Fantasy 102: World Building

This article builds on Fantasy 101, where we discussed the importance of a basic plot and an understanding of your story's scope.  Plot and scope will dictate how varied the setting of your story will be.  If your tale transpires in a single cave or cottage, your setting will be much simpler than a story that spans multiple continents.  To say it another way, your plot and scope will determine how much of the fantasy world you must build.

Some critics of the genre claim that fantasy authors have an easy job.  We don't have to research our settings.  We can simply make up anything we want and - POOF! - it's part of our world.  I suspect some writers are inclined to write fantasy for this very reason.

I argue that any serious fantasy writer actually has a tougher job than a writer who crafts stories set in the real world.  Real world settings require research, because the author can't write anything that's a glaring contradiction to real life.  As long as he avoids that pitfall, he has instant reader acceptance of his setting.  It just takes time and diligence.

A fantasy author, on the other hand, must create every detail of his world.  This world must contain enough detail for readers to understand it, but it must not be too detailed, or the readers will get lost.  Many of the details an author knows about his world will never be directly written into a book, but the author must be intimate with all aspects of his setting, because the devil is in the supporting details.  Detailed knowledge of the setting will make the entire story a fuller, more immersive experience for the reader, because the author's knowledge is revealed indirectly through dialogue and little details.

If an author of a real-world story needs details on the economy or architecture of the Bronx, he has thousands of pages of resource material.  If a fantasy author needs details about the economy or politics of the elven city of Terius, all the details must come out of his own head. These details must not contradict one another; the author must convey them in concise and fluid manner, and he must never forget any detail he includes in a story.  If he forgets, and contradicts it later, some reader will ensure there's hell to pay.  This is true of any author, but I contend that it's harder to remember "facts" about things that don't exist.  A fantasy author must create a world that is fresh and new to the reader, but not so fantastic that the reader can't relate well enough to wish to stay in the world.

Depending on the plot and scope of your story, you may have weeks or months of work ahead of you.  There's a reason we mortals usually leave world building to the gods.  It's really hard work!

I recommend a rough, top-down approach.  Write down the basic features of your setting that can be derived from your basic plot and scope.  Then divide that list into individual items and fill in details as you're able.  Keep a notepad handy at all times, because you'll never know when a great detail for your world will pop into your head.

As a general rule, I also recommend that, as the writer, you're aware of what's going on around your story.  If your entire setting is in one castle, even if no actions or events occur outside of that castle, you still need to know something about the surrounding countryside, because the castle doesn't exist in a void.  The surrounding environment will have an impact on the people inside.  If it doesn't, your setting will not be as immersive as possible.  Readers may not buy into it.

Based on your plot and scope, here's a partial list of world elements you may need to consider:

Topography

Continent size and shape, key terrain features (e.g. rivers, mountains, forests, oceans,) man-made features (e.g. cities, roads, bridges, fortresses, mines, national/political borders)

Races

How many races will you have?  Each race increases your work exponentially, because each race represents at least one separate culture (and probably has multiple subcultures,) which requires details for a multitude of factors.

• Languages: How do races speak within their race and with other races?
• Government:  How is order maintained?  Who makes the rules?  Who enforces them?
• Politics: who are the power players, and what are their agendas?  Are they violent, passive, or something in between?
• Arts and entertainment: what do these beings do for fun?  Do they have music, sculpture, painting, games of chance, games of skill, written language, or formal education?
• Technology: How do they communicate or travel over distances?  How sophisticated are their buildings, fortifications, weapons, armor, medicine, astronomy, chemistry, and other sciences?
• Economics: How are goods and services exchanged?  Where is the supply?  Where is the demand?  What goods and services are produced?  Who wants these products?
• Religions:  What do these beings believe?  What impact does religion have on the rest of their society?  How many different religions are followed by the race, and do they tolerate each other?
• Environment:  How does weather and topography affect the race?  What do they eat?
• Other:  What about holidays, calendars, time keeping, taboos, superstitions, and prejudices?

Regions

Even if your story has only one race, all of the considerations for race apply to different regions, such as two countries, two baronies, two cities, two sides of town,  two ends of the same street or two rooms in the same house.

Other Forces

• What kinds of creatures, other than sentient races, populate your world?  How do these creatures and the races interact?
• What natural laws are at work in your universe?  Do they work the same as the ones in the real world?
• What other forces are at work?  Does your world have magic?  How does it work?  What are its capabilities and limitations (I could devote an entire book to this topic.)

As a writer, you can cheat and avoid most of this work, but your story will suffer if you do.  Fortunately, you don't need to figure it out all at once.  I recommend that you write out the basic details you have for an area, and flesh it out as more pops in your head.  More ideas will come to you as you fill in the blanks for your world.  If your hero's quest will span six full novels to get to the final castle, you don't need a to-scale blueprint of that place before you write the first book.  You can fill it in as you go, as long as everything remains consistent and believable within the context you've established with previous details.

One last piece of good news:  No detail is permanent until you print the book and people buy it.  You can always go back and change details of your world as long as you're careful to avoid contradictions or disparities.

In the beginning, you should have at least a few details for the initial setting, the surrounding area, and any areas that factor into the main characters' backstories.  Yes, I realize it's a ton of work, if you want to do it well.  If you don't want to put forth the effort, perhaps you should do some research on the New York subway and write a story about places that already exist.  Leave world building to those who would be gods.

Tune in next  time for Fantasy 103: Characters.