect someone will snare the rights and write a decent screenplay for a major studio.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@desertgecko4549 Shame that one hasn't been adapted yet. I'd give up my left hand to see that one

[@desertgecko4549]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Give it time. _Bad Parts_ is certainly worthy of the big screen. I have the leading lady picked out for you: Ashleigh Cummings, who played Vic McQueen in _NOS4A2._ As I read your book I envisioned that Ash as your Ash, but it wasn't the name that did it -- I didn't know the actress's name at the time.

[@potatomanboooi3105]

thank you so much.today i read the dialogue in my comics sketching stage and i added so many useless speech bubbles where it doesn't matter and now i don't have an eraser to remove them so i'm just stuck there cringing at bad dialogue that assumes the audience is stupid.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

No problem! And dialogue changes more and more as you understand the story. Sometimes when I write dialogue, it's as though the characters are telling me what's happening in this world I'm trying to understand

[@potatomanboooi3105]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty the way i wrote the dialogue made it seem like the audience would be stupid.because i realised why would i need her to say i'm hungry time to eat or have thought bubbles of her thinking about manipulating a shop owner for free bread lots of those could be show instead of tell.then the tell part could be the shop owners friend yells at him for giving free handouts.atliest it removes the assumption that my audience is children.also im working on one of my old stories again because i need to take a break from the superhero one because i kept adding ideas and straying away from the main plot and with the old one it followed a better story structure.

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@potatomanboooi3105 I find that bouncing back and forth between stories is a creativity booster. You learn from one story, then test out new ideas/techniques on the other, and good things happen

[@potatomanboooi3105]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty yep,it made my demon comic easier to work on

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@potatomanboooi3105 Awesome, keep rolling with it

[@themadmeatball]

Is that Uzumaki by junji ito? My favorite!

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Yep. Love his work, and Uzumaki is my favorite as well

[@wolfie_snowflake]

Im tryna make my own fictional fantasy novel and I have half a notebook of lore/world building, nowhere near done.

[@THECYPHERGOD]

Currently on chapter Fifty three and still going. That's all. Just saying.

[@scoredatarot]

I have a lot of lore for my story but I get confused by it like I know the there's some kind of fish that these aquatic people worship and one of my characters that a child learns about it and also there's some fungus that can affect people

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Have you started writing the main story yet? Sometimes that will help you decide what lore you need

[@scoredatarot]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty kind of it's like a bunch of small clips from my story keeps playing in my head

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@scoredatarot Gotcha. Try to figure out what your story needs. That'll help you determine what lore to focus on and develop

[@scoredatarot]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty have you made a video covering how to make good backstories for characters

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

@@scoredatarot I did a video a while back on using backstory. See if this helps: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ap6oqoN6i72FoKc If not, let me know what you need and I can see about doing a new video

[@refisthedoctorsname]

I'm tryna make a Horror Story

[@briansimerl4014]

How to avoid getting comments/feedback like "show don't tell" as it runs right up against Lore? Lore is by definition tell, don't show, usually. But I find it's very effective. Perhaps it is a key exception.

[@azazelthefallen3380]

How do I learn about military warfare basics?

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Check out nonfiction books on the subject. "The Art of War" might be a good place to start.

[@loriki8766]

No lore only for lore's sake? Don't fandoms love lore? Like people learn languages that don't exist, ie Klingon. They write fan fiction because they can't get enough lore. And people name their poor kids Hermione or Khalessi or Drogo. In fairy tales, the lore is half the story and readers eat it up.

[@Dagalagging]

LOOOORE

[@GoldenEyed112]

me who already made a 55 page lore: why am i watching this? (btw good vid)

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Haha thanks!

[@dimesagnumopus2643]

Wait whats an example of a central idea

[@WilfriedSDV]

Hi and thank you for this clear explanation ! This is by far the more clear i've found on the topic (and under 10 minutes so congrats and thank you :) ) I'm completely noob to everything about creating stories, and i was wondering if there was something you would recommend me to build a 10 000 feet view and allow me o understand everything that needs to be done to create an actual universe and then from there be able t ocreate all kind of "support" (books, comics, movies, video game eventually...) I'm not planing to do all of that (books, comics, movie, video game) but i would like to create a story that is strong enough to have the potential to be put into the form of a book, a comic or whatever. Actually i'm learning Digital Painting fro mscratch with a course, and i would like to combine my Future Digital PAinting skills with my future Story-Crafting (and Story-Telling) skills to be able to create universe that i would be able to visually represent, but also good stories with good intrigue, and then from there decide which medium i want to put my story into... Do you have any idea ? And just out of curiosity, do you offer courses or things like that ? I really would like to have a systemic approach, like everything at the same place, everyhing about the linguo, everything to understand how X interracts with Y and how Z is a part of Y etc...

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Glad this video helped! I'm sure you can find some Worldbuilding cheatsheets on Google, but the best advice I can give you is to find your story's Central Idea and build your story world from there. I did a video on this a few months back: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZy4oqWNm9GCaq8 And at this time I don't run any courses. However, if you ever want me to do a video on a particular topic, I'm happy to.

[@WilfriedSDV]

@@WriterBrandonMcNulty Ok i'll check your video and go from there, thanx again !

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Anytime!

[@gavinp5940]

Dark souls man

[@WriterBrandonMcNulty]

Have you played Blasphemous? It's like Dark Souls in 2D. I just beat it a couple weeks ago and loved it to death. Lots of lore too

[@bl4e3nthousiast]

LOOOOORRRREWEE