Tip Series 1: Your First Story---World Building

Hello, adventurers one-and-all!

These next several articles will be in no particular order, and you as a creative mind may start with whichever area works for you and the story you want to tell.

Now, on to world building!

The worlds our characters inhabit form a kind of story on their own, and can become as believable as the real world with the right applications. Look to Middle Earth, or the galaxy in Star Wars; these are places that imaginative people thrive in because of their complexity but also because of their attention to detail. The stories placed in these universes allow for the worlds to be fully immersive without feeling like a huge information dump labeled, “WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE WORLD BEFORE YOU START!” It all comes back to the basic principle of “show, don’t tell,” that lends the worlds we create to be alive and real. So let’s get started!

Assuming you’ve already chosen the kind of story you want to tell, it’s time to match a type of world to that story. Should your story be realistic, then the real world will suffice. However, keep in mind to do your research; often a novel can fail simply because the place they describe simply doesn't exist. If your details are general, then that’s fine, but if you’re writing about places like Chicago or London, people will know what’s real and what’s not!

If, however, you are creating an entire universe from scratch, then you have much more work to do. Should your story be a fantasy set in another world, what helps is to initially draw a map. I usually draw a map before I begin to even think of the plot. Having an area established helps me to understand how that plot would make sense in the given environment. The map is essential to the world building process because it acts as a guide to where events will be located despite whether you choose to include it in the final product or not.

Think of the kinds of landscapes you want to include. Will your world be focused on a specific kind of terrain or will your map be made up of small countries, or even continents? Does your story take place across several worlds like in a space opera? If so, make these planets have distinct features and names for your readers to understand and relate to each one. Your map doesn't need to be too detailed, but detailed enough to where you can understand what happens where and how exactly it will look like to your reader.

Next, we can start to think about what kinds of creatures will be living in which parts of the world. An easy approach to take is to simply include humans and animals from our own world. You might wish to go further and incorporate different types of species and races. The classic fantasy formula includes humans, elves, dwarves, and orcs, though this has been overused to a great degree. Many mediocre (and just plain awful) fantasy tales have abused these timeless creatures and so take caution when choosing to implement them. Should you really want them in your story, then break some of the cliché and stereotypical concepts surrounding them, such as elves with bows living in trees, dwarves with axes and hammers living in mountains, and orcs being the bad guys. To add a twist, try introducing orcs as a more cultured race that is well respected in the world. Should you create your own races, keep them relatively easy to describe and imagine. Don’t include too many races until you have already completed one story and established a baseline for your reader to go off of. When it comes to different types of alien species, using humanoid descriptions can make them relatable, but often it is incredibly interesting to read about an alien species that is not humanoid. Insect and even aquatic-like species can break the mold and help your world to stand out. For example, try making a species without two arms and two legs with eyes and a mouth. Instead, give them varied appendages and have them communicate through a different medium other than words. Perhaps they communicate through color and can see different spectrums on the electromagnetic scale. Animals that can really help for inspiration include those found at the lightless depths of the ocean like jellyfish.

Once you have the land formed and the creatures walking about, now we can delve into cultural and societal ideas. This is an incredibly broad topic and one that cannot be fully summarized in a blog post, but it is definitely worth mentioning. You will want to think of customs related to your races as well as how the land has affected such customs. Do the characters have certain religions? Is there a universal religion? Is there no religion at all? Are there festivals of types? What does an individual person’s typical day look like? What jobs are there? What food do they eat? What forms of entertainment do they have? Do they have music, plays, contests? Are there any kinds of sports or competitive events? What does that civilization value? Do they value family? Honor? Combat? Work? What do they wear? What do they feel about others? Whether you include these details in your story or not, it is beneficial to think about such things to give you a full idea of what your characters will act like in certain situations along their journey.

One very important aspect of defining culture in your story is history and how it plays into your world as it is today. Perhaps your land has been riddled with disease or war, and order has been destroyed throughout most of the world. On a different note, perhaps your world has endured a great time of peace, but that era is coming to an end as your story begins or takes place. Are there past empires that have risen and fallen? Are there any folk-heroes or champions of old? What is the history behind the nations in your story? Whatever the case may be, it is imperative that you take notes on the history of your world.

If you are constructing a fantasy world, a major concept you need to think about is whether or not there is a magic system and, if so, how it works. There are a multitude of options regarding this and the sky is the limit. As a note, magic in your world can also greatly influence the culture of your world and so be wary of that. Now, if we take the widely-used example of Middle Earth, there is an obvious magical system taking place. However, the system is not defined. We only know that magic is present in the world and certain people can use it while others cannot. Depending on the kind of story you are trying to tell, this can either be successful or the bane of your tale. With a story so heavily influenced by religion and mythology, this approach to magic in The Lord of the Rings can work effectively. However, if you choose to approach your story with a more analytical attitude, or the religion(s) established in your story involve magic and have strict rules and applications, then a more structured magic system will be necessary. Some examples of magic systems include spells cast orally, like in Harry Potter. However, an approach like Dungeons and Dragons might even be taken to where there are certain spells that need to be prepared each day, or perhaps there are spells that can only be used a certain number of times and/or deplete the user’s energy. The ideas surrounding alchemy could be used interestingly to change up the typical fantasy magic system. It could be that certain deities grant certain magical abilities and the more faithful you are to your god, the more power you receive. There are an infinite number of ways to approach this topic, but hopefully this helps you to think about what might be best for your story.

Further ideas to explore within your world at a later time could include where exactly your characters fit in and why. What has happened to them and why do they act the way they do based on the society they were raised in? Also, the concept of language is an intriguing one. For my own story, I researched linguistics and the development of conlangs to come up with a fully functional language that was used by a fallen empire. This language helped to shape many of the names of the places on the map and also plays a big role in how the plot develops later on.

Once you begin to create other pieces of your story, such as the characters and plot, always be sure to reference and add to the world you have created. Remember that the world can even become like a character in and of itself, and can be as important as the characters that live in it!

Hope all that helps!