World Building, Part Three: Climate and Weather
In my old document for world building, I went straight into plants from maps, but after some consideration, I've decided to add another article between them. After all, when deciding what plants go where, you need to think about the weather and the climate. ;) (To see the first two posts you can click here and here.)
Step One: For step one, you'll need your maps again, and you'll probably want to use the continent maps for your notes, although you'll need your world map, too. The first thing you'll need to do is decide the median temperature for each continent for each of your seasons. This is a relatively unimportant detail, but knowing the answer will help you describe weather later, as well as decide whether the temperature is dangerous to travel in for your characters. For this you can either write the notes on the back of the map or a separate sheet of paper, or, if you'd like, you can put it right on the map. Putting it right on the map may be helpful if you decide that the temperature varies across the continent, and want to know what each location's median temp is.
Step Two (optional): Now that you know the median temp for your continent, you may decide you want to know what the normal temperature range is for each part of the year. What the low and high temperatures are for each part of the year can affect travel as well as weather, and how hot or cold it is will dictate to some extent what clothing your characters wear. If you need help with this step or step one, you may want to look and see how landscapes affect climate in the real world. As an example, being near a large lake will generally make the area colder.
Step Three: Now that you have your temperatures figured out, you need to decide what kind of weather each location is going to have. As with temperatures, landscapes can have an affect on the weather. If, for instance, you have a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains, it's unlikely that the people living there will experience much in the way of high winds, whereas high winds are common on a plain. To make notes for this, you may want to write out a description of the weather, or, to save space, you could do a sample weather report for each season.
Step Four: Repeat with each continent. As you move on from one continent to the next, you'll want to keep an eye on where on the world map each place is. This is especially important if you're mimicking parts of the way the real world is. If you have an equator, then the continents near or on the equator are going to be warmer than the ones nearer the poles, and the places near the poles will be much colder.
Step Five: Unless you've gone into a lot of detail with your weather and climates so far, you may need to zero in on places important for your story. If your character goes on a long journey, you'll need to know more details about the places they go than the broad temperature and weather you've done so far. Temperatures and weather can vary widely in different parts of countries and continents, so if you have places your characters are going to be, then you'll need to do more detailed profiles of each location. It's not necessary to do this for every place on a map; only the ones important for your story. You may want to write out how these places interact with the averages of weather as well. If, for example, you have a major city in your story that has an average temperature higher than the continent's average, there are going to be cities elsewhere that are quite a bit colder. This can affect the city in a number of ways; if it's warmer than the areas around it, there may be groups of people that visit every year during cold weather, giving the city a financial boost in the winter time.
Step Six: Once you've completed steps 1-5, it's time to look at the results of your choices for climate and weather. As I mentioned in step five, a simple choice to have one city slightly warmer than the others can have a large-ish result on surrounding areas as well as the kind of activity the city gets. So you'll need to look at what sort of consequences each choice will give you. An easy way to get an idea is to look at places in the real world that have similar attributes, and examine how those attributes influence local economy and the surrounding areas.
Note: There's a lot of detail involved in world-building, and you may or may not need large chunks of it. If the story you're trying to write doesn't require knowledge about weather on other continents, then you should feel free to skip it. The same applies to virtually everything else. There's no rule that says you have to go through every step or your world is going to suck. In my experience, the more you know about the world, even if it doesn't come into the story, the better off you are. But you may decide differently, and that is entirely up to you. :)
Step One: For step one, you'll need your maps again, and you'll probably want to use the continent maps for your notes, although you'll need your world map, too. The first thing you'll need to do is decide the median temperature for each continent for each of your seasons. This is a relatively unimportant detail, but knowing the answer will help you describe weather later, as well as decide whether the temperature is dangerous to travel in for your characters. For this you can either write the notes on the back of the map or a separate sheet of paper, or, if you'd like, you can put it right on the map. Putting it right on the map may be helpful if you decide that the temperature varies across the continent, and want to know what each location's median temp is.
Step Two (optional): Now that you know the median temp for your continent, you may decide you want to know what the normal temperature range is for each part of the year. What the low and high temperatures are for each part of the year can affect travel as well as weather, and how hot or cold it is will dictate to some extent what clothing your characters wear. If you need help with this step or step one, you may want to look and see how landscapes affect climate in the real world. As an example, being near a large lake will generally make the area colder.
Step Three: Now that you have your temperatures figured out, you need to decide what kind of weather each location is going to have. As with temperatures, landscapes can have an affect on the weather. If, for instance, you have a valley surrounded on all sides by mountains, it's unlikely that the people living there will experience much in the way of high winds, whereas high winds are common on a plain. To make notes for this, you may want to write out a description of the weather, or, to save space, you could do a sample weather report for each season.
Step Four: Repeat with each continent. As you move on from one continent to the next, you'll want to keep an eye on where on the world map each place is. This is especially important if you're mimicking parts of the way the real world is. If you have an equator, then the continents near or on the equator are going to be warmer than the ones nearer the poles, and the places near the poles will be much colder.
Step Five: Unless you've gone into a lot of detail with your weather and climates so far, you may need to zero in on places important for your story. If your character goes on a long journey, you'll need to know more details about the places they go than the broad temperature and weather you've done so far. Temperatures and weather can vary widely in different parts of countries and continents, so if you have places your characters are going to be, then you'll need to do more detailed profiles of each location. It's not necessary to do this for every place on a map; only the ones important for your story. You may want to write out how these places interact with the averages of weather as well. If, for example, you have a major city in your story that has an average temperature higher than the continent's average, there are going to be cities elsewhere that are quite a bit colder. This can affect the city in a number of ways; if it's warmer than the areas around it, there may be groups of people that visit every year during cold weather, giving the city a financial boost in the winter time.
Step Six: Once you've completed steps 1-5, it's time to look at the results of your choices for climate and weather. As I mentioned in step five, a simple choice to have one city slightly warmer than the others can have a large-ish result on surrounding areas as well as the kind of activity the city gets. So you'll need to look at what sort of consequences each choice will give you. An easy way to get an idea is to look at places in the real world that have similar attributes, and examine how those attributes influence local economy and the surrounding areas.
Note: There's a lot of detail involved in world-building, and you may or may not need large chunks of it. If the story you're trying to write doesn't require knowledge about weather on other continents, then you should feel free to skip it. The same applies to virtually everything else. There's no rule that says you have to go through every step or your world is going to suck. In my experience, the more you know about the world, even if it doesn't come into the story, the better off you are. But you may decide differently, and that is entirely up to you. :)
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