Plot From Setting

Although I am usually the 'plot person' of my writing duo, my other favourite activity is worldbuilding. Partly this is because I enjoy research, and partly this is because I'm attracted to the causal nature of worldbuilding. The world in many ways drives the creation of the plot. And when your well of ideas is running dry, your world can refill it.

A fully realised fictional world is full of inherent conflict, just waiting to be exploited for your story. If you're using a historical setting, much of the work is done for you. Once you've picked a historical setting, it's research time. With dedication-- some times and places may require more effort to study than others-- one can find out all about that society, from the overarching moral struggles of the time to the daily life of its ordinary citizens. It will take some digging to get past the glossy 'generally accepted narrative' to the more complex truths beneath, but it's very worth the effort and is a wonderful wellspring of original writing ideas.

For a fictional world, you will have to start from scratch. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to go about worldbuilding, but the rule is definitely that more complete is better. Remember that while not everything you come up with will necessarily make it on the page-- nor does it have to-- it's good to know the answers just in case. It's also important to remember that common genre tropes, for example, a medieval pan-European aesthetic for high fantasy, are simply common tropes, not requirements of the genre. No rule says you can't have a pan-Asian world, or a psychic landscape of humanity's collective dreams, or whatever else your fancy might desire. What's important is that you use your imagination to answer both the big questions about your world-- its history, its politics, its climate, its cultures, and its ecosystems, and the little questions about how everyday life works. In the course of doing this, you will probably see story seeds all over, just waiting to be developed.