Earth lWorld-building is the most essential aspect of fantasy and science fiction. There is a whole science and art behind how to craft the perfect world for your characters.
But how do you begin? World-building and creating a new world completely out of your imagination can seem enormous. If you want a place to start, you can go back to school, so to speak. Relearning these five school subjects will help guide you through the world-building process.
World-building 101: Astronomy
A basic understanding of stars, how planets form, the planets that might exist, etc., is an important way to begin world-building. Check out my blog on stars, how they form, what types there are, etc.
These are the questions you should explore: What color is the sun? How many suns does your planet circle? How many moons? Does your planet have rings? How did your planet form?
Astronomy is not as relevant for fantasy as it is for science fiction, but it’s still an interesting avenue to explore. We are still learning about our own solar system, so there are many theories exist about how each planet in our solar system developed. This is where you can make your world-building unique. Take our own solar system. What if Mars or Venus had developed to have life? Or, what if Earth was a moon of Jupiter? How would the sky look if we had two stars in our solar system? What did the solar system look like a billion years ago? What will it look like a billion years from now?
World-building 101: Earth Science and Geography
Knowing earth science can help you understand what your world will look like physically. You can learn about oceans, rivers, land masses, rocks, and how it’s formed. Then, learn about plate tectonics, geological history, and how our planet formed from countless geological processes. Learn about mass extinctions.
Mapmaking
This is the map-building part that every world builder needs to know. I will recommend a product to you that has helped me a lot in making maps. It’s a collection of Adobe Photoshop paintbrushes that has aided me immensely in my map-building. The company is called map effects. They are not sponsoring me; I am just sharing a purchase I made that has made my map-making process amazing.
This is the map of Lameria and Dryolt from my novel The Next Dimension by L. V. Maldonado, which I created using these paintbrushes. They are super easy to install and use. I am not the most tech-savvy person in the world, but I created this with just the tutorial and a basic knowledge of Adobe Photoshop.
Climate
What is the climate like in your world? The climate will shape how a society develops. Learn how climate works and how it can be affected by things both natural and manmade. Look at the climatic history of our own world. The climate has fluctuated constantly over the billion years of Earth’s history. Ice ages, global warming events, Earth has experienced it all. So, it’s likely that your world experiences it, too.
Landscapes and Water
How many continents are in your world? Is it a world of islands? What are some of the important rivers, lakes, etc? You can create a unique map out of anything. One experiment you could try is throwing salt or bark onto a white piece of paper and then getting a marker and outlining the areas around where the particles land.
Natural hazards
We must deal with volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, and droughts. It’s part of living on Earth. What sort of hazards do the people of your world have to face? Is there a massive volcano outside of town that might wake up soon?
Biology
This is where you can think of the life that shares this world you have created. You can’t have a story without life. So, you can learn about ecosystems. Predators and prey. Birds and fish and all the monsters.
Plants and animals
What kinds of plants or animals live in your world? This is the aspect of world-building where you can really make this world your own. Are there the usual kinds of animals: lions, sheep, bears, and dogs? Do unicorns populate the world? Are there dragons? Or are there creatures completely new and unheard of?
You can learn some basic biology to help you. Learn about the biology of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, insects, and fungi, among other things.
Humanoid races
What humanoid races populate your world? Elves, dwarves, and orcs? Mermaids in the oceans?
Physical characteristics
What are the physical characteristics of your humanoid races? Do they have unique abilities? In many classical fantasy stories, elves and dwarves take on a Tolkienish standard. Elves are tall, agile, graceful, nature-loving, and forest-dwelling with pointed ears. Dwarves are short, stout, hardened warriors that live underground and like to build things. Your world-building can follow that same standard or go a completely different route.
Medicine and healing
What kinds of diseases can be found in your world? Where do people go when they get sick? What causes illness? You could learn about the world of infectious diseases, viruses, and bacteria and how they can cause disease.
World-building 101: Anthropology and History
Learning about anthropology and how human civilization developed can prove useful in your world-building. How did our early Paleolithic ancestors live? How did they evolve? You can apply these questions to your story. Where did the elves or dwarves come from, and how did they evolve?
History
Develop a history for your world. Have there been kings and queens? Have there been wars, conflicts, and plagues? Conflict is the basis of all storytelling. Whether it’s internal or external, it keeps your reader engaged. So maybe you can develop a history to explain why your world has conflict, where it originated from, and how the people of the past dealt with it.
World-building 101: Society and Culture
Now that you have explored all the other disciplines and become a world-building scholar, it’s time for the most complex and largest discipline: Society. This is the society you will fit your characters into. A lot goes into a society, and you may make many societies in your world.
Language
First, there is language. Do your characters speak a common language? Are there other languages spoken? Will you create your own language?
Developing language is a long and time-consuming process. Learn about linguistics and its development and decide how far you want to go with your languages.
Religion
What sort of beliefs do the races in your world hold? What myths? Religion and spirituality help to develop the morals and values of a society. Is it rigid and structured? Are there churches and monks? Or is it more nature-based, with many gods, priests, priestesses, and magic? Or maybe a little bit of both? Each society that lives in your world may have a unique belief system.
How do people practice their beliefs? What holidays and festivals are there?
Arts and music
Everyone needs entertainment, and everyone values beauty and aesthetics. What does that look like in your world? What do people do for fun?
Government and law
How is the government structured? Is it a feudalistic system, or is it a democracy? Who rules the people? Who enforces the law? What sort of laws does your society impose? What happens to criminals and deviants?
Rites of passage and festivals
How do people get married? How are they born, and how do they die? Rites of passage are fundamental to every society. As people grow, how do they mark certain milestones in life? Is there some sort of coming-of-age ceremony marking the transition from childhood to adulthood? Are there differences between men and women?
Celebrations
Are there certain festivals that mark the passage of time? Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter?
Economy
What does your society do for currency? Is it a trade and barter system? How is the distribution of resources conducted?
What does agriculture look like? What is the industry? Are there craftsmen or artisans selling their wares in every town? How is trade conducted? Do your races all trade with one another?
Food
What does your society eat? This may depend on society’s resources. Maybe they live by the ocean, and their diet has a lot of seafood. Or maybe they are bound by certain physical limitations. In The next dimension, elves and drikini have different dietary needs because they developed that way. The elves are herbivores, and the drikini are strict carnivores. Elves cannot digest animal matter, and the drikini cannot digest plant matter. Is something similar the case in your society?
Fashion
What does your society wear?
Social structure
How are men and women treated in your society? Rich and poor? How are elves treated when they visit human cities? Is there a strict hierarchy? Is your place in society dictated by how you are born, or do you have the chance to improve your life?
Conclusion
These are the five disciplines of world-building. They overlap somewhat, and they may not all apply to your story. You don’t have to do everything all at once, and I prefer to world-build as I go. Although, I do keep records and documents about everything regarding my world and how my characters fit within it.
This is the part of writing that I enjoy the most. Getting to go to school again, learning all that I can learn.
