The creator of “The Walking Dead” gives valuable advice to aspiring authors

Summary

• According to Robert Kirkman, focusing on world-building helps a story’s plot develop organically – while also giving it the appearance of ”
  carefully planned
  .”
• Kirkman’s attention to detail in world-building was fundamental to his success as a writer. Aspiring authors who hope to emulate his achievements should consider how he prioritized world-building as an essential step in the writing process.
• Robert Kirkman’s world building in
  The Walking Dead
  It was not just about establishing the rules of the world, but also the style, conventions and themes that would dominate the series.

The Walking Dead Creator Robert Kirkman gave fantastic advice to aspiring writers, explaining that the more they immerse themselves in exploring the fictional world of their story, the more organically the plot will develop – or at least that is how it will appear to the reader. Of course, Kirkman’s success with series like Walking dead And Invincible makes it clear that this method worked excellently for him.

The Walking Dead Deluxe #92 – written by Robert Kirkman, with art by Charlie Adlard – continues the full-color remake of the groundbreaking zombie series. The incredible thing about each Deluxe The problem is that it contains Kirkman’s notes on the plot of the series, with the author regularly referring back to his notes and early drafts to give readers a detailed look behind the scenes of the creation of The Walking Dead.

As Kirkman noted and as he has shown throughout his work, Deluxe Remarks, His attention to the details of world-building proved crucial to the comic’s longevity.

The Walking Dead Deluxe
is an ongoing reprint of the legendary zombie series, featuring fully colored reprints of the original black-and-white comic, plus each issue features notes from creator Robert Kirkman, revisiting the series five years after its conclusion and over twenty years after its original publication.

Robert Kirkman explains why “world building” is so important for authors

The Walking Dead Deluxe #92 – Written by Robert Kirkman; Art by Charlie Adlard; Color by Dave McCaig; Lettering by Rus Wooten

As Robert Kirkman notes in his notes to
The Walking Dead Deluxe
#92: To truly discover the nature of a newly introduced character, they must have been introduced into a coherently constructed fictional world.

Whether an author is writing a spectacular science fiction odyssey or a realistic drama, it is crucial to the success of a story that the world of the story is more than just immersive – it must be compelling and provide the audience with a fully functioning reality to immerse themselves in. In other words: “World building” is an essential, fundamental step in the writing process. Especially when it is a continuous narrative, like The Walking Deador any long-running comic book series that tells a serialized story, detailed world-building is the foundation of successful storytelling.

Writing is first and foremost a process of discovery. As Robert Kirkman says in his notes to The Walking Dead Deluxe #92, to truly discover the nature of a newly introduced character, they must have been introduced into a coherently constructed fictional world. This allows the story to develop organically – while maintaining the appearance of careful design. Kirkman explained:

That’s why I find world-building to be the most fun aspect of writing. You can just throw characters into stories and then build them up over time. As long as you’re careful and stay consistent throughout and never contradict yourself, you can make it seem like everything is carefully planned out, even though that’s at best half of what happens, at least in my case.

For any writer still exploring their own creative process, this advice should be heeded.

According to Kirkman, characters’ actions, reactions, and interactions emerge from a consistent story world—making a story “plan” less important than steadily spending time in the story world and discovering what happens along the way. That is, the best stories often emerge from the conditions set by the writer during the world-building process, rather than being set in advance. This means that while world-building is crucial, an equally important skill writers must develop is the ability to recognize the “right” moments when they come.

Robert Kirkman constantly adapted to the development of The Walking Dead’s story

How the series has evolved over time

For successful writers, the ability to respond effectively to changes as they arise is one of the most essential skills they must develop.

Robert Kirkman’s comments on world building in The Walking Dead Deluxe #92 is related to the first appearance of a fan-favorite character: Paul “Jesus” Monroe. Kirkman writes in retrospect:

I obviously hadn’t really figured him out yet. I just knew he could fight
.

Jesus would become an integral part of The Walking Dead comic to its conclusion, almost exactly one hundred issues later. Rather than being part of a grand plan, the character’s role evolved naturally as the series progressed. Kirkman was open with the idea that the character only became what he was over time as the writer figured out how the character fit into the world of the story.

This does not mean that Robert Kirkman did not make plans for his characters in advance or have ideas for future Walking dead arcs as the story took shape. Rather, it’s important to emphasize that these pre-writing steps are organic in themselves, not rigid puzzle pieces. Like any aspect of a story, an outline or an idea must be malleable, growing and taking on new forms along with every other aspect of the story. For successful writers, the ability to respond effectively to change as it occurs is one of the most indispensable skills they must develop.

Robert Kirkman embodied this ability through The Walking Dead,He keeps his plans and ambitions for the comic’s story in flux, allowing them to evolve sheet by sheet, issue by issue, even beat by beat. Ironically, the end result of this process appears to the reader as if the series had followed a “carefully” Plan. However, authors can benefit from studying Kirkman’s writing process and the development of The Walking Dead over the course of its run in the context of Kirkman’s comments in The Walking Dead Deluxe #92.

The organic progression of “The Walking Dead” made it a critical success

And a worldwide phenomenon

The Walking Dead
continues to be well received by critics, due in large part to Robert Kirkman’s loyalty to world-building and his effort to give the story a coherent progression.

There are many factors that contribute to a work of art – particularly a work of fiction and especially a comic book series – being commercially successful, and the factors behind achieving pop culture fame, such as The Walking Dead are even more complex. What makes something artistically successful is judged by a completely different standard, and The Walking Dead continues to be well received by critics, due in large part to Robert Kirkman’s loyalty to world-building and his effort to give the story a coherent progression.

While some may think that world building is just about the setting or cause of the zombie outbreak, there is much more to it. World building also includes the “how” and “why” of characters’ actions, as well as the tone and style of the story.; all of these things and more determine what feels organic or inorganic in a work of fiction—that is, it’s as important for a writer to have a firm grip on all of them as it is to have a firm grip on the speculative mechanics of the story.

Aspiring writers can learn a lot from studying The Walking Dead

Robert Kirkman’s success as a blueprint

Authors who wish to follow in Robert Kirkman’s footsteps in the comics medium or adapt his process to their own style of fiction writing will be intrigued by the study of patient world-building throughout
The walking dead.

The Walking Dead is known for its shocking violence and its tendency to graphically dispatch characters at unexpected moments. All of these were core elements of the series’ world, which Robert Kirkman prioritized establishing in the early storylines. As abrupt as the characters’ deaths often were, they were an essential part of the series’ success, the necessity of which Kirkman recognized and then masterfully cultivated, death by brutal death. From the series’ dialogue to the visual style of artist Charlie Adlard, the way in which every important element of The Walking Dead has grown over time and represents an incredibly imaginative object of study for novelists.

Robert Kirkman is one of the most commercially and critically successful authors of the last twenty years.; therefore, any writing advice he is willing to give is of great value. Writers who wish to follow in his footsteps in the comics medium or adapt his process to their own style of fiction writing will be rewarded for studying the patient world-building throughout his work. The Walking Deadwhich helped make it one of the most popular stories in decades.

The Walking Dead Deluxe

#92
is now available from Image Comics.