5 Ways to World-Build

We’re getting ready for Camp NaNoWriMo this April! Camp is a great way to expand your writing style or work on a different type of project than you normally do. Today, participant VicJ Wizard discusses some of the ways that detailed world-building can add to your novel or writing project:

Writing is hard.

As a writer I can say I’ve had amazing ideas and even written them down (when possible, that is; of course these things never come to you at the right moment) but I have always struggled to continue on with the characters and worlds I created in those moments. This is where world-building becomes exciting and can help your ideas become clearer. World building can be extremely detailed–in fact, I bet some authors have spent more time building their worlds than writing their works. However, there are a few basics required to build any large-scale world in writing.

1. Cross-reference your details.

I am currently so deep in my world-building that I am creating maps, histories for each of the races in my world, hierarchies, religions, and languages. It gets a bit overwhelming, especially when all the different categories cross over, which leads you down lots of different trails and never lets you fully complete one. 

A great example is the pickle I am in right now: I have sketched out the history and written a historical timeline for each race represented in my novel. My hierarchy is done, and I have chosen the types of religions each group might have based on my ideas for what I want their people to be like. However, without having developed any languages, I have no consistent way of naming things like the deities of those religions or the time units each group might use (such as time, day, and month names). Looking at the fuller picture of the world I’ve built, I know I now need to crack down and create the languages.

2. Create a backstory.

For a large-scale story, you should know the history of your world at least 200 years prior to your story line.

That sounds like a lot of effort! Why do I need this?

Because your characters are going to know this information. They will be familiar with the recent history of their world, and so should you. 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you are going to tell your readers those 200 years worth of background story. It might never even reach the pages of your work. But your characters need to know–and you as the writer need to know–just in case it comes up in conversation, or one of your scenes is based at a historic site, or somewhere that makes at least one of your characters think of a past event.

This step is also essential in setting up your story; past events can give you reasons and ideas for events that may happen to or around your characters.

3. Draw a map.

Let’s face it: readers (myself included) love books with maps! Also, if the map is only in your head, you can easily forget which way is what and where you are going. Even if you can’t draw at all, you can still put some lines and dots on a page to make a basic map.

4. Create a social structure.

Every world needs a hierarchy, social structure, or way that different groups of people live and interact together. You don’t need to build a very in-depth one for your world unless it’s important in your story line, but you still need one there. Is it a fantasy world with a king and queen, an emperor or empress, or is your world modern with government, political parties, and corporations? Whatever it is you need to know, your world needs to have structure if it’s going to be realistic enough for your readers to get immersed in it.

5. Think about the basics.

Most societies have a language, calendar system, and some kind of belief system. If you don’t require such in-depth information for these, I’d suggest very basic ideas here at the least.

You can pick a name for beliefs or religions. What kind of belief system is in place? Is there a god or a goddess associated with each religion? Unless religion plays a huge role in your story, you can get away with basic information here.

When thinking about the languages in your story, decide if you will focus on one, or have characters speaking or writing different languages. If your main character understands the language that’s being spoken, they can usually just translate it. But if it’s written down or plays a big part in the story, you may need to think more deeply about what that other language looks or sounds like. 

Having a calendar is a little more needed than the above two. What holidays does your world celebrate? How long are the days/weeks/months/years? What is the moon cycle? Of course you can always use our own, and change names of holidays if you don’t want to get into this aspect of the world-building, but some kind of calendar is required if you want to set your timeline and events out properly.

There are a great deal of websites and books out there that can help you build each of these aspects and tailor them to your world. Remember that if the question doesn’t suit your world, you can always change it slightly to be what you need!

Vicki has a Bachelor in English Literature (Honours), and is the founder of the first Literature and Writing Club at her university. She is also a writer, has a small blog, and is published in the university magazine and blog. She won her first NaNoWriMo in 2015 and is working towards extending it into a full length novel. Vicki has a vivid imagination, is addicted to TV, and loves reading, playing, and watching video games.

Top photo by Flickr user David Higgs.