Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing

From journeys across dangerous terrain, to adventures off in galaxies far, far away, world building is present in every work of fiction we know and love. But how do you build worlds of your own? Today’s episode of Write On breaks down how to define your world from the bottom up, touching on everything from defining location and language to politics and religion for your Sci-Fi or Fantasy world in just a few questions. We discuss how to keep your worldbuilding organized and relevant to the plot of your story, as well as show you how to map out the continents of your world in a creative way. Follow along at home as Emma asks questions about your world, and you may find that with each answer you give your world will begin to come alive.
#amwriting #fantasy #scifi #writingcommunity #worldbuilding
00:00 Intro
01:02 Staying on Track
01:54 Building your Characters & World Together
02:26 Pick a Subgenre
03:27 Pick a Topic to Start Building
03:48 Find Real-Life Inspiration
05:02 Location
06:09 Making a Map (with beans!)
07:08 Religion
09:19 Politics
11:29 Language
12:23 Magic and Technology
14:14 Show, Don’t Tell
15:18 Retrospective
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[@XanderDorn]

"the sky is the limit"

[@arshiyashaikh9590]

😂

[@amelie_unicornqueen2145]

tooooood (bojackhorseman reference, trust me, it works) 😂

[@spectrazone]

This was super well-structured with lots of ideas for where to expand on these individual facets of worldbuilding. I've had world and story ideas bouncing around in my head for ages, and have always struggled with what ideas matter most to me, what to keep, but this definitely helps give a sense of what to prioritize (and what would be relevant to the type of story I want to tell.) Quality content, I've subscribed and hope more people find this channel!

[@nidohime6233]

You can also start your worldbuilding by the type of story you are writing. For example if you want to write about a dragonslayer you might need to think what kind of dragons are there, how they attack, how the protagonist protect themselves, how the townsfolk deals with dragon attacks, does the goverment get involve into with this issue or not, and much more.

[@donotexpectuploads]

Any tips on dystopian?

[@Nassaldromus]

@@donotexpectuploads you have to know what the original principle or goal (the -topia) was, and how it went wrong (the dis-) only after having that central concept, you can figure out what you need to work on.

[@samanthakelley7917]

very informative and easy to follow, this is a great gem for writers who are new to world-building!

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ASteveSeeley]

I have watched many a video on this topic and none of them have come close to being this clear and concise. All the information you need to flesh out your fantasy world is here. This is THE definitive worldbuilding video on KZbin. Spread the word!

[@kit888]

About exposition, I think it is more important to reveal what immediately affects the characters, than hide it in a conversation, to avoid infodumping.

[@jurelkirklandfilms2510]

Where have you been all my life??? Easily the best video on world building I've seen. And the bean method!!?? HUGE!!!! I really hope you come back to making videos one day.

[@a.williamcook2926]

This is the best world building video I've seen so far! Really informative. I'm not writing a book, but I'm using it to help with world building for my D&D campaign, and everything in here applies to it too!

[@evangelinapark7824]

Incredible and humorous video! Super helpful!

[@EpicGeopolitics]

This is super useful. Ima go back and begin answering each of these sections one at a time. Thanks again!

[@kariduanimations]

I never thought of the bean continent method, that’s cool

[@sandraingalls4952]

Wonderful job as always. Love the bean method!

[@annejia5382]

Randomly saw this in my recommended ❤ another channel to fall in love to ❤

[@deellaboe437]

The map idea, Brillant!!!

[@HeroToZero16]

Thats epic and easy to follow .. easily one of my favourite guides I watched overall in any area .. Great job

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Awesome, thank you!

[@danielwaugh2215]

really great help on this, considering now subscribing and following your vids :)

[@rowe410]

Thank you for this video. I have the urge to write my own fiction book and this had some great tips.

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@salt-monkeymcgee401]

This is an excellent vid thanks for throwing this up here.

[@dronovbiotex]

Thanks! Your channel seems really cute and with a lot of easy-to-explore information. Keep going!

[@yes_head]

Phenomenal. Thanks!

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Glad you liked it!

[@youtubematt9]

This is very helpful! Thanks! I think this is going to help me in my test!

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BamaBucknasty]

This presentation was perfectly executed during my squirrel brain. Thanks.

