Overly Complicated Worlds

How do you like your stories?  What I mean by that is do you prefer simple plots that are easy to follow, or do you like curvy, winding roads that make you go back and see where you missed some obscure plot device?  Are you a Harry Potter fan, or is Game of Thrones more your style?

I think I’m somewhat in the middle, although I often start out way too far on one end of the spectrum, and by that I mean that I almost always start with an overly complicated plot.

Take Akeldama, for example.  The world of interact in between vampires, the Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, and the governments of the world is complicated enough.  However, when I first began mapping it out, I had lines of influence and intrigue going all over the place.  There was FBI involvement, in addition to the CIA.  The KGB was involved more heavily, as was the Mossad.  The Chinese government played off of the Japanese government, and the Sicilian Mafia balanced out the Yakuza.  I figured out how each one influenced the other, and whether the relationship was mutual, opposed, manipulative, or just at the edge of influence.

Once I began to outline and write, however, I figured out I’d need a thousand pages or more to do it any justice, and even then it would require multiple readings to understand it(if ever).  While I enjoy stories that reveal new information when re-read, I also like ones that allow me closure upon the first reading.  So I chose to drastically pare it down and focus on the main plot points.  The same thing happened with Salvation Day(Angelic/Demonic relationships, rival corporations) and Wrongful Death(multiple spirits, dreams that interact with reality, neighbor involvement).  In fact, as I’m beginning to outline a new story now, I’m finding myself still doing the same thing, making the worlds very intricate.  Maybe too intricate.

Why do I do this?  Because I like believable stories, and the world is a complicated place.  I’ve long realized that I over-analyze the world, mostly because too many people under-analyze it.  There are ripple effects and consequences beneath the surface that affect everything that comes after.  Relationships, science, and religion are far more subtle than our social media world seems to like, but as I know how complex things are, I find it tough to leave that complexity out of my stories.

Of course, people go to books to relax most of the time.  They want believability, but only so they can reasonably suspend their disbelief(confused yet?) and sink into the story.