World Creation - Blog Posts

Your stories deserve to exist in incredible worlds. Build yours from scratch with this quick guide that simplifies the sometimes intimidating process.

Read my guide here!

Old vs new map for my oc universe :] [My commissions!]

I'm gonna tell you about some worldbuilding I did

So basically, a world of people who live on a massive conveyor belt

Like this

Each 'tile' is 1km×1km, and every 144 days, every tile moves forward once. A new tile is formed at the start, and the tile at the end is removed. Each tile has its own weather and plant life, but they gradiate with the tiles before and after.

Whenever a new tile is formed, ~30 people appear on that new tile, with the mental and physical maturity of about 6yos. The people on the final tile dissappear with it, no one knows what happens to them. The tile people spawn on is the furthest back they can go. They can go forward, closer to the disappearing tile, but not back. This means that everyone knows exactly when they die and can't do anything to escape it, and they are almost immortal until their tile dissappears (they still age tho, and at the same rate as us).

However, this means that when the 30 children are spawned on the new tile, no one can reach them. To help the children establish themselves, the people belonging to the tile just under them (~19 year olds) and the people who are a little younger have a large (and loud) festival to try to get the children to come to their tile so that they can be taught basic etiquette, language, be clothed and fed, and be taught how to survive in the odd world they live in. They stay around that tile and its adjacents until they're about 11. Then, they're slowly integrated into life living alone on their tile.

I tried to make it so that almost everything about their culture reflects how their world works, including their clothing. Their sashes are meant to resemple a conveyer belt, (which is why it's one massive loop) and has the odd slits to help them carry things.

So I was messing around and I kninda wonder what a 1D world would be like?

So some ideas:

The specs (what I call the “people” of this world) can only see what is right infront of them, however, they can ‘feel’ through ‘temperature’ and ‘activity’ what is going on around them.

I also throughly that language wise could be like colour shade and pitch of sounds.

Like on one spectrum for both

Like how bill cipher has colours for language on a 2D plane

It’s also intresting to think how a spec version of bill cipher may exist

I think of them like a glowing dot ngl

World Building

Sometimes, writers find it necessary to add more depth to the world surrounding their characters. I’ve collected a few links that should be helpful in this process. Some of these are better for a fantasy stories, but have ideas that could prove useful for writers of all genres, in one way or another.

MAP GENERATION If you have decided to create your own land mass for the sake of your story, you may be grateful to have this link. Users should read the description below before using, but it is easy to use and helpful for anyone wanting to create a new island or continent. I prefer using this tool over any others I’ve seen online. This website only contains the demo. The full version has more ways to edit the map, but getting the full version requires downloading and having proper software. I’ve found that the demo, on its own, should be enough for anyone who can’t get the full version for one reason or another. However, the link for full version is also on the page, should you want it.

WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD Knowing weather details of areas can be helpful when writing about an area, especially if it’s one you’re not familiar with. This website has the recorded weather of pretty much everywhere on Earth, and even provides averages for the past year in specific areas. It’s great for writers who want an understanding of how the weather in their story might affect the characters. For instance: if the summer heat in an area is consistently over 100 degrees, the characters might be less willing to go outside, and be in need of constant hydration.

FANTASY JOBS THAT AREN’T KNIGHT OR PEASANT Anyone who is writing a story that takes place in a less developed civilization, be it medieval times, or a fantasy world that hasn’t quite hit its industrial revolution, should probably have this list. It’s a simple list of a 100 jobs that you might consider giving to the characters in your story to make them seem like real people. The creator of the list even adds a few at the end for younger characters. Choosing any of them for your story may take some added research, but will be worth the depth added to your story.

FAMILY TREE TOOL If you’ve ever read the series “Lord of the Rings”, you may know that pretty much everyone in the books has a long list of ancestors. While I would never endure such an endeavor, if you feel so inclined to come up with a lineage for your character, this is a tool you can use. It’s easy to use, and allows for adding information beyond name and year of birth/death. You’re able to change what information shows up on the table, and when finished you can even print it out.

HOME DESIGNER So this is good if you have time to kill and really want to do some in-depth building. This tool will let you be the designer of the home of your characters. You’ll get out what you put into it, so if your character lives in a three story, 10 bedroom home, you may have to put in a bit more effort to use this tool effectively. You can also simply create individual rooms, if that’s more along the lines of what you want. Over all, while this tool may take a bit of time to learn, it isn’t very complicated. I suggest it to everyone who wants to explore how the home of their characters looks.

LANGUAGE CREATION If you were thinking about writing your own language, this link will make you decide whether you really want to create your own language, or if you want to give up on the idea entirely. It’s a long process, but is completely spelled out in this link, and the additional pages that the website provides links to. You can also buy the book by the same author for $0.99; but all the information is available for free. Either way, it should be an easy choice to make after reading through what the website has to offer. I think creating a language is for people with more time, patience, and understanding of their own language than I have, but it is certainly fun to think about. The author also discusses different methods people use to create languages, and what is wrong with those methods. I believe this is, by far, the best resource for creating a language.

