My Favourite Worldbuilding Tip | Narrative Worldbuilding

Are you terrible at worldbuilding? But do you also want to write fantasy? Well, same. Here's the writing tip that has changed the game for terrible worldbuilders like me! (also sorry about my shirt collar it also is bothering me.)
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[@TimRG]

The best piece of Worldbuilding advice I heard was to pick the three or four areas of worldbuilding and really flesh those areas out. This came from best-selling authors and letting people know we don't all need to be Tolkien. If you like Magic, go really build out the magic or magics of the world. You like Economics, really figure out how the economy and money of the world. When you only have to dive in-depth into a few areas instead of the whole world, it is more enjoyable because you're working on areas you love. Everything else can just be enough for the story you're telling.

[@TheGeorgeD13]

Actually Tolkien follows that advice very well. Tolkien was interested in a three main things: history, language, and war and how those three things collide. It’s all over his work.

[@TimRG]

​@@TheGeorgeD13 ​ I agree, but that's what got him started. There is a reason why so many people point to Tolkien for worldbuilding. The many built an entire world. The point of the authors was you can stop at three.

[@billyalarie929]

>“I’m really bad at world building” >literally pops off with the most mind expanding tip for world building I’ve EVER HEARD EVER E V E R

[@N.Traveler]

As you were explaining this I realized I actually already do this, I just never gave it a (fitting) name. I also think this method prevents worldbuilder's disease. Because if you immediately think of how your world affects your characters and enhances (or doesn't enhance) your theme, it's already intertwined as a complete story, rather than finishing your worldbuilding only to realize that none of it really matters to the characters, theme or plot.

[@bookishwriter9460]

Oh, that's called worldbuilder's disease? I've seen it everywhere, especially all over wattpad but I never had a name for it. Thanks :)

[@nickwoodfin2690]

It's my time to shine! You helped me with prose so I'll help you with worldbuilding. Some tips and examples specifically for fantasy: 1. Writing fantasy, you should explicitly look to invoke wonder but tie it to the story: You don't want your setting to feel like background only, magic, races, monsters; all these things should pop out of the page but it shouldn't feel like a distraction, give it plot or character relevance. Example: Lord Dunsany's short story Sword of Welleran. 2. Research history, mythology/religion, and biology: The best place for inspiration and making a world that feels legitimate is in the lessons and drama of the people before us. This can be taking motifs and situations from history and mythology on one end and manifest on the other as using lenses of histography as rules for your world building, I.E. building your setting based off the historical materialist interpretation of history. 3. Instead of basing a culture on a singular trope, make them dynamic: What I like to do is instead of making the warrior culture, I'll look at real life inspirations then take elements from multiple cultures and jam them together and see what kind of synthesis and tension develops from that mashing. Don't neglect the environment in these considerations though. Example: See the Dunmer culture from the Elder Scrolls series. 4. Technology and development is not linear: Sure you can say just say this is a medieval setting but that's static. First of all its more interesting having cultures that have asymmetry in their advantages and disadvantages. If you want a one sided war, perhaps one side has steel plate armor and the underdog doesn't have the weapons to penetrate that kind of armor. Technology is developed based on the needs of the people. Perhaps this steel plate culture has been in constant war but the other culture hasn't had a need for heavy armor. Maybe its their environment, maybe its a cultural reason, regardless they did not need it then but may need it now. Maybe they will get it through another faction via trade. You can really play with this. Example: A popular theory for the development of the printing press in Europe was that the black plague caused mass labor shortages, so more automated processes were developed to ease the shortage. 5. How do the unique elements of your setting change the outlook of your characters and cultures?: You can't have your characters acting like American teenagers if they live in a pre industrial world where people spontaneously combust if they don't drink milk. You now have milk being critical to survival. Entire societies will make the consumption of milk a cultural center point, people will know milk betting than themselves, they might even use the freshness of milk as an indicator of time. Example: N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth Trilogy. 6. Don't be afraid to be weird but only be as weird as you need to: You want to be evocative in your setting, you want enough alienation to invoke wonder in the reader but not enough that its unrelatable. Examples: China Meville and Clive Barker's entire bibliography's. 7. Removing elements from a setting can be more interesting than adding elements to a setting: This isn't always the case but it should be a noted tool at your disposal. Taking away the sun is probably more interesting than having two suns. Restrictions can add a lot to a world. Example: Children of Men.

[@kaleikaumaka89]

As for tips for worldbuilding, usually writing your time-line in multiple different versions can help you kind of flesh out each character's view of that. For discovery writers such as yourself, I think you should keep doing what you're doing! Sitting down and writing down things doesn't work for everyone, and I'm sure you have those moments and the most random times where you have great ideas--you already know to write them down.

[@TheGeorgeD13]

I’m a mix of a discovery writer and a planner. What I do is discovery writer FIRST, then once I get going and have a good idea of what I’m building here, I flesh it out for myself more thoroughly. For whatever reason I can’t map something out without writing at least several chapters and get to know my characters a bit.

