Building a New World: Essential Tips and Guidelines
In the realm of fantasy storytelling, crafting a captivating and immersive world is crucial. Whitney Carter, an avid fantasy writer and blogger working on her debut novel, Alpha Female, shares her insights on effective worldbuilding.
To begin, Carter advises focusing on the core story and conflict first. Defining a unique premise and central conflict is vital, as it provides a foundation for all other worldbuilding decisions. Next, delve into the present-day conflict and work backward to shape the world's history, creating a believable chain of cause and effect.
Carter suggests outlining essential elements of the world, including its geography, cultures and traditions, politics and power structures, and magic and technology. For geography, consider whether it's a continent, archipelago, or something unique. Cultures and traditions should reflect beliefs, customs, and celebrations that define the inhabitants. Politics and power structures are crucial in understanding who holds power and the tensions that exist. Magic and technology should have rules that govern their use and fit seamlessly into the world.
When creating characters, Carter recommends providing detailed sketches, including names, ages, physical descriptions, occupations, likes, dislikes, family, homes, and anything useful to the story. Abbreviated character sketches for important people can also be helpful.
Current events in the starting area, such as potential festivals, droughts, or recent murders, should be developed to add depth and believability to the world. Flora and fauna, including potential dangers for characters in the wilderness, should also be noted.
Carter offers tips to avoid being overwhelmed by worldbuilding. Building broad frameworks first and adding details gradually is recommended. Utilising tools like worldbuilding worksheets or guides can provide structure and inspiration. Maintaining logic within the world, ensuring consistency between geography, culture, magic, and history, is essential. Connecting the world's history and lore directly to the story keeps worldbuilding relevant and engaging.
When introducing eccentricities in the culture, Carter advises against info dumps. Instead, background tensions should be created for character introductions to make sense to readers. The chaos factor should be considered, acknowledging that not everything will fit into a neat plan.
Carter suggests a secondary level of worldbuilding for when writing, to add details and layer the world. Establishing groundwork before writing can make the process easier and add character to the world. Carter recommends drawing a rough map as the first step in worldbuilding.
In the coming weeks, Carter plans to have a comprehensive worldbuilding worksheet ready for fellow writers. She has been working on a master worldbuilding worksheet to help streamline the worldbuilding process and make it more manageable for those embarking on their fantasy writing journey.
Whitney Carter, in her debut novel Alpha Female, is likely to delve deeply into the home-and-garden aspects of the fantasy world, creating distinct cultures, traditions, and political structures that define the inhabitants' way of life. Furthermore, Carter, considering the uniqueness of her world, may well envision a lifestyle shaped by geography, resources, and technology, resulting in a rich and believable fantasy realm.
