Yuffie's Writing How-To's

How to do WORLD BUILDING

This is going to focus on world-building for high fantasy worlds, but you could probably apply most of these to other genres, too.

These are basic steps to follow when creating a world. You can actually write down every single detail of the following (which is what I'd recommend if you're writing high fantasy) or just keep organized in your head if you're capable of it.

Magic is usually an exception to everything in world building. If your magic system allows for you to break the rules I'm stating here, by all means, break them. Just keep it believable and within the constraints of your world. If one army is able to teleport to the other side of the world, make sure the other armies (unless you have a good reason for it) can do this, too. Keep everything consistent.

1. Create a world map.

You don't have to be an artist to draw circles, squares and triangles. Just get a basic feel for your world. Plan out what countries are where, the geography (mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, grasslands, rainforests, etc.), and strategic locations for cities (generally near rivers or big bodies of water, unless your world has a way to transport water effectively). Plan the geography into a way that makes sense. You probably can't have a desert right next to a rainforest (again, if your world can somehow break that rule, go for it). Just keep it believable.

2. Come up with general cultures for the cities/areas of civilization.

A city next to the ocean/lake/river would probably be a port city. There would be ships, and it would be a major point of trade. You'd probably have very ethnically diverse people living or just passing through. A city in the desert would have clothes that cover them completely to protect them from sunburn. They'd have ways to get water (or maybe they live in or near an oasis). A city in a forest would have a lot of objects made of wood, so they'd need woodcutters. Don't forget hunters. A civilization in the arctic would probably be very eskimo-like with thick clothes made from animal skins.

3. HISTORY, HISTORY, HISTORY.

Before you do anything else at this point, plan out the histories of your world. Most of this won't even make it into your novel, but it's a very good idea to have an idea of how things came to be. Hints of that would slip into your writing and make the world seem a lot more believable. Was there recently a civil war in a country? That would affect how the people react to each other and to outsiders. Had they been attacked in the past and are now reserved toward outsiders? Are they closed off from the outside world? If another country has a magical fountain that gives them something important, what is the history behind that? How did they find the fountain? What happened when they found it? Another country could have a scandal in the aristocracy. How did their governments come to be? What are their governments?

Make a timeline of world events to keep your dates straight. Don't have two world wars within two months of each other and the next day they go into an era of peace and prosperity. Again, keep this believable.

Remember, the events happening in one place will effect people all over the world.

A war in one country will put resource strains on other countries, or maybe they'll be making money off the war. Everything in the world is interconnected, so please keep that in mind. Think of our world. A terrorist attack somewhere will have financial and emotional impacts on people across the globe. This is the hardest point for me to explain, so please let me know if you need further examples. :)

4. Plan the cultures you've come up with in much greater detail.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of questions to ask yourself, but it's a springboard to base your ideas on. Be as detailed as possible in the following areas. You can never develop your world too much. It's those tiny details that make a world memorable.