Writer's guide to World Building: Learn the Basics
- Apollo Imperium
- 1 day ago
- 11 min read
Writer's Guide: World building
A series by Jake Zuurbier
If you know me and my work or have been following my journey for a while, you'll know that I am, in most every way, a self-taught author. Hell, I'm a self-taught everything. But the good thing about struggling to grasp at straws and starting from scratch every time is that it teaches you things in a way that nothing else could. And, thanks to this website, I can share that insight with others. My methods may not be traditional, but they work, and over the course of time, I've come to be quite capable in the world of writing, publishing and creating.
I've already shared writer's guides on topics like book formatting and marketing (both quite extensive articles, do recommend checking them out––especially the marketing one. It's almost half an hour of reading time), but I know there's much more to be explored in the realm of writing and publishing. That's why this time, I want to introduce you to (assuming you're not already familiar with) World Building. It's a very broad topic to tackle, which is why I will do multiple articles on this with more in depth points, but I will attempt to get the basics into this article.
I personally love worldbuilding––sometimes to a fault. I am a nerd at heart, and will take any opportunity to create new worlds, or even just new cities. I have a handy combination of being a writer-artist, so I can go even further and draw maps and locations, too. So, no better time than the present to let me get my two cents out on the topic.
I'll take you through what world building is, help you ask yourself the WHY questions, and get you on your way with some points to help create your own world. This is a basics article on world building, more in depth guides will come in the future, but I will give you a solid base to start from.
What is World Building?
World building, as the term suggest, is the building of a world. Ha, easy. Next question.
In writing, you never write in a vaccuum. At least, not unless that is the route you're taking––but even then, there is a purpose for the vaccuum. And that is the most important thing in world building: a purpose. Every detail in your world should have a purpose, whether that purpose is "decoration" and immersing readers, or to add to the lore and storyline, helping characters in one way or another (or doing the opposite), or even planting easter-eggs for those who are keen enough to notice.
It's not exclusive to Fantasy or science-fiction novels to do a bit of world building. Though yes, when you're writing fantasy––especially high fantasy––you're building an entire world from scratch, you're still building a world in almost every genre out there, except maybe non-fiction. You're creating things that do not exist in the real world, even though the city, even a building, may.
World building, thus, is creating almost another "character". The world itself should feel like it has existed beyond the story and still continues to exist well after the focus of the story is no longer on it. For example, if you're writing a story set in an urban setting (like a city), you'd expect to see signs of life in it––like graffiti, or a sandwich wrapper that fell out of a trashcan because the wind is blowing hard enough to make it be so. You don't have to point out every single detail in your writing, but it helps if you have the ideas in your own head so that it bleeds through into the world. It makes your writing feel less flat.
The Why in World Building
Things ideally should make sense to readers. Besides adding the fun stuff, like a floating fort in the sky, you'll need to add the why, so that readers won't get taken out of their suspended disbelief. This is easier with fantasy stories, since they're, well, fantasy. But even there, you'll need to have a why for the floating fort in the sky. Is it powered by magic? Did the gods pull it up after some divine event or war? Because as much as readers want to suspend their disbelief, there is an end to what they'll accept until it just makes no sense. This is even more important in non-fantasy settings, where the reader feels as if they're in a world they know, so it is important you help them stay in that world and not to do things without a reasonable explanation. It could even be a very unreasonable explanation, but there should be an explanation.
Why are things the way they are?
For another example, set in a real world scenario, take a stone temple in a jungle. Where did the stones come from, is there a quarry nearby? Who built it? How does it get its food and water, and how are people able to make clothing––if they wear any. It would be highly unlikely for a temple goer in a jungle in ancient times to be eating oranges, because they did not exist in jungle areas, and wouldn't be around until way past most ancient civilizations ceased to exist. There were some citrons, but the sweet orange we know today, not so much. It's a hybrid, and I had to do research into why it couldn't be around in my ancient temple, hence why I know.
