1. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    Do you have one world for all your fantasy stories to take place in?

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by 8Bit Bob, Sep 29, 2017.

    Hello all! I have been working on a fantasy work lately, and I have come up with quite an extensive world for it. I've drawn up a map, decided which races live where, decided how each land is ruled, come up with the lore and history, etc. Once I'm finished this work, I would like to try and write a couple of other works taking place in that same world, and I was just wondering how many of you guys have one world where all of your fantasy stories take place in?

    edit: I realize the title says "fanatsy" instead of fantasy, but I don't know how to fix it :/
     
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  2. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    Yep, I plan on it at least, though I have a tendency to hop between projects every now and then.
     
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  3. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    Yup, i also have one world for all my stories, and all the same stuff, maps, extensive lore, legends, nations, governmental institutions, Religion etc.. I also branch though history from the copper age to deep space. Even having different alien races, though their planets are less developed.

    And of coarse the events of earlier aged books are history for the future eras.

    Lots of heroes and icons.

    Edit: forgot charts, graphs, journals. Etc
     
  4. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    Yeah, that will happen. You will also find yourself updating your books as you go. Just prepare for endless charts, graphs and journals. Lol
     
  5. dragonmint

    dragonmint Member

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    Definitely. Although my world is not as developed as would be expected or wanted, the setting so far fits my story well enough. I hope to expand the world through each story, and hopefully, by the tenth story or twentieth story, my world will have developed sufficiently enough to where I can write other stories as well. But for now, my world is small and focused.
     
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  6. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    I have like one 90% complete story and a couple completed drafts and several incomplete drafts or concepts.

    Several jourals, graphs and maps outlining my world and a semi complete History book that briefly summarize key events.

    Everytime i update lore i have to update my books, though it's getting pretty tight.

    Anyways, happy World Building, ☺
     
  7. dragonmint

    dragonmint Member

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    I know the feeling. Notes, lore, history, maps, etc. The massive amount of information for one world can be overbearing. When you add an update to anything, it can create waves of changing everything. May I ask what story you're working on? I imagine the story must be vast for it to merit story updates and history and lore.
     
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  8. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    No, I mean I have about two worlds developed and another one in the works at the moment, though it is Sci-Fi. I kinda have a plan for a rough series for each, but nothing developed as I keep on rewriting what I already have.
     
  9. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    The current story, the more I work on it feels like and info dumb. Which I've enjoyed, but I'm not sure others will. It's been helpful in developing my lore and implementing it.

    There is no real antagonist in this story, its been more about discovering an aspect of my world though the experience of the female MC, Melissa, who is also learning about it and becoming part of it
    Its
     
  10. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    Yeah, as i said rewrites will happen.

    Though my focus is on my main world, i do have a few underdeveloped alien races and worlds.

    I do have an Alt-earth for my universe and another world inspired by a sci-fi novel 'Left hand of Darkness'.

    I do have two worlds in concept, one which has a artificial atmosphere after a distaster that wiped out life, only survivors where ones living on a space station or lucky enough to be in a 'safe' zone

    The other nicked named ghost world deals with a race with cloaking technology.
     
  11. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    Oh my gosh, I can't imagine having two completely developed worlds at the same time, that must be a lot to keep straight!
     
  12. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Hell no! I have an entire galaxy full of planets to serve any and all
    dirty romps. :p
    Psh, only one world for all your fantasies. :superlaugh:
     
  13. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    I meant the fantasy genre...
     
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  14. Bjørnar Munkerud

    Bjørnar Munkerud Senior Member

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    As it stands now, I've merged a few of my fantasy story/plot ideas. One idea of a planet is composed of two previously separate worlds, now each representing one continent of a single planet, and a third continent added post-merge. Another idea for a fantasy world is composed of four originally entire separate projects, now arranged in a two-by-two grid, separated by mountains, but with some interaction between their peoples.

    The former project has one continent with kingdoms akin to Rohan and Gondor from The Lord of the Rings, with a temperate-to-arctic climate. Another continent is arid and is loosely based on Warcraft, particularly Mulgore and the Tauren, and is also reminiscent of sand planets from Star Wars.

    The latter project has one hyper-fantasy component, with all sorts of weird areas and creatures. Another section is a bit more laid-back, with fewer peculiarities and landmarks, but with a very fantastical plot and feel. A third is rather gritty and has no direct uses of magic or such, but uses clearly non-human characters and has a mysterious, almost eerie way about it. The fourth is almost entirely like the real world, though it stands outside any reasonable human location and timeline.

