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Hobbity Hobbit
Lorien
Apr 8 2015, 9:36pm
Post #1 of 7
(284 views)
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Tips on world-building?
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Hey! Awhile ago I posted about tips on writing.. now I need tips on world-building! I found that the world I was writing about didn't seem as realistic as I intended it to be. Any tips on world-building? Also anything you guys want to see in a fantasy world?
"As the snowflakes cover my fallen brothers,
I will say this last goodbye."
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Silverlode
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Apr 8 2015, 11:23pm
Post #2 of 7
(263 views)
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Tolkien's essay On Fairy Stories? If not, I recommend it. Tolkien spends much of the second half of it discussing his own views on creating a fantasy world, including the need to make the world internally consistent and the elements which he finds essential. It's well worth your time to read and consider.
I think the main thing is to make sure that things have reasons for being there and a set of laws by which they function. That's not to say that you have to spell them all out, but think about it in terms of not just trying to be different, but if a particular thing is different than our world, how would it affect other aspects of life there? For instance, Tolkien started with language, and then thought about what sort of people would speak it, and where they would live, and what their history would be like and his world grew from there. Also, no matter how fantastical your world might be, your readers are still going to be human so there will need to be relatable elements - we have to recognize either ourselves or our situation or the nature of the conflict in order to identify with and connect to the story that's being told.
Silverlode
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Apr 8 2015, 11:33pm
Post #3 of 7
(260 views)
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I recommend this book as well:
[In reply to]
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Imaginary Worlds by Lin Carter I read it at a young age and it was my textbook for writing fantasy.
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GNU Terry Pratchett
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"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
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"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
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Morthoron
Gondor
Apr 9 2015, 3:32pm
Post #5 of 7
(214 views)
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Hey! Awhile ago I posted about tips on writing.. now I need tips on world-building! I found that the world I was writing about didn't seem as realistic as I intended it to be. Any tips on world-building? Also anything you guys want to see in a fantasy world?
To create a world is a work of trial and error. Tolkien didn't immediately spew out Middle-earth ready-made, it evolved over decades. As someone already said, Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" is a good place to start, as are Joseph Campbell's mythological studies. Both Tolkien and Campbell's works stress a synthesis wherein one draws from previous works (as Tolkien synthesized Norse, Icelandic, Greek and Finnish myth, and Campbell invoked the idea of a "monomyth" or the interconnectedness of world mythology). Start with a foundation, a genesis of your world, and build a history.
As far as what "you guys want to see in a fantasy world", I don't know if asking someone else what your story should be is all that great of an idea. Either you have your own vision or you don't.
Please visit my blog...The Dark Elf File...a slighty skewed journal of music and literary comment, fan-fiction and interminable essays.
(This post was edited by Morthoron on Apr 9 2015, 3:34pm)
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Loresilme
Valinor
Apr 9 2015, 3:52pm
Post #6 of 7
(210 views)
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Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding
The Essential Elements for Building a World
Roleplaying games and fantasy fiction are filled with rich and fascinating worlds: the Forgotten Realms, Glorantha, Narnia, R'lyeh, Middle-Earth, Barsoom, and so many more. It took startling leaps of imagination as well as careful thought and planning to create places like these: places that readers and players want to come back to again and again.
Now, eleven of adventure gaming's top designers come together to share their insights into building worlds that gamers will never forget. Learn the secrets of designing a pantheon, creating a setting that provokes conflict, determining which historical details are necessary, and so much more.
Take that creative leap, and create dazzling worlds of your own!
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Applicable for creating gaming worlds as well as writing fiction. It really gets you thinking about all the elements of life and society that factor into creating a believable and memorable world for your story.
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