Anna's Writing Nook: Worldbuilding Part 1

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Writer’s Nook! I know it’s been awhile, but I’m back with a new topic for y’all: worldbuilding!

Since there’s a lot to cover here, I’m splitting the topic into two posts, so be sure to check back next week for Part 2! This week we’ll cover the basics of creating a compelling setting for your story, whether that setting is in our world or in a completely new one. A vivid setting is important in any kind of story, fantasy or otherwise, because it’s one of the best ways to build authenticity in your writing. If the reader can easily place themselves in your setting, there’s a much better chance of them emotionally connecting to your story on a deeper level. We all want to feel engrossed and enveloped in the things we read, right? Effective worldbuilding is a major key to that. So let’s get into it!

Approaching worldbuilding is different for every writer. Personally, developing the setting is the last step in my writing process. I do characters first, then plot, then world. And honestly, that hasn’t always worked out, so I’ve been trying to be better about developing the world a lot earlier in my writing process. One of my first steps is figuring out names for everything: countries, cities, towns, individual buildings, even streets. You don’t need a name for everything, of course, just things that are most important, but attaching a name to every significant place is a great way to build authenticity in your setting. Especially if it has a fun or meaningful name. My favorite thing is to name restaurants/taverns alliterative things like “The Salty Salmon” or “The Grumpy Gull.”

Sometimes I make up names out of the blue, but most of the time this website is my best friend: Fantasy Name Generators. I know I’ve thrown this site at y’all before, but I cannot sing its praises enough. And in spite of its name, it does have name generators outside of fantasy things. It has generators specifically for places (inspired by a lot of different languages and cultures), and narrows it down to cities/towns – in real life or fantasy settings. Really, it’s great. It’s my BFF. It’s the love of my life, probably. 

Setting development should be somewhat similar to character development. One of the best pieces of worldbuilding advice I’ve ever heard was to treat your setting as if it’s a character itself. It should have a sort of personality, it should have history, and it should change and evolve over time. You shouldn’t have to write an entire history book (unless you want to, I mean, I won’t stop you), but it helps to have a general idea of the major events that have defined a place’s past. Just like you’d look at a character and ask, “What has happened in this person’s life to get them to where they are today?” ask the same of your settings. 

Another helpful means of developing your setting is to base it on something you know. Familiarity is a key to authenticity. The better you know a place, the more accurately and vividly you’ll be able to write it. That’s not to say you can’t write about places you’ve never been to (we can’t all hop on a plane to take a research trip to New Zealand or whatever), but you always want to have an element of familiarity in your settings. Even if you are writing about a place inspired by somewhere you’ve never been, it helps to build it with details of something you do know. 

For example, say you’ve made up a fantasy world that’s based on France, but you’ve never been to France and the breadth of your knowledge doesn’t extend far past Wikipedia. Since your setting isn’t exactly France and probably won’t have the same history and culture as France, you can totally fake it with just a baseline knowledge of the country. Look up pictures and descriptions of what the streets look like, what kinds of shops there are, what kinds of food and plants are native to different areas of the country, and take your inspiration from those details. Don’t copy them exactly, and you should avoid trying to replicate a culture that isn’t yours/that you haven’t studied extensively, but you can certainly take bits and pieces and apply them to your own made-up world. 

Weather and climate are also effective worldbuilding details; your fantasy worlds/countries will differ tremendously based on their climates, because weather decides what kinds of natural elements are native to the place and what kinds of things need to be imported or might be unfamiliar. It also adds a strong sense of place and atmosphere if you sprinkle weather into your writing. What’s going on in the sky can totally change the vibe of a scene, and there’s a hundred ways to use weather to set the mood of your story.

All of that being said, research is critical. Yes, even if it’s Wikipedia. I’ll be the first to say that Wikipedia is not evil, but definitely try to use other sources for deeper research that goes beyond basic stuff like geography, climate, etc. Like, you probably wouldn’t want to use Wikipedia if you’re researching a specific culture; instead, try to find a resource provided by people from that culture for the most reliable information. And again, you can take inspiration, but don’t copy. Be careful of appropriation, especially when you’re dealing with cultures that aren’t your own. Avoid telling a story that isn’t yours to tell, but that’s not to say you can’t or shouldn’t have diverse worlds and characters. It’s a fine line, for sure, but use your instincts. If you feel like your settings and characters fall into stereotypes or you’re making lots of assumptions, you might want to go back and revise. That’s where beta readers come in handy! An extra set of eyes is always helpful.

