The phrase \u201cworld building\u201d usually calls to mind fantasy and science fiction. But writers of all genres can benefit from strong world building, and you\u2019re no exception. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n
World building is all about knowing the circumstances of your characters. The more you know their circumstances, the better you understand and write them, and the more rich and authentic they appear to the reader.<\/p>\n
Here are some world-building questions that might surprise you:<\/p>\n
When you know these details\u2014even if they don\u2019t make an appearance in your final draft\u2014your writing becomes richer and better.<\/p>\n
Your settings may be completely fictional, like Westerose in George R.R. Martin\u2019s Song of Ice and Fire, or a fictional town in our real world, like Castle Rock in various novels by Stephen King. It could be a fictional street in a real city, or somewhere real altogether.<\/p>\n
Whatever your case is, there are several aspects of your settings you\u2019ll want to explore or invent. Let\u2019s go over them.<\/p>\n
1. Geography<\/strong><\/p>\n If your settings are fictional, draw a map of them. If they\u2019re real, make sure you have a good, detailed map at your disposal. You\u2019ll want to know street names, business locations, the immediate neighbors of your characters, the homes of otherwise interesting people. These will be the different stages on which your hero\u2019s journey may play out, so make them varied and detailed and interesting.<\/p>\n 2. Demography & Society<\/strong><\/p>\n Is your chosen location full of young parents and their children, or of elderly people? When you walk down the street, what kind of population are you likely to meet? Who stands out? Where do they hang out?<\/p>\n How\u2019s the crime rate in your settings? Do people walk the streets without concern? Where are the scary places? What should the average person avoid?<\/p>\n What\u2019s the common worldview, political inclination, or religion in your settings? How would they affect your heroes\u2019 mindsets?<\/p>\n 3. Commerce<\/strong><\/p>\n How is wealth distributed in your settings? What\u2019s the average economic level? Does any person or family stand out? How hard or easy is life for the simple man? What does the average family eat?<\/p>\n 4. History<\/strong><\/p>\n How old are your settings? How and when were they created? What are their historical highlights? Local legends? Local mysteries?<\/p>\n 5. Sensory Input<\/strong><\/p>\n What do your settings smell like after it rains? What are the dominant colors? Are the houses crafted of stone, wood, or mud? What\u2019s the current fashion? Create lively details and help the reader experience your settings to the fullest.<\/p>\n As you work through these questions, don\u2019t come up with random answers or the obvious answers. Choose the kind of settings that will highlight the conflict in your story and add to it.<\/p>\n For example, if your protagonist is struggling to come out as gay, place him in a non-supportive town where being gay is frowned upon. If your hero needs a specific resource, place that resource in a hostile land and make it a rarity.<\/p>\n Avoid one-dimensional concepts.\u00a0<\/strong>A planet with one terrain type is boring. So is a community with a single religion, or a people with one obvious character trait. Life is complex, and interest arises from the conflict of different things.<\/p>\n Make your settings clear.\u00a0<\/strong>If there\u2019s something in your settings that\u2019s inherently different from our world, either make it obvious or at least hint at it from the beginning.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t info-dump.\u00a0<\/strong>You might get excited about knowing your world in so much detail, but don\u2019t drop it all on the reader at once. Dole out details throughout your story, and only when they can be included in an organic, natural way.<\/p>\n Let chaos and chance have their play.<\/strong>\u00a0Don\u2019t create worlds, systems, or societies that are based on pure logic. While humans usually abhor the idea of randomness in their lives, it does in fact occur in nature all the time.<\/p>\n Ready to give your characters an interesting sandbox to play in? Create with diversity, conflict, and authentic details in mind, and you\u2019ll find your story much enriched. Have fun world building!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[15],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Highlighting Conflict<\/h2>\n
Some Pitfalls to Avoid<\/h2>\n
Now Go Build Your Own<\/h2>\n