That's exactly the kind of check list I thought I would have to make to do my own world building, so thanks for saving me the time The more I thought about the world I'm trying to build at the moment, the more I realized it needs to be very detailed if it's to be believable and full of life. By details I mean what people wear/eat/do/work with and so on, and why (tradition, fabrics in that area, food growth, politics, historical events, climate). I'm just wondering how much time it should/will take to build a fantasy world like this? The more I think about it, the more details I find I can add, and the more time I think it will take. I can easily see myself world build instead of writing for the next 6 months! To those of you who have done a proper world build before, how much time did it take? And how detailed was it? Has anyone read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books? I heard someone say it has great world building in it so I thought I would start reading them if I can learn something from them.
Humanity is very much an adaptive species. The best way to flesh out a fantasy setting is to decide geographic conditions then extrapolate humanity's answer to those changes in a pragmatic way. 'Necessity is the mother of invention' applies most to our kind and other beasts like us. Example: Your citizenry live in a vast desert. They will travel far to find habitable areas then refuse to go anywhere else. Poisonous creatures populate the land. They're going to carry long weapons, hunt in packs and weaponize venom against their enemies while medical minds prioritize anti-venoms, amputation and wound closing. It's scorching hot so people wear light silk and fabrics rather than huge plated armor. Later on, your people learn to domesticate winged reptiles capable of mounting transport and light goods. How does this change your economy? Your culture? The fear of finding a water source diminishes when at any moment you can take off and get a view of your surroundings for miles around. When constructing fantasy races, the principle is the same except you're considering genetic makeup rather than geography. If your desert kingdom's citizenry are reptile humanoids who lay eggs once every ten years, how does that affect the culture? Limited birth rate means individual life becomes all the more important. Your capital city features a region where the reptiles gather to a great hall to give birth, their young carefully protected by the military's elite. Chiefly speaking, civilizations develop through problems and solutions. Harness that and you'll find your world building becomes consistent, immersive and you won't struggle for ideas to flesh them out.
Happy to help! An excellent place to start if you're not clued up on your geography would be the 'For Dummies' book on the topic. Or, go online and study the cultural history of any civilization you like. You can often identify the geographical factors behind trends and lifestyles easily.
Glad to help. I'm having the same issues. I know I won't use 90% of whatever I write down, but I feel the need to at least have it written down somewhere. It's really irritating. [quoteHas anyone read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books? I heard someone say it has great world building in it so I thought I would start reading them if I can learn something from them.[/QUOTE] I have, and it does, to an extent - after a few books, he can simply describe someone's appearance and you'll know where they're from. Of course, that's about all he uses for cultural markers. On the same vein, here's another site I found: World Culture Encyclopedia. Descriptions of the cultures of every nation in the world - everything from food to politics.