[@TheSoundMinded]

just subbed ❤️

[@omnijonn277]

Best World building 1. Lord of the rings 2. Harry Potter 3. Game of Thrones 4. Earthsea

[@Gwestytears]

Dune

[@srbenda2977]

The Witcher too.

[@saulgoodmanKAZAKH]

Harry Potter is debatable. Have you seen how nonsensical was the Wizarding Schools of the world?

[@hijaloca8321]

great !!

[@moonbatanimation2060]

I love everything about this

[@Mark_Jonas]

Honestly worldbuild as much as you want but keep the story focused at first. I started by first draft with a basic magic system and a two countries, and now have a system I think is unique and now have 12 countries I’ve thought about in a definite sense, at least 4 other countries I haven’t really thought about, a region that has never been ruled by one person for more than a few years (it hardly had war, it’s main rulers are people who get say dreams and declare himself king and everyone goes along with it cause they couldn’t care less), and plenty of other lore, all of which I made in class. Do these get mentioned? Yes. Do they all matter? Most of them, there’s about two filler countries but they hardly ever get mentioned besides traveling through them once or twice and maybe sharing a fun fact. To shorten this, it doesn’t have to be super small, but don’t over tell.

[@liamdean3478]

I have an idea about to build a Aassassin's Creed like world building yet in Biblical-correct world view due to I'm a Christian.

[@Burgalo2001]

I need so much of it

[@_3_lowa_3_99]

STONEPUNK PREHISTORIC, HIGH FANTASY, LOW MAGIC, MONSTER HUNTER, NORSE MYTHOLOGY WORLD, OOOOOOOOOOOOH YEAH

[@Derekivery]

Beans beans good for your heart, the more you have the more you ART!

[@petroniobalmores2306]

(This is my dad's account lmao I got grounded) personally, I wanna make a novel of an industrial Fantasy world with no main character, but just explore the world and it's stories

[@BKPrice]

"...or cyberpunk, or nanopunk..." Or do-you-feel-luckypunk

[@wizardfellow]

So underrated

[@natejohn328gmailcom]

Love these videos so much.

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Glad you like them!

[@tarync2661]

write on is my favourite internet series and its host, emma ingalls, is a god

[@tarync2661]

all silliness aside this came out great!!! very informative!

[@krow5099]

Last one I’m working on 😩😩😩

[@auei]

I was struggling with worldbuilding. Your video really helped

[@ServiceScape-Creative-Writing]

Thanks!

[@hijaloca8321]

anyone know a community, group for this sort of writing people to discuss and write?

[@Theblahajcult]

I write about geese but in a human like world kinda

[@trenthill7781]

Kids walk into the dinning room. Mom! Dad is playing with beans again!

[@anjikins6793]

My MC is supposed to become a God. In fact, Ascenders are humans with the power to become a god and they are awakening. It is not until I watched this story that I thought about the religious implications. Yeah. I just created some villains now who believe in this Supreme God and they hate Ascenders as they see these people as usurpers and blasphemers. I just created some new conflicts for the MC! thank you!

[@atheistapostate7019]

The beans are a smart idea for a world, BUT I discovered that using free apps are dirt cheap ones can be even better. I found one recently and created a world from scratch, and once I built it up, it has made it easier for me to visualize my story and bring it out now.

[@Azier18]

7:05 🤨😏🙇🏿‍♂️

[@Azier18]

🤦🏿‍♂️

[@kishirisu1268]

All that details about fictinal world are needed only if they have impact on story. You can create hole new evolution theory but if the story is about love and reader never face actual animals, all evolution thing will be time wasting, which could be used for more relevant things.

[@9fine]

Wow the beans just saved me months.

[@GODCONVOYPRIME]

Essentially you have to play god in your mind and transfer that into words.

[@Slappa31]

Play with some beans... lol

[@MRuthless]

Lol. Steve died face down with his ass in the air.

[@garrikmatthewson1621]

Bellissima😍💖. Become an online boss = P-R-O-M-O-S-M !!

[@senacht]

The whole racist thing regarding Lovecraft has been done to death already. Is this drive by token virtue signaling really still necessary? It’s almost become its own trope.

[@nidohime6233]

No idea what do you mean by that, but there is no deny Lovecraft can be hard to read at times because of his racist commentaries. Is still a wellknown source of cosmic horror and even sci-fi to this day, is just most contemporary writers remove the most rancid stuff from the original tales.