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World Building 101

World building! How many other hobbies or careers involve creating an entire world all your own? Not many.

There’s nothing quite like setting out to create your fictional world. Drawing maps, deciding which civilizations live where, throwing in crazy kinds of solar systems and vegetation if you’re really going all out… it can be a ton of fun.

However, one of the writer’s most exciting tasks is also one of their most intimidating.

On one hand: you get to build your own world. On the other hand… you have to build your own whole entire WORLD?! Where do you even start??

Well, you can start right here. Today I’m going to walk you through some basic pointers to get your world up and running.

World Building and World Building

Right off the bat, you should be aware that there are two kinds of world building. There’s the large-scale fantasy world building which I will be talking about today, and there is also world building that goes into other story genres.

Every writer is going to do some level of world-building, whether you’re painting a verbal picture of the lake your character goes to to get some peace of mind, pulling a reader into an important event and making them feel like they’re actually attending, or creating a whole new planet for your space pirate to fly to.

The Top 6

When you have a massive task ahead of you it’s always best to start by breaking it down. So, let’s take a look at the top 6 features you’re going to be focusing on when building your world.

WHO

Ask yourself: who lives in your world?Most likely there is a variety of species and races. Or, you could decide on a world where every creature is exactly alike — it is of course, your world.

Do the creatures of your planet have different cultures or are these homogeneous?

It will be easiest to start off with your main characters and work out from there. What is their species and race, and what does their culture look like?

For each species in your world, jot down the following:

Species name

Race names

Physical description

Language

Cultural notes

Special abilities

WHAT

Ask yourself: what social structures exist in your society? Again, start with your main characters and work out from there. For each species within your world, you’re going to need to determine how they manage their society.

What beliefs do they have? Are they religious, or more philosophical? Is there a divide between the two? What do their political structures look like? How strict are their laws?

You’ll want to consider trade and economy as well. Do they have a money system? A barter system?

You may not need to go too in depth with every single species in your world, but you’ll want a basic note or two about each in case it comes up in your writing.

For each species in your world, decide at least one point about each of the following:

Religion

Philosophies

Politics and laws

Economy

WHERE

Ask yourself: where does your species exist?Finally, we get to the physical world of your world building. What is the geography like? The biomes? Is your world bountiful with resources or is it a dying planet with species’ in desperate search of new sustenance?

For some writers, they will take years fleshing out the ‘where’ of their world, including the cosmos surrounding it. For others, a map with the basic locations of the story will suffice. It is up to you how in-depth you would like to go.

At the very least, you should outline one or two notes about each of the following:

Solar system (does your world exist near ours or is it completely fabricated?)

Geography (this one can be split per species — forest elves live in the woods, nymphs live near the sea, etc.)

Biomes (split by species region)

Resources (split by species region)

WHEN

Ask yourself: when do the events of your story occur?The story you are telling may be the main focus of your book, but what happened to lead up to it? What has your main character’s species and world been through that is causing the story to occur? Even if the events of the world do not impact your story much, they will have had at least some level of ripple effect that reflects on your characters’ day-to-day. Was this civilization a warring one and the story takes place in a broken society? Or, has their society reached its peak of enterprise?

For each region in your world, establish the following:

Founding events

Defining events

Recent events

(if relevant) Future events

WHY

Ask yourself: why do the species in your world behave as they do?The why of your story will tie in with many of the previous points you’ve outlined, but it gets more to the point in a way that can directly apply to your story and characters. Why are things happening as they are today? What evolution did this society go through? Do they share common goals now or are your characters going against the grain of their people? What conflicts exist in this world, and is your main character involved in those conflicts or attempting to avoid involvement?

A few pertinent notes to take per species would be:

Social evolution

Societal goals

Societal conflicts

HOW

Ask yourself: how do the species in your world solve problems? In the category of ‘who’, you will have outlined your main characters’ abilities. These could be magical or technological or maybe they are super strong, or super smart. Now, you can get deeper into the magical or technological systems of your world. Start with your main characters and work outwards. Is everyone magical here? Do different species and races have different abilities? Is there a human or human-related race, and at what point are they at with their technology?

Figure out the following (for each species and race if applicable):

Magic abilities

Technological advancements

Scientific knowledge

Militaristic power

The World is yours: Command it

An author with a strong command of the world they are writing within will have at their fingertips an endless landscape of possibility. Look to authors such as J.R.R. Tokien or George R.R. Martin — it’s no wonder their works are so successful. They perfectly encapsulate what fantasy readers are looking for in a novel: escapism. The worlds don’t need to be pretty, they need to be fully formed; realistic in their mysticism.

World-building can seem like a lot of work, and it is. But do it bit by bit, and try to keep it fun. Don’t sit down in one day expecting to create your whole world. It’ll take time. But that time spent will be well worth it in the end!