There are, of course, a lot of details to take into consideration if you go over things this way. Depending on how your story will pan out, you won't need even close to that much information. You'll have to get good at deciding what does and does not matter. For example, if your character knows the area very well, they'd know that there is a stone quarry nearby––you could even use it as a plot device, if for example there are intruders who do not know the area, you could lead them into a death trap by leading them to the quarry––and which fruits to pick instead of the non-existent oranges. If you will never even come near the quarry or the oranges, there is no need to include it in your world building.
The Fun in World Building
If your world building is not at least some of the time enjoyable to do, you're doing it wrong.
Use your world building to really understand where your story is taking place. You can make it as crazy as you want, as long as you remember the why. I'm assuming most people reading this article read it for the purpose of Fantasy or Science-Fiction world building, but even for say a detective novel, or a sweet summer romance novel, you can still let your creativity go wild. The more creative or personal your world is (within bounds, of course, it has to remain believable), the higher the chance is that your readers will connect with it and remember it long after putting your book down.
Take for example the world of Harry Potter. While its author has proven to be more of a Voldemort than a Hermione, her world remains strong. People connect with it for its sense of familiarity and its very distinguishable world building. Or Lord of the Rings, with Rivendell, Gondor, Hobbit holes. Or the world of the Hunger Games trilogy, it is such a well thought out world that we all remember the Capitol, or the long thought-dead district Thirteen. There is a why for all of them, and a creativity like no other.
But even with non-fantasy work, like I mentioned earlier, you can craft a world that stands out and lasts past the book. Elsie Silver’s books, for example. Set in the real world, yet many people who have read her books wish they could visit the places where her stories take place. Even more so if it’s technically set in the real world, but in a made up country. Example: Genovia from the Princess Diaries, with their national fruit being pears. Pears, given the book’s modern time period, are believable to be there, much unlike the orange-and-temple debacle.
Where to Start
It can be daunting to start world building. After all, you're creating an entire world, something that took even God seven days (I'm not religious, but I couldn't pass up using the reference). Luckily it has been a very well trodden path. Many authors went before you, and will pass it after you, too. So, let's start with the basics.
The Basics
There are a couple if things you can start with. You can start by figuring out the main settings of your story first—or as you go along—and focus on getting those right, but having an overall sense of your world first helps tie in details in your main settings. Most of the following points will be for novels with a world that is different from our current day one, but can be used for our world and time too, though it’s less necessary.
Make a list of all the settings you use in your story. You don’t have to do this right away if you’re not a “planner”, but it’s important to keep track of details for the sake of no plotholes. Write down details of the settings so you’ll remember when you revisit the places. Equally important for all genres.
Animals and beasts––what kind of animals and creatures roam around in your world? How dangerous are they, are they used or hunted by humans? What do they eat, and where do they get it from? Are structures built to withstand them? Are there insects, or does evolution work differently for your world?
The look of things. Which materials and colors are used in buildings, clothing, etc.—is it uniform or chaotic? Where do they get their colors from? And their materials?
A map (especially when building a Fantasy world, but very fun to do with regular fiction too. Think hand drawn city maps or apartment plans—or the murder mansion’s layout if you’re writing a murder mystery). Maps help readers visualize your world, but it helps you visualize it, too.
Religion and politics, get at least a sense of those two points. It helps creating character’s motivations at the same time. It’s unlikely that there’s no religion whatsoever in your world, and people often are motivated by their religious beliefs.
Magic system. Easy magic with no consequence or source is not fun to read. Create a system for it. Is it regulated? Can everyone access it? If not, why do those that have magic have it? Again the why and how.
Your World—or, Street?
Some things to think of when starting your world building will differ on if you’re creating an entire world, a country, a city or just a street. I’ll do another article that’ll go more in depth.
For a world, focus on the larger image. Think of different cultures, how countries interact with each other, climates around the world and how they impact materials and foods (and trade). Think politics, think population, think big, red, clear through lines.
For a country, think head of state or party system, main export and import, think religion (or lack thereof), landscape (like mountains, flat, farmland, swamps etc), whether or not people in certain areas are loyal to their head of state, main cities or hubs, transport systems, how people trade (money, bartering, in exhange for service etc), how people live (houses, huts, whatever else you come up with. Hey, maybe a floating fort?).
For a city, think of districts. Usually north and south works, or uptown and downtown. Think of the places that are most noteable, for social life but also for politics (is there a mayor? Is it something else?), children’s places like schools or playgrounds, workplaces, city squares, landmarks—things that show that people live in the city, and that it’s not just a background for your character’s story.
For a street, think of neighbors, think of the type of tiles that are used for the streets, what style the houses are (if they are all uniform or if they have different looks), if it’s filled with greenery or entirely stone.
Abuse Your Notes App
Use your notes app. Use a blank document. Hell, use a real life, physical notebook. Jot some things down so you'll remember them later on in your writing process (helps against plot holes, or world-holes, should I say. Nobody likes a crater).
In my writing process, I write everything down in my notes. Sentences I think of during my day that could be placed somewhere in the story (even if I don’t have a place for them yet), my plot outline, points or scenes that I want to be in there (often I think of the craziest or most engaging things I can think of and jot them down there so that my stories won’t be boring), my characters (sometimes just a name, sometimes a backstory of multiple hundreds of words). And the world building.
Of course, notes won’t work for everyone. So on to our next section.
Tools
There are a few tools you can use to help you along. More than a few, actually, as there are many websites, worksheets and even social media posts that can help you give shape to your world. I will share some of them below in a list, though do know world building is a very personal thing, and one thing that works for one person might not work for the other. There are plenty of writers who do their worldbuilding only in their head, or by just beginning to write. If you don't feel like writing any of it down in a separate document, or not, or wherever the hell you keep you stuff organized, you don't have to.
That being said, here is a short list of resources that I think could be helpful.
Your notes app, like mentioned previously
http://chaoticshiny.com - a generator site (for inspiration) aimed at people who write, game, or live in fantasy worlds of their own creation. Entirely free.
World building worksheets
https://www.worldanvil.com/ - World Anvil is a set of worldbuilding tools that helps you create, organize and store your world setting. With wiki-like articles, interactive maps, historical timelines, anRPG Campaign Manager and a full novel-writing software. With free and paid tiers, starting from $7.
https://inkarnate.com/ - for creating maps, $25 annually for the paid version or $5 a month, but has a free tier. (You could, of course, just as well draw them yourself—or hire an artist to do it for you)
Conclusion
That concludes this edition of the writer’s guides. Hopefully this gives you a base to start building your world, or has given you ideas on what to add to it. This was only the basics edition, as there is no way in hell I could fit all that I wanted to discuss into one singular article. I’m very passionate about world building.
If you’ve made it through the article until this point, you must be serious about creating a solid world for your story, and I commend you. I wish you much luck on your journey to find the right combination of reality and fantasy to make your story stand out and become even more alive than it is right now.
If you’ve got the time, check out my other author’s articles—you might yet find something of use in them.
Until next time,
Jake Zuurbier.
Jake Zuurbier, born in 2002, is an author with a broad background. With a degree in both Business and Management, his work in writing is combined with a business in books & home decor and multiple forms of other work like art pieces or meditations. He also started Sporttonix, a gym-wear & equipment store with workout programs, informative articles on health and sports and more. He has worked jobs in retail and horeca, ranging from working kitchen in a hotel-restaurant to refugee center work.
In his free time, he is just as occupied. Photography, weight lifting, kickboxing, cooking and reading are amongst his hobbies. All of the art in his books (and some pieces on this site) are made by himself.
To learn more, or get in contact, visit www.apolloimperium.com/jakezuurbier
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