World Building - A very basic guide In writing it doesn’t take much to get carried away writing copious amounts of history and detailed accounts of flora and fauna, nations laws and such. This is a rough guide to help writers with world building for their novels without becoming overwhelmed by trivial details. This is primarily aimed at fantasy writing, but can obviously be extended beyond this. For sci-fi writing I would insist knowing the origins of a species development is of huge importance. For more contemporary fictions there is no reason why this cannot be used to flesh out some fictional nation/peoples on Earth. The steps I take in creating a given peoples/species/culture are relatively simple. 1) What environment do they live in? 2) What is beautiful or ugly to them? 3) What is deemed worthy of punishment and what is deemed worthy of reward? Geography This is extremely important in terms of how peoples interact with other groups of peoples. A common flora and fauna, common resources, a common cycle of seasons/weather and common natural hazards create a common cultural core from which societies develop. From such common backgrounds myths develop under a similar guise because how we interact with the immediate environment dictates our world view. Climate and activity will dictate the attire these people wear and from what materials they make them. Large empires will absolutely require a means of communication in order to manage resources. In such cases a lot of thought needs to be put into the logistics of these empires and their means of recording data efficiently - without organisation an empire cannot grow/last. In terms of resources what is in short supply is generally of higher value. In cold tundras heat is sought out, in deserts water is paramount, in the tropics seasonal storms hamper day-to-day life with floods and winds as well as providing water for forests to flourish. Simply put, a common understanding between species/tribes/nations can develop due to a common environment -perhaps more so than peoples being of the same species! Items to consider: Seasons, climate, migratory animals, infrastructure, horticulture/farming and materials. Aesthetics This is probably not something immediately obvious. It is clear enough that foreign tastes can be seen as ridiculous/repugnant upon first contact - I’m sure we’ve all experienced this in our day-to-day lives (on small scales counts too, such as when your friend introduces you to music they love and you hate). At large there are common cultural preferences dictated by history and environment (see above). It is well worth considering what smells, sounds, textures, tastes and sights these people are drawn too and which they shun - again environmental hazards would play a part in this; the texture and colour of poisonous foods perhaps becoming symbolic of ‘danger’ or the fragrance of local flora related to ‘beauty’ (conditioning of the landscape upon cultural tastes is a huge factor). Embedded within this is the possibility of trade and status symbols. Symbolism used to show societal standing by using images of recognised aesthetic items (flowers, animals or stones). Items to consider: Architecture, clothing, cuisine and expressive writing/language/images (paintings, poetry, dance and ritual). Law and Order Who dictated what is legal? How are rules enforced? What crimes are considered punishable by death (or simply the most heinous?) and, on the flip side, what does this society reward (be it with status or actual physical rewards?). Needless to say this ties into both Aesthetics and Geography. Beauty and safety will er towards framing what is rewarded by the given society and ugliness and danger will er toward framing what punishments are dished out by the given society. Items to consider: policing, laws, status, political systems, festivals, religions and traditions.
Also be sure to account for tech and power differences, and how that affects the interactions between different groups so they aren't just floating in a vacuum. The guys with guns and steamships aren't going to have primitive tribes right next to them without some funky stuff going down.
I'd pick on one specific detail in your guide, or to say, a missing detail. I would immediately replace the 2nd point with history. People and cultures are shaped not only by environment, but by history. History encompasses rivalries, past wars, technological development and such. Disregarding history can create a "floating world" that seems to spring alive the moment the narrative starts. Like pressing the "new game" button. The empire attacks their weak, peace-loving neighbour - perfect for the setting, but begs the question: why just now? A realistic and well-built world will feature a "snapshot" of history, and not a fresh start with some exposition. Consider our own world; whichever exciting moment you pick, you will have major preceding events as well as major consequences. World War Two is an extremely exciting snapshot of history, but it wouldn't exist without the Great War and the Interwar period including the depression, and it permanently altered the world when it ended in the Iron Curtain. Similarly, you'll have cultures and nations shaped by history, and not environment. The whole idea of "Freedom" in Scotland ironically requires 500 years of aggression from bigger & stronger England. The independence/neutrality of the Swiss is mostly unrelated to banking and finances; it was achieved through becoming the best mercenaries in Europe. The grand rivalry between Germany and France wasn't kicked off by natural environment, but by the untimely death of the Duke of Burgundy and both sides laying claim to his lands. While we're at Germany; their whole war-like nature is derived from their Prussian past, who were remnants of the Teutonic order participating in the Northern Crusades. Definitely worth to mention centralization and decentralization here. You are perfectly right with communication, but it can be easily counter-acted (and was counter-acted) through decentralization. Technically, the Holy Roman Empire could have been any size and still work fine, as it was pretty much a looser federation than the EU. Decentralization is something so rarely seen in fantasy / science fiction worlds, but something so much part of our history and our very politics. I'd so long to see powerful princes, dukes and marquises next to the all-powerful medieval kings. On the smaller note... They should switch to party balloons and only worry about deflation.
I didn’t mention history because I thought it was quite obvious. Meaning, all I mentioned necessarily ties into the historical context, as it does the ‘religious’ context. They are both, in my mind, repercussions of the main three points I outlined. I do certainly that having some kind if timeline in mind helps avoid mistakes. In my experience I’ve see writers put a lot of work into the history of their worlds without considering the how and why of the circumstances that led to such histories. Your emphasis above appears to be purely political ... yeah, it is a Very Basic Guide so I didn’t focus in on any particular area. I think if you believe aesthetics can be removed entirely you’re missing out on a large psychological factor that matters to the reader. It is particularly important for exposing a number of social conventions in more ‘alien’ societies. Anyway, to sum up I agree completely the history of the world is extremely important. My experience is that writers spend a lot of time creating histories without taking into account all the points I outlined. Yes. This was something I was hinting at with how peoples from similar climes approach the world around them. Two separate cultures in colder climes will come up with the same/similar answers to environmental challenges - be this war, basic survival and/or trade - and they’ll also (if they met) have an inbuilt understanding and appreciation of each others view of the world (including common word concepts developed for their particular day-to-day habits and dangers faced).
On a serious note Economics is actual about resources. Currencies need not exist as that is just a fungible means of exchange that is useful for measuring the value of different resources according to demands, needs and rarity. Personally I always find it interesting to play around with different systems of resource management - so for my above points what is deemed most valuable in a given society shapes the economy (for my world ‘narratives’ are extremely important to one particular society and this effects the economy).
This was a very common situation in the nineteenth century. There's nothing unusual about this sort of situation, especially if one group is new to the area. Things staying like that for a long time: that's funky. Either the technologically advanced group should take over the other (by invasion or more subtle measures), or the technology should permeate the frontier and make its way to the primitive tribe.
