This guide will hopefully help you to create the perfect world to set your story in. I'll be suggesting resources, websites, tips from Pinterest and my own advice to help you through one of the hardest parts of planning!
If you have questions of a...
It's been a while, but anyway, on to the world building!
I briefly mentioned this in my 'Landscape' chapter near the beginning, where I talked about having some interesting species. This chapter will focus more on animals, but some of the principals can probably be applied to plants as well. The plants will have their own chapter next week. Let's start with actually creating your creatures. These tips are not mine, they're paraphrased from a post on a website called rmarcher.com.
Base it on something else
This seems simple, but could actually be quite interesting. Adapt something to fit your needs.
Use existing animals
This sounds boring, but there are actually a lot of crazy looking animals out there that could be used in the story. Look up existing animals and see what you can find.
Develop them by need
If you need an animal for a specific purpose, make one for! Start with the need and branch out from there.
Don't ignore the little guys
It can be easy to forget about insects and amphibians as we can be so caught up in thinking about the big creatures such as mammals, birds etc. Insects are important too, so don't ignore them.
Roughly how many species are there in your world?
Do they have a purpose?
Why are they important?
What sort of pets do people keep, if any?
Do zoos exist?
Are laws in place to protect animals?
What animals are dangerous?
What do the food chains look like?
Are animals hunted? Why?
What animals are common?
What animals are in danger? Why?
Are the species unique to any particular area?
Are certain animals important to a certain culture?
Do animals symbolise anything?
You know the drill, if you think I've missed anything, tell me in the comments!
I would advise checking out the post in the website above. It goes into a lot more detail about this topic.
Next time, on Your Wonderful Guide to World Building - Plants! Flowers, trees, and poisonous leaves are all plants, and I'll be using another online post to help with the next chapter!
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