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World Building Made Easy #2
World-Building From Inside Out: Workbook
This book has questions. You have the answers!
The World-Building From the Inside Out Workbook is filled with detailed questions and easy-to-grasp explanations to help you probe more deeply into your created world and fill it with meaning that pushes plot and builds tension.
Use it along with the World-Building From the Inside Out reference book, or individually to jump start your creative process.
Ask questions. Dream big. Build the fantastic!
The World-Building From the Inside Out Workbook is filled with detailed questions and easy-to-grasp explanations to help you probe more deeply into your created world and fill it with meaning that pushes plot and builds tension.
Use it along with the World-Building From the Inside Out reference book, or individually to jump start your creative process.
Ask questions. Dream big. Build the fantastic!
- GenresWriting
74 pages, Paperback
Published April 2, 2016
8 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Janeen Ippolito
40 books150 followersJaneen Ippolito does all the things! She’s an award-winning author of bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She’s also an experienced editor, coach, and marketing strategist and ran a publishing house for seven years. She hosts the Author Culture podcast and is an in-demand teacher and speaker who helps authors grow their book businesses in healthy, sustainable ways. In her spare time, she helps her husband with his youth swordfighting programs, cooks fun food, reads whatever she feels like, and plays the ukulele. Connect with her at jiauthor.com.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 22, 2017
I ordered this book and the workbook last Christmas and found it to be very helpful. The author asked great questions that really got me thinking. I immensely enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it to writers.
June 1, 2018
Very helpful for creating believable, breathtaking worlds.
August 10, 2016
This is a fantastic companion book to the "World-Building from the Inside Out" manual. While the manual gives you information about various kinds of cultures you *could* create, the workbook asks you questions about your *own* and gives you spaces to brainstorm answers. It asks similar deep questions to the manual's, and while it could be used on its own, it makes a richer study if you go through the manual first (and the manual will give you more story fodder, too!). Both of the "World-Building from the Inside Out" books go right to the heart of your story's culture, rather than simply focusing on the cool trappings of an invented world, to make stories richer and deeper. Recommended!
March 9, 2017
This workbook was surprisingly practical, I enjoyed the questions very much and it was comprehensive. It made me think a lot about the wider impact and detailing of the story I currently am working on.
January 12, 2023
Excellent prompts and questions helped me think about and fill in details that I hadn't considered.
February 5, 2017
A short disclaimer: This review is a joint review for both World-Building From The Inside Out and its workbook.
Both World-Building from the Inside Out and its workbook did help me learn a thing or two by the time I finished reading them. But only one or two.
The books go into detail about worldbuilding aspects such as Religion, Government, Societal Structure, Art & Media, Technology, Naming, Food, Appearance, Location, Health & Medicine, Military, and Education.
Now, although this is all well and good, the books span less than 70 pages each and touch each subject briefly. If you are completely new to worldbuilding, I would say you should give it a shot, but if you aren't, then I definitely would not. If you have researched worldbuilding or spent any of your time learning what worldbuilding is, then you could easily teach yourself everything in these books without even reading them. Janeen and Julia both wrote a beautiful book that touches each aspect that was previously stated with a nice tone and in an easy to understand kind of way.
For the $4 price tag, a 70-page book has the title of World-Building from the Inside Out, you'd expect a book that touches every kind of worldbuilding tool for a writer. And my expectations were thrown out the window. Not only that, but I bought both books at $4 each.
I've bought $4, $5 and $6 books that truly touch everything that they should, books on scene creation that show you almost everything to do with building scenes, character books that teach you everything you need to create wonderful characters. Each one of those books had 100-300 pages of great and insightful information.
I hate to say it, but World-Building from the Inside Out and its workbook hardly helped me at all and it was a waste of $8. I wish I could give these books a better review, but with how much I taught myself with worldbuilding thus far, I can't say that I enjoyed or really learned anything with these two books.
Both World-Building from the Inside Out and its workbook did help me learn a thing or two by the time I finished reading them. But only one or two.
The books go into detail about worldbuilding aspects such as Religion, Government, Societal Structure, Art & Media, Technology, Naming, Food, Appearance, Location, Health & Medicine, Military, and Education.
Now, although this is all well and good, the books span less than 70 pages each and touch each subject briefly. If you are completely new to worldbuilding, I would say you should give it a shot, but if you aren't, then I definitely would not. If you have researched worldbuilding or spent any of your time learning what worldbuilding is, then you could easily teach yourself everything in these books without even reading them. Janeen and Julia both wrote a beautiful book that touches each aspect that was previously stated with a nice tone and in an easy to understand kind of way.
For the $4 price tag, a 70-page book has the title of World-Building from the Inside Out, you'd expect a book that touches every kind of worldbuilding tool for a writer. And my expectations were thrown out the window. Not only that, but I bought both books at $4 each.
I've bought $4, $5 and $6 books that truly touch everything that they should, books on scene creation that show you almost everything to do with building scenes, character books that teach you everything you need to create wonderful characters. Each one of those books had 100-300 pages of great and insightful information.
I hate to say it, but World-Building from the Inside Out and its workbook hardly helped me at all and it was a waste of $8. I wish I could give these books a better review, but with how much I taught myself with worldbuilding thus far, I can't say that I enjoyed or really learned anything with these two books.
August 12, 2016
What's the next step once you've read _World-Building From the Inside Out_? This workbook! For those of us who like having a physical map, this workbook is the equivalent in world building for speculative fiction stories. It's full of questions and space for answers to guide you through the process of developing your world and the relevant cultures that have influenced the background of your characters.
Working through all of these different areas is vital in giving you the ability to show, rather than just tell, what your world is like. It gives a deep richness to your stories and characters, and is a valuable resource for any author who wants to grow in their ability to craft well-constructed stories.
Working through all of these different areas is vital in giving you the ability to show, rather than just tell, what your world is like. It gives a deep richness to your stories and characters, and is a valuable resource for any author who wants to grow in their ability to craft well-constructed stories.
January 24, 2016
This is a craft book that I'll definitely use when world building. Janeen addresses a lot of great questions as to how a fictional society can either be an iteration of real cultures or be completely unique and how to create a world suited for the world you're trying to create.
May 10, 2019
This workbook is wonderful. After reading the chapter that goes along with the coresponding section in this workbook, you're able to really think about and understand the importance of each of the parts of world building. This workbook then lets you start writing down and organizing information to help build your world and cultures, which helps your story be able to be more coherent and come alive. Even if you don't have an answer right away, you have things to think about, and possible a place to start your research. Having a starting area, especially when struggling to bring a story to life, is a huge help.
April 11, 2017
This workbook is wonderful. After reading the chapter that goes along with the corresponding section in this workbook, you're able to really think about and understand the importance of each of the parts of world building. This workbook then lets you start writing down and organizing information to help build your world and cultures, which helps your story be able to be more coherent and come alive. Even if you don't have an answer right away, you have things to think about, and possible a place to start your research. Having a starting area, especially when struggling to bring a story to life, is a huge help.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews