Overview

A brief examination of topics. An introduction to what will be covered.

"The House of Fantasy is built of stone and wood and furnished in High Medieval. Its people travel by horse and galley, fight with sword and spell and battle-axe, communicate by palantir or raven, and break bread with elves and dragons.
The House of Science Fiction is built of duralloy and plastic and furnished in Faux Future. Its people travel by starship and aircar, fight with nukes and tailored germs, communicate by ansible and laser, and break protein bars with aliens.
The House of Horror is built of bone and cobwebs and furnished in Ghastly Gothick. Its people travel only by night, fight with anything that will kill messily, communicate in screams and shrieks and gibbers, and sip blood with vampires and werewolves."
-- George R.R. Martin

The process of building a fictional world is something all speculative fiction writers should acclimate themselves with.  They should learn as much as possible, as fast as possible, getting as much of the aforementioned learned material as jumbled as possible, and then, only then can they spit it back out to make something "unique".

Yes, yes, it's true.  No writer is unique.  No writer in all of human history is completely original--just like the average passerby, the writer's writing is made up of little pieces of personal history and memories, mixed with a bit of what the writer heard about someone else, salted with remembered learning, peppered by experience, and saturated by professional, multifaceted lies.  A dog-slop shop of patchwork rip-offs.  Keep this in mind.

Do not take that as permission to go and borrow the ideas of "One Ring, Dark Lord, Fellowship, Save The World" for your world---that's plagiarism.  That's illegal and it's very unprofessional--shameful, even. 

That's right.

He who writes fanfiction denies his nature for creative thieving.

Anyway.

While all forms of speculative fiction can benefit from world-building, these lessons will deal primarily with the Fantasy genre.  Don't let that stop you from reading this, though.  It isn't necessarily genre-exclusive--you may even walk away with something.  Of course, that depends on you.

Topics will include:

Religion - The gods and goddesses of your world

Good and Evil - Where to draw a line.

Politics - The kingdoms, empires, and realms of your world

History - Does this need to be clarified?

Military - A big topic--one of the more important

Magic? - A topic any fantasy writer must deal with

Geography - The clever use of mountains can save you a hassle

Characters - Where do they fit?

Examples - The who's who of world-building and examples of their work

Personal Tips - My personal tips on the subject, some tried, some tested, none worth your time

*Some may be added later

There is no denying that building a (hypothetically) living, breathing setting can be daunting, tiring, and just freaking boring (unless you enjoy it--like me).  It is a requirement, though, and any fantasy writer who skips out on the details will probably flounder and fail.  I'm not saying you, dear reader, will flounder and fail--it's just a big possibility.  Who knows?

But don't shoot the messenger.  I'm just here to help.

What I like to call the "Up-down" method is pretty straightforward--start at the top and work your way down.  Pretty simple, right?

No, not really. 

This method is my preferred way of working out a world.  Many other writers I've met prefer the exact opposite, the Down-Up.  Really, the difference is just the work someone is willing to put into their world.

Many of the lessons in this course will deal with the idea of the Up-Down--that is, it'll deal with the creation of the setting.  It's thorough, tedious work.

So, dear reader, you might ask:  "Where the Hell do I start?"  The answer:  wherever you please.  If you want a set-cosmology, a creation theory of your world that is (in the writing) for sure, a sure thing, then start there.  If not that, then start on your kingdom, empire, or whatever.

The "Down-Up" Method is the exact opposite.  You start with your characters, the central factors of your story, and work your way up from there.  You can build as you go, running with the story head-long.  I can't do this--maybe you can, and, if so, good for you.  Many Down-Up fantasy writers lack depth in their worlds, however.  If you're not willing to go the whole nine yards in your creation, at least take a little bit from these lessons and add more depth to your fictional world.  It always helps.

Any lesson in this course would qualify as "Up-Down", that is, starting above and around the characters.  To you, the characters will tend to be minor players in the scheme of things.

Hold on to your teeth.  This is going to be a real snooze-fest.

I hope you enjoy--or not.

*images created by my brother, Andrew Smith

Comments

Lisette Gentry

Posted 12 Years Ago i want to write fantasy but all my work tends to be fantasy characters bought to life in our world because i find the idea of creating my own unique world scary as hell hopefully this course will help the outline sounds promising and i greatly look foward to seeing your tips and ideas to help

Renay

Posted 13 Years Ago Looking forward to the course and learning something. :)

r.r. krueck

Posted 13 Years Ago I have always had that inner need to create and worldbuilding is something that immediately satisfies that need. I love it, absolutely to the core. I could spent endless hours creating maps and cities, societies and religions, and creatures fantastical and common. However, I have found that my biggest flaw when it comes to writing is what I call 'worldbuilder's syndrome'. I am a perfectionist at heart and I often get lost in so many details of the world and society that there are too many rules and restrictions to how I can write the world, these cultures, and the events that entangle them that it becomes nearly impossible. By over-developing the world I have restricted my story to this maze and the freedom is lost. Every project up until the one I am working on now has been lost in some stack of papers, word documents, notepad files, and photoshop maps. What I have learned is that there is a delicate balance that must be obtained. The worldbuilder must create as much as can satisfy him or her, as well as satisfy the story itself, without overdeveloping down to the average number of ants in an anthill. As new things arise, breaks from the story can be taken to adjust, or create anew. I have found that beginning with 'just enough' to start writing works best for me. Maybe it will work as well for others with 'worldbuilder's syndrome'? Maybe not. Either way I just wanted to put that out there. On a side note, can't wait to go through this course!

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