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A book like A Game of Thrones, a movie like Star Wars, or even a video game like Final Fantasy can make it appear their creators have effortlessly built a fantasy world out of nothing.
In fact, these worlds may feel as real as the world you live in.
How do they do it? More importantly, how can you do it?
More than two-thirds of my 200 books are novels, but creating fictional worlds never seems to get easier.
It’s an art, and in genres such as Fantasy or Science Fiction, world building is more important than ever. It can make or break your story.
In this guide, I’ll give you tips to follow and errors to avoid. But first…
Writing a story is much like building a house — you can have all the right ideas, materials, and tools, but if your foundation isn’t solid, not even the most beautiful structure will stand.
World building is how you create that foundation — the Where of your story.
World building involves more than just the setting. It can be as complex as a unique venue with exotic creatures, rich political histories, and even new religions. Or it can be as simple as tweaking the history of the world we live in.
Go as big as you want, but remember: world building is serious business.
Create a world in which readers can lose themselves.
Do this well and they become not just fans, but also fanatics. Like those who obsess over:
Each approaches world building in a different way:
Here you set your story in the world we live in, but your plot is either based on a real event (as in Outlander) or is one in which historical events occur differently (for instance, had Germany won World War 2).
In Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, he imagines a world in which Franklin Roosevelt was assassinated in the early 1930s.
Here you create new lands, species, and government. You also invent a world rich in its own history, geography, and purpose.
Examples include:
Some novels combine the Real World and Second World Fantasy. The Harry Potter series, for instance, is set in the world we live in but with rules and history foreign to us.
(The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland are also examples of this.)
Your job is to take readers on a journey so compelling they can’t help but keep reading to the very end.
Outliners prefer to map out everything before they start writing.
Pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants) write as a process of discovery — or, as Stephen King puts it, they “put interesting characters in difficult situations and write to find out what happens.”
Though I’m a Pantser, I can tell you that discovering a new world is a whole lot harder than building it before you get too deep into the writing.
Build your world first, then you can better focus on your story.
However, over-planning can also be a problem.
Many fantasy writers tell me they become so engrossed in world building that they find reasons not to write.
World building must not come at the expense of your story.
If you’re like me, you may have to spend more time planning than you’re used to.
If you’re an Outliner, draw a line in the sand and start writing as soon as you’re ready, even if you suspect you’ll have more spadework to do as you go.
Once you’ve determined your genre, paint for your reader a world that transports them, allowing them to see, smell, hear, and touch their surroundings. Show them, don’t tell them.
Which idea for this new world most excites you ? An other-worldly landscape? A new language? Strange creatures? Build on that to give you the momentum you need when the going gets tough.
Consider:
When James Cameron wrote the movie Avatar, he created countless reference books on Pandora’s vegetation and climate and even botany.
In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the main characters live in a post-apocalyptic world covered in ash and largely devoid of life. Their entire journey revolves around finding food and water and how to stay warm.
In A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin went as far as creating maps.
Other stories that feature maps:
Be sure to focus on all five senses, not just seeing and hearing. Touch, taste, and smell will make your world feel real and familiar, even if it’s fantasy.
In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien gave Frodo a past, personality traits, and morals. But he first determined what a hobbit looked like and how he lived.
When world building, consider:
In Star Wars, for instance, religion (The Jedi vs. The Dark Side), societal structure (slaves and free), and politics (the trade wars) play huge roles.
World Building Questions:
Equipment involves technology like Artificial Intelligence, space or time travel, or futuristic weaponry.
Or it could focus on simpler technology like swords, guns, or horses.
Magic allows you to take your worldbuilding to new realms.
In 2001: A Space Odyssey, Arthur C. Clarke explained how things worked and why, making it as realistic and factual as possible.
When writing his futuristic novels, Iain M. Banks referenced droids and spaceships but never explained how they worked.
The same applies to magic in your story.
You can either explain how it all works or simply focus on how it is used and why.
In Fantastic Beasts, J.K. Rowling wrote a guide that focuses on how the magic works.
If magic or futuristic technology play roles in your world, consider doing the same.
It doesn’t have to be as detailed or as complete as Fantastic Beasts. So long as you have a resource that keeps all the rules in one place, you’ll keep your world (and the rules it lives by) consistent.
No two writers will approach world building the same. Just be careful not to get so bogged down in world building that it keeps you from writing your story.
Have fun with it!
Write a story that keeps your readers riveted to the end.