I’ve talked a lot about fantasy settings, so let’s touch on real-world settings for a hot sec. Developing settings in contemporary/realistic fiction takes a different kind of worldbuilding. In a way, you’ve got it a bit easier than us fantasy writers! Worldbuilding for contemporary fiction is more about details than about the bigger picture. Since we’re already familiar with the world we live in, the most important part is going to be the specific setting in your story, whether that be a town, a house, a store, whatever. You really want to get into vivid descriptions that make your setting more tangible – and that’s where familiarity comes in handy. The easiest way to accurately and authentically describe a place or a thing is if you’re familiar with it yourself. So again, even if you're writing about a small rural town but have never actually lived in one, you can zoom in on some part that you do know. For example, take a local park that you frequented when you were a kid and place it in your story’s setting. Describe the colors of the slides or the way the swings squeaked. Find a detail – in any setting – that is easily recognizable and relatable to a wide audience. 

All right, that was a lot of things, so I’ll stop here and save the rest for next week. In Part 2, we’ll dig a little deeper and talk about how to incorporate worldbuilding details without info-dumping, how your characters interact with your world, and some reminders about showing vs telling. For now, I’ll leave you with a fun and useful activity!

MACARONI MAPS!

I can’t take credit for this idea because I first saw it on tumblr, but it gives us an excuse to play with macaroni as if we’re in kindergarten. 

So you want to draw a map of your brilliant, extensive fantasy world, but you don’t know where to start. I’ve been there, I feel that. Time to make a mess. 

Grab some pasta of the uncooked variety. Elbows are best, but anything other than spaghetti will probably work. 

Grab a large sheet of paper, and something to draw with like a pencil or marker. 

Take a handful of pasta and throw it on the paper. Throw some more. Dump the whole box on the paper. Go wild. Then get your hands in there and spread it around in the vague shape of a continent (or multiple continents). 

With your writing utensil, trace around the edges of your pasta continents, especially the uneven edges and weird shapes. When you’ve traced all the way around, sweep away the pasta (but save it -- you can probably still cook it and eat it) and boom, you’ve got a map! Add cities and landforms and oceans and such and you’re on your way to having a world worthy of an atlas.

I know this sounds kinda silly, but I promise it’s a lot of fun and you’ll get some really cool maps out of it! Give it a try, and if you make something really cool, I’d love to see it! Email me a picture of your map at acallari@pls-net.org, and you just might see your map featured on the blog!

Also keep an eye on this blog in the next few days, because I’ve got another fun activity coming up that I think you booklovers will really enjoy. Stay tuned… 👀

Lastly, a little update of what I’ve been up to! 

What I'm Reading

Just finished: Dig, by A.S. King. What an absolutely brilliant book!! I've been a fan of A.S. King for years, but I honestly think this book is my new favorite of hers. It's truly excellent, and I highly recommend!

Currently reading: Nothing, actually, because I just finished Dig yesterday and I haven't decided what to read next 🤣 anyone got any recommendations?

What I'm Writing

It's July, which means it's another session of Camp NaNoWriMo! This month I'm trying to write 80,000 words of my current fantasy wip called The Oracle Stone. It is... a hot mess at the moment, but shh that's what revisions are for (and this one is going to need a lot of them!). I'm at 36,000 words for the month so far, so I'm on track to get to 80,000 if I sacrifice a few nights of sleep later in the month 🤣

I hope you're all doing okay and enjoying your summer! Leave a comment with future Writer's Nook suggestions (really, please do, because after worldbuilding idk what else to tell you guys lol), tell me what you're reading, and if you try the macaroni maps, send me a pic!! And now that the library's open again, I hope to see some of y'all in there too.

Till next time! 

Anna 😎✌🏻