    I might not go ahead with these ideas, and even if I do, it might not be in this form. Or it might not be clear that these connections, while very possibly canon, will make its way onto the page and into the reader's minds in a tangible way, or that that would be of import. And now this thread has got me thinking about if I should merge or unmerge some of my (other) literary projects ...
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2017
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  15. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    I merged some of my story concepts as lore for my homeworld,

    Also, there are writers with multiple developed worlds, damn I feel like i'm slacking... I just have the one fully developed world with history spanning thousands of years, multiple continents, lore, politics, religion, etc.

    I better start developing the other planets in my universe, and the other alien races, I feel a space race coming on. :p
     
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  16. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    So far I have one continent, four races, four countries, some basic lore, and a little bit of history. I plan on most of my fantasy stories taking place on this one continent, but I may have some other ones in the future.

    P.S. Thanks to the mod who fixed the title!
     
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  17. John-Wayne

    John-Wayne Madman Extradinor Contributor

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    Ah, I have several human races (that's what all sentient beings in my world are referred to as I.e orcs, elves, etc.). Rather I use species in regards to identify them.

    But among them only about five or six of them really come to the forefront, possibly seven depending on what region the book takes place in. You won't see them all in one place.

    They all have back stories as to how they came to be. With the two primary species being humans as in us, and Lizardmen. And there is a reason for that as well.
     
  18. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Yes I know.

    Why So Serious.gif
     
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  19. Lifeline

    Lifeline South. Supporter Contributor

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    *raises hand* yeah, me too. I admit to being stuck in one world, but I don't regret it in the slightest :) It's big enough for all I want to tell, and for a whole lot more which I haven't discovered yet :D
     
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  20. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    I assumed you where joking, but I wasn't sure :superwink:
     
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  21. Robert Musil

    Robert Musil Comparativist Contributor

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    Yeah, this is how I think of it. Any story you tell is just going to cover an infinitesimal slice of whatever world it's set in (whether it's the real world or a fictional one). If you start running out of world, I'd say you just haven't done enough world-building. Just my $0.02.
     
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  22. The Dapper Hooligan

    The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

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    I've always wanted to write a series of books that seem completely unrelated, but have enough Easter eggs referencing each other so that if you put them all together, you would be all, "Oh my god! It's all the same world!" So far I've only got a list of concepts for three novels and a rough summary for one. A lot of stories I've written could fit into that world, but I never actually wrote them that way.
     
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  23. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    There's:
    Cyoreh - A fantasy world with early ren tech that has lost nearly all of its magic and is scheduled for destruction by Lovecraftian monsters.
    The City - A post-apocalyptic fantasy world where humanity is confined to a single large city that is slowly crumbling, with the outside world being controlled by Fae Courts
    At the End of The Universe- Humanity is surviving on four planets orbiting a black hole and a star, with the only thing keeping them out being a force field that is going to collapse anyway. (Current project.)
     
  24. 8Bit Bob

    8Bit Bob Here ;) Contributor

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    Wow, those are all very interesting ideas!
     
  25. ghostkisses

    ghostkisses Member

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    I mean -- technically -- my stories could be set anywhere provided I don't use the word 'earth'.

    Unfortunately, I don't think I really consider new worlds even if I am writing fantasy settings. And when I do, it's usually less of "I have spent 3000 years creating 5 billion different blue prints and accurate maps of my world, in addition to creating 5000 new species and 6 trillion different languages to go with it" and more boom-boom-boom this is what you're seeing, I write settings in the moment rather than planning ages on it and what you see doesn't really deter from what the characters see. So I probably won't go and describe the planet's lovely fuchsica sea unless the characters actually go and get onto that sea or whatever, if that makes sense.

    I have created a super in depth country in past though. But that was schoolwork and I can't have it back, I spent like over a month on it and I made a whole big poster, different sections of the country and hotels and a language that I didn't really make up I just said "oh, they speak myeeehbleish" or smth and then never taught anyone how to speak myeeebleish. That wasn't what it was called.

    Actually I did need a new planet for this other story I had an idea for, a story which was super creative, not plotline-wise but how the story works. But then someone else did it. So I never wrote that story... I know that I can but at the time I was on a community where the other person's story was super well-known so I thought I'd get accused of copying her if I went out and wrote my story, even if I had the idea months before she was like "hey, I have this cool idea!"

    But anyway. Short answer, no, not really, I don't think I really consider worlds when I go about writing unless it's supposed to be super obvious that it's a different world i.e a futuristic one I made, or this whatever-the-opposite-of-futuristic-is-world-I-made and the alien one. But I do play around with universes, which probably doesn't count at all, but alternate universes wherein you take your characters and put them in different scenarios so your beautiful mc Marina who is just a normal gal in your original story might be some pirate that sails the seven seas in your alternate universe, which has nothing to do with the other route story about Marina except that both stories include her.

    Tbh I just cannot imagine all the stuff going down in my stories all at once in one world. The world would just crumble and fall, and I'm pretty sure all my mcs would murder each other lool.
     
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