[@TheGeorgeD13]

So if anyone reading this is like me, it’s okay if you’re not cleanly one or the other. Do a mix and find what works for you!

[@kaleikaumaka89]

@@TheGeorgeD13 wow I'm actually the opposite, I have to build the world first, and then discovery write the plot

[@JoshKnoxChinnery]

Depending on how deep you're willing to deviate from our world in your fantasy one, you can pick literally any science field to rework. My world has a big focus on flora, fauna, and weather events, (among a bunch of others) so those are the areas for which I've eschewed earthlike examples the most in place of my own "original" designs. Now when I say original, I mean you still see the fundamental structures of things, such as bones, organ systems, and hunting, survival, and reproductive behaviors (big ETC), but I'm free to iterate on those those features with whatever I think is interesting or fitting for a particular story role. Need a dangerous beast for a swamp habitat? Sure it'll have an ambush predator behavior, but who's to say it has to be a reptile? Why not a bird or a marsupial? A lot of my favorite worldbuilding comes from saying "how would I make this work," and "what if it was like this [observable earth feature], but different". Rock rain? Hunting plants? Zones of perpetual lighting and heat? A lot of the fun for me of creating my own worlds comes from solving and the exploring the 'what ifs' that applying creative thinking to the sciences brings.

[@ShaelinWrites]

This is a super cool idea!

[@nicholashennell-foley4608]

Love this take

[@mario5139]

As someone who is pretty horrible at worldbuilding- this tip was really useful! Also I love the shorter video format, its a lot easier to watch when I'm busy.

[@gmkar7766]

This is so spot on. Even for people who do build the world before the story, it's a great way to think about incorporating details about the world into the story. Avoids info dumping and you only convey what is relevant to your story.

[@garypowers8195]

Putting world building into narratives made some things click in my head I hadn't really thought of. Like rather than a straight facts viewpoint, writing little short stories describing different topics would bring myself closer into the writing for sure. Using a folktale told from an older generation to the younger would not only flesh out the topic, but also give it a human-focus I've been struggling to include in my world-building.

[@topazdrake42]

this is how I work on my stories/characters, so feeling a bit called out from that, but I also find that it helps me flesh out anything that I do create

[@shawnlewis9607]

I'm the same, though it's not that I think I'm "bad" at it. I'm just not interested in world-building in and of itself. When it's part of a narrative I find it very fun and engaging. In any case, your idea of world-building through narrative is what I've come to as a solution. It's nice to hear someone else is having a similar experience. Thanks!

[@hatezis]

I've just finished my first ever novel, it is a sci fi. I would say there are two levels of worldbuilding: relevant, and sprinkle. the relevant piece which is important to the plot, or maybe drives the plot should be very much in sync with the character arcs, traits. The sprinkle piece is just for show, some cool ides you have and want to show, use those sparingly. So the bottom line is: the areas you are focusing on in worldbuilding should be a important from a charachter perspective. I'm not sure if this makes sense :D

[@paneljump]

congrats on finishing!

[@ozzymandias8265]

Have you heard of Steven Erikson or the Malazan Book of the Fallen series? I have yet to read it, but Erikson is trained in the kind of Raymond Carver/Hemingway short story style and Malazan is basically a giant epic fantasy series that uses the characterization and expositional techniques you’d find in one of those short stories. You have a degree in writing, so it might be too elementary for you, but his blog has some essays on how to write fantasy using those kinds of “literary” techniques.

[@ShaelinWrites]

I have heard of it! My brother is a very avid high fantasy reader so he's told me about it. I'll check out his blog!

[@doonkotube6530]

"See everything as a narrative" Awesome! Thank you! I'm on it! 😎

[@dariakey5318]

That's a great idea, actually! It helps to dive into the world and learn different sides of it as you may think about narratives of different families and how they develop through history. I have never thought about it, but I do a similar thing with my worldbuilding from time to time.

[@metro6567]

It's really refreshing to see creators within the booktube/authortube sphere talk about their flaws in writing. None of us are perfect and we can only improve once we admit to ourselves that the armour we wear has holes in.

[@imaginativebibliophile549]

Shaelin, World building is a struggle for writing a fantasy novel. Writing historical fiction requires a different kind of world building. I hope to write stories with rich and vivid fantastical worlds. I love painting the setting as a character and that was a lovely tip to hear from you. I love you

[@Paul_M_Bradley]

Personally, my go to world building technique is trying to work out the core mood of the world. Blade Runner does this brilliantly, the key word of that world would be something along the lines of "Malase" or "Ennui" and every aspect of design and backstory is geared around evoking that. Eraserhead is also a good example. The world can almost be seen as an externalisation of the protagonists state of mind, whatever that may be.

