If you're like me, it isn't always enough to read about strange and unusual worlds. Deep down you have a desire to build your own unique places to visit in your mind's eye. Those with the heart of a science fiction/fantasy writer never really lose sight of that sense of wonder a child gets when playing pretend in the backyard, brandishing a stick against the forces of evil that are vivid in their minds.
While the thoughts in your head may seem easy enough to jot down, actually building a coherent world takes a lot of work, and often stretches the builder's creativity to its limits. Whether you are writing a setting for a tabletop RPG for you and your friends to enjoy, or writing your own Fantasy/Science Fiction novel there is a lot to consider in the process. What kind of governments run your world if any? What kind of religions are there? Does magic exist in the world? What kind of people populate this land? What does the map itself look like? How does the landscape affect the cultures that inhabit it? The list goes on and on!
While it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the endless sea of questions, I have found a few guidelines that have helped me in my journey creating and building a world for my own fantasy novel I have written for middle schoolers. If you're relatively new to this process then perhaps a few of these tips and tricks will help guide you on your journey through your own imagination. If you are a seasoned world builder, just consider this a refresher on the basics.
1. Start where the ideas are.
To some this may seem like a given but quite a bit of world building advice I have read states that the builder should start with the map, or the races, or a specific location etc. In truth, I consider this particular writing process an art, and as with all art we won't all go about it the same. Someone who enjoys cartography may start with a map as that is easy for them, where a sketch artist might choose to draw out landscapes, battle scenes and characters to help them get a solid understanding of the look and "feel" of the world. Still others may think like a historian, looking at possible wars, or cataclysmic events that might have happened.
This may shock you when I say this but, none of this is wrong! Go with it! When writing my first book, Keligan's Call, I actually got the idea for the entire world when I came up with a fun concept for how magic would work. From there I applied what I like to call the "Rule of Impact" which will really help any worldbuilder fine tune their natural approach.
2. The Rule of Impact.
This particular rule is really rather simple and straightforward. When coming up with ideas for your world, it is imperative to ask yourself a simple question when adding something to your world, "How does this impact the immediate world around it?"
Let's say for example that I have decided it would be a fun idea if there was a society that had mastered the art of taming wild animals, truly unique ones such as lions, tigers, and even bears (oh my!) From there I would apply the Rule of Impact and ask, how this would affect the things close to it? For example I might decide that this level of domestication has really screwed with the food chain, making the select few undomesticated animals very desperate. I might also decide that the society as a whole actually has a rite of passage ritual in which a thirteen year old is given a young cub they have to raise and train to be their own. By the time the cub is a year old the child in charge of it is considered an adult and keeps the animal as a friend until it passes. I might decide that maybe the animals have impacted the society so greatly that losing one requires a funeral just as intricate as that of a family member, complete with appropriate attire for mourning and speeches.
What's really nice about the Rule of Impact, is it can really be applied to any beginning approach. If an artist is looking at the scenes they have drawn they may ask "How did this scene impact the world around it?" Or even dissect individual weapons, armor, etc. within the picture and ask the same question.
While this rule may seem like common sense, it is important to stress how deep you can go with it, and how few world builders actually do.
3. The nouns.
Something I find very useful when organizing my worldbuilding into something a bit more cohesive than my typical ramblings, is to simply categorize by the important people, places, and things within my world. This list doesn't need to be exhaustive, but having 5 to 10 listings for each category is probably good.
The fun thing about making this list is you can get there however you want. You may start with cartography (places) artifacts (things) or the terrifying warlord that wants to cause genocide (person) and you can apply whatever natural method you have of forming ideas. Ultimately, the goal is to get these nouns down on paper and applying the rule of impact to them. I listed this step last because I see this as the end goal for basic world building. You gather ideas, apply the rule of impact, and jot it down under Person, Place, or Thing.
So, hopefully you have found this pretty helpful and fun. Because in truth, if worldbuilding isn't a fun hobby (or exciting career) for you then why bother doing it? You'll probably suffer a bit of writer's block through this and at moments it may seem like a drag, that just means your brain probably needs a bit of a break even if for a fifteen minute time frame.
Good Luck Builders!
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