On World Building
- Robyn Weightman
- Oct 16, 2019
- 2 min read
We've talked about plotting and planning your novel and we've gone into more details on characters. Now it's time to create your world in a bit more detail.
As with all of my planning, you begin with Robyn's Brain Fart and some post its.
As said in my previous blogs and YouTube videos, you can use anything for your fart wall. Chalkboard, Whiteboard, Table or a Corkboard like mine.
On these post-it notes, jot down anything which pops into your head about your world during the outlining and plotting stage. You can colour code them, bullet point or go into details, it's up to you. But write everything down.
Some things you will want to think about are;
Temperature
Climate
Architecture
Language
Clothes
Food
Street names
Education
Jobs
Decor
Literature
Music
History
Religion
And much more.
Like all story work, you may not include every idea in your book. But you should know them and it should come across that your characters know/ learn them.
Once you have finished your outlining and plotting stage, and you think you're ready to make your ideas more concrete, we move onto Google Drive or Microsoft. During this stage, I fill out at least 1-2 pages for each city or country in my story. This may change depending on how detailed you want your landscapes and how much your characters travel. If your characters spend the whole story in one city, you may want a very detailed 5-page layout of the streets and buildings, etc.
This is also where you can start making one of those beloved maps ;)
I begin with pictures or designs of things that remind me of my world. These do not have to be exact, just enough to prompt your memory as you write or show you a little more detail.
After this, I detail some of these characteristics in written form and work out the mannerisms of the people.
And finally, I look at street names.
You do not have to stick to what you have written on your document and throughout your writing process, I would expect additions and amendments.
The final World Building stage is to choose three major world elements which play an important part in your story. The other elements can be mentioned, but these three will be the most important and most detailed.
For example, in Patrick Rothfuss's books, he focuses on Money, Education and Music. In Tolkien's world, he focuses on Language, Maps and History.
Your three chosen elements should play a key role in your story's plot. By having this you will create a much more realistic world which will suck your reader into your story.
Good luck creating your world!
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