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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

World-Building: Tougher than Legoes

So, I'm one of those people who likes playing Dungeons and Dragons just for the sake of designing a character, and who starts a new story just so I can invent a new world. But as I've learned through my efforts over the years, designing a whole new fantasy world is hard. You have to think of everything, from geography to history to lore, not to mention coming up with names for all the cities, rivers, mountain ranges, and forests, and don't forget the world itself.

I used to think I was doing pretty good at it. Then I showed my newest story to my brother, who tore my world apart—literally. Forget correcting my spelling or my storytelling (which is what I wanted him to do). He poked holes in everything, even the little nit-picky details, like, where did the main character learn to use a bow if she lives in a mining town in the mountains? I was devastated—that world was my baby, I'd worked hard on it for a long time, and it was the best I'd ever done. But I realized my brother was right. I did have holes that needed filling.

So, I'm here now to give a few basic guidelines, questions to answer, etc., for any other fantasy authors out there like me who are trying to design a new world and just can't tell how much is enough.

1. What is your world's origin? Who started civilization there? These questions will help cover any basic lore your world needs—legendary heroes, the birth of a kingdom, etc. This also covers magic, if you choose to include it—what is its origin? What is its reputation? And so on.

2. Use what you know. This is a basic rule of thumb for any writing, but especially in world-building. If you don't know what it's like to live in an arctic tundra, you probably shouldn't set your story there, unless you plan to do hours and hours of research. That doesn't mean you can't have an arctic tundra as part of the geography. It just may not be the best idea to have it be your character's origin.

3. Your characters are in part defined by the environment they grew up in. You can't just decide your character is going to be a bard and a sailor, and grow up orphaned in a port town, and for some reason can use a sword as well. (I tried to do that with one of my D&D characters. It took a lot of explaining before my DM was satisfied with my backstory.) You have to explain your character in terms of their background, which in turn means you have to figure out where and how they grew up, the geographic and societal climate, etc.

4. Speaking of society: What types of people/races populate your world? Is it high fantasy, with elves and dwarves and wizards? Where does each one fall in the societal hierarchy? What is the current political climate? This may not seem like a big deal, but when your character is at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak, you have to explain why. What is it about that character or said character's parents, ancestors, etc., that makes them so low?

Lastly, pay attention to the little details. You may not realize it, but naming the river near your character's hometown (even if it's an unofficial name) brings the world to life. It will take a lot of thought, especially if you're like me and won't settle for just any old name, but it will be worth it.

Unfortunately, there's no way to make the world-building process go any faster. But if you want your new fantasy world to come to life, to seem real to whoever's reading, you have to spend just as much time explaining the world as you do building each character and planning out the plot events. If you have a good, solid framework in the world your story takes place in, the plot should come naturally.

So, go out there and start stacking your Legos of world-building. It's harder than it looks, but it is so much fun.

PS: Don't forget to check out my Inkshares contest entry! If I get enough people to pre-order my book (and pre-orders are as low as $10), it will get published!

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