Building the geography of your world is, for many, one of the most enjoyable parts of world building. Every one of your favorite books, movies and tv shows involves building a world. Creating a solid, believable physical world is the first step. The resulting world may be called a constructed world or conworld. Go beyond just outlining the setting your characters live and work in. Taking in mind that there may be some overlap, what do you want for your various nations. Jan 09, 2014 author kate messner offers a few tricks for you, too, to create a world worth exploring in your own words. Create your own atlas is one of the components we are choosing to include in our study of the world. So, after dealing with the cosmology of our new fantasy world last week, there. Since 1996, he has developed the divergent fates world in which division zero, virtual immortality, the awakened series, the harmony paradox, the prophet of the badlands series, and the daughter of mars series take place. So there we are, the basics of creating your very own fantasy world. Building fantasy world with real world geography mythic.
This is one of the things i have the most trouble with in my own fantasy worlds, as i dont want them connected to earth most of the time but i do want to be able to understand how, say, a genderequal society would have developed if feminism in my world didnt happen like it did on earth. Sep 28, 20 geography for worldbuilding and fantasy maps posted on september 28, 20 by matthew lowes whether youre creating a setting for a novel, story, or game, its a good idea to think about some basic geography, so things make sense for the most part anyway. There are fantasy stories and novels where this is all kept very vague or even mutable. One of the easy give aways of a fantasy map is rivers that make no sense. Ive mentioned my world building journal and evernote in other posts. All of these elements can be dragged around if you enable this feature. The real world is more interesting than people think. Create a fantasy world worldbuilding geography iulian ionescu. Ive only relied on a couple resources while writing my new scifi books, and this is one of them the other being a book on physics by the great michio kaku. Fantasy map generator is a free open source tool which procedurally generates fantasy maps.
Learn how to mold your planet from a ball of magma to a masterpiece. You may be creating a fictional world for a novel or for a series of books set in the same world. There are many books on plot and character, and you can take those rules plus your own and apply them to any genre, from science fiction to romance and so on. I think this is the best solution for not creating worlds that are full of main characters who appear to have been transplanted from new york city this month and let fall into the middle of a world full of minor characters who all grew up in england two centuries ago or perhaps were culled from the authors memories of high school bullies. Using the real world as your map is not bad, or against any rules. A lot of this is simple and obvious and you can punch me for even listing them. Broadly speaking, your book will either take place in our world or belong to whats called second world fantasy. Just as plot holes can ruin a story, so can culture holes. The more connected your world is, the more likely you are to engage a reader for the long haul and inspire their sense of wonder.
Ask students to complete the gregor the overlander create a fantasy world writing activity printable. You can read wellknown authors of fantasy books like terry pratchett, neil gaiman, and jonathan strange to see how they do it. Aug 23, 2019 create your world, and then push yourself to go deeper. Creating a fantasy world worldbuilding part 1 geography and. Writing good, well thoughtout fantasy can be a challenging process, especially when featuring a setting or race completely different from that which is familiar to the author. Your storys world will interact with and sometimes provoke the protagonist. Ask students to apply what they learned about the elements of a fantasy world from reading gregor the overlander by creating their own fantasy setting. The geological history of your world establishes the landscape which upon which your legendary stories will be played. To understand why the answer is not easy, think about a book. In this case, since were creating the broadest possible canvas, rather than. Creating a fictional world can be a challenge, since you may not be sure where to begin.
Feb 12, 2004 for anyone living in the modern world, and especially in the new world of america and australasia, it can be hard to envisage a world whose social structures are radically different. Creating a fantasy city, part 2 randy ellefsons blog. For the next week, posts will focus on speculative fiction, culminating with the free release of my own science fiction novel, terranova. Where you are working with a real location, albeit devoid of real world human influence, i would cation you to be careful not to get caught in preserving the real world too much. This book contains a variety of sections on different aspects of building a fictional world from scratch, and i think the original audience was very much diverse in regards to skill level. You may use autogenerated maps as they are, edit them or even create a new map from scratch. This map creator tool will allow you to the create a whole world of your own design using well over 1400 different images. I use two main tools, adobe illustrator and photoshop. Lets take a look at how you can bring your fantasy world to life with a map. How to create a fantasy world inspired by real world. Found this extremely helpful when determining biomes and. So, after dealing with the cosmology of our new fantasy world last week, there are a couple of directions we can go. In a fantasy world, maybe this language is the old language or the language of the gods.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading fantasy map making. Building a fictional world from scratch loper, rebekah. Creating a fantasy city, part 1 randy ellefsons blog. Studying maps and geography is an important part of not only history, but of practical knowledge and skills. You need to create a fictional world that is realistic, believable, and at the same time, logical. Thats another way of saying that its an entirely fictional place.
