Some thoughts/ideas on the basics of world building. If you have anything to add I may have missed please comment. Note: I was not trying to look at every little detail of world building, just to create a rough easy-to-use guide. Thanks 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.
I might be in the minority on this, but I always nail down my setting's tone before I really dive into worldbuilding. In my opinion the two can't be divorced. Alice's Wonderland has a specific tone, as does Batman's Gotham, and Piers Anthony's Xanth, and Andrzej Sapkowski's The Continent. A setting's tone influences everything: the people, the institutions, the aesthetics, the conflicts, etc.
Absolutely! The tone will dictate the choices made when developing a sense of space and ... speaking of bats, one just flew in through my window!