[@kavyasolanki8564]

As someone who's been writing fantasy for over one and half year, this is a great advice. Building history for a world is easiest way to make it seem more realistic and this way you'd be shooting two birds with a single arrow. Another tip I find extremely useful is there are always two sides of a story, if there is a faction of people who want to dethrone the king there always will be another faction who supports the current system and don't want any changes and both sides will have valid arguments. Hope you enjoy world building and magic systems, there isn't anything quite like the feeling of building a new world from scratch

[@AntrozLPs]

This absolutely works! However, I ended up having a 90K history document that was much longer than my actual novel. So watch out for worldbuilder's disease!

[@mikroraptor]

WAIT this makes so much sense. i randomly decided to write out a description of my magic system as if it were someone from the world explaining it, and it was way more helpful than when i'd just written facts about how it worked

[@kd9521]

The way I was nodding at every sentence, because I do this too. I have both a page of facts as well as narrative pages. It helps me visualize it, how I would explain things in the book. It’s all very fun.

[@fralou_sind_kreativ]

I SO wanna read that book!! :D Also I figured I'm already intuitively building my worlds in narratives. For world building I found it helpful to observe the different ways of nature, culture, politics etc. of our own world and then thinking about how it could be different in the world I want to write about and how it came to be. I also find lot's of inspiration in pictures and drawings that I find on Pinterest and then my brains just sets of creating some crazy thing :D Wishing you lots of fun writing your book!! :)

[@lenkaw.7243]

Funny thing is, I honestly never thought worldbuilding could be done in any other way xd Maybe it's just because it's my absolute favourite thing about writing and I've been kinda doing it since I was a kid, but it's always been natural to me, that you create a world by creating its stories. Still, that's a great advice! I by no means consider myself an expert in worldbuilding, but here's a little tip that I find works for me very well: make your different characters wildly disagree about the way their own world works. Like, if there are gods, make them argue about their true nature; if there is a legend, create a couple of slightly different versions of it; hell, if there was some war a couple of centuries past, even the outcome of it might be debatable. I think creating a little chaos within a universe you're building adds some unique charm to it and if makes it so much more life-like.

[@katendress6142]

Ooh! This could be like the folklore of the people in the world, or how a parent would explain something to a kid.

[@deepvybes]

I one major aspect of world building I would define is the Language. The spoken language itself & the words people say to each other that are specific to this world in conversation.

[@Sicktacular]

Not sure if this is the best method for fantasy, but In my own personal project I started with the map of this fantasy world and wrote out a short history of each region, then added in a list of key characters that I want to include in the main storyline. Using my map as a reference has really helped me visualize the paths and journeys of these different characters.

[@MuhammadAli-qh8tg]

I'm writing a vampire apocalypse story so I wrote how the world ended up the way I wanted to be. Afterwards I realised I was very happy with every stage but I did not want to just narrate my way through how the workd came to be so I decided to tell the entire change of the world through a single character. Beginning from just a few months old to the guy being in his 40s by the point I wanted to actually start at. I'm so glad I chose this route as I get to build the world in such a way that shows how people are affected and wow I've got some very powerful scenes from it just from the hour of this 40 year world end.

[@Avionne_Parris]

I am by no means an expert at worldbuilding but I do enjoy it quite a bit lolz. My tip (which was a gamechanger for me since it appeals to my Type A organisational self): Create a glossary. It not only has terms used by my characters (slangs, swear words, terms of endearment) but also places, flora & fauna as well as modes of transportation. It helps keep everything straight (if you're writing a series like me, start building now before the series drafts take off; you'll thank me later). It keeps things consistent & you can info dump brainstorms related to those glossary terms in there that you can reference during your 1st draft.

[@JoshKnoxChinnery]

My favorite writer on KZbin writing my favorite genre?! Super excited for the eventual release!

[@ShaelinWrites]

Haha it's actually a personal project I'm not publishing, oops!

[@AdrionProbe]

Worldbuilding has become my only strength at this point. All I do now is work on a giant document full history and conception for a particular world. THIS is exactly what works best for me. Static facts are tedious to generate and intertwine, but the moment I think in terms of narrative, the amount of content I tend to generate is significantly greater, and easier to integrate.

[@alluvius]

World building is essentially just creating your setting. If the way that works for you is through narrative structure, and that gives you all the information you need in order to tell an interesting story in a rich setting, then do that...that's the right way for you to world build. As a D&D player from waaaay back, I world build in a more structured, "outline" kind of way. I generally start with the largest segments of the setting I'm working on (usually continents or countries), and write notes on the general lives and ideals of the denizens of said continent or country, as well as any unique geography, folk tales surrounding certain areas, and any flora and/or fauna that bares specific mention. Then I move in a "click" and list the cities within that country, and note the specifics of those cities, who founded them, what is the predominant faith held by the citizens, what guilds are present and what kind of political pull do they have within the city, things of this nature. And so on, and so on, until I have a decent understanding and image in my head of what's going on within the setting (independent of my story), and how everything fits together. Oh! Also, if you're going to create new species to occupy your world, I usually do that separately from the rest of my world building. But it follows the same essential process, large to small, describe the species, from physical form, to attitudes and mindsets, to family and social structures, etc... However you accomplish the goal, once you have a good idea of your setting and what the daily lives of the creatures that occupy the setting are like, independent of your story, then when you build your story within that context it will flow much more smoothly, the setting will "live and breathe" with a life of its own (so it will [hopefully] feel more 'real'), and that will make the story more interesting, not to mention that all manner of side plots and unforeseen issues/problems can creep up to challenge your main character(s). Admittedly, that last bit was more useful in an RPG context than a novel context, however, especially if you're planning a series, this level of detail can bring new and interesting "life" to your story. Not to mention that if you want a thing to happen to a character in your story, but there's no way to justify it through the main plot, you have a living breathing world that can step in to teach your characters what you need them to learn through that event.

