A Guide to World Building for Fantasy Authors
World building is the foundation of fantasy. But it can be hard to know how much to build out your world before you start writing and how to organize that information.
That’s why I love world-building guides. I love using them myself and giving them to my fantasy authors to keep track of and organize elements of their fantasy worlds.
What is a world-building guide?
A world-building guide is a document that prompts you to think about different aspects of your fantasy world and keep them organized. You don’t need to have everything figured out when you start writing, but you’ll want to know some of the basics.
A world-building guide will walk you through all aspects of creating a fantasy world so you know you’re not leaving anything out. That way you’re not stuck in the middle of a scene wondering “Do my characters have electricity?” or “Would these guys be riding a horse or on a train?”
A world-building guide can seem overwhelming at first because there are so many elements to a world. The good news is that they often go from asking for broad information to more detailed. You can leave the specifics blank if they’re not relevant or if you want to come back to them later.
Why should you use a world-building guide?
I’ve mentioned a couple reasons to use a world-building guide above, but I’ll go into more depth below.
They guide you through the process in a no-stress way.
World-building guides walk you through the process, meaning you don’t have to worry you’re missing something. They take you from the macro (Are there kingdoms or democracies in your world? What is the biggest source of conflict in the world?) to the granular (How do your characters travel? What source of light do they use?)
Even so, they can feel overwhelming because there’s a lot of information to fill out. The good news is it’s up to you how much you want to add.
They keep your world-building notes organized.
A world-building guide is designed logically, to move you from geography to history to magic systems, so your notes are pre-organized into sections. This allows you to flip to the right page easily.
The macro sections in my world-building booklet are the following:
geography
political systems
history
culture
magic
There are even sections for each specific country or regional group if you need to get more granular than the world level.
They prompt you to think about parts of a world you may not have thought about before.
How often do you think about the conflicts in the past hundred years that shaped the world? What about the technological changes?
You might think about how your parents didn’t grow up with a smart phone, but you probably haven’t stopped to ask yourself what these world-changing events are in your fantasy world.
A wold-building guide will ask you these and more!
Some examples include:
Who’s in power in the main country/empire in your world?
How did they get that power?
Are they liked by the public? Why? Why not?
Is religion important to the people in your world? If so, how does this show up in people’s everyday lives?
Of course, you might not know the answers to these questions as you start writing your book, and that’s okay (though it’s good to have a rough idea as a starting point). These questions are to make you think about forces bigger than your characters.
They guide you through magic systems.
If your world has magic, you’ll need to know how it works. A reader will only buy into the magic of a world if they feel you understand the magic and can help them figure it out too.
Consider some of things you’ll need to know about your magic system:
if it’s a hard or soft magic system
the source of magic
the cost of magic
how people acquire magic
what people usually use magic for
how magic is seen by society
If this intimidates you, the world-building guide will point out the most important elements of a magic system. My world-building guide also includes links to several resources that will give you more in-depth information.
In conclusion . . .
Your world will evolve and change as you write, and you probably won’t fill out the whole world-building guide at once. That’s normal! World-building guides are meant to be thought provoking and for you to organize your thoughts.
If you decide your evil dictator is really a king halfway through writing your book, just change it in your guide. If you don’t know what the main method of transportation is yet, leave it blank. It might come to you later, but it also might not be relevant. The beauty is you get to decide how much of the guide you fill out.
If you want a comprehensive world-building guide created by an editor for fantasy authors, check out my world-building booklet below. You get ten pages for the world as a whole and seven for specific regions (what I’ve labelled “countries.”)
Click below to get yours now!
