THE ONE AND ONLY TIME I FEEL LIKE AN EXPERT
World building is a necessary part of every novel. Yes, EVERY novel. Not just fantasy or sci-fi, even contemporary novels need worldbuilding!
World building is the art of establishing your world's rules, restrictions, and boundaries. It involves everything from the world itself (are you writing in the established world, or are you making up a new one?), to technology, magic, laws, religions, races, creatures, and lands. These things still apply in contemporary novels, but I'm focusing more on how to build a new, fantasy world in this particular post.
So where do I start? This is always the toughest place to figure out. For most people, starting small is the best way to go. If you're writing a fantasy novel, there's a few ground rules you need to establish to start out with. Magic or no magic? What kind of technology do they have? How big is your world, and how big is the scope for your story? Establishing a few ground rules like this will give you some direction to travel in.
Now, I don't believe in establishing every single thing about your world before you begin drafting. Plotters will disagree with me on this, but I find discovering things along the way to be a more satisfying way to build and round out my world. As I come across things I need to fill out my world, I can establish them right then and there.
What are some questions I can ask myself to get started? Oh this is my favorite. Here's a non-exhaustive list of some questions you can use to start the worldbuilding process.
What sort of religion do the people of your world practice? Is it polytheistic or monotheistic? Does your god(s) have direct involvement or is it entirely faith-based?
What sort of government does your country or world run upon? How was that decided? Who are the rulers or people in power? How did they get there?
What are the races of your world? What are their origins?
Who are some popular figures in your world other than your world leaders? Celebrities? Famous knights? Popstars?
What sort of creatures occupy your world? Are they magical? Non magical? How did they get to your world? How does their existence affect your characters?
What are the relationships between the countries or states of your world? Do they fight? Are they friendly?
Of course, these are only starting points. You can get pretty specific within each of the questions above and continue to flesh out the details of your world as you dig deeper. Some of the first things I established were the government and the technology in OBBT. This helped shape the direction of the story of the entire series, and gave me a good place to start for motivations of characters.
What about the little things? Sure, the small details are also important in worldbuilding. Things like common folk tales, unique plants, or interesting rock formations. They can be a fun exercise for you as the author to establish, but unless they have some sort of plot significance, it's likely they won't come into play in your story. And that's okay! Establishing the little things can sometimes make your world feel richer, even if it's just in passing.
World building is extremely fun for me, and I could easily talk about it for a very very long time, but I'm going to reign myself in this time. I hope this is a helpful topic, and that I've at least given you some insight into how I started worldbuilding for OBBT!
Next time - I'm going to dive deeper into establishing history for your world. Let's continue the worldbuilding train!
Happy holidays!
-Tia