[@alyssabaquir]

Yes! Definitely love 2-4 minute writing videos :))

[@rileytuawai7241]

This advice has been so helpful I've never thought of world building in this way. Am already fleshing out the "behind the scenes" story of my story's neighborhood and how the female protagonist's grandparents adopted her. Thanks heaps !!

[@chelseadanico877]

Thanks for the world building advice, it was definitely helpful. I’m also working on world building for the second book in my book series that I temporarily titled chatanooga Kennacott lake chronicles. My story takes place on the continent of Alessaeia within the world of Archaeiya. This advice really helped me out a lot and now I got an idea how to develop the new lore idea for my books world a lot better

[@wrigleyextra11]

Very similar thing with me is that I draw and then build world and narrative off of it. Literal and figurative cartography where maps and trees get drawn and then the narrative makes the connections for me.

[@ChaoticVampire]

Can I just say all your shirts recently are :chefs_kiss_emoji:

[@52Paulis]

This standalone was very nice and standalone can videos can save you both production and editing time so you might want to save them for times when you are short on time. Yes, that is the old TV producer in mean thinking out loud. As for worldbuilding, I have a background in documentary so even for current-day stories I world build. I do more historic stories than fantasy or science fiction. For historic stories, I research the history of the era and the location then build in an additional backstory about some of the key locations or cultures in the story. Like you the way work I also write pages of notes about this. For Science Fiction I brought in a co-writer who was into world-building and the technical side of how things worked. Together we also took a look back at different eras in history and how technical advances had changed life. We built that into how our world worked. Once again pages of notes were involved. History can give you help in world-building sometimes by taking a past culture or belief system and expanding upon it. Many past fantasy and science fiction stories have done this and then hidden it well. Or they have taken things from nature and made them "human". This created new worlds the reader could get their heads around and done well it feels both new and believable.

[@blueknees6383]

i’m terrible at world-building as well. extremely terrible. though i haven’t written fantasy in a long time, i kind of do the same thing you do, except i just literally have pages of incoherent rambling that doesn’t even deserve the title of “narrative summary”, honestly. this really helped put things into perspective, though, and i’ll definitely try cleaning up the weird rambling i have that’s mostly just me screaming at myself into something… workable.

[@ShaelinWrites]

This is so relatable

[@macronencer]

I like this video style, so if it's easy for you to make more of them, please do. And this is a great tip! You made me realise something about one of my abandoned book series (I hope to pick it up again one day). I actually overdid this narrative worldbuilding approach without realising. I half-finished a book, and it had a political organisation in it that fascinated me a lot. I began coming up with its history, and the next thing I knew, I suddenly had another book to write, which came before the originally-planned one! So now I have a half-finished Volume 2 waiting for me to figure out how to write volume 1... which is quite frustrating! I guess I could do a prequel, but I don't like that idea much.

[@viktoriavadon2222]

It's funny how you thinking you're not good at worldbuilding actually makes you good at it. At least that's what I took from "Hello future me"'s awesome video on it (I can recommend watching him if you want to learn more on worldbuilding!) There is a history behind how the world became the way it is, and it is of course evolving, and different aspects influence each other. So I think, you're doing it exactly the right way!

[@yinkam7902]

I have a character in my fantasy world who loves history (she's a politican so history is something she needs to know anyways) but she's an excitable type and never hesitates to say what she thinks about something and how it relates to some interesting historical fact about the world

[@anthonywheeler2082]

I like world building, and I like to do it through the narrative too. It makes it so much easier.

[@Uberdude6666]

Hey, nice video :) I think this shorter format works well, it's more digestable and easy to follow of you don't feel down for watching a full length, in-depth video. I would like to see you also continue the longer vids though :)

[@quokkaknight3321]

I really like the small tips style. It’s sometimes good if I don’t want to put lots of mental energy into unpacking the content but still want useful practical tips. It’s also a lot easier to remember :)

[@Runerrs]

One of the things that I focus on when worldbuilding is the ripple effects of introduced elements. Every element brought into the world (like the small sun you mentioned) will likely impact the world. I try to explore how the flora, fauna, food, holidays, people and place names, regional conflicts, trade, government structures, language, magic, religion, beliefs, etc. are all changed due to the introduced element. This helps create depth in the world and makes it feel more cohesive than if the elements don't seem to actually exist in the world. The ripple effects also help the world feel more original and brings in more *specificty* to the setting. Other than that, I recommend keeping a separate document just for all your worldbuilding notes, as it can be extremely hard to keep track of everything otherwise. Hope this helps!