This is by no means a cover all, you could add a lot more to a world or a lot less, but if you follow these steps you will create a fairly deep world with enough background to run several campaigns. Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a. Remember, fantasy writers have amazing imaginations. A characters world plays a huge part in forming who they are.
Think of a letter and create a made up word from that. Check out our list of the top 12 worlds in fantasy to find your next dream vacation spot. If you create an ice planet warmed by a distant star, youll need to answer the question of how these people feed themselves and stay warm. Worldbuilding is the process of constructing an imaginary world, sometimes associated with a whole fictional universe. I am on the creative cloud programme which is possibly a bit extreme if you do not play with adobe tools for a living, but there are other programmes out there and you can also get older versions cs2 for free directly from adobe by clicking here. When you create your characters, they will need to fit within the context, geography. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task for many science fiction or fantasy writers. Magical realism, contemporary, dark, and paranormal romance all have a place in the fantasy genre. Jan 20, 2020 since one way to define fantasy is something different than our reality, i like to start a fantasy story by looking at the world.
People think they understand what the amazon is like, but do your research and present the amazon in a unique way and people will never believe it is a real place on earth. Modern genre fantasy postulates a different reality, either a fantasy world separated from ours, or a hidden fantasy side of our own world. I, for one, am excited that youre writing a fantasy this world needs more otherworldliness. How to draw fantasy maps that are realistic its science. Jan 04, 2018 fantasy maps give readers a sense of place and help immerse them in your story, bringing it to life in vivid detail. Social mobility was generally limited, especially in rural areas. World building is an important component of fantasy writing because your fantasy world must be grounded in a history and abide by certain rules in order to persuade your readers to suspend their disbelief when you bring in magic, fantastical beasts and other implausible elements. If you are creating your world for a book, how important is the fact that the characters speak a new language, and even more importantly, how necessary is that you actually create that new language. In the last twelve hours, this generator has been used to construct 1031 worlds and 4. Tips on how to build a fantasy world for your novel ny. Years and history is important to mention in my world. Learning how to create a fantasy world that feels real to readers is easy when you follow these five steps. Some authors of fiction set multiple works in the same fictional world or.
Obviously, we need to start on the type of government. Jun 04, 2012 i find that in my own world building actually drawing a map to be very helpful, both in laying out the geography and in seeing the physical direction of my plot. I also have a colored world map on my wall with territories, cities, towns and geography. Fantastic cartography tips from the guy who mapped game of. Worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy writing. Jan 07, 2014 building from the ground up is the most difficult but more potentially rewarding method of creating fictional cultures. Creating a history of ideas for your world, part 1. In a scifi world, maybe there is a device that is able to translate between languages on the spot. Note interesting small clumps of features and context. Ill be using the setting of echo of the high kings for this, my upcoming epic fantasy novel. I included natural parts for the inner landscape, like forests, mountains and hills. Even the most fantastic myths, legends and fairy tales differ from modern fantasy genre in three respects. A stepbystep guide for worldbuilders writer resources book 2. If youve ever read a book and walked away with that feelingthen this list is for you.
Could you make a fantasy template for a kingdom as a whole. Actual locations the invocation of a real place in the world, utilised in novels with no elements. Your templates are always useful in helping me organize my thoughts and i would love your take on creating a fantasy. If youre writing second world fantasy, you, the worldbuilder, have the responsibility of giving your location a sense of history and geography. When creating a fantasy world based on medieval europe, remember that there were no democracies of the modern sort at all. In fantasy, your world becomes just as important as any other character. Creating religions is one of my favourite parts of creating a new fantasy world, and this list has quite a bit of information to help you get started. Check out the quick start tutorial and project wiki for guidance. Geography for worldbuilding and fantasy maps posted on september 28, 20 by matthew lowes whether youre creating a setting for a novel, story, or game, its a good idea to think about some basic geography, so things make sense for the most part anyway. Look at geography in the real world and in geologic history. Phillips an ongoing trend for fiction and fantasy novels is having a map for the reader to follow along with, just after the title page in the book. Ursula le guin created the ansible in her hainish cycle of books which is a. A stepbystep guide for worldbuilders writer resources book 2 kindle edition by schmidt, jesper. Quick and dirty worldbuilding dont worry, i picked this resource for more than the amusing title, though ill admit i chuckled the first time i saw it.
