I've been thinking of and idea in my head for a fantasy story, and it's coming out pretty good, although it is just the basics. The reason being is that I have to develop the world they are in, as it is a true fantasy story with many far-fetched creatures and distorted thought processes. But in order to create all these crazy things, I have to develop the world to inhabit. Since all the books I've read that are fantasy (besides 'The Time Machine') are very cliche with overused plots, and unlike my story which has a more modern feel to the environment I'm thinking of. (Modern technology mixed with sustainable lifestyles, mythical creatures, and magic) Im not sure how to go about setting down the guidelines for an ENTIRE UNIVERSE (not really, but I do have to establish its relationship with other solar systems and neighboring planets.) How would I go about creating a world? Any tips? Any expeirences? Any processes you fantsy writers go through? This is honestly my first real story that I like the idea of that isn't a school assignment, I usually right lore (Which im basing my story off of). Please any tips and stuff you can share, for a newborn writer to this realm of fantasy
No, but how to create the culture and geography of a world. How I would get it across to the reader without literally explaining everything about the world, and how to layv down guidelines and culture for my reference.
In Stargate (the movie) the writer borrowed most of the details for the paralell universe from ancient Egypt, also added the enslavement of "earth egyptians". What about borrowing from diffrent acient cultures and create your own.
Regarding the formation of cultures, you might want to consider studying how cultures in the real world formed: It can give you surprisingly good insight and has influenced how many fictional cultures were formed today. When explaining cultures, the trick is to start small and avoid info dumps. Imagine your first trip to a country you have no knowledge of and start in a similar fashion: Some things are the same, different things stand out. You might get an explanation immediately, later or never at all. You should look into existing examples where the audience is introduced to different worlds via different means: The opening chapters of The Hunger Games, humourous scatterings throughout Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels and a million interactions within the Mass Effect universe. Relevant, bite-sized portions is a good policy.
Actually the story i am currently writing takes place in a world very similar to what you are describing. If you want to create it all from the beginning (which gives you much more freedom to tinker with your setting) first thing you should think about avoiding an overload of information. I have a friend that started writing some notes for an enviroment he needed for his story and he stretched so far that he ended up writing entire genealogies and theologies and history tomes for every race and civilization of his world finally forgetting the story he wanted to write. Keep your expansions to a minimum. After that there is the geography. What you can do is just take a piece of paper and draw a very rough estimate of the continents, islands, seas/oceans/rivers and mountains you already know or expect to host the events of your story. It doesn't have to be detailed, just a doodle, an estimate with the sole purpose of giving you the core idea of this world. Now, about magic. You will have to decide the rules of magic in your world before you start, or later on you will have to rewrite big parts of your story because of inconcistensies. Do all people in your world use the same form of magic? Do they all use it the same way (with the same means, is there a universal language or not etc)? What are the rules and limitations of magic? What are the costs/side effects/variable factors when using magic? If you don't decide early on you will end up with an inconsistent background. Mythical creatures are the easy part. You can just build them as you go since most of the times they first appear as rumors or legends and then when you actually write them in they can be quite different from the stories. You can create whatever you want on that side. This is if your world is brand new. If you want to write about a futuristic or post-Apocalyptic Earth for example or an alternate version of Earth, you will have to incorporate already existing elements of mythology, civilization and geography in order to connect your story to your background. If you start writing about Earth and then decide it has 3 moons and humans can fly around on their own and the air is made of xenon or something, your story will end up like a twilight movie. These are just some ideas i use before i start writing a new story, hope i helped you.
