Politics. It’s a dirty word. Lord knows that just about everyone in the world is sick of talking about politics. We could all use a break. So this December I offer up to you a special holiday gift; a chance to completely escape the world of modern politics by creating your own web of shifting alliances and power bases. That’s right for our final installment of World Building 101 its time for you to put the finishing touches on your fictional world so your heroes can put the finishing touches on their fictional foes. To better serve our purpose today…
Category: World Building 101
World Building 101- Governments
“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”- Winston Churchill. Unless your protagonists are adventuring through an untamed wilderness completely devoid of humanoid life they will inevitably encounter societies of sentient beings. Those societies will have rules and structures the will dictate how the individuals in that society interact with one another. When those rules and structures are codified that’s called Government. And in this edition of Worldbuilding 101, you and I are going to see if we can’t up with something that can’t prove Mr. Churchill wrong. We will begin with the simplest and most…
World Building 101: Economics
As writers of fiction, we all have a particular part of our imagination we like to indulge the most. For some of us, that means spending hours on end crafting a sophisticated socio-political hierarchy for our new world. For others, it’s about creating wondrous mythical beasts or monstrous creatures born from a nightmare realm. While still others revel in inventing new types of technology or systems of magic. Very few writers get into the world building game because they love exploring the what if game of economics. I am one of those few. Which is why it is with great…
World Building 101- History
There is a term in storytelling called ‘in media res’, it means to start your narrative not at the beginning of your story but in the middle usually in the middle of some tense action. While I can appreciate the idea of starting your tale with a little bit of action in order to hook your audience. I’ve never fully appreciated the term ‘in media res’ because, in my opinion, all stories begin in the middle. There is rarely, if ever, an occasion where your story does not rely at least partially upon events that occurred before your narrative began.…
World Building 101-Languages
MajQa’ Dub. That’s Klingon for “Welcome Back.” I don’t actually speak Klingon, but Google translate does. Which should tell you two things right off the bat. The first is that in this edition of World Building 101 we will be talking about the importance of developing the fictional languages of your world. The second is that you better take your world’s languages seriously because, if you’re fortunate enough to find yourself with hardcore fans of your work, they sure as hell will. Now I’m not telling you to go full Tolkien, there is no need to invent a full language…
World Building 101- Races and Cultures
Ogres. Ogres who need ogres. Are the luckiest Ogres in the world. At least I’m fairly sure that’s how the song goes. Hello there and welcome back to another edition of World Building 101. This week we’re going to be talking about Races and Cultures. Before we get started this is my cursory reminder that differing levels of melatonin do not a completely different race make. On this blog when we talk about race we’re talking about Elves, Ogres, Trolls, Orcs, Dwarfs, Martians, Vulcans, so on and so forth. I think the biggest mistake made by authors of genre fiction…
World Building 101- Magic
And now we’ve come to the sexy bit. That’s right fellow world-builders, gods of the imaginary realms, after meticulously planning out our world’s geography and mythology, painstakingly creating an ecosystem in which the distinct plants and animals of your creation can thrive it’s finally time to indulge ourselves a bit. In this edition of World Building 101, we finally cover Magic! Let your imagination run wild. If you can dream it you can build it. Wizards who can summon talking rhinoceroses, no problem. An Adept who lights apples on fire with his mind, why not. Women warriors whose limbs can…
World Building 101- Technology
Tools. They’re what separate the advanced species of our universe from the thoughtless pond scum. And as humanity has advanced so too has its tools. From the wheel to the gun to the iPhone, man’s tools define his era as much as any government or crusade. Which is why I’m devoting this installment of World Building 101 to the topic of Technology. Technology is an often overlooked aspect of a fantasy writer’s world and an often underdeveloped part of a science fiction writer’s quiver. Hopefully, this humble post can help you avoid some common pratfalls. To begin its important to…
World Building 101- Plant and Animal Life
Hello and welcome faithful reader! Thanks for taking the precious moments out of your busy schedule watching cat videos and spending a little time with me. Speaking of cats, which we totally just were and this isn’t a forced segue at all, we’ve come far enough in your world building journey its time to start peppering your imaginary world with plants and animals. Now while I know my usual advice is to be thorough and think out everything about your world beforehand I’m not recommending that for this particular phase of world building. Scientists estimate that their exist a roughly…
World Building 101- Geography
As a genre writer and general fan of fantastical worlds built from the ground up it’s amazing to me just how many writers overlook the “ground” part of that expression. Some authors get so excited about the cool weapons and magic and exotic life forms of their world that they forget about the actual physical world that their creations must inhabit. While that kind of mistake might not necessarily ruin a good story it can lead to logical inconsistencies that take the reader out of the realm you’ve worked so hard to get them to inhabit. The thing is with…