[@ShaelinWrites]

This is all very very smart!!

[@northerntoken1631]

If you’re struggling to come up with something to worldbuild, I normally think back on other fantasy stories/tropes or history. I take a mildly interesting topic or idea (for example, the Mayan culture is neat), and change a part of it drastically (what if the mayans were a desert-based people?). I take that idea, and develop it further (how would their religion change? Would the worship water as well as the sun?) My problem is the opposite of the one presented in the video. I can worldbuild almost in my sleep, but making narratives is extremely difficult for me. I may try to work backwards from your method and see how that works. Great video!

[@billyalarie929]

Also yes I would love this format, especially if that means more videos

[@augustlongpre64]

This is SO helpful with my natural history book.

[@AlexanderHamiltontr0n]

I feel like this is a great tip and something that I started doing after reading the Silmarillion (as I intuitively understood that's how Tolkien was worldbuilding and I wanted to emulate that). But I don't think I would have been able to articulate it as well as you do here. It really helps your worldbuilding come alive and adds layers of stories beneath the main story.

[@vikillustrations]

I love worldbuilding. Here are some of my tips 1. A world is a complex living, breathing thing. it IS a character in its own right. Treat it as such 2. things do not exist in a vacuum. Everything is tied together. You can literally build a world by picking one interesting aspect and thinking about how it affects everything around it. The nature, weather, people, culture... 3. try looking at your world from the perspective of different people. It´s a great way to see if things make sense, check for inconsistencies and maybe find something new

[@vampiricdust7068]

Shaelin, your advice is always helpful, presentation is great, and your examples clear. Thank you!

[@Persimmonyyy]

Interesting! I've actually never heard this one before. I really like worldbuilding, in fact, I would consider it as one of my main strengths, but I'm always happy to hear more different ways of thinking about things, even if I'm already happy with my current process. < 3

[@holleyk8]

I cannot tell you how helpful this was!!

[@palwilhelmsen]

This makes a lot of sense, I hope, as I do the same thing. It sounds like the format "campaign settings" for roleplaying games have been using for decades.

[@ViDhiHDEntertainment]

Writing my first novel ! All your videos have been helpful. Didn't notice your collar while watching the video but the saw three description 😅

[@maya-gur695]

Thank you for this video, I'm trying to write a quick little story right now, but it actually requires a little bit of world building (it's a fantasy story). Also, your shirt is awesome.

[@saranghaedosh]

NK Jemisin did a fantastic worldbuilding exercise on The Ezra Klein Show. They went over a couple aspects - economy, language, climate, etc. Highly recommend!

[@yvonnerogers6429]

😎😎😎 You’re always a big help. Thanks!

[@kaleikaumaka89]

Absolutely! Alsl seeing the worldbuilding through the eyes of characters is a great way to ensure that you can effectively worldbuilding-- it also let's you give more symbolic and/or rhetoric meaning to your world! This is especially true for magic systems, governments, and religions, because seeing it as a narrative can give you the ability to see the connections or things where your systems intersect!

[@grimreads]

A great tip for world building is thinking of an element and then ask: How it affects the world, who it affects and why this happens. Think about it for a whileand you start getting a domino of changes to the world and more elements follow it

[@jonnyr5049]

Thank you so much for this! I also struggle with worldbuilding, especially when it has to get specific, so this was great !

[@ejwilly2309]

Is this novel going to a be literary fantasy? I was thinking about one of my next books which is definitely a fantasy but I can’t get into a story unless it’s character driven and prosey. I just wanna know it’s possible 😂

[@ShaelinWrites]

It's definitely possible! My fantasy book isn't really literary at all, though it's pretty character driven only because I don't really know...how to write plot (oops), but I wouldn't call it literary fantasy. But, you can definitely can write literary fantasy or otherwise bend/combine genres as you like!

[@jasonissel217]

I watched Brandon Sanderson's video on worldbuilding, whenever I am stuck that is where I go. I am good at worldbuilding because I am an old-school table-topper. He has six rules of worldbuilding, and I am so far into my world now I forget where I started now...

