World Building Basics

By Tim Edwards

If you are writing Speculative Fiction then you are world building – whether you realise it or not.  World building is the art of creating an imaginary world from scratch, and it can be very laborious work!  If you are setting your novel anywhere but earth, then world building is essential, even if it is just basic.  Contrary to the name, you do not need to cover every single detail of the world, but you will generally want to know quite a bit of information about the settings – because, if you don’t know much about your world, how can your characters?

World Building Basics - The Great Outdoors

When you start to world build, the natural place to start is with the physical environment that your characters will be residing in.  This means the terrain, the climate, the types of trees, plants and crops, the weather and so on.  This does not have to be exactly like Earth!  It is your world and you can build it how you like – that is half the fun of being a writer!  If you would like your world to have 3 moons or a constant acid rain, then you can do that, you just need to be aware of how these things will affect the rest of the world.  An acid rain that people are only barely aware of and that does not hinder them in their everyday lives is not believable and will only make your readers lose faith in your world.

World Building Basics - Society and Culture

If you are writing about humans as a society, then this is something that you will need to create.  Often these societies in SF will be similar to societies in our world, whether current or historical.  These are definitely a good starting point, but it is not the end of the line!  Think of science fiction novels that feature utopian societies – these build on our current society and imagine what it could be.  

The culture of the people in your novel is technically “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes” them.  This can be defined by any number of things.  Specifically, think about what makes your created group of people a society.  What do they share?  Knowing what exactly groups these people together will help you to have a believable culture.

World Building Basics - Religion and History

Religion is a part of your society that you can really go to town with!  You can choose one main god, or have a whole bevy of them.  You can have your people show a vague interest in religion, or you can write them as rabid fanatics.  When you are creating a religion, try to think of the religions we have had in our world in the past.  They almost always come with their own set of rules and artifacts, and there are often people who devote their lives entirely to the religion.  Think of how these things will relate back to the religion you have created.

It is not likely that your world just sprang up out of nowhere the day before your story starts!  In fact, if your world is civilised then it has probably been around for centuries.  This means quite a lot of history for your people!  You do not necessarily need to include a lot of this history in your actual novel, but knowing it yourself can help you to understand why a society is the way it is, and why groups of people might react in a certain way to issues and situations.  Although if you do build an interesting history, then weaving tiny bits of this information into your novel can give it an extra air of believability.

For more information on this subject, look out for our world building workshop, which will be available for free download soon!