Worldbuilding

One of the things I love about writing fantasy stories is that I get to create my own world. I imagine towering mountains and sweeping plains, dark forests and sparkling oceans. And I dream up the sort of adventures one could have in a world like that.

Would you like to go on such an adventure? Then come with me…

Grab Your Suitcase

Make a new folder on your computer and give it a name. Then go to your local stationary shop and buy yourself a pretty notebook. This should be small enough to carry around with you (this is important later!)

Decide on Your Destination

You have two options here:

1) Go to Autorealm and download it. Draw yourself a map. Just an outline, mind.
Save it to your folder and print it out. Paste the print out onto the first page of your notebook.

2) Draw a map on a piece of paper. Scan it into your computer and save the scan into your folder.
Paste the map onto the first page of your notebook.

Make Travel Arrangements

We’re working in fantasyland (for the most part). Traditionally, fantasy is set before modern transport, so people got around by walking, riding a beast (usually horses) or sailing from one place to the next.

Think about the sort of world you want to create. Is a traditional fantasy, or more modern? What level of ‘civilisation’ is there? Maybe you have gnome-powered trains or dragon-powered hot air balloons.

Now look at your map. If you have more than more landmass, you’re going to need some way of crossing the seas. Get onto Wikipedia or go to your library (take your notebook!) and look at books on sailing ships. Kids books are great for this! If you’ve got large landmasses, you need a way to cross the land. Research horses and carriages (and hot air balloons and trains).

Make notes of whatever appeals to, no matter how odd or even if you’re not sure how it fits into your story. The idea is not to decide right now, just to spark your imagination.

Think about Direction

Back to the map. Which way is north?

Draw a simple (or complicated if you want!) compass indicating where your planet’s north is. Do it in pencil in case you change your mind later!

Whether the Weather

You might have one continent or several, but what you need to decide now is where in the world those continents are. If you have a Earth-like world, where you put your countries dictates what the landscape and the weather is like, and, for a large part, what your inhabitants do.

Towards the poles, your country will be arctic, with long days and nights, and indiginous people that need to get around on snow and be rather hardy. Towards the equator and your country will be tropical, have sudden downpours and have people that wander around in loincloths.

For your continent(s) decide what landscapes are where and which areas are populated. You might end up with different races – give them names and racial descriptions. The tribal names probably reflect the name of the country (or vise versa) – so your countries needs names as well.

Name your seas and oceans. Create mythical or real monsters to haunt their depths. Decide on where the ports are and draw in the shipping lines.

On your landmasses, draw mountain ranges and flat savannahs, forests and deserts. Note the sites of old monuments, battles, anything that you want.

Write up their names and descriptions, and start developing the history of your worlds.

Lions and Tigers and Bears? Oh my!

Now that you have your landscapes, start to populate them with beasts and monsters.

You can have run-of-the-mill creatures, go waaaaaay out there, or even both. Think about beasts of burden, farming stock, what your people eat for dinner…. you want fish in your seas, animals on your lands, birds in the air. Included in this are werewolves, dragons, unicorns, three-headed eagles.

Take the usual fantasy fare and put your own spin on it.

And you don’t even have to have ‘real’ monsters – create myths and legends for your people to scare their children into good behaviour with.

World Leader Pretend

It’s a requirement to have government if you’re going to avoid anarchy. Of course, if you want anarchy, then just forego this bit, lol.

So… how is your country ruled? King/Queen or elected head of state? You could even have military rule.

How does the line of authority run? (Lords, Counts, etc etc)

Is everyone happy with the way things work, or do you have outlaws?

Crime & Punishment

Whilst we’re talking about outlaws, it’s important to know what your laws are. Who are your judges and what is the punishment for crime? Does it depend on the seriousness? Are your witches still burnt at the stake?

Is there a line of appeal? (like claiming sanctuary in a church)

Also think about things like the legal age of marriage, what rights married persons have, drinking age, etc etc.

Money, Money, Money

Think about what monetry system your world uses (it might be different for each country). Do your people simply trade goods/abilities or is there coinage? Both? It could depend on whereabouts they are (trade for country areas and coins for towns).

You might need to think about what things are worth. It depends on what your characters are up to. But if one needs to buy a horse, you need to know what your going rate is. It’s also worth thinking about what trade earns what money, as this will start to define your class system.