Basic world building
10 posts in this topic.
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If you're not very good at detailed world building but want to try and get the basics down, what do you consider the most important/basic things to be focused on? So far things like history, people, culture religion and the like have been suggested, but I was wondering (mainly because I forgot to post this on the day I originally posted it elsewhere) if anyone can think of anything else.
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Geography and architecture. That's the absolute first thing I think of when I start creating a world. I see a place before I know what it is.
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Magic. In Fantasy, you need to know about this. It's made me think a lot about the world.
And the History. Wars, Government, things like that. -
I usually start with the government. Even if the government doesn't play a huge part of the story, I need to know what makes this place go.
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prohecies from different religions and races...very important for it is the center of superstition and faith...and if you think about it, that is the center of a book. i could elaborate but just think about it, think about all of the books you have read before...was prophecy not a major component--more so, was it not the solution of the doom approaching, whatever it might have been???
And was superstition not an annoyance when it came time to make a decision...you want a believable world?? think about what is the center of all things mentioned...archeticture; would not the buildings be adorned with prophetic figure? History; would the role of a prophet or even the creation of a forthcoming prophet intertwine with the history of this utopia? War; prophets are often the spirtitual morale boosters when battles are fought...should i continue still?
i hoped this helped... -
food, music, weather...
also any tension between people groups would be a good thing to figure out -
Strangely enough, I tend to build my world around villains. How high they are in power, how they got there, if their magic magic is any different then the hero's magic, ect. That's usually my starting point.
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I think it really depends on the plot that goes with the world. For instance, most of my stories revolve around the government and the country as a whole, rather than prophecies and more out-of-this-dimension stuff like that. So I guess I focus on building this world like someone would creating a country in this world - establish a government, some basic rules, and then see how things go from there and make changes as necessary.
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Crops, material goods, and exports. A lot of a civilization's power is based upon their material resources, from food to clothing to mined materials. I try and figure out what their main imports/exports are.
Next, geography--especially rivers, since these are often the basis for city placement, etc. Then I move on to what everyone else is saying.
Probably you just have to figure out what works for you.
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The wackiest world building I ever did, for my current novel, which involves a kind of technologically-stripped society (sometimes there is electricity, sometimes there isn't), was like this...
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO:
1. The Internet...
2. TV...
3. School...
4. Hospitals...
5. Radio...
And then I wrote what happened to each of the relevant categories. For example, the Net's no longer big in my world, but radio sometimes works.
I'm not generally very good at world building, though.
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