✨️THINK PIECE✨️WORLD BUILDING✨️

I want to premise this by saying that world building if one of the hardest fucking things to do – how much is too much? How little is too little? Where’s the sweet spot between story and exposition?

These are questions I consider frequently, regardless of the genre I’m writing in – yes, some genres take more world-building like fantasy and science fiction, but that doesn’t mean there’s no world-building in romance, historical, horror, mystery, etc. The settings may be familiar, may take place in our world, but that doesn’t absolve a writer or author from IMMERSING us, the audience, in that story.

So, how is this accomplished? How does one begin to world build?

There’sa million techniques, questions, workshops, theories, etc about how to world-build appropriately. And at the end of the day, you should be using at least one or two of these tactics to flesh out the world you’re writing about.

But at the end of the day, only YOU as the author or creator will know what’s enough and what isn’t.

There are a few universal things to consider –

What setting(s) are we placing the MC into? Does the story take place in one room over the course of several days? Or does the story span the entirety of the Kingdom of Lilandarto?

How old is your MC? This is relevant – age can often determine HOW one perceives the world, and the experience or lack thereof in a world.

What is the class status of your MC? – this is sort of self-explanatory when you think about it. After all, a character like Katniss Everdeen is going to have a much different perception of their world than a citizen of the Capital. Pippin and Merry are going to have a much different perception of their world than Arwen or Legolas. They belong to the same systems, but are at much different ends, and THAT needs to be taken into account as well.

Where does your MC live? – geographical differences ARE IMPORTANT not only to include in the story itself, but as far as how the MC interacts with their environment as well.

Does your MC have any siblings? – an only child will have a much different outlook on family and child rearing (and the world!) than an elder sibling of a gaggle of six kids.

Does your MC have both parents? What is their relationship to the parent(s)? – also kind of self-explanatory, we ALL behave in ways that reflect our upbringing, whether our parents were both in the picture and were loving and doting individuals, whether we were raised by a single parent, gay parents, or whether we were raised by distant relatives or a government-based system like foster care.

What is your MC’s race/ethnicity/nationality? – this is important enough in OUR world, let alone in made-up worlds that exist in fantasy/sci fi/etc. What you look like, where you come from, and where you’ve set your roots all matter when creating a fleshed-out world.

Who runs the show in your MC’s world? – are they the leader? The child of the leader? A soldier in the leader’s army? A denizen of the leader’s kingdom? These questions MATTER and will help your MC feel more realistic and a part of the larger story around them. This is especially important if politics play a role in your story.

Does the MC believe in a higher power? – does religion exist? Do people believe in a “god” or “devil”? Heaven/hell? The underworld? The afterlife? The void? Religion and spiritual beliefs are a huge part of how people navigate their worlds, make sure you’re taking this into account with your MC too.

Does this world celebrate rituals? Holidays? Festivals?? – it may not make a big difference if your MC just celebrated a major holiday before the story begins, BUT it will probably make a difference to note that a major festival is coming up if that’s the window your MC needs to execute the king.

Last, but certainly not least (and remember, this is not an extensive list of questions either!), but what languages does your MC speak? – do they speak the common language of the land? Are they monolingual? Bilingual? Is there status associated with speaking multiple languages? And does the MC communicate in other ways? ASL? Pen and paper? Hand signals that they and their best friend came up with as kids?

These are the main questions I ask myself as I world build. Do I always cover every detail in the story? Absolutely not. Do I even answer every question every time I write a story? Nope, just the ones I think are the most important.

But if you have no where to start, or are stuck, these are GREAT questions to ask yourself to flesh our your world.

If you read all of this, thank you! Please feel free to drop questions in the comments if anyone has any, I’m happy to answer <3