But its without a doubt the most indepth exploration of the physics, geography and science behind what makes a planet behave in the way it does. In this new york times bestseller, an awardwinning journalist uses ten maps of crucial regions to explain the geopolitical strategies of the world powersfans of geography, history, and politics and maps will be enthralled fort worth startelegram. Geography, climate, weather, and time may 30, 2014 ka1spriggs 3 comments i thought id do a bit of discussion about worldbuilding, especially with a focus on fantasy genre world building. Great authors can create a living, breathing environment for their stories, invite readers into another world, and make us homesick for a place weve never been. Worldbuilding is so much more than just a framing device. Creating an imaginary world is one of the most complex types of worldbuilding. You have some really good books, and others that seem terrible in comparison. Even though fantasy maps are heavily stylized, its important to pare them down to the bare essentials, and a working knowledge of real world geography can help, says roberts. Create your own atlas a high school geography project. After they answer the question prompts, encourage them to write a. In areas not dominated by autocrat ic monarch s or powerful feudal. Jan 20, 2020 what works really well here is this hack. Originally from south amboy nj, matthew has been creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning life. Would that be too early for this kind of world or can it be believable.
The 10 best maps from fantasy books for readers who like to. Worldbuilding guide for writers and world builders part 1. Ill give the book credit that it does have some useful perspectives like tectonic plates and climate implications on the realism of a world map. We are studying a combination of world history and world geography this year for our high school history studies. How to build a fictional world kate messner youtube. Brandon sanderson the writer of mistborn and the final 3 books of robert jordans the wheel of time series gives a lecture on basic geography for world. Democracy elective monarchy hereditary monarchy fe.
Aug 30, 2018 worldbuilding is a term youll hear from a lot of writers especially when youre talking about the science fiction and fantasy genres. Worldbuilding is one of the most important parts of fantasy writing and one. Check out worldbuilding stack exchange to get answers to your scientific, geographic, and cultural questions when worldbuilding. She pulled elements from classic mythology, such as a phoenix and centaurs, and invented myths of her own, like the story of the elder wand.
Tips on how to build a fantasy world for your novel ny book. Think about the laws that govern the world, the way the government works, the world s history, geography, technology and mythology. Tips on how to build a fantasy world for your novel ny book editors. Develop the world where your characters live and act. Rowling created an entire magical world, set within our own, each with its own government and laws. Fantasy map making fantasy world map fantasy town fantasy places world map maker dnd world map imaginary maps fantasy authors dungeon maps tales from the tethys sea thondheim is the world that my campaign is set in, although my game mostly considers the tethys sea, in. As geocurrents is technically on vacation, it seems like a good time to explore an issue that falls outside of the blogs basic field of concern. One thing i like to do is take the core value of what i like about a the culture in question and shape it to the environment that it exists i. An author creating his storys world has the power to develop it in every way. Realism is important, and even imaginary worlds need to have geographic logic. I will be suggesting some excellent books at the end of the second part of this article which i think are worth the time of anyone who wants to create their own world. Best fantasy world some worlds, despite the fact that they are penned, are just as real as this one. There are many books on plot and character, and you can take those rules. Start by detailing the setting the environment of the world.
Create your world, and then push yourself to go deeper. Having skills in map making helps but, in reality, maps look so much better when they make sense. Its most often utilised in fantasy and science fiction, where a writer conjures up from scratch every detail of a world. Creating a fantasy world worldbuilding part 1 geography and natural resources. Oct 03, 2019 how to create a fictional world from scratch. Make sure you also address the rules, laws, and taboos of the world. The reason some fantasy novelists and readers seem so obsessed with maps is because the act of physically mapping the world grounds it. So far the main character has a birthday based on mine, in 1985. The sights and sounds of turkey make this a fun journey for who ever decides to read this book. Fantastic cartography tips from the guy who mapped game of thrones. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The ultimate list of 42 worldbuilding resources the dabbler. The fantasy world is a bit like lord of the rins, that it has a medieval look about it, but the years ive chosen to start the story is in the 1900s. First, one thing i feel is valuable is taking the time to establish a world, culture, history, and all that goes with it.
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