Warfare and technology plays a role in any society and any world you will create. Whether you are writing about pre-industrial “Middle Earth” type worlds or laser-gun equipped futuristic societies in galaxies far, far away, your societies will typically have some form of technology and weaponry. How much warfare comes into play in your story […]

In our previous exercises, we created out planet, resources, peoples and societies now we need to build the engines that keep food in the belly, clothes on the back, and provide some semblance of order and leadership in our world. That brings us to government, industry, agriculture and trade.   Agriculture – Let’s start with […]

So you’ve decided some basic physical and genetic basics about your races. And you’ve decided some broad cultural and societal brushstrokes such as core values of the society (and what the society will do to protect them), where and how the members of the society live, how they interact with other cultures, what their religious […]

So, you’ve decided to build a world. The first thing you need is well, yes the world itself. The Planet. Now this may seem extreme to some writers, but for certain stories establishing the proper planet (or solar system or even galaxy) may be of vital importance to your story. The following are some examples […]

World building is not just for fantasy writers. Honest. All writers world build. It’s just that contemporary and historical fiction writers call their world building by different names, chief among them research, setting, and characterization.   Multi-published, award winning author Holly Lisle says:   “You’re worldbuilding when you sketch out a floorplan of the house […]

All those of you who have been waiting (so patiently) for the next installment of the worldbuilding series, here it is! Our topic today, gentle writer, is about fleshing out the history of your planet and various peoples, their lore (body of knowledge about particular subjects) and their legends and myths. Of the three, I […]

Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble… ~Shakespeare’s MacBeth   In this long-delayed (and for that I do so apologize. Deadlines, you know) continuation of my Worldbuilding 101 series, we’re going to talk about creating credible magical systems for your world.   Because magic is by definition the most fantastic element of […]