World Building And How I Do It

As I said in my first blog post, I am currently world building. World building is simply creating your world. Deciding things like, the location, who lives there, what plants grow there, etc. I am almost done with the setting and my world building, but I am prepared to walk you through how I went about it.

The first step of creating my world was getting a general idea of it. For example, I knew my world was going to be a fantasy world, hence, it's made up! Knowing that my world was going to basically be an alternate universe, rather than a parallel one, I had to come up with names for my Nations. Now, while the world my story takes place in may be bigger, I focus on six major countries within it. I gave those six names, and set up their languages that may be spoken, as well as a general idea of what biomes they consist of.

Now that you have a very basic idea of what your world looks like, and you can almost picture it, it's time to go a little bit more in depth when it comes to the land. What animals live there? Do tigers jump down from trees, or do leopards run through the snow? Obviously, the animals that live there have to go hand in hand with the biomes that exist there. This goes for the plants, too. You won't find a cactus in the tundra, just as you won't find a fern in the desert. Knowing what plants and animals live there can give you a better idea of the temperature, the climate, is it rainy or is it usually sunny? What crops might the people that live there be able to grow? While this information may not be necessary for the story line, it does add dimensions to the characters, who may point out seeing some of these things. Instead of telling where the character is, use these types of things as a way to show where they live. For example, instead of saying, "She lives in the tundra", you could say, "As she walked past the familiar igloos of her hometown, a polar bear ran past her, throwing snow into her face with its big paws." Obviously, she lives in the tundra.

I have found that it's easier to create a world when you know ahead of time what biomes are where. If your story is like mine and takes place among a few countries, then you'll find that this information will help you when you begin creating a map. If you look at a map of our world, you'll notice that the further north you go, the colder it gets. The south tends to be warmer, unless your so far south, north is only way you can go. Mapping out your world will allow you a visual reference to your world, which can add reality to your book. If you have a character that travels from, say, Narnia, to Westeros, you have to take into account the travel distance. If you have a visual, you may be able to say, oh, Narnia is three years away from Westeros. Or, if you're me, you may look at your map and be able to say, Zamreeli is 7,000 miles from Cordello, and therefore will take four weeks. By estimation. Mapping out your world also allows you to Name the waterways around your land. If the ocean or a river is an important part of your world, it needs a name, too!

After I had the world figured out, I went deep into each country one by one. I created the people that live there. Unless your world is made up of abandoned islands, your going to see different types of people. Make sure to make them diverse. Diversity is a big thing in the real world. Two different groups may have similarities, but no two groups of people are exactly the same in their beliefs or customs. I like to take a peice of paper and write down what the physical appearance traits may be, what their clothing is made out of, what do their houses look like. Stuff like that. I then take into consideration their religion and beliefs. What do they believe? Are they monotheists or polytheists? Do they believe in a greator power? Religion says a lot about a person, and even influences things like tradition and everyday lives. Our holidays are based upon our beliefs. For example, Christmas is the birth of Jesus while Easter is about his death. Two significant events we celebrate. Maybe they have a holiday to honor their greator power, or maybe they do rituals and sacrafices.

Often, I like to do research online and find people who lived in our world. I use their looks, clothing, houses, traditions, religion, and I go off of this. I create my own original people based upon real ones. This is one simple way to add dimension. Read into why they do things the way they do. What reason may they sacrafice people? We don't do anything for no reason. People act off of hope, desperation, sadness, happiness, joy, anger, etc. Look into this. Dive into the hearts of these people you're trying to create. Give them morals, give them soul.