[@jackjohnhameld6401]

I am sure of only two things: you will be both a reader's writer and a writer's teacher. You can't beat a tryer as the saying goes. There is an interview with Suzanne Berne from 2007. After leaving Iowa Writers' Workshop she laboured for five years on a novel which was never published. Her next attempt *A Crime in the Neighbourhood* was rejected (gulp) 14 times. It would win the Orange Prize. An editor at Algonquin told her that the novel set up expectations which it did not fulfil, reminding me of your own preference for novels in which quite a lot happens quite soon. She rewrote it and made something happen, for the story is set in the year of Watergate, *Suzanne Berne: Don't Be Afraid of Getting It Wrong.* Authorlink. I recall that agent Scott Meredith thought *The Blackboard Jungle* by Evan Hunter one of the most accomplished first novels he had read. The first reader of Malamud's *The Assistant* thought the same. Malamud's daughter described her beloved father as *A Book*. P.S. Was it really as long ago as 1999 that I read *A Crime in the Neighbourhood*? Or 1996 when I read *These Same Long Bones* by Gwendolyn M Parker? Another accomplished novel which meets all expectations. Keep Wordbuilding. The mysterious thing is *representation* as Harold Bloom says of Hamlet.

[@Maidaseu]

Nice tip for worldbuilding. I would urge people to watch Brandon Sanderson's fantasy worldbuilding lectures on KZbin.

[@Jason-yw2ow]

that shirt you're wearing is awesome

[@KillianProse]

Not a worldbuilding tip, but the Writing Excuses podcast (where they primarily talk about writing science fiction and fantasy) has an entire season dedicated to worldbuilding (season 14, I believe). The episodes are pretty short, usually 15-20 minutes, and they're pretty informative. Also the channel Hello Future Me has a fantastic playlist full of videos about worldbuilding. Can't recommend these resources highly enough to SFF writers

[@ShaelinWrites]

Ohh thank you!!

[@KillianProse]

@@ShaelinWrites I would list those two resources along with your videos as the most valuable ones I've found as a writer :) Thank you for posting incredibly helpful videos

[@tadasdulinskas8993]

I second this. Also Brandon Sanderson has great lectures on worldbuilding (and SFF writing in general), you can find them on KZbin for free

[@themike4326]

If you haven't heard of this channel yet, Hello Future Me has a huge playlist and a book that talks about world building and is actually really wonderful. It has helped me built a world for my story. I usually have the opposite issue here. I can world build but i cant write the fine details to a story.

[@greggorsag9787]

I always close a book when I get a whiff of world building. All of it-every last detail-has to serve the story. And when that happens, it disappears. Kinda like Charlie Watts behind The Stones. That’s why this tip works. If it’s all conceived through narrative, it’s harder to play where one should be quiet. Tolkien, often discussed in this context, is in many ways the worst possible model for what is generally referred to as “world building” in fiction writing. He was trying to actually create a real alternative world. (He knew, of course, that he would ultimately fail.) In some sense, the story was in service of that quixotic but magnificent project. That is a different endeavor than what nearly all other authors do, and it was directly tied to his personality, life experiences, training, and intense focus. Not for the faint of heart. Or even for the bold. But hobbits are a different thing altogether. They love songs and stories.

[@Andymegaara]

Love this tip! Thanks! 😀👍

[@grubbsthebugbear]

World building is my favourite part of writing do far. My fantasy world main nation was also ruled by a council of elders but the main story takes place two years after it was usurped by an exiled military leader.

[@paneljump]

I've been asking characters to give me tours of a place/event/belief. It comes out on the page as an interview tangled up with some narrative. When all goes well, I get *relevant* world building, some character voice, and a lot of character investment in the world all at once. Try asking different characters (say the priestess, the king, a fanatic, and an average participant) the same questions (say about a religion). That would pair well with an omniscient flyover narrative (which I haven't tried, but maybe I should).

[@skyeoak3]

This is a great tip, and I’ll definitely use it when I’m stuck!

[@jasonissel217]

well like the real world, this culture became this culture that became this culture...let that become the narrative or the description of the book, and go one step further that becomes a key part of your characters' lives. The dynamic world they live in.

[@thisistheaccountname]

2:28 our laws don't have to exist in a fantasy world. : )

[@keasok]

I'm a conworlder first, rpg designer second, and writer third, so I don't know if my approach is helpful or efficient, but I always approach setting/world diachronically, i.e. instead of thinking how it is now, I start with how it was, and then evolve it. For example, say you want to design Christianity, you go back to simpler times and apply changes, schisms, reformations, inquisitions, etc. Reading about history is always helpful to understand how systems are changed and evolve. Also, books like guns germs and steel, by Jared diamond, o cows pigs wars and witches by Marvin Harris, or talks by Bart Erhman or Richard Carrier (tw: there's controversy about this one being a harasser), even when you don't agree with their points, because they show this thing I'm talking about, how complex systems like religions change and evolve over time

[@andrewmarquez8896]

Awesome advice, relatable.

[@aeronprosek7963]

For help making logical world-building choices, there are a few channels on KZbin that are great for that and do a lot of research. All free, of course. If it makes you feel better, I think narratively figuring out world-building is the more normal process. Aside from anything else, the world develops and grows in a complex series of causes and effects. In a way, history and science are kind of like narratives. You start with a set of givens in the case of science and then from there it just...flows. I've heard it helps a lot of people to figure out their plot first, plan out the big parts of that, and then weave in what you'll need to establish from world-building to make that pay off. Revision is also your friend. The number of times I've been drafting and I've figured out a piece of my world-building that contradicts something I previously established that I then have to edit in are numerous. Don't be afraid to just get your plot on the page and then figure out what world-building is relevant and go from there. If you're writing a series, that might be trickier. You might need to write out most of to all of the series in the bare bones so you have a complete view of things so you don't shoot yourself in the foot introducing a concept early that directly contradicts a crucial concept later on. It might soothe you somewhat to know "world-building" is not fantasy-exclusive. Even in contemporary fiction, you need to world-build relationships, family dynamics, character histories. All of that counts. It's just not as big of a scale as fantasy where you have to figure out how an entire world works, or at least more significant chunks of it. I know that's daunting, but you've done bits of it the entire time you've been writing fiction. You've got this, and don't feel like it has to be perfect. Most fantasy books are riddled with logical inconsistencies. Unless you're JRR Tolkien, your world is probably a bit of a mess, and there are plenty of fantasy stories that do extremely well despite this.

[@e-t-y237]

Short single topics are cool. "Lightdottir" might be a good name for this type of fantasy god(s) ... ???

[@VoidLantadd]

It's funny how we're all different. I struggle to _stop_ worldbuilding and actually work on my story. I think worldbuilding probably comes easier to outliners than discovery writers, and I am very far along the outliner side of the spectrum.

[@zerujah]

Great! I love this format

[@1ktales]

I tend to gravitate towards functional world-building these days, because I'd always get lost in the weeds. If a detail doesn't serve the plot, it doesn't make it in.

[@michaelhunter2136]

How about setting a goal of 15 minutes per video, more or less depending on the topic? I think you're best when you have a few bullet points jotted down, you're more focused then. You do a very good job of living up to the promise of your video titles. I can see how this tip makes divulging information an active moment in the story rather than a passive one as would be the case using exposition. But there's a risk, isn't there? There's a temptation to have scenes and even characters exist for the purpose of explaining the world when the focus should be setting up characters and kicking off their journey. The age-old method, making the POV character a novice in a strange new world, seems like the easiest strategy. Moby Dick, Brave New World, and Harry Potter use this. Also Jules Verne's novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Seems to me the detective in Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling, enters a strange new world too, and the Harrison Ford movie, Witness. Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ. Often times, the protagonist struggles in the new world but has unique insights that in the end, allows him/her to succeed. Alas in Wonderland... I'm going to be burping these characters all night now. I deeply enjoy your videos! Keep them coming! :-)

[@miml1993]

I enjoy your videos, always ❤️

[@AnimeGirl-be3wc]

A tip for world building is to make your world alive. There’s a video on KZbin that companies the world building in my hero academia and Rwby it was a interesting video.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

My main tip for worldbuilding of cultures, I suggest looking at real world cultures throughout history, and not just the obvious ones (such as Rome or medieval England), but maybe take a lesson from Ethiopia, the Olmec or Inuits. Read up alot on the subject, or just watch KZbin channels handling the subject (even the less trustworthy ones works, if you are writing otherworld fantasy), then mix traits as you see fit.

[@saikrishnanep2591]

Me about to click on this video: what would it be... Me after watching: hmm sun daughters

[@Djinsin]

This book sounds amazing, when can I buy it?

[@MercuryA2000]

The way I worldbuild is just kind of Cause and Effect. I get a detail I want or like, and I think about what could have caused it and what effects it could have. So, for example, when I came up with the country Metideen the first thing I wanted out of it was to be the embodiment of the brain (Another one is soul and another is body) So, that's how the government works. Its an oligarchy where the high noble's who make laws and have power are in a constant battle to keep their positions and make deals to further their own family's self interest. Ok, so what caused that to happen? The country's founding would have had to be on cunning then, right? Well, the lore for the continent already says the dragon shifters were here first, so lets rewind back a thousand or two years. Magic wasn't as refined as it is now, because the magic school hadn't been created, so humans were much weaker than shifters. The settlers struggled to gain a foothold without the dragons kicking them out. Until, one of the unimportant humans (Oh! If its a girl it can also justify why sexism isn't a thing in this country!) snuck out and made a deal who's details have been lost to history. Metis, along with that dragon, became two of the first leaders of the country. That's also where the name comes from. Metideen. Metis's Den. Boom! There's a justification for the culture, and a really solid name (which is something I suck at.) Or I'll work the opposite way. I wanted humans have family magics that are passed down, so what effects would it have? Well, in Metideen magic is far more important and advanced than the other countries because spirits (essentially a magic resource) are plentiful there. So, bloodlines would be a lot more important there as a result, especially among humans. Family becomes more important, which feeds in with the oligarchy and nobility I already had included to make a very family oriented society, especially among the elites and humans. What other effects? Well, since passing down your magic is important, being lesbian or gay would be frowned upon more than in other countries since, you know, no children. So would marriage between humans and shifters since the shifter gene is dominant. Oh! That directly impacts my main character, who's the heiress of her family's magic, an only child, AND married to a shifter girl. At first it would only raise eyebrows, but since she's going to get involved with noble families later, those kinds of questions are something that can get brought up when people question this nobody who's suddenly Heiress Dumont's retainer. I just take the details I like, justify them, then think of the logical extension. I feel like making narratives would likely result in some of this, and considering how much I cut from Metis's legend, mine can create narratives. I can then, for example, have the main character hear rumors that the Dumont's are of Metis's line and that's why they've been in power so long. Or I can have Metis's name be used in an idiom or as a curse. "Careful. he'll sell you your own wallet and charge you late fees. As cunning as Metis that one." "In the name of all Metis stood for what kind of plan was that?!"

[@ibingeyt6077]

Good video!

[@jasonissel217]

world building I got down. My fantasy books will have worldbuilding built of 6 years of ideas. I did D&D for years as a teen. That however is my problem...I need to get good at drafting or that is all my book will be. Once upon a time there lived...

[@cjpreach]

Shaelin - - You ask, "How did it come to be?" = = = NEW LITERARY TERM ALERT - "Ontological Worldbuilding."

[@maxiapalucci2511]

hey what do you guys think of this overview of the world I've been developing? In the beginning, there was one world- the original world called provided, an earth-like planet home to the first race, Dragonborns. For thousands of years, their civilization's developed similar to those of earth, until a worldwide war threatened the continuing of the world, so Mortal gods were sent, one corresponding to each of the elements; (I know elemental magic is super tired, but this magic system is more soft and spell-oriented- trying to make it my own.) These gods had not only the ability to stop the war, but when combining their energies, could create entire worlds. they terraformed the moon into a jungle-world, invented a mirror-realm that connects stars(Starships fly into one star and come out another.) They created other races: fox people on a world covered in spores that turns the sky green called Fira Ha, Fairies on a mountainous moon that orbits the gas-world Zeebin Haim, Satyrs on a luminescent world of mushrooms, and Tengu (sentient birds from Japanese mythology) on an ocean world. the Mortal Gods created the yosu, a band of beings with powers similar to their own, but not as powerful, who would keep peace after the Mortals die. Before their deaths, the Mortals created one final world, rich with resources so that life could continue comfortably after their deaths. The elements that composed this world were so concentrated, that they manifested as pure elementally themed crystals. the Mortal Gods knew that after their deaths, corruption would rise in their absence, and so on each lively world, created a sacred temple where gems from the gem-world could be combined to erase and restart the life on that planet. Misjudging the wisdom of people, the Mortals realized that this world would become the object of many future wars and unnecessary deaths, and so hid it from the rest of the universe, leaving behind only one map (It's not a "map" map but a spell that will allow the world to reveal itself.) Seven-hundred years later, a religious movement is started by a Dragonese philosopher, under the alias of the Anonymous Philosopher, who preaches a doctrine of a goddess of light and good, called Heisha, and a devil, the god Asha. he believes that Heisha created Dragons and physical space when there was nothing, and that Dragon's with their holy powers (powers do not really exist, and maybe a misinterpretation of yosu,) created the elements and other races. the Fairies were made to inherit the Dragons' world when the last Dragon ascends to heaven, and that Satyrs were meant to serve and be slaves. in their belief, Asha retaliated by creating the Foxen, and so it is the mission of this group to kill all opposing Dragons, all free-willed slaves, and all foxes. this group, officially called the Purists, (colloquially called the Dark fairies because their religion prohibits colorful clothing,) raged a war that focused on killing opposing Dragons. the Yosu were able to stop them, but not after their numbers were cut to a more one-percent of their original numbers, and were forced to become hidden. they created a secret society called the Guardian Knights, or G.K. brb edit and finish this later.

[@FowlPS]

I'm not sure if you're familiar with Brandon Sanderson lectures on youtube, but he's a master of both worldbuilding and teaching in an entertaining way. It may seem long at first, but: a) you can give it a try and turn it off if it doesn't work for you after however long you want b) it's pleasant enough to listen to in the background, and even that way it still has a chance to teach you something amazing

[@bookishwriter9460]

Wait, there are people who don't do it like this? They just sit down and make up facts? Sounds... kinda boring and unlike us writers?😅 I mean, I don't write long texts about stuff like you but it still all comes to me in story form and like 50% of it isn't planned beforehand and just comes to me spontaneously when writing cause it just makes sense for the story in that moment. Even though I losely plan all the plot points beforehand so I don't write myself into a corner.

[@lacrimosa.999]

yay!

[@its_saam9459]

Tl;dr: Write the Silmarillion first

[@blueskye2790]

The term you're looking for is backstory, which is the history or preceding events of a fictional plot/character/etc.

[@everydaysam3547]

Me, having a story where the sun orbits around the world and gives a piece of himself to people, who are then called sun children: 👁️👄👁️ Of course it's most definitely a completely different story, but it's fun when these coincidences happen haha

[@ShaelinWrites]